New Jersey’s standardbred industry on shaky ground Breeders call for bigger purses and slot machines at the racetracks BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer CHRIS KELLY staff Horses graze in the pasture of Fair Winds Farm in Upper Freehold Dec. 1. UPPER FREEHOLD — While the annual standardbred horse sale in Harrisburg, Pa., on Nov. 3-8 set record numbers this year, local breeders have concerns about the economics of New Jersey’s standardbred industry. The yearling auction held during the sale’s first two days had total sales of $38 million this year, which amounted to a 17.5 percent increase over last year’s totals. Thirty-five horses went to the sale from Walnridge Farm in Upper Freehold. The farm owned some of the horses and acted as an agent for owners of others. Agents received 4 percent of a horse’s sale price as commission, according to Dr. David Meirs II, the owner and founder of Walnridge Farm, who also serves as chairman of the New Jersey Sire Stakes Board of Trustees. The Walnridge Farm stock sold for an average of $43,029 in Harrisburg, according to Meirs. Concorde Stud Farm in Upper Freehold, which is owned by David Meirs III, sent 48 horses to the sale and received an average price of $44,458. Dr. Meirs called Upper Freehold “the epicenter of the standardbred world” because of its proximity to the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford and top training centers such as White Birch Farm in Allentown, Showplace Farm in Millstone Township and Gaitway Farm in Manalapan. Meirs recalled that New Jersey stood more than 100 standardbred stallions in the 1980s. Today, there are only 13. While some of the very best stallions are still in New Jersey, new stallions are not coming in, he said, and lesser stallions have moved on to other states. “Lesser stallions don’t want to be here because they are totally overshadowed,” he said. Next year, Walnridge Farm will stand a new stallion — Glidemaster — but the horse will not be on the 300-acre property during breeding season. Glidemaster will join stallions Four Starzzz Shark and I Am A Fool at the farm’s 100-acre Elizabethtown, Pa., facility, as there are greater breeding incentive programs and larger purses for Pennsylvania- and New York-bred horses, Meirs said. In order to reap any benefits, the stallion that sires the offspring must physically be located in the state that offers them. Meirs predicted that “in the next five years, New Jersey will be surpassed by New York and Pennsylvania.” A long-term solution for amping up the economics of the standardbred industry in New Jersey, Meirs said, is to attract more fans to the sport of harness racing. In the short term, Meirs said New Jersey must emulate other states and hook up with other forms of gambling revenue. Mark Mullen, manager of Fair Winds Farm in Upper Freehold, said that while the average and gross sales numbers at the horse sale were up significantly over last year, the increase was led by yearlings from New York, Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada — all jurisdictions with slots machines at their racetracks. Yearlings by Pennsylvania trotting sire Andover Hall averaged the highest sale, he said. Mullen said his farm took 60 horses to the sale. Of those, 25 were owned by Fair Winds Farm. He said the average sale was $46,000, but that three horses sold for more than $100,000. Fair Winds Farm does not stand any stallions. According to Mullen, many mares and stallions are being taken to Pennsylvania because that state adds slot machine revenue to the breeders’ awards and Sire Stakes purses. “Many in the business are looking there for new investment in farms,” he said. “I would imagine that the costs of operation there are far less onerous than in New Jersey.” In his view, New Jersey needs to add new revenue to purses and make other changes to the industry to remain competitive. “Specifically, increases in moneys available for the breeders’ program to stimulate investment and reinvigorate existing farms,” Mullen said. “Higher purses alone will not generate the desired improvement in New Jersey farms.” Mullen said the state Legislature should consider steps that would lower the costs of owning and operating an agricultural business in New Jersey. “Horse breeders in North America basically have access to similar bloodlines,” he said. “However, horse for horse, farms that raise their mares and offspring in places other than New Jersey have a tremendous cost advantage.” Mullen estimated that operating costs for a New Jersey breeding farm are about one third more than the costs for comparable farms in New York or Pennsylvania. “New Jersey is not farm-friendly,” he said. “Taxes, insurance and payroll are all more in New Jersey and basically, we’re selling the same product as the other guys.” While all strive to acquire the most productive mares and raise the highest-quality yearlings, Mullen said he feels agriculture is way down on the list of state representatives’ priorities. Simply noting that major breeding farms such as Upper Freehold’s Fair Winds Farm and Perretti Farms sold their yearling crop this year for $.5 million and $3 million, respectively, doesn’t speak to the realities of the business that exists in the township, he added. Perretti Farms stands six top stallions in New Jersey, including Windsong’s Legacy and Rocknroll Hanover. In April, Anthony Perretti, son of the farm’s founder, William J. Perretti, said that Rocknroll Hanover would have gone to stud at the Hanover Shoe Farm in Pennsylvania had it not been for his father’s personal relationship with major syndicate shareholders Jeff Snyder and Audrey Campbell. Bob Marks, general manager of Perretti Farms, said that ostensibly, the Harrisburg