Sam Houston Race Park has cut its purses and will run fewer races to start 2025, according to reports.
Concerns among some in the horse racing industry are mounting over a recent change at Sam Houston Race Park. According to reports, the race park is cutting its purses by nearly 18 percent amid uncertainty over state funding.
A reported email allegedly sent Thursday to horsemen from Texas Racing Operations Vice President and General Manager Bryan Pettigrew—who oversees racing operations at Sam Houston Race Park—announced that the race park was reducing its purses across the board from $40,000 to $33,000 for the period between Jan. 10 and Feb. 16. Plus, continued the reported email, the race park will operate one fewer race per day during that time.
The reason? Pettigrew noted in the reported email that the race park team was uncertain whether it would receive Horse Industry Escrow Account (HIEA) funding to help pay for those purses.
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Passed in 2019, the HIEA allows for up to $25 million annually from sales tax on horse-related items such as feed and tack to go back into the horse industry. The money in the HIEA goes to youth and novice events, breeding, showing and racing, specifically the money paid out to horsemen at the track (or purses).
But according to Pettigrew's reported email, HIEA allottments aren't a sure thing to start 2025. Complicating this is the fact that, as of 2022, racetracks were prohibited from simulcasting their races in other states' betting venues. The loss of simulcast revenue means tracks are far more dependent on the HIEA.
Pettigrew noted in the reported email that the race park could make more adjustments after the Texas Racing Commission's meeting in February.
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Retired horse trainer Karl Broberg shared a screenshot of the reported email Friday on X, sarcastically calling it a "late Christmas gift" before saying the Texas Racing Commission is on a "quest to make Texas racing irrelevant."
Opening night for the 2025 thoroughbred season at Sam Houston Race Park is Jan. 3.
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Timothy Malcolm is the Weekend Editor at Chron, where he writes and edits stories from across a broad spectrum, including breaking Houston and Texas news, food, travel, culture, transportation, energy, sports and features. His 20-year writing career includes a stint at Houstonia as dining editor and food critic, overseeing digital development for GateHouse Media newsrooms, launching magazines in the Hudson Valley of New York and serving as grantwriter for nationwide food-and-beverage nonprofit Southern Smoke Foundation. Timothy is also an accomplished travel author with two books published by Hachette Book Group—Baseball Road Trips and Drive & Hike Appalachian Trail. He is happy to talk baseball, early 1980s R&B and pro wrestling when he’s not cooking for his wife and daughters.
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