Thoroughbreds Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Horse Body Found In Landfill, Prompting Questions About Racing Industry

A former West Virginia horse racing commissioner says photos posted online of a euthanized thoroughbred racing horse surrounded by trash in a landfill should be a wakeup call for state leaders.

Bill Phillips served for years on the commission before being replaced by Gov. Jim Justice in 2017. He told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that the commission is underfunded and understaffed.

The commission’s executive director, Joe Moore, said the thoroughbred named Bridget Moloney was catastrophically injured during a September race and couldn’t be saved. He said there are no state rules for the disposal of racehorse remains, but Mountaineer Park Racetrack has procedures, and he says they weren’t followed in this case.

The commission took no formal action against the track, and a sheriff’s investigation ruled out animal cruelty.

More Than a Decade Later, W.Va. Legislature Fulfills Promise to Racing Industry

After almost 15 years doing without, revenue dollars are flowing back into West Virginia’s horse and dog racing industries. The legislature came through on a promise made more than a decade ago, and men and women within the racing industry are excited at the possibility of a boom in business. As part of our occasional series, “Effective from Passage,” we explore the potential effects of Senate Bill 13 (SB 13), which went into effect last week.

One of Jefferson County, West Virginia’s top three lead trainers is Tim Grams. He and his wife Judy run Grams Racing Stable in Charles Town.

They have 50 horses on their farm and 40 horses at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. A good portion of those horses belong to clients, but most belong to the Grams.

“We work with all of them every day,” Tim Grams said. “We get up probably right around 4:30 in the morning. My wife, she gets to the racetrack before I do and checks out everything. My wife gets the whole operation started in the morning before I get there.”

Grams and his wife have been doing this work since 1989, and they employ about 14 people in their training operation. This year, Grams’ horse named Runnin’toluvya won a major race called the Charles Town Classic. Grams’ horse was the first West Virginia horse to win the title since its inception in 2009.

The Charles Town Classic is what’s called a Grade II race, which falls just behind a Grade I race, like the Kentucky Derby. The Charles Town Classic was awarded Grade II status in 2012.

Tim Grams’ horse Runnin’toluvya won the 2019 Charles Town Classic.

Trainers like Grams, as well as breeders, owners, groomers, jockeys, veterinarians, and several more could feel the effects of SB 13.

The bill returns $11 million annually to the state’s four racetracks.

Charles Town Races in Jefferson County and Mountaineer Park in Hancock County race thoroughbreds, while Mardi Gras in Kanawha County and Wheeling Island in Ohio County race greyhounds.

That $11 million will be divided and given to each track throughout the next year on a monthly basis, and it will continue every year after unless the West Virginia Legislature decides otherwise.

The funds can be used to support more race days or employ new people or potentially provide raises. It could help support more breeders, and it can affect the winnings on a horse or dog. Grams believes it could also provide incentive for more people in the industry to do business in West Virginia.

“I really think that that’s going to bring owners back into this business,” Grams explained. “There’ll be more opportunities to race with extra days, and already with the legislation passing, you can already see that the tempo [has] changed around here, and people seem a little bit more relaxed, because they’re not worrying about stuff every day.”

“More than anything, it was the legislature honoring a commitment,” Senate Finance Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said. Blair was the lead sponsor of SB 13.

More than a decade ago, in 2005, West Virginia faced a large deficit – the state’s Workers Compensation Debt Reduction Fund was $4 billion in the hole. Blair said, at the time, the state Legislature was looking for ways they could fill that hole, and they looked to areas like the racing industry.

“They were just a pot of money sitting out there that could be reached into to help fund that $4 billion unfunded liability,” Blair explained.

The legislature pulled from other industries, too, such as coal, but lawmakers promised that once the debt was paid off, they would no longer tap into those revenue streams.

And that’s eventually what happened. The racing industry is the last one to see dollars returned.

Grams said the lost dollars over that 14-year period affected his business and many others, because fewer people were coming to West Virginia to breed, train, or race.

“Probably the first couple years, it wasn’t that big of a change. But after that, they look over and see Maryland’s doing great, Pennsylvania’s doing great, and the next thing, they take their mares from your farm. So, with all the other business up and starting to thrive, our revenue as a whole, it went down,” Grams said. “So, you know, it was harder to bring people in the state when we didn’t have the money, and we didn’t have anything to offer them.”

And SB 13 faced some pushback within the legislature. A handful of lawmakers tried to reroute the $11 million to support education.

But Blair argued the revenue wasn’t the legislature’s to bargain with anymore since the workers comp debt had been paid off.

“My number one reason was to keep the legislature’s promise,” Blair explained. “But the number two is, [the racing industry] is an economic engine that drives both tourism and the entertainment industry…but then agriculture as well.”

The most recent economic impact study done on West Virginia’s racing industry was conducted by West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research in 2014.

It found that the thoroughbred and greyhound racing industries in West Virginia contribute more than $320 million annually to the state’s economy and supports 7,300 jobs.

W.Va.'s Racing Industry Fights to Survive Amid Years of Teetering State Backing

The dog and horse racing industries have played a major role in West Virginia’s economy since the mid-1930s. But in recent years, lawmakers at the statehouse have debated whether these industries fit into the state’s economic future. Those who support the racing industry are fighting to see it survive, while others say it doesn’t bring in revenue like it once did.

Nearly Ninety Years of Racing in W.Va.

