On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 1:45 PM, PHBA news <[email protected]> wrote:
OUR BREEDING FUND PROGRAM IS IN DANGER
The future of Pennsylvania’s Thoroughbred Breeding Fund is in serious danger if legislation being proposed in the House of Representatives is enacted.
THE ISSUE - $100 MILLION
In a drastic effort to balance the state’s budget, certain House members are seriously considering raiding the Race Horse Development Fund for $100 million! The Development Fund is the slot revenue generated for Thoroughbred and Standardbred horsemen and breeders.
The Thoroughbred Breeding Fund share of the raid would be $8 million of the total. This amount, combined with the $5 million from pari-mutuel tax revenue that has been short-stopped by the Department of Revenue from finding its proper way into the Thoroughbred Breeding Fund, represents a hit to the Breeding Fund of over 65% of its rightful total.
What has developed into the country’s top such breeding incentive program would be gutted, and the incentives and rewards for breeding Thoroughbreds would be destroyed.
ACTION NECESSARY
Our representatives in government must be made aware the legislation that allowed for slots in Pennsylvania was intended “to positively assist the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry, and to support programs intended to foster and promote horse breeding.”
This is quoted directly from Section 1102 of Act 71 which established the legislative intent of allowing slots at the tracks.
WHAT TO DO
Please email and/or place a phone call to your State Representative asking them not to support ANY cuts to the Race Horse Development Fund.
If you know your State Representative, don’t wait, do it today. Things happen quickly in Harrisburg, and give the intensity of the current budgetary problems, dangerous decisions could be hastily made.
If you don’t know your local Representative, click on the following link:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/leg ... _alpha.cfm
Then enter your zip code in the box at the top right of the screen to identify your Representative and appropriate contact information.
TALKING POINTS
· The Race Horse Development Fund is working, Pennsylvania is the place to race.
· Thoroughbred breeding in the state is now a phenomena, and has attracted national attention.
· Investment in new farm facilities and bloodstock helps a slumping economy.
· The breeding industry serves as an important element in Pennsylvania’s agricultural community as an outlet for locally produced hay straw, grain, etc.
· Most importantly, NOW IS NOT THE TIME to do long-term irreparable harm to an industry on the brink of major success for the sake of an unrelated short-term economic fix.
Please pass this on to anyone you know who might be negatively impacted if this issue comes to a vote in the legislature, and ask them to do the same.
PETER GIANGIULIO, President
Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association
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P H B A - Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association
701 E. Baltimore Pike Suite E
Kennett Square, PA 19348
610-444-1050
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P H B A - Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association
701 E. Baltimore Pike Suite E
Kennett Square, PA 19348
610-444-1050
Attention All PA breeders and owners!!!!!!
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My letter to my representative, The Hon. Will Gabig, whose wife MIGHT be one of our small animal vets --
RE: PA Thoroughbred Breeder's Fund
Hello -
I wanted to touch base with you regarding the need to leave the Race Horse Development Fund intact, for the sake not only of race horse breeders throughout Pennsylvania, but also for the benefit of small businessmen in your own district. I don't know your views & I may be preaching to the choir, but I wanted to reach out on this issue.
I live on the Newville Road in West Pennsboro Township and we breed and raise thoroughbreds, and try to sell them to owners and trainers who race in Pennsylvania because we know if we're doing our jobs, our “crop” will repay us with breeder's awards – which is how we hope to make a profit on our farms. Without the breeders' awards, farmers whose crop happens to be thoroughbred racehorses are hard-pressed to make a living. Thankfully, the Pennsylvania legislature recognized the need and also the value of promoting thoroughbred breeding in this state. My goal is to remind my representatives to maintain that focus during the heated budget debates.
Back in 2003, a survey conducted by the Pennsylvania State University determined the racehorse industry in Pennsylvania pays $32.9 million in wages & its “ripple effect” adds $187.6 million to the Commonwealth's economy. That’s just race horses. There’s a much bigger equine industry out there. The survey is a product of Penn State & the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and can be found at:
http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agri ... ademic.pdf
We as Pennsylvania race horse breeders want to keep contributing, but this economy has hit breeders especially hard. In a bad economy, shops can close, but a farmer STILL needs to feed the livestock, even if farming isn’t providing the expected income. By way of example, our two best yearling fillies went to auction last year on the precise day the stock market took the sharpest plunge in its history. Those 2 fillies came back home with us and while we could have literally given them away to speculators who would rush them to the track in some other state, we were willing to hold onto them – and feed them – another year or so, to get them to the races in Pennsylvania – where they qualify their owners for added money and us, their breeders, for bonuses, too.
Farmers understand the need to keep an eye on long-term goals and we ask the legislature to do the same.
