 I'll commence the hearing and just offer some brief comments and start as follows. So good morning to everyone on this call. Today is Thursday, May 14th. It is 10.05 a.m. This is a public hearing of the Horse Racing Committee of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Notice is hereby provided that in accordance with general laws, chapter 30 and section 20, the Horse Racing Committee will convene a public hearing for purposes of gathering comments, ideas, information relative to a proposed amendment concerning the Horse Race Development Fund distribution percentages. Given the unprecedented circumstances resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic, Governor Charles Baker issued an order to provide limited relief from certain provisions of the open meeting law to protect the health and safety of individuals interested in attending public meetings. In keeping with the guidance provided, the committee is conducting this public hearing utilizing remote collaboration technology. I am Brian Fitzgerald, the chair of the Horse Racing Committee, and I wanna thank my fellow committee members as well as Ms. Badaard, Dr. Lightbound and Attorney Grossman on behalf of the Gaming Commission for coordinating this hearing. We have a full slate of speakers today. I believe we have 17 speakers who have submitted their request to provide public comments. There are a few protocols that I just wanna review for conducting this hearing. We will call each speaker's name in the order in which they have been provided. For all of the speakers, I'd ask that please keep in mind that the time allotted for you has been limited to four minutes so that we can get all of the speakers in. We would ask that each speaker be mindful of their allotted time. And when they have one minute left to speak, they will receive one of the following, either a chat notification with an orange flash on the bottom of their screen or a verbal cue. Each speaker should introduce themselves with their name, residential or business address and the organization or entity that they are representing. Each speaker should remember that their public comments are being recorded to become part of the public records of the Horse Racing Committee. We've received several written public comments and we would ask that a speaker who has also submitted their public comments, written comments that they not recite or reread those comments for us. The chair shall reserve the right to interrupt the speaker if the comments are deemed to be duplicative from another speaker or to mute an individual when their allotted time has expired or if any verbal comments are deemed offensive or personal attack against any individual organization. No speaker may yield their time to another when the speaker has concluded. The next speaker on the list shall then be introduced. We appreciate all of the speaker's participation in this important process. We appreciate all of the public comments that we've received. Your input is invaluable to us as it will help guide us in the important decisions that we need to make. And then in the interest of getting all of the speakers through, I'd ask that the committee members if they do have questions that they have for a specific speaker, that they reserve their questions until all of the speakers have concluded their presentations, okay? All right. So with that, I'd like to begin and call upon the first speaker on our list who is Mr. Frank Antonacci. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairperson and the committee. My name's Frank M. Antonacci from 128 Wolverham Road, Hamden, Massachusetts, Great Horse Farm. I'm a third generation horseman. My family and I operate a horse breeding and racing operation throughout the United States, including in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. We also have horses in Ireland and even a few in Australia. We have approximately 200 or more horses under our care. We now operate a 300 acre horse farm, Hamden, called Great Horse, where we care for 30 to 40 horses every year. While I grew up racing in Massachusetts when I attended Boston College, spending many days at Plain Ridge Park and also Suffolk, the development of the Great Horse Farm was a direct result of the gaming legislation in the work of this resource committee. The employees of the farm and the many local businesses we support, thank you. I share this with you not to boast about our business, but to highlight that our investments of not only our dollars, but our passion is in the racehorse industry. I do not refer to our operation as a standard bred or a thoroughbred because we do both. Our goal is to breed and raise and race the finest race horses in the world. And we have been fortunate to do so. One of our great standard breads, Moneymaker was just voted greatest standard bred of all time while a thoroughbred stallion, no name never, is one of the leading stallions in the world today. I would like the committee to understand that a horse is a horse. There's no special regulation or rule that if you own a thoroughbred, you cannot own a standard bred. Nor is there a special grass you need to plant or feed you need to feed to farm raise a thoroughbred versus standard bred. We raise our standard bred babies shoulder to shoulder with their thoroughbred counterparts and our results speak for themselves. In the end, the industry around race horses is an agricultural one. Any farmer will advise. For the best results, plant the crop that suits your environment. We don't grow oranges in Cape Cod, but it is a perfect place to grow cranberries. And that is precisely what those farmers do. The Northeast and Massachusetts is suited to raise and raise standard breads. That is what we do here. And we are encouraged to see that many of the old thoroughbred operations have started to make the transition to raising standard breads as well. The legislation is doing precisely as it intended. It has saved horse racing, breeding farms, open spaces and thousands of agricultural jobs throughout the Commonwealth. I want to be clear that we invest in Massachusetts with both breeds. We support, we are now the largest thoroughbred breeder in Massachusetts as well. I have one minute left, I'll jump to the end. Unfortunately, Mrs. A, our thoroughbred mare is now the only in full thoroughbred mare in the state. It is unfortunate and a missed opportunity that the money being provided to the thoroughbred industry has not garnered more mares. The standard bred industry in Massachusetts, on the other hand, has shown continued growth. We will continue to support both racehorse industries in Massachusetts. However, it is harder and harder to make a case for any more dollars to go into the thoroughbred industry, knowing that 80% will not be used to benefit a single horseman, horse or any other person or taxpayer in the Commonwealth, but lay unused in an escrow fund that continues to grow year after year. That decision, especially in today's environment, seems to be increasingly unacceptable and irresponsible, especially when alternative exists where all horsemen can participate and benefit along with all the rest of the Commonwealth can benefit immediately. The legislation is working as intended and will continue to do so as the racehorse industry continues to grow. I thank you all for your efforts in revitalizing the great industry in the Commonwealth. Thank you, Mr. Antonacci. Thank you very much. The next speaker is Ms. Alice Tisbert. I'll see if she needs to be unmuted. Alice, if you can hit star six. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I am Alice Tisbert of Plainville, Mass. I'm an owner, trainer, breeder and co-owner of a horse farm, Standard Bread Horse Farm here in Plainville, Mass. I've been doing this business for over 30 years. I also have the pleasure of being the managing director of the Harness Horsemen's Association of New England, better known as Hain to most of you. I would like to discuss the health and welfare portion of the fund provided for the Standard Bread industry. It has been tremendously successful. Through this program, the Harness Horsemen's Association of New England has presented, constructed three different categories to support the health and wellness of our current and active members. The three categories being a retirement savings plan, a vision plan and a charitable giving program. Each of these programs have seen great success and the members are really benefiting from them. The first and most vital category of the health and welfare program is the retirement savings plan. The plan was designed to act as a retirement plan for drivers and trainers racing at Plain Ridge. This is the first of its kind for drivers and trainers in the Standard Bread industry in Massachusetts. Prior to the implementation of this plan, these individuals had little or no financial security for their future. Because of this plan, Massachusetts has seen an increase in drivers and trainers moving to the state, specifically for the benefit of the retirement savings plan. This is another example of the economic growth this industry is seeing across the state. The next category, which was implemented in 2019, is the vision plan. A mobile vision company comes to Plain Ridge Race Tech. Through pre-appointment sign-up, members are able to receive a free comprehensive eye exam and a free pair of glasses or contact lenses. The benefit enables members to have eye care, they might otherwise not be able to afford. The program was received with overwhelming gratitude and over 25 members took advantage of this program in 2019. The third category of the health and welfare plan is the charitable giving policy. This service is provided as needed during the times of emergency or unexpected accidents that put members out of work or with great medical debt. For example, we had two members that were hospitalized due to illness and we had another one that was in a bad car accident and the charitable giving policy was able to provide them with an emergency fund to help them through that difficult time. And this example shows the benefits of a program that helps members when they are faced with unexpected burdens. The success of the health and welfare program has continued to stimulate the growing standard bread industry in Massachusetts. All of our benefits are for members who are currently and actively participating in a horse racing here in Massachusetts. We are incredibly pleased with the positive feedback we continue to receive regarding the dynamic programs offered through our health and welfare program. We would like to continue these current benefits and expand our reach to help more and more folks who have worked but may have come upon hard times. Again, I'd like to thank the committee for your time and support. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Burt. The next speaker is Mr. Raymond Campbell. Mr. Campbell. Mr. Campbell, if you could hit star six. Mr. Campbell, do you need to hit, can you hit star six on your phone? Mr. Chairman, let me try that again now that I was well into it. Here we go. Good morning. My name is Raymond Campbell from Belcher Town Math. My family are both breeders and farm owners in the state. I'm also the president of the Standard Breed Owners of Massachusetts. I wanna thank the committee for their time today. One of the goals of the Massachusetts breeding program is to improve the breed. Some of the ways that that's been happening is each year, mares and stallions of more superior bloodlines are being bred in the state. More and more horses are being bred in the state. From the offspring of those horses, new stake records are established each year. The horses are going faster. There's also been an increase in interest from Massachusetts bred coltan fillies from investors, both in the state and out of the state, both private and public sales. Number two, provide an economic growth to all that are involved. With over well over 100 mares being bred each year for the past three years, farms have had an increased demand for their services as well as the indirect services provided by local vendors. Some of those services include feed, bedding, farrier, equipment purchases, maintenance or repairs, on and on. The list goes a long way. The more farms, the more involvement, the more services that are needed. A third part of the goals of the breeding program is to promote agriculture and open space. There are more than 35 farms across the state participating in the program and they are both small and large. One of the farms that's involved in the program is the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It's an interesting story in that the farm is located at what was the largest standard bred breeding facility in the state, which was Young Meadow Farm before being purchased by UMass. The farm known now as the Hadley Farm provides a wide range of services. It also allows students from the equine management, pre-vet and equine science departments, hands-on involvement. Their involvement includes boarding and care of mares, foiling mares, working with young horses, breeding of the mares, and maybe most importantly, they have told me that it's forming industry contacts. The standard bred breeding program continues to provide opportunities for farms and investors both small and large. It's a good story. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Our next speaker is Nancy Lungobardi and you may have to hit star six on your phone. Did that work? There you are, yes. Hello? Okay, I'm sorry, excuse me. Nope, that's fine. Okay, good morning again. My name is Nancy Lungobardi. I live in Norfolk, Massachusetts. I am the secretary-treasurer of the standard bred owners of Massachusetts, representing the standard bred breeders in the state. I've been in the position for 12 years. I'm also a farm owner in Norfolk where I breed and raise standard breads on 50 acres. Benefits from the Race Horse Development Fund has helped expand my operation and maintain open space. I was actually born and raised on this farm. My father was in the harness racing business, as well as other family members. So I am very passionate about the sport. I'd like to just tell you a little bit about our breeding program today, how it works and what's involved. The standard bred breeding program begins with the breeding of the mares, the mares residing in the state, the offspring being raised and trained and culminates with races for two and three-year-olds per purse money. It's a long-term commitment by breeders and invest in our program. The program has been doing very well with the increased funding provided by the Race Horse Development Fund, and we have increased involvement every year for the past five seasons. For instance, in 2019, we had 35 races, which included 217 starters, and our field sizes have increased every year. With 141 mares following in 2019, the offspring of those mares will not race in the program until 2021 and 2022. 1.7 million was awarded to the horse owners and breeders in the form of purses in 2019. Currently, the purse account for this year's stake races for two and three-year-olds has fallen behind due to the pandemic situation. With less than half of the 2019 purses in the account, and at this time, as we all know, it's almost impossible to estimate when or how much more revenue will be coming in from race handles and also the Race Horse Development Fund. It is uncertain what'll be available to offer the long-term investors for these horses when our races are held in October at Claim Ridge, but it's evident it will be less than the past few seasons. On behalf of the standard breeders, I would like to thank you all for your time and effort on this committee, and thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Dr. Anthony Ziza. Dr. Ziza, and Dr. Ziza, you may need to press star six on your phone. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Good morning, Distinguished Committee members. I'm honored to have been given this time to speak with you today. My family has been in the Theravade industry for decades. I personally bought my first horse about 20 years ago and bred my first mass bred, J.C. Indy, about 10 years ago. He's now nine, happy and healthy, and still actively participating in the mass bred program. I've never known such a passionate to get people as horse breeders, both breeds. We love our horses, like family. We treat them as children. And sometimes I think they are children because they cost about the famous college tuition. I've submitted a short written commentary, which I know you've read. And this morning I want to attempt quickly to build upon that, to further develop some essential considerations for you to review today. As I ask you to please not reduce the Theravade portion of the RHTS, so that together we can find a way for the fund to best serve its intended purpose of supporting both the Theravade and the standard bred industries. First, the committee's consideration of breaking out three portions of the RHGF may seem like a fairly straightforward matter, but I assure you it's not that straightforward, particularly when it concerns breeding. A horse is not a horse. There are many important differences to consider between the two breeds with respect to cost of breeding. Theravades require live cover, shipping to stallions, made them by the state, board while they are vet-filled. I'm shipping back. The standard breds can order semen and artificially inseminate. This isn't their fault, it's just a reality of the two different breeds and regulations. There's also the longevity of careers. Standard breds give awards for horses two years old and three year olds. And they have stakes for those races, but Theravades give awards for many years. As I mentioned, my first mass bred is still healthy and running and receiving mass bred awards at nine years old. And I have three, three year old mass breds that are just getting ready to run and I hope that they have long careers too. Standard breds are done earning mass bred presses, from my understanding, just when Theravades start earning around three or four years old. There are many other important considerations that the committee must take into account before any decision is made. This will require letting the sun shine and for both breeds and really looking at important nuances involved. And that's gonna take more than the four minutes I have today, but as a matter of fairness and due diligence, I propose that this exercise must be made to fully understand both breeding industries before a decision is made. I hope you will allow representatives from both breeds to participate in this process so we can create an environment where we all can flourish. My second point is developed from my first. We must look carefully to create a standard by which we judge the need for funding from breeding if it's separate. Investors today invest for four to five years from now. And this is how long it takes when the breeder plans a meeting to when she or she can look forward to recouping that investment. So we must not just say, hey, they were exonautical born last year. That determines what we do. That's not appropriate because it's foals that are running and that have been bred four to six years ago that are now running. Think about that, please. We've made promises to these breeders. And my third point is that the MGPA, MGTVA is an organization created by the math legislator, legislature which has mandated funding requirements. We have to pay owners and breeders awards and stallions awards to all mass spread foals at all ages running within or outside math. This is a legislative mandate and one can't simply remove our funding and create an unfunded mandate. And fourth, it's nothing short of miraculous what the breeders have done for the federal government in the past four to five years. Yes, our full process diminished, but our breeders have continued to keep their horses and training and participants in the program because of their passion. We have held a robust program the last four years with no meaningful place to race, no certainty of the future with the speed being diminished the year all but killing any chance of a sane investor. No matter how passionate or breeding he or she may be to invest. Remember it costs about 30,000 to get a federal budget retract from the moment of conception. And that's usually four years later. Would you invest with no place to run with the fund one year after year? In this case, definitely a horse is not a horse. And in conclusion, I just want to urge the committee, I know my time is up to look deeper at how these funds affect the breeds differently. The breeds aren't the same. With our business endocrines having common is that they're both horses and they both race, yes. But after that, they couldn't be no different. Thank you, thank you for your time. My last comment is I wish both breeds success in math. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. The next speaker is Arlene Brown. And you may have to press star six on your phone. All right, I'm Arlene Brown from Bright Hill Fund, 23 Hillside Avenue, Rehoboth, Massachusetts. I am speaking on behalf of myself and Donna Pereira, who's the chairman of the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Breeders Association. She's unable to speak due to teaching her chemistry class with that president remotely, obviously. My children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren have all grown up on Bright Hill Fund. Most of them are still involved at the farm. I'm polling out at present 16 mayors. Many of them stand bred in some thoroughbred. We have done this for years. This farm has been in the family since 1865. Originally, it's a dairy farm, but my husband, George Brown, began converting it to a thoroughbred facility in the mid-70s. He dropped his first bowl there in 1975. By the mid-90s, he had renovated the old cow barn to put in horse stalls. He added a large barn for mares that included bowling stalls and indoor viewing room to be able to keep an eye on bowling mares when the temperature went below freezing. Didn't take us long to decide that was a priority. He added what we call a training barn, stallion barn, and this last addition was a training track with inside space derailing the same as large race track. We have both full-time and part-time employees to care for the horses, maintain the property. We have exercise riders who break and train the horses. We support local vets, barriers, hay, and a grain mill, local grain mill here in Tornton. It's one of the last functioning grain mills in the state to produce animal feed. I currently have three brewed mares that I own myself. One has dropped a bowl already and she's currently being bred back. I have two others being bred out of one out of state. I own a stallion and several horses of racing age on some young prospects. It's still cost me close to 30,000 to bring a bowl from conception to racing. Maybe I'm crazy, but I have put my faith in you to do the right thing and preserve the investment in this industry that I and so many others have made. That was the intent of the whole racehorse development idea that my husband and so many others worked to create many years ago. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you. Thank you very much. The next speaker is Mr. Kevin Constable. Mr. Constable, as a reminder, you may need to press star six on your phone. Yes, good morning. My name is Kevin Constable. I have a farm in Southwick, Massachusetts. It's a new farm. I've made an investment for the Massachusetts breeding. I want to raise third beds for many, many years. I'm looking forward to that. My daughter's 12 years old. We've made a huge investment on a stallion and we're doing currently breeding horses at that farm. We are looking forward to many, many years of this, as I say, hopefully the commission will see and get things going here. There's thousands of people that are waiting in the wings to get this thing going. I know once again, the economic impact, once again, feed, shaving, all that. We can say that a hundred times. Everybody knows that, but there's lots of jobs out there to be created with this resource development fund. And the third beds, obviously, everybody knows they've been running the races in New York, which I don't know where that stands this year. Evidently, that's not looking good this year, but we won't get into that. One thing that we hope that we keep going forward with our breeding operation, it's a new operation. And I'd like to be able to hand it down to my daughter. When she gets older, and hopefully we can come to an agreement here. It sounds to me like that the standard bred horses are doing just fine right now with the way things are. So I asked the commission to please take in the mind and the thought of all the thousands of us that have been waiting patiently to get this third-bed thing going, to take that into thought about those people and maybe we can come to an agreement and get things going. And I look forward to being a part of this Massachusetts program. Thank you very much for taking the time to listen to us and have a nice day. Thank you very much. The next speaker is Matt Clark. Mr. Clark, as a reminder, you may need to press star six on your phone. Mr. Clark, Shah, is he listed on? He's not listed. It would maybe be a phone number that I can't identify. Okay, all right. Mr. Clark, if you're on the line, you just need to press star six on your phone in order for us to hear you. Okay, all right, all right. So I think what we'll do then is we'll move to the next speaker if Mr. Clark is not there. The next speaker on the list is Mr. Kevin McCarthy. Mr. McCarthy, as a reminder, you'll need to press star six on your phone in order to be heard. Good morning, can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Hello, members of the HRC committee and the chairman and call participants. I'm Kevin McCarthy of 60-Picilla Drive, Pembroke, Massachusetts. I'm a board member of the New England HVPA and a prologue first-generation horse trainer. I currently have a son that's displaced to Arkansas working still in the industry. I urge you not to change the split. I'm gonna be brief to continue to support both industries. Like the businessmen and business women and lawyers on this call, myself and fellow horsemen learned our profession, studied it, invested money in tools, supplies, saddles, water buckets, horse sails, et cetera. And we attained our license and worked hard to get investors and went to work. We still have that knowledge, I'm sorry, drop that knowledge. We have that inventory of supplies, but we are temporarily without a place to race and do business. We also are being hip with the alcohol split anxiety. We have owners that are playing a wait-and-see game. They're concerned about the split, same as the investors and potential racetracks. The split anxiety is affecting our business negatively. I think changing the split will definitely hinder future investors in both building a facility and participating in breeding horses and buying horses. Prior to training horses, I researched the similarities in Massachusetts to Maryland and both states are similar in geographic size, similar in demographics, and discovered that Maryland's hybrid racing was three times bigger than all colleges in professional sports franchises. I invested, because I believe Massachusetts with its rich sports history can be Maryland's hybrid race showcase in the future, but it's gonna take time and it can't afford major missteps like defunding its development. I actually personally prefer that we go back to the original split to spur investment in track operators and hybrid owners and breeders. I believe though the continuing lowering of the split will hinder the funds objective to support both industries. I thank you for your time. I know you're doing some hard work during this challenging times and I'll end with that. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. Our next speaker is Mr. Paul Umbrello. Mr. Umbrello, as a reminder, you may need to press star six on your phone in order for you to be heard. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. Can everybody hear me okay? Yes. Thank you. My name is Paul Umbrello. I live in Walsham, Mass. I am also a power brick owner, served on the breeder's board and the HBPA board. And I'm currently the executive director of the New England HBPA, one of the oldest nationally recognized horsemen's group in the country, helping horsemen and women for over 85 years and with over 30,000 members. Any HBPA supports and understands the potential need for breaking out the split into individual buckets and possibly doing so. It is my understanding from the last meeting at March that the intent of this was to help and not hinder. But we're at a point today that while in doing so, and any additional adjustments against the thoroughbreds, we'll only have a greater negative impact on our industry. So depending on what decision the committee does make, I'm gonna talk about, I'm actually gonna skip on one of the buckets, but I'm gonna just talk about the three buckets in question. So purses, the committee must understand that with any investor looking to build a facility, they need some insurance that the funding of the purses will be available. Any additional downward adjustment means less in purses and will not be incentive for any investor. Let's be clear, this time around, we don't have one, but four investors looking to develop a racetrack, which the HBPA supports them all. Simple math will show you based on 2019 numbers with roughly $18 million coming into a fund and getting 80% to 35% or roughly $5 million. Sanderbirds were getting about $9 million. The thoroughbreds could not even run a 20-day need. The Sanderbirds rank eighth out of 110 tracks across the country, and their daily purses are in line with those top-tier tracks. And those tracks actually bring in 10 times the gaming revenue stream. And the Sanderbirds can almost compete dollar for dollar in their daily purses, daily purses awarded. If they ran a few less days, they could possibly be ranked even number one. So what are their relative needs in comparison to the thoroughbreds? The breeding program, as Dr. Zizer talked about, I'm gonna skip over. I don't need to de-labor what's already been discussed. More importantly, health and welfare. The NHBPA has been offering health and welfare benefits for over 40 years for our members, which also include vision, benevolence, same thing. Those are in financial hardship, medics, health insurance, old age assistance, and even life insurance. But with each and every year, adjusting the split is putting a hardship on them. The standard bed program is more of offering a savings plan to mass and non-mass residents, drivers and trainers, with a minimum number of stars invested for only five years. Our focus is on New England Hawks and those stables on the ground and with significant years of service. The current split has reduced our ability to meet our obligation, and it's becoming more and more unstable with today's pandemic. On the standard beds faced with the same problem, they have the ability to put their savings plan on hold and changes in the revenue stream only affects the dividends they pay out. Whereas our thoroughbreds were committed to pay out our members today. How do we tell our members, depending on those benefits that they've been receiving checks for years, and depending on them, we are now going to further reduce the program and perhaps eliminate their benefits altogether. If the committee's objective is to stabilize and promote the sport of racing in Massachusetts for both the thoroughbreds and standard beds, the best decision it can make now is to make no adjustments against the thoroughbreds. In fact, I've just made a case I felt, excuse me, in favor to adjust the foot, oh my God, to adjust the split in favor of the thoroughbreds, I apologize. If the committee chooses not to split the buckets out, then no action should be taken to further reduce the split based on 2019 staff and data provided. I thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Umbrella. Our next speaker is Mr. Anthony Spadea, and you may need to press star six and I apologize if I did not pronounce your last name correctly. No problem. Thank you, treatment for sterile. My name is Anthony Spadea, Jr. I am the current president of the New England HPPA and have been for the past 10 years. Racing has been a passion of mine for the last 50 years. I've been racing thoroughbreds and breeding thoroughbreds in Massachusetts for 50 years. I've done with the same trainer for 50 years. My primary concern that is being the president is because of what our benefits provide for people that have spent their entire life training thoroughbreds. You've received a numerous amount of letters from people that are thoroughbred trainers that have given 40, 50, 60 years of their life. Most of these people have been unfortunately unable to have a 401K, to have savings for retirement, to have an IRA, to have any form of retirement benefits because of the creation of the Race Off Development Fund and because of the ability of the New England HPPA to have a caring heart for these people, we have formed different benefit programs that some of these people in the letters you receive is a matter of living and not existent. The stipend that we provide and have provided since this benefit program was enacted is allowed many of these people to live, pay their rent, buy food. To change any of that revenue at the present time would be devastating. As you all realize, what's going on in our country throughout the world today, we're seeing many, many people unable to work or unable to exist. What we've also experienced and you know better than me, the casinos are not providing any revenue to either breathe. We get nothing, the standard bread gets nothing. We have had to make do with the revenue that we have tried to manage properly so that we would not be shutting off these life-changing benefits to our members. We have through our tax returns, through our reporting to the commission, you have seen and you know very well why we've tried to spend our money because we do not want this benefit to end. We know how important it is to these members and their family. Casinos, when they are reopened, as we all know, the last five months before they closed, revenues were down tremendously. We've all had to manage our money more wisely because of the reduction. Casinos are going to take several years hoping to get back to what they were before they were closed. The revenue is going to automatically shrink. In any shrinkage and benefit programs, to either group would be devastating, more so