FTBOA Unveils Vision for 2014 at Annual Meeting
The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association held their annual meeting on Wednesday to discuss the current status of the industry and to unveil plans to promote Florida-breds for the future. Although 2013 has been an acrimonious year for the South Florida racetracks, it has been a positive and constructive year for the Association and its membership.
FTBOA unveiled at the meeting Thoroughbred Week, a television show that summarizes the week's top races with a focus on Florida winners. The show has expanded in the Central Florida area showing at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays on WOGX-TV (FOX 51), and is shown in the Mid-Atlantic states. The show will also be replayed at FTBOA.com on a daily basis.
The television show will complement the promotion of Florida breeding and ownership in print, such as The Florida Horse magazine and Wire to Wire. In addition to highlighting Florida-bred stakes winners and races featuring Florida-breds, Thoroughbred Week will give the Florida industry opportunities to place advertising on the show. The show premieres on Jan. 5.
“We are very pleased, through our partnership with Lonny Powell and the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, to add WOGX-TV to our expanding audience for Thoroughbred Week. We are confident that the breeders, owners and racing fans in the Ocala area will enjoy our coverage of the major stakes races. We look forward to a successful partnership with the FTBOA.”
In addition to the introduction of Thoroughbred Week into the Southeast, the Association continues to enhance its services for members, the member value-added discount program and increased volunteer opportunities. The Association partners with businesses that service members to offer member discounts in business sectors including lodging, farm services, equine services, personal services, education, attractions and dining. For example, members visiting Florida racetracks can book hotels with discounts and visit area restaurants with discounts offered to FTBOA.
The FTBOA has engaged the membership to volunteer for committees including charity, social, thoroughbred retirement, outreach, community and industry events and communications. In addition, FTBOA announced special interest and task groups including asking for members to volunteer to attend gaming hearings throughout the state to share the impact the industry makes on their business, how it creates jobs and the land used for breeding and training operations. Other volunteer opportunities included insider tours at the horse sales, co-presenters in classes about the industry, assisting with teaching others at Day at the Races events and Florida racing history museum tours. They also have a recognition group that recognizes grade I winners, stakes winners, sales toppers and other movers and shakers in the membership within the community and industry.
FTBOA also shared with the membership events they activated in 2013 including a business leaders’ trip to the races at Tampa Bay Downs, a charity golf tournament strongly supported by horsemen and the community, charity silent auctions, art for charity, Kentucky Derby artist exhibition, a Breeders’ Cup party and Holiday Charity Member Open House in December among others.
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The Association announced the 2014 regular membership fee is $100 and the late fee has been discontinued. The increase in membership dues was necessary because the fee had remained the same for the past 20 years while operating costs had increased. The Association also announced a youth membership level.
Looking forward to 2014, the Association announced that it will continue to push for a cooperative racing schedule in South Florida to help resolve the ongoing issue of racing dates overlap. The Association is leading representation of the thoroughbred owners and breeders as the State of Florida considers changes to the gaming and regulatory rules.
FTBOA has been active in producing economic impact studies of the breeding and racing industries in Florida, as well as providing testimony to the state legislature about how vital the Florida breeding and racing industries are to the state. The FTBOA along with other industry groups are working together to ensure representation in the upcoming public hearings and legislative session.
CEO and Executive Vice President of FTBOA, Lonny Powell said, "The annual meeting was a great opportunity to focus on the issues facing the industry, to discuss goals and share strategy to make the most impact in our industry and for our membership."
He added, “At my first annual member meeting that I presided over a year ago I promised our folks that the next time we met for an annual meeting that it was going to be very important to me to lead FTBOA into looking forward and dealing head-on with industry issues and opportunities. I also pledged that we'd work hard during that year to instill in our membership and association a greater sense of confidence, trust and empowerment. I am so proud and impressed by how enthusiastically our membership accepted and supported this vision and rallying around FTBOA and our industry priorities, challenges, opportunities and goals. This meeting was one of the most impactful and unifying in our organization’s history"
The Association also identified opportunities including seeking new streams of revenue for breeders and owners, and bringing thoroughbred racing to Ocala.
The results of the 2013 board election were also announced. The membership elected George G. Isaacs, Milan Kosanovich, Roy S. Lerman, Jessica Steinbrenner and Charlotte C. Weber to the board of directors of the FTBOA.
After the annual meeting concluded, the new board convened to select the new Association officers for 2014. The new FTBOA officers for 2014 are: President George Russell; First Vice President Brent Fernung; Second Vice President Phil Matthews; Secretary Sheila DiMare; and Treasurer Fred Brei.