As I said, in the interim, we still have to nurture our future race horses and the “ripple effect” of us – all the small breeders in Cumberland County and elsewhere in Pennsylvania – affects your other constituents. We buy grain in Newville (although milled in Franklin County), hay and straw from farmers in West Pennsboro, Upper & Lower Frankfort, North and South Newton, Penn & Lower Mifflin townships. We use a farrier who lives in (or just east of) Hopewell Township and veterinarians in West Pennsboro and/or Newville (and if by chance Dr. Gabig is with Newville Vet/Dr. Farrell, I believe we've used HER services on some of the scrappier mousers in the barn who protect our grain & I know we've talked racehorse breeding with our fellow PA breeder, Dr. Farrell.) We shop for fly spray, wormer & other supplies in the Carlisle area and, of course, like anyone else, we use the services of doctors, accountants, restaurants, auto mechanics and all manner of residents of your district. But even as small breeders, our own little “ripple effect” goes beyond your district. Our trainer at Penn National lives in Dauphin County, a breeder outside of Pittsburgh has booked a mare to one of our stallions, we have used the services of a breeding farm in Adams County, and the list goes on and on. And that’s just us. There are thoroughbred breeders all OVER Pennsylvania.
But last year's economic slump increased costs to feed horses (due, in part, to the spiking diesel prices during the harvest), and at least temporarily added an inability to get loans or sell the end-product. This has dealt a blow to the industry & the Pennsylvania residents who rely on its purchasing power. Several stud farms have already closed shop in Kentucky and other states. Now is NOT the time to knock us to our economic knees with a decrease in breeders’ funds.
Pennsylvania's horse racing funds & current wise use of slots money is the standard to which other states aspire. If you read the racing trade publications, you can see that due to the current law, registered Pennsylvania-bred horses are becoming more likely to sell than those from less race-friendly states, and trainers who formerly stayed in larger racing states like Kentucky and New York are now visiting Pennsylvania regularly, raising our image in the eyes of the rest of the nation & helping increase that “ripple effect” of the Pennsylvania racing industry well above that 2003 level. And it is due in part to the support the legislature has shown the industry. The Pennsylvania horse racing industry is on the brink of great success, but any change that takes money away from the breeders in a short-sighted attempt to fix unrelated problems in the state's budget could easily move it to the brink of failure.
The legislation that allowed for slots in Pennsylvania was intended “to positively assist the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry, and to support programs intended to foster and promote horse breeding.” This is quoted directly from Section 1102 of Act 71 which established the legislative intent of allowing slots at the tracks. Again I say, now is NOT the time to lose focus on the reason for this legislation.
Please resist any attempt to allow this money to be redirected.
Thank you.
RE: PA Thoroughbred Breeder's Fund
Hello -
I wanted to touch base with you regarding the need to leave the Race Horse Development Fund intact, for the sake not only of race horse breeders throughout Pennsylvania, but also for the benefit of small businessmen in your own district. I don't know your views & I may be preaching to the choir, but I wanted to reach out on this issue.
I live on the Newville Road in West Pennsboro Township and we breed and raise thoroughbreds, and try to sell them to owners and trainers who race in Pennsylvania because we know if we're doing our jobs, our “crop” will repay us with breeder's awards – which is how we hope to make a profit on our farms. Without the breeders' awards, farmers whose crop happens to be thoroughbred racehorses are hard-pressed to make a living. Thankfully, the Pennsylvania legislature recognized the need and also the value of promoting thoroughbred breeding in this state. My goal is to remind my representatives to maintain that focus during the heated budget debates.
Back in 2003, a survey conducted by the Pennsylvania State University determined the racehorse industry in Pennsylvania pays $32.9 million in wages & its “ripple effect” adds $187.6 million to the Commonwealth's economy. That’s just race horses. There’s a much bigger equine industry out there. The survey is a product of Penn State & the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and can be found at:
http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agri ... ademic.pdf
We as Pennsylvania race horse breeders want to keep contributing, but this economy has hit breeders especially hard. In a bad economy, shops can close, but a farmer STILL needs to feed the livestock, even if farming isn’t providing the expected income. By way of example, our two best yearling fillies went to auction last year on the precise day the stock market took the sharpest plunge in its history. Those 2 fillies came back home with us and while we could have literally given them away to speculators who would rush them to the track in some other state, we were willing to hold onto them – and feed them – another year or so, to get them to the races in Pennsylvania – where they qualify their owners for added money and us, their breeders, for bonuses, too.
Farmers understand the need to keep an eye on long-term goals and we ask the legislature to do the same.
