New Jersey alliance pleads case to Corzine

January 24, 2008

The New Jersey Horse Alliance sent the following letter on Thursday to Governor Jon Corzine in hopes of prompting corrective action to begin on what it termed in that letter a "fiscal crisis" in the state:

Dear Governor Corzine,

The horse industry in New Jersey realizes that you and your staff are very busy trying to correct the fiscal crisis that you inherited when you took office. On a much smaller scale, we are faced with our own fiscal crisis that you promised to help with, as early as last summer; and have repeatedly reaffirmed that viewpoint. This included the private meeting held with Dennis Drazin, Thomas Luchento and other industry leaders, legislators and members of your cabinet at Drumthwacket.

Frankly, the Horse Industry Alliance is puzzled and disappointed with the lack of progress to date. We are now entering into the fourth week of 2008 without a supplement or commitment from the casino industry; this has necessitated both Freehold Raceway and the state�s own track, the Meadowlands, to lower purses effective the first of February to levels that will not allow our industry to remain competitive with surrounding states. Thoroughbred horsemen will not return to Monmouth Park from their winter training centers in the south and from other states without a viable, competitive purse structure; and the Standardbred horsemen will be shipping out to Ontario, Chicago and Pennsylvania in search of purses that will allow them to feed their families and pay their staff a decent wage.

We are not �crying wolf�; a real and imminent disaster is about to happen in New Jersey.

If the lowered purse structure remains as reported yesterday, the Meadowlands will have to cancel the premier events scheduled at the track. Races like the Hambletonian and Breeders Crown will need to find a venue outside of New Jersey, to hold these and hundreds of stakes races that bring the best horses in the world to our tracks. Horsemen could no longer allow the large expenditure from purse accounts needed to support these world class events that bring national attention to our great state.

This is a sobering thought for all involved. We are on the edge of collapse of the entire horse industry in New Jersey. Non-racing entities which currently thrive in New Jersey, would inadequately be able to support the top-shelf infrastructure the entire $4 billion industry supports.

We need your attention to our plight and we need it to happen now, while there is still an industry to save.

Very truly yours,

Thomas F. Luchento, president, SBOA of NJ
Dennis Drazin, president, THA
Karyn Malinowski, Ph.D., director, Rutgers University Equine Science Center

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