Vaccarezza trying to establish new South Florida horsemen's group

Carlos Vaccarezza, a longtime owner and breeder who recently retired from a 10-year training stint, has launched an effort to create a new horsemen’s group in South Florida to represent trainers and owners at Gulfstream Park.

The new group is seeking to replace the current horsemen’s group, the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, an organization that is unaffiliated with either of the two national horsemen’s umbrella organizations. Vaccarezza and his supporters have created a website directing trainers and owners to sign a petition that would allow the new group “to act as your sole and exclusive representative.”

In an interview on Thursday morning, Vaccarezza said that he launched the effort due to widespread dissatisfaction on the Gulfstream backstretch with the existing Florida horsemen’s group, which over the past six months has participated in discussions with representatives of Gulfstream and its parent company, 1/ST Racing and Gaming, on a plan to support legislation allowing the track to decouple its racing license from its casino license.

“They need to be replaced,” Vaccarezza said of the existing Florida horsemen’s group. “They have no idea what they are doing.”

The decision to support the decoupling effort infuriated many rank-and-file horsemen, with tempers boiling over in a meeting two weeks ago. At that meeting. Keith Brackpool, acting as a consultant to 1/ST’s chief executive, Belinda Stronach, told horsemen that 1/ST would commit to racing at Gulfstream for the next three years if horsemen supported the decoupling legislation.

However, Brackpool said, 1/ST would not commit to live racing beyond the three-year window. He also said at the meeting that if the existing horsemen’s group did not support the effort, Gulfstream would consider options to sell or redevelop the property immediately.

Gulfstream is located in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on extremely valuable land.

Although the existing group has acknowledged that its board voted to support the decoupling plan, it has walked back that commitment in the past week, releasing a statement on Jan. 24 saying it will “reassess” its position and “conduct a comprehensive analysis of all alternatives for continued racing in South Florida” and “closely monitor all legislative or other steps that could put long-term racing in Florida at risk.”

The new group will face an uphill battle. To be recognized over the existing group, the new group would need to collect thousands of signatures and have the result of its petition drive certified by state regulatory authorities. The existing group – which claims representations of 6,500 trainers and owners who participate in Florida racing – would likely challenge those results, leading to a potential face-off in court.

Under the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978, groups representing the majority of horsemen at racetracks are given the right to negotiate with the tracks on simulcast agreements, which generally also include provisions on purse distributions from wagering revenue and funding for the group. The recognized group also nominally represents the horsemen’s interests in state capitals and in discussions with other racing constituencies.

Although the Vaccarezza group calls itself the South Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, officials of the National HBPA said on Thursday that the group is in no way affiliated with the national organization and that the National HBPA is providing no assistance to its petition drive.

Eric Hamelback, the president of the National HBPA, said that he had had discussions with Vaccarezza about the effort and “understands his goal,” but he said that the group would have to be certified as the official representative of Gulfstream’s horsemen before the group could apply to be an HBPA affiliate.

“I know he hopes he can create a South Florida HBPA, but there’s a lot more to that,” Hamelback said.

Vaccarezza would not identify other individuals who are assisting in the effort, but he said the group has already identified potential board members.

“I can tell you it will be a dream team,” Vaccarezza said.

A native of Italy, Vaccarezza immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s and has been successful in the restaurant business, including the establishment of several locations in Lexington, Ky., popular with horsemen. He has bred and owned horses for decades, and he began training in 2014.

He recently stepped aside from training to allow his son, Nick, to train a string of his horses, but he said he will remain committed to the sport.

“I’m 73,” Vaccarezza said. “The game has been good to me, and we need to figure out a way to fix the game for the next generation.”

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