As I said, in the interim, we still have to nurture our future race horses and the “ripple effect” of us – all the small breeders in Cumberland County and elsewhere in Pennsylvania – affects your other constituents. We buy grain in Newville (although milled in Franklin County), hay and straw from farmers in West Pennsboro, Upper & Lower Frankfort, North and South Newton, Penn & Lower Mifflin townships. We use a farrier who lives in (or just east of) Hopewell Township and veterinarians in West Pennsboro and/or Newville (and if by chance Dr. Gabig is with Newville Vet/Dr. Farrell, I believe we've used HER services on some of the scrappier mousers in the barn who protect our grain & I know we've talked racehorse breeding with our fellow PA breeder, Dr. Farrell.) We shop for fly spray, wormer & other supplies in the Carlisle area and, of course, like anyone else, we use the services of doctors, accountants, restaurants, auto mechanics and all manner of residents of your district. But even as small breeders, our own little “ripple effect” goes beyond your district. Our trainer at Penn National lives in Dauphin County, a breeder outside of Pittsburgh has booked a mare to one of our stallions, we have used the services of a breeding farm in Adams County, and the list goes on and on. And that’s just us. There are thoroughbred breeders all OVER Pennsylvania.
But last year's economic slump increased costs to feed horses (due, in part, to the spiking diesel prices during the harvest), and at least temporarily added an inability to get loans or sell the end-product. This has dealt a blow to the industry & the Pennsylvania residents who rely on its purchasing power. Several stud farms have already closed shop in Kentucky and other states. Now is NOT the time to knock us to our economic knees with a decrease in breeders’ funds.
Pennsylvania's horse racing funds & current wise use of slots money is the standard to which other states aspire. If you read the racing trade publications, you can see that due to the current law, registered Pennsylvania-bred horses are becoming more likely to sell than those from less race-friendly states, and trainers who formerly stayed in larger racing states like Kentucky and New York are now visiting Pennsylvania regularly, raising our image in the eyes of the rest of the nation & helping increase that “ripple effect” of the Pennsylvania racing industry well above that 2003 level. And it is due in part to the support the legislature has shown the industry. The Pennsylvania horse racing industry is on the brink of great success, but any change that takes money away from the breeders in a short-sighted attempt to fix unrelated problems in the state's budget could easily move it to the brink of failure.
The legislation that allowed for slots in Pennsylvania was intended “to positively assist the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry, and to support programs intended to foster and promote horse breeding.” This is quoted directly from Section 1102 of Act 71 which established the legislative intent of allowing slots at the tracks. Again I say, now is NOT the time to lose focus on the reason for this legislation.
Please resist any attempt to allow this money to be redirected.
Thank you.
Bohemia wrote:I sent two e-mails to my state reps, too, although I didn't have time to write as much as you, KB Equine. I was told that this effort to raid the Fund is being spearheaded by top Republicans.
Wasn't it Mark Twain who once said something like I'm sorry I wrote so much, I didn't have time to write anything shorter? (Editing out the fluff really IS the time-consuming part, isn't it?)
Thanks for the "top Republicans" part. You've given me a couple other acquaintances to contact . . .
just leave it to the low life vermins in office to screw things up.......VOTE THEM ALL OUT...vote NEW people IN regardless of PARTY.......better yet vote in only independents........time for the third party.
A great man cannot help himself," "He can see things that other men cannot see themselves, and his greatness lies in doing whatever is necessary to make his vision real
Bohemia wrote:I sent two e-mails to my state reps, too, although I didn't have time to write as much as you, KB Equine. I was told that this effort to raid the Fund is being spearheaded by top Republicans.
dont kid yourself.......there all republicracts..........wise up. face the facts politicans dont give a hoot about the horse industry overall.
A great man cannot help himself," "He can see things that other men cannot see themselves, and his greatness lies in doing whatever is necessary to make his vision real
just look at NY...they have all been trying to carve up the golden goose {slots at AQ} THEY HAVE BEEN SITTING ON THERE ASS'S for years!!
A great man cannot help himself," "He can see things that other men cannot see themselves, and his greatness lies in doing whatever is necessary to make his vision real
Bohemia wrote:I sent two e-mails to my state reps, too, although I didn't have time to write as much as you, KB Equine. I was told that this effort to raid the Fund is being spearheaded by top Republicans.
Did they name the republicans? The state is controlled and run by democrats. Ed Rendell is an idiot. Here is an example of how PA operates:
WASHINGTON — At least some of Pennsylvania's $1 billion in federal stimulus funding is being spent on road signs advertising the work the funding is paying for.
PennDOT says it will spend about $60,000 on 30 road signs featuring the logo of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Chizmar says the signs help show the public where the stimulus money is being spent in the state.
At least they have their priorities right - giving political credit before everything else.