By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

OWENSVILLE, Ohio — For the first time in more than 20 years, there was no harness racing card at this year’s Hamilton County Fair in Ohio. For the first time in nearly a decade, harness racing was also absent from the Clermont County Fair.

Michael Woebkenburg, a Preble County farmer who raced Standardbreds for 15 years before giving it up, felt the pinch while racing his horses at Lebanon Raceway in Ohio.

“What the state of Ohio doesn’t understand is that the only ag product that Ohio led the nation in was Standardbred horses,” he said. “Because of all the enhanced gambling venues in Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia, our purses are declining and the better horses are leaving the state – thus, the better horsemen are leaving the state as well.

“We don’t sell our horses over a set of scales, so the legislators don‘t see the real numbers and the impact of this industry.”
Ohio’s decline is especially alarming because other states that have turned down expanded gambling in the past are accepting the reality of its direct correlation to the health of the equine industry and as a viable government-funding source. For example, last year horse racing contributed more than $880 million to Ohio’s economy.

Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Robert Boggs visited the Clermont County Fair last month and weighed in on the decline of racing in Ohio.

“I’m not supporting gambling or saying we should have it, but we need to work with the horse industry to help raise purses to help the Standardbred industry in Ohio,” he said.

“If the purse per race is $15,000 in Indiana and just $4,000 in Ohio, it only makes sense these horsemen will cross the border to go where the money is. We’re losing our breeding stock and losing our trainers and if we don’t do something, it’ll take a long time to get these people back.”

But horsemen in Ohio aren’t waiting for politicians to rescue them. In an attempt to overcome numerous challenges, members of Ohio’s horse community have formed the Ohio Equine Industry Coalition (OEIC).

The organization, designed to include all breeds and disciplines, was formed by a “steering committee” made up of representatives from the Ohio Quarter Horse Assoc., the Ohio Horsemen’s Council, the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Assoc., the Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners, the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assoc. and a representative from the draft horse community. The OEIC will focus on advocacy, education and publicity, representing an industry that accounts for more than $1.4 billion in goods and services.

“In today’s Ohio, more kids are growing up on concrete than on dirt, and kids are more likely to learn about computer programming than animal sciences,” said acting steering committee Chair Dr. John Mossbarger.

“The OEIC is a critical step for the horse industry to tell its story to a wide audience. Oftentimes it feels like our messages are falling on deaf ears, but we have no choice in the industry but to keep repeating ourselves, in the hopes Ohioans will start to understand we’re not just crying wolf.”

Thoroughbred owners, too, are feeling the same pinch as their Standardbred friends.

“We’re all together in this battle,” said Gayle Babst, executive director of the Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners. She has been at that post for 25 years.

“It’s the decline of the equine industry, to include Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds,” she said. “We’re surrounded by states that have casinos and those casinos give support to these industries in the way of better purses. People in Ohio are realizing they have to leave the state for these bigger purses in order to survive. Our farms are closing and our mares are moving out of state for the breeding programs.

“I think gambling is a big part of it, and re-introducing horse racing to the public is needed. I think we lost some of our fan base because there’s other things competing for that entertainment dollar. Unless you’re raised in this business, it’s hard being the new fan in.”

This problem has a trickle-down effect. Lowered attendance at commercial tracks means less money for county fair operations and races. The Ohio legislature created the Fairs Fund in 1957. State contributions to county fair operations through the Ohio Fairs Fund have declined by nearly $1 million since 2000 as a result of less betting activity at Ohio’s seven commercial horse race tracks.
Twelve percent of Ohio’s Fair Fund money is distributed among Ohio’s county and independent fair operators. “This is real money that our Ohio fairs count on,” Mossbarger said.

Another newly created effort to save this industry from further decline is the website “Save Ohio Horse Racing.” It was created to help communicate the shared interests of horse racing supporters in the state. Agriculture, sport and business interests are united to pursue solutions that will improve economic conditions for Ohio horse racing, at www.saveohioracing.com

This website shows trends in horse racing and wagering nationwide, and how they affect Ohio. It also brings together the voices of key individuals involved in Ohio horse racing to share ground-level perspectives on the issues of the day.