because our benefits right now are being paid to people that have given their lives to our industry. I only wish there was enough money that everybody would have money to do what they're looking to do. Somebody mentioned before, there are four current people interested in building a facility that would house a racetrack that we've all been waiting for. I'm only hoping that this will become a reality and one of these groups will succeed. I think you will hear a little later in the day about another group that is coming forward that has an idea about building a facility. As the president of the New England HBPA, for the last 10 years, I only hope to maintain benefits that will allow our retirees to maintain a livable in existence right now with the benefits we do provide. I thank you for your time. Thank you very much. The next speaker on our list is Mr. Allen Foreman. Mr. Foreman, you may need to press star six on your phone in order for you to be heard. Actually, can anybody hear me? Or am I muted? There you go, we can hear you now. No, this is Paul Umbrella, I sent Sharon email. Allen could not make it today. He was stuck on a prior commitment. Okay, all right. Thank you, sir. And Matt Clark is trying to get off star six mute, so I don't know if you want to give him another shot. Well, is he presently on the line? Oh, he is, but he keeps, I've been texting him. He's hitting star six, but it doesn't seem to unmute. So, I don't know if we want to try one more time, at least to get him back in the queue or move on. I'll see if I can unmute all for a moment. Let me see if I can figure that one out. 5-E, you know what I'm saying. Everyone is unmuted at this time. So everybody, but Matt should hit star six. Mr. Clark, are you there? Mr. Clark? So, I don't think he's, it doesn't appear that he's on the line at this time. So, moving on with respect to the list of speakers, I'd call upon Mr. John Grosse, and as a reminder, you'd have to hit star six in order for you to be heard. Mr. Grosse, are you there? Can you hear me? There we go. Okay, yes. Now I can hear you. Right. Hello, everybody. My name is John Grosse, the owner of John Grosse's Raising Corporation and Managing Partner of the Raleigh Association. I'm the partner of the Raleigh Group. I love you. We're in efforts of 18 Unicorn Street and New Bray Permanent Services. Thank you for allowing me to speak today on behalf of the president of our state. The Raleigh Group, excuse me, I hear some background. I don't know if everybody's muted, except for myself. I'm going around muting everybody. Okay. Thank you, Sharra. I know I don't have any kids anymore, so I don't have anything to say on this. Okay. Thank you for allowing me to speak today on behalf of bringing back the reparation to our state. The Raleigh Group is an entity which I have already made substantial investments. We are in the process of successfully generating interest with other investors in developing and operating a racetrack within the borders of Massachusetts. Over the last 40 years, I have successfully owned and operated multiple businesses and properties in the New England area. At a very young age, I always had a passion for thoroughbred racing. From the first time I watched a live race to the present. That excitement and passion still exists. Over 34 years of my racing business, John Grassley's Racing Corp. Raced in breeds, hundreds of thoroughbreds that can be seen running from self-law the Salatoga. For the last two years, my team and myself has been 100% committed in our passion and bringing back thoroughbred racing in our state. As you know, building a state-of-the-art track with a secure safety in the horse ride is a very experienced undertaking. It takes serious people with serious committed investors. As we put together our pro-formers, P&Ls and other financial data to secure a successful racetrack, takes a lot of revenue streams. I would not even be speaking today if it wasn't for the generosity which was implemented by the Racehawk Horse Development Fund. The security of this fund is extremely vital to the success of making the numbers work. I am afraid and any alteration of the Racehawk's Development Fund would discourage me potential investors, including myself, to continue our journey to bring back thoroughbred racing. I also speak to a lot of people up and down the East Coast as I run. They're all willing to come back, but again, we have to make it feasible for these investors to build the track. And if we continue to discourage them by reducing the split on the thoroughbred side, I'm sure it's gonna discourage a lot of people and it will never happen. Thank you for your time and I hope we can get something done today. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Attorney Robert Scorano, Attorney Scorano. Yes, thank you. My name's Robert Scorano. I'm attorney practicing in Massachusetts. My office is in Cooksbury, Massachusetts and I represent a group of investors associated with John Grosse and the Raleigh Group, LLC. I am appearing here today in opposition of a further adjustment to the split. I know that Mr. Rambarillo touched upon just some of the issues related to the split being detrimental to the industry as a whole. I fully expect to address just a couple of issues not to be redundant, but Massachusetts is unique. It has a cluster of standard breads and thoroughbreds. This is unique not only to Massachusetts but to many other parts of the country. They simply do not have the basis of standard bread and thoroughbred racing. And the risk is the loss of any portion of what comprises a very unique situation that's been addressed by the legislature considerably in maintaining open spaces and coming up with a policy and legislation that backs that policy. Today, the policy before you in a policy decision is the fact that they're asking, and I mean the standard breads, for considerably more money and that will change the investment-backed expectations of anyone seeking to enter the market in Massachusetts. The policies state specific here will trigger changes in agriculture. They will trigger changes in the way people operate on their farms. They will be shifting from possibly two of the most prolific breeding programs to a single breeding program for the standard breads. And I don't know, and as an opinion, I don't believe that I notice any other jurisdictions of just surviving on one aspect of racing. Generally, when that happens, industries get absorbed. As I suspect, after a number of years, having entirely decimated the Racial Development Fund, the standard breads will be subject to being absorbed by other states. Bifurcating a system that's worked for a number of years seems a little premature in as much as the thoroughbred industry is seeking to come back aboard. There are several groups that are seeking to come to Massachusetts. Each dollar that is taken from the thoroughbred side and moved to the standard bred side will only detract and only defeat those investment-based expectations of the Racial Development Fund and the gaming statute. Those were designed for people to rely on. Those were designed as something that would move forward in unison. This shift in dollars from one group to the other obviously will detract from this industry. There's nothing been said today that indicates that it's going to enhance the industry. So I rise in opposition of any further split. I think you've heard great arguments on both sides, but I will say sudden changes in policy for the changes in agriculture and distribution. Thank you. Good time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Mr. William Legorio. Mr. Legorio. Hi. How are you doing, Mr. Chair? Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Okay. Well, good morning. My name is William Legorio. I'm president of the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Husbands Association. We're located on Squire, Rotary, and Mass. We're the second group. We're one of two thoroughbred husbands groups currently operating in the Commonwealth and we represent over 600 husbands owners and trainers throughout the Commonwealth. We've been actively seeking out a location for a new thoroughbred racetrack and our efforts have been with the Rowley Group LLC, where we have a 280-acre parcel, which is 29 miles north of Suffolk Downs off of I-95. We think it's a great location. However, the process is a long, slow climb. Seeking town approval is just the beginning in the form of a town hall vote, town hall vote continuing to work with federal legislation on Beacon Hill as a second part. And as John Grosse and Bob Scranow-Piedon keeping investors on board, knowing that the necessary pieces are all still in place. We estimate the trackable cost between $60 and $70 million, a significant investment for anybody. In order to make that investment a reasonable one for anybody, we need to have escrowed purse monies of at least two or three years available. We fully understand that in order to protect the fund, we need to get a shovel in the ground on a new facility and we're working very hard to do that. The COVID-19 virus has basically shut down the cities and towns statewide. And as a result, our project is on a pause, like many things are on a pause. We're waiting to resume as soon as Governor Baker sees fit, we're all willing to follow his guidelines. Let me make it clear that both the Thurberd Husbands Groups are united in the cause of restoring, the cause of restoring full-time racing and we support any and all projects that can achieve that. The meeting that follows this one is to revisit the split of funds. We're currently sitting at 6535 in favor of the standard breads. That's a direct result of the current state of Thurberd racing. The 65% jump is a big jump from the original 25% setback in 2014. And as a result, the everyday prices for the standard breads have gone from 27,600 a day to 86,000, almost 900 a day in 2019. The problem here is that the metrics don't show any significant growth in the interest of the sport. The live everyday on track handle has gone from 13,521 in 2014 to 14,236 in 2019. We've added 60,000 in everyday prices and only produced an additional $715 in live on track handle. The numbers simply don't add up here and the live handle in 2019 is down 4% from 2018. While Penn National Gaming played a role in expanding their export signal which is their signal going out from 80,000 a day in 2014 to $162,000 a day in 2017, where it peaked, those numbers are down in 2018 and 2019. A good comparison of the two industries will take us to 2013 when both tracks ran an 80 day full time meet and there was no fun. The on track handle at Glamrs was a million 79,000. Suffolk was 6,400,000. A live signal out export at Glamrs was 10,002 and at Suffolk was 59,007,000. The average combined handle at Grand Glamrs was 141,009 a day and at Suffolk was 826,500 a day. Thurbert handle was six times the standard hand. These industry trends haven't changed the advent of the resource development fund as was demonstrated in 2018 when Glamrs had a total season on track handle at Grand Glamrs for 110 days of racing and Suffolk Downs had a total season handle of 1,007,000 with eight days of racing. The numbers just don't justify seeking out additional funds at this time. I would agree that the standard bread or thoroughbred as standard breads and thoroughbreds, we are all husband and as husband, we welcome the addition of the fund. But the idea that our S grows monies puts the fund in jeopardy is simply not true. The thoroughbreds were the engine behind the legislation that created the fund. And we all need to work together to give the Commonwealth the return on investment they had envisioned. I ask that the committee holds sway on the split, allow potential projects to move forward and allow potential track investors to maintain interest in these projects. And I thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much, Mr. Lagorio. Our next speaker is attorney Patrick Hanley. Attorney Hanley. Hi, how are you? Good morning, Chairman Fitzgerald, members of the racing committee. My name is Patrick Hanley. I'm an attorney in Boston with the Law Firm Barters Brazilian at 699 Boyle Street. I'm here representing Armand Genjigian and the Genjigian Group. The Genjigian Group is developing a thoroughbred horse park and racetrack on 225 acres in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. And although the Genjigian Group itself will not directly receive any of the funding that is the subject of this meeting, I am here to ask that you maintain the current split between the standardbred and thoroughbred associations. This year's decision will rip all out for several years to come. And maintaining the current funding split is critical to attracting investment because as soon as next year, if all goes well, these funds will be needed to provide large purses to draw competitive forces to the racetrack that I'm here representing. This year, these funds will encourage breeding of competitive horses now so that when our track opens or perhaps one of the competitor tracks opens, that there will be a stable of competitive horses ready to race in Massachusetts for years to come. With respect to the project I'm representing, the Genjigian Group has begun development already, investing substantial amounts of money, securing beautiful property in Sturbridge, on which to build a horse farm and racetrack, generating local interest and working with local officials to gain approval, working with the necessary design professionals, including engineers, attorneys, and racing professionals to build the racetrack they need to work within the law to do that. They're engaging with potential partners and investors and they're laying the foundation more recently now with the Gaming Commission and the Racing Commission to work with them on this project. But developing investors and partners is not done. The Genjigian Group