Horse trainer leaves for greener pastures

GIDDINGS, Texas (AP)--Racing trainer Janet Van Bebber watched intently as a pair of 2-year-old quarter horses galloped around her training center's track one recent afternoon.

Van Bebber was in an all-too-familiar race of her own that day. She began her morning in Vinton, La., where she now lives and operates another training center. With her daughter, Taylor Ann, she drove to Giddings, met with owners and watched horses work. She returned to Vinton that night. The next afternoon--following school and Taylor Ann's basketball game--she drove to Louisiana Downs in Bossier City to race over the next four days.

In 2005, Van Bebber made a critical business decision. She moved from Texas to Louisiana to race horses.

"I love being a Texan, and I waited as long as I could wait," Van Bebber said. "It's not just me, but my owners wanted to participate in the more lucrative races."

Van Bebber has trained five world champion racing quarter horses, and she has ranked in the top five of the American Quarter Horse Association's trainers poll since 2000.

Van Bebber keeps 100 horses in training. When she made the move to Louisiana, she took some of her employees and a business that costs about $80,000 a month to run. She estimated that she can spend $5,000 to $7,000 alone in feed monthly.

"That's why I have to get out and hustle. I've got too many people counting on me to make a living," she said.

She also wanted to participate as a breeder in the larger purses offered to Louisiana-bred horses.

"Consequently, I'm unable to support the Texas program," said Van Bebber, who had been entrenched in the Texas racing industry since moving to Giddings in 1995.

"That saddens me greatly, because I spent 10 years on the board of directors of the Texas Quarter Horse Association," she added.

She still participates in race meets on a limited basis at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie and Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.

Van Bebber has been a strong voice in the horsemen's struggle to bring video lottery terminals, commonly called VLTs, to Texas' race tracks.

"I made a lot of trips to Austin, spoke before the House and subcommittee--pleading with them about my plight," she said.

Jimmy Eller, owner of Granada Farms, a breeding farm in Wheelock, has been another vocal proponent of VLT legislation.

"Once again, we are proponents of VLTs at race tracks and not full-blown casino gambling," said Eller. "The biggest benefit from our state would be the revenue and taxes that would be received from wagering amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars per year--if not a billion dollars per year, which is what has been estimated."

He said Texans are gambling by the thousands in Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas. At one time, he said, a governor of Louisiana was quoted as saying 95 percent of their business comes from Texas.

Eller's business has suffered from the exodus. Today, he stands five stallions for breeding purposes, compared with 12 stallions 10 years ago. He's also down to 16 full-time employees, compared with 22 just four years ago.

In 1987, Texans voted to legalize parimutuel wagering. Texas has five horse racing tracks: Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Retama Park in Selma, Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Manor Downs in Austin and Gillespie County Fair and Festival in Fredericksburg. A sixth has been approved for the Rio Grande Valley.

The racing industry experienced steady growth after parimutuel wagering was introduced in Texas. The tracks--along with ancillary industries such as feed stores, farriers, trailer manufacturers, veterinarians and barn and fence builders--contributed to the economy and the tax coffers of the state.

However, the growth ended and the exodus began when bordering states passed VLT legislation

"When that started happening, the incentive for race horse owners was to go race in those states," Eller said. "Not only for the purses themselves, but for the breeding industry."

Rob Werstler, director of racing at the Texas Quarter Horse Association, said he hears a lot of people say "we shouldn't subsidize (with VLTs) a dying industry. Well, it's not dying. It's just moving out of state."

Werstler said the decline really became obvious in 2006. As late as 2004, owners bred their mares in Texas confident that VLT legislation would be passed in 2005, bolstering Texas-bred purses, he said.

When that failed, owners knew they had to wait till the 2007 legislative session. Owners and breeders have since had to decide where to breed mares for the most potential profit.

"It's economically unfeasible to breed horses in Texas anymore," Werstler said.

A purse for a win in a maiden race run in Louisiana for a Louisiana-bred horse can total $18,500, with 60 percent going to the owner of the first-place horse. In Texas, it's $5,500 for a Texas-bred win in a maiden race with a 60 percent payout to the winner, Werstler said.

According to the Texas Racing Commission, there are a total of 148 thoroughbred, 88 quarter horse and 26 mixed (thoroughbred and quarter horse) races scheduled at the five existing tracks in 2007.

Those numbers are down from 2006, when the five tracks ran a total of 189 thoroughbred, 94 quarter horse and 26 mixed races.

The three largest tracks all showed a decline in live racing handles from 2005 to 2006. For example, Sam Houston Race Park, which had the most live race dates for that time period, showed a 9.18 percent decline in its live handle.

The Texas Thoroughbred Association continues to track a steady decline in the number of stallions and mares bred.

