The Florida Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association recently filed a lawsuit in Leon County circuit court, responding to a bill passed in May removing the requirement that Pompano Park run live races to continue offering other gambling.
The group, representing horse breeders, trainers, owners and drivers, contends the law violates the constitutional right to equal protection because it treats harness racing different than thoroughbred racing.
Pompano Park in Broward County is the only harness racetrack in Florida. Legislators did not lift the requirement that thoroughbred racetracks must have live races to offer other types of gambling. Defendants are the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering and PPI.
The lawsuit stated, “As a result of the enactment of the law, the harness horsemen who have historically participated in live harness racing at Pompano Park are being treated differently and in a far less financially favorable manner than the similarly situated horsemen who participate in thoroughbred racing at the facilities of Florida’s thoroughbred permit holders. It is FSBOA’s contention that no valid reason exists for this difference in treatment among horsemen performing similar, if not identical, horseracing activities.”
The suit also claims parts of the law would apply only to PPI Inc., operators of Pompano Park, and it’s unconstitutional to pass laws that would benefit specific corporations. According to the lawsuit, PPI indicated it plans to end harness racing.
The law, passed during a special session in May, revised a longstanding requirement that parimutuels hold live races or jai alai games if they also wanted to operate more lucrative cardrooms and, in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, slot machines. Lawmakers decoupled live racing from other gambling for harness and quarter-horse tracks and jai alai frontons.
Only thoroughbred tracks were required to continue running live races. Observers said the exception was made due to concern about the economic importance of the thoroughbred industry in the Ocala area.