is in talks with individuals with deep racing experience. We expect to come to terms with some of these racing professionals in the months to come. Your recommendation to the Gaming Commission as to the split impacts the ability of the Genjigian Groups and other potential Tharbrad racetrack operators to attract investors and partners to the project. It will be an unnecessary obstacle now to development to modify the split. As to purses, assuming that the local and Gaming Commission approval of forthcoming in the fall, we plan to move aggressively to hold live races next summer. The minimum investment, as Mr. Logorio said, for a project like this is in the tens of millions of dollars. Critically, a new racetrack will need large purses to attract competitive races. Likewise, with respect to breeding, the development fund that you distribute impacts of breeding now of horses that we hope will race two to three years into the future. In other words, these immediate decisions have long-term consequences for development. We would like the opportunity, we in the Standard Brake community, we'd like the opportunity to enjoy the success that Plain Ridge Park has enjoyed and that the Standard Brake community has enjoyed as well and we wish them well whenever the live racing continues. And just to be clear, we don't want to be seen as pitting the Standard Bread against the Thoroughbred community, it's just an opportunity for success. To be clear, these funds that I'm asking that with the split remain, we'll never go into the pockets of the Gen-Gen-Gen group, but we see these funds as going to the Mass Breeders and the NEHBPA as critical to our collective success. With the development of the Gen-Gen-Gen groups, new Thoroughbred race track on the horizon and the pandemic halting all racing in the short term, now is not the time for change to the split of the funds. Any change now would be more detrimental to the future of Thoroughbred racing. The current split right now is consistent with the letter in the spirit of General Law 23K Section 60, which is development. And now investors need the escrowed purse money incentive and a message from this committee that it supports the development of the Thoroughbred racing community in Massachusetts. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee and I wish you all good health and staying safe. Thank you very much. Our last speaker is Dr. Eric Dixon. Dr. Dixon, if you're on the line, you would need to press star six in order for you to be heard. All right, can you hear me now? There you are, yep, great. My name is Eric Dixon. I own a farm in Princeton, Massachusetts. I'm also an emergency physician here in Worcester at UMass Memorial Medical Center. I'm gonna speak today on behalf of racehorse owners and breeders, especially in and around the standard bred industry. We breed standard breads on our farm in Princeton. I'd love to someday breed Thoroughbreds as well, it just doesn't make sense at this point for us to do so, given that we don't have a venue here in Massachusetts to race horses. The Racehorse Development Fund is a seed fund designed to create a quality stakes program and purse for racing, such that people like myself will invest money in breeding and owning horses with a chance, at least a chance of a reasonable return. And this is money we could invest in the New York industry or elsewhere, but because we have a great venue here with Plain Ridge in Massachusetts, I choose to invest that money here as do many other owners. That investment coupled with the seed money from the Racehorse Development Fund creates jobs in hay sales, equipment sales, truck sales and keeps people working in terms of taking care of the horses and training the horses. And I need to be clear that the state's intent is not to create handle, but to create green space and jobs from this. And if you look at the money that has been put in to the Standard Bread Fund, we have given the state a great return on investment. We see the crop of horses go up every year, that means more farms, that means more hay, that means more grain sales. And that's what the people of Massachusetts want. They wanna see this money invested in a way that there is a return on investment. And I believe that the committee's obligation to assure that the dollars are put into something that is going to get a return on investment for the citizens of Massachusetts. I love thoroughbreds, I've owned thoroughbreds. I hope again, someday we'll have a great venue in Massachusetts to raise thoroughbreds and we'll have that money to put in place a great stakes program, but that's not likely to happen in the next couple of years. Given where the economy is and the effect of coronavirus on casinos, which is the primary source of money for potentially doing this, who's gonna lay down $60 or $70 million now to build a thoroughbred race track given where this economy is and the instability related to the industry right now. And so I don't, this is not standard brand owners versus thoroughbred owners. All of us love both breeds and all of us wanna see both industries thrive. And but in order for that to happen, we have to continue to the show the state of Massachusetts a return on investment of the money that they are putting into this fund. And right now that return is coming from the standard bread industry. And I'd like you to take that into consideration as the committee makes the important decision about what the split is. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. Thank you very much. That concludes our speakers for the day. I would call upon the members of the committee if they do have any questions that they had for any of the speakers at this time. Mr. Chair, this is Gail Cameron. I do not have a question, but I do have a comment. I would just like to thank all of the speakers. They were tremendously respectful of one another, tremendously respectful and understanding the need for both industries to survive. So I just want to compliment our group of speakers for a, sticking to their time, having an important message to share with this committee and the respect that we've shown. Thank you very much. Does any other committee member have a question or comment that they'd like to make before we conclude the hearing? Okay. Just to reiterate the comments that Commissioner Cameron just made, I do want to thank all of the speakers as well as those individuals who submitted their public written comments. As I said before, and I'll say it again, it's very invaluable in terms of your input for the decisions that we have to make. And I appreciate all of your time and effort that you've put into your collective presentations and as well as the respect that Evolve displayed in accommodating the time since sticking to the time period that we've set forth. So we- Brian, you still with us? Okay, are you there? Yep, sorry. Okay. We'll reconvene our meeting at 1130 and we'll close out the public hearing at this time.