"Our decline started in 2000," said David Hooper, executive director of the Texas Thoroughbred Association.

He explained that in 2000, 465 stallions bred 3,663 mares in Texas. In 2005, 357 stallions bred 2,950 mares and in 2006, 224 stallions bred 2,296 mares.

In contrast, Louisiana jumped from 186 stallions breeding 2,225 mares in 2000 to 235 stallions breeding 3,577 mares in 2006, he said.

"These numbers are considered to be 90 percent of what the actuals were," Hooper said.

Proposed legislation

"When it comes to spending gaming dollars, it's clear that a vast majority of Texans would rather spend it inside state lines. Authorizing VLTs at locations where gaming is already conducted, such as race tracks, will level the playing field with neighboring states, bring significant new revenue and promote economic activity around racing and agribusiness," Flores said in an e-mailed statement to The Eagle.

"Each year, billions of dollars leave Texas for neighboring states that have VLTs, which, among other things, is hampering our racing and agriculture industries. This bill will help save the horse racing and related industries in Texas and stop the export of a homegrown state resource."

Rep. Flores also authored House Bill 3326, which includes legislation proposed by Texans for Economic Development, a coalition of racing interests in Texas. The organization is calling for VLTs at Texas' race tracks.

Tommy Azopardi, president of the organization, said that piece of legislation addresses the concerns of horsemen's organizations and breed registries.

"No machines may be operated until all those concerns are addressed by contract," Azopardi said. "In other words, a race track can't start operating VLTs until horsemen and breed registries are in agreement on items such as race dates, purse levels and breed splits."

Jerry Windham of Windham Ranches in College Station has raised quarter horses for more than 30 years. Windham Ranch is a champion Quarter Horse racing and breeding operation, winning the AQHA's Accredited Texas Bred Champion breeder and the Champion Stallion Owner awards numerous times.

Windham has been a staunch supporter of VLT legislation. He testified on behalf of horsemen during the 2005 legislative session. He is a past president and board member of the Texas Quarter Horse Association, past president and board member of the American Quarter Horse Association and has served as a director of the American Horse Council.

Windham said it's essential that any introduced VLT legislation include guaranteed racing days to protect the quarter horse and thoroughbred horsemen.

"We've got to be sure those race tracks are running races," Windham said. "A building with slot machines is what you've got if there are no guaranteed race days. We need to be sure there's still a race track."

Secondly, legislation must provide for reasonable purse amounts that are greater than other states', due to the number of horses and the population size of Texas, he said.

"Because this is Texas and we do have the opportunity to be the best of the best," Windham said.

Azopardi said legislative support is stronger this year because legislators have proposed programs that need funding, and they see revenue from VLTs as an avenue.

Two of these programs are health care for uninsured Texans and college tuition for Texas residents who achieve certain GPAs, he added.

The opposition

"I can tell you one way they did it in our last legislative session was that there was a group (that) had set up a phone bank--a very successful one--and they called and called and called our Texas legislators to say 'We're against gambling--please vote against it,"' said Eller, who testified during the last legislative session. "We did a little research, and this phone bank was set up in New Jersey. And ultimately we found out it was one of the big casinos in Louisiana that was funding it and had set it up."

Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, says she strongly supports Texas' horse racing industry, but has concerns that VLTs at race tracks could evolve into casino-style gaming.

"I am a strong supporter of the horse racing industry. In fact, I co-authored legislation to help bring the Breeder's Cup to Lone Star Park. Horse breeding is a major part of agribusiness in Texas, and we need to support it. However, there are different schools of thought on whether slots would help or harm the horse industry. When one goes to race tracks that have slot machines, the slots are always full and the racing stands are empty," Nelson said in an e-mailed statement to The Eagle.

"Plus, I worry that the people who are truly driving the train for expanded gambling in Texas are using the horse industry as a way to get their foot in the door. Once they are here, they will keep pushing until they get full-scale casino gambling, which could end up drawing people away from race tracks."

Eller said he sees the "moral majority" as the main opponent to VLTs.

Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has been a steadfast opponent.

"Mainly the reasons we are opposed have to do with the impact that casino-style gambling has on the population, such as addiction, bankruptcy and crime. The other economic factors that are also a huge concern to us are how much money is wagered or goes into these machines and the money that goes back to the state," Paynter said.

"I just don't buy that slot machines are the only answer. It takes $49 billion wagered to get $1 billion back to the state. That $49 billion has to come from a 50-mile radius. The gambling industry cannibalizes our economy," she said.

Hooper said the legislation proposed by Texans for Economic Development provides a "revenue stream to provide for a strong, responsible gambling program to address gambling addiction."

Date: 6/8/07