Five thoroughbred horses spring from the gates in a nighttime race at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town. Thoroughbred horse racing in West Virginia began here in 1933 when Charles Town Races first opened.

Jefferson County is also home to the oldest thoroughbred breeding farm in the state, O’Sullivan Farms. Many of the horses born and raised here go on to race at the Hollywood Casino or other racetracks around the world.

John Funkhouser is the Farm Manager and co-owner of O’Sullivan Farms. His great-grandfather founded the business in 1939, and eventually passed it on to John’s grandparents.

“At the end of the 40s, early 50s, my grandmother came out to the farm where we are now, and she bought this farm with her own money,” Funkhouser said.

John Funkhouser tends to a young foal with its mother.

Today, John, his brother Joe, and their parents keep the place going along with the help of six to twelve employees.

The Funkhousers have seen hundreds of horses go in and out of their gates over the past eight decades. And several of their horses have been champion racers. One made it into third place in one of the Triple Crown races— the Preakness Stakes— in 1939.

One of the eight stallions at O’Sullivan Farms.

Today, they have eight stallions, 42 broodmares, 46 yearlings and foals, and nearly 150 acres of farmland. About one of every four horses living on the farm belongs to clients from all over the country.

“There’s so much beauty in raising these horses,” Funkhouser said. “When you finally get that horse that you’ve been raising and breeding for five years, and it does well, [it’s] not much more gratifying than that.”

But it’s a tough industry, and it’s expensive.

Funding a Pricey Industry

A horsemen family like the Funkhousers rely heavily on state funding to keep their operation going. State funds pay for things like feeding and caring for the horses, helping pay bet winnings, paying jockeys and other staff.

A mare with her foal at O’Sullivan Farms.

The state’s racing industry is supported in a variety of ways, but the West Virginia Legislature supports the industry mainly through three accounts—the Greyhound Breeding Development Fund, the Thoroughbred Development Fund, and the Purse Fund.

The Purse Fund is the biggest. Each year, a certain portion of tax dollars and casino revenue goes into this fund. The cash mostly comes from video lottery, table games, and betting at the state’s four casinos.

But the Purse Fund has dropped over the years—from about $75 million four or five years ago to about $40 million in 2018.

The Greyhound and Thoroughbred Development Funds have both received between $1 million and $2 million less over the past four years.

These three accounts are directly linked to how well a casino performs each year.

And given the decline in casino revenue, some lawmakers question the remaining investment in the racing industries. But those who support the industry argue horse and dog races at the state’s casinos are key to keeping those casinos competitive with surrounding states.

Support or Opposition from the State of W.Va.

The Funkhousers and others in the racing industry constantly worry that funding from the state will continue to dwindle.

“Every year, for the last eight years, we’ve gotten less and less money from what we’ve been promised,” Funkhouser said. “But because you’ve got a legislature that doesn’t fully understand the industry, they’ve taken a successful industry that was hugely successful seven or eight years ago, and now it’s on the brink of collapsing.”

The 2017 state Legislative session was a tough budget year, with a $450 million shortfall. In that year, budget allocations for several industries, including the Greyhound Breeding Development Fund, were almost eliminated. There were concerns the same thing might be considered for the Thoroughbred Development Fund.

During the 2018 regular session though, continued funding for the state’s two racing industries was not in jeopardy. There was even a bill to help them get more money. That bill passed unanimously in the state Senate, but didn’t make it out of the House Finance Committee.

Jefferson County Delegate Riley Moore is passionate about the horse racing industry in his region, and he hopes to see state support for the racing industries restored back to a more competitive place.

He argues the industry is good for West Virginia—that it supports green space, tourism, and boosts the economy.

“As important as the coal industry is to other parts of the state, that is the level of importance the horse racing industry, the thoroughbred industry, is for Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle at large,” Moore said. “That is our coal industry here. That is the long term industry that is one of our biggest employers here. So it’s certainly huge for the area and for the state of West Virginia.”

Thoroughbred horses spring from the gates in a race at the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, W.Va.

But other lawmakers think it’s a bad investment because it doesn’t bring in enough revenue for the entire state like it did in previous decades.

Delegate Eric Nelson, the House Finance Chairman, said he’s sympathetic to the struggle of the racing industry, but has concerns the industry is declining and fewer people are attending races.

So, in tough budget years, he said state funding can’t always be guaranteed. “It’s a big balancing act,” Nelson noted. “[The racing industry] means more to some of those districts that actually see the full component of that, but then there are many other areas of state that don’t get the full benefit or see the full benefit of that, and there’s concerns about the priorities of dollars and where they should go.”

The Racing Industry’s Impact

An economic impact study done by West Virginia University in 2012 indicates that declines in attendance has affected the amount of cash going into the funds, impacting the level of state revenue accrued each year.

The report found that the industry brings in roughly $4.5 million in total state tax revenue annually.

A foal with its mother at O’Sullivan Farms.

Charles Town Races accounts for nearly 50 percent of the total business impact from the state’s racing industries. Mountaineer Park in Hancock County accounts for 30 percent, and the two greyhound tracks, Mardi Gras in Cross Lanes and Wheeling Island in Wheeling, together contribute about 10 percent of total business volume impact.

The 2012 study also indicates the thoroughbred and greyhound racing industries in West Virginia contribute more than $320 million in total business volume to the state’s economy.

That’s 7,300 jobs, which is about 10 percent of employment in West Virginia’s leisure and hospitality sector.

A more recent economic impact study on the state’s racing industry has not been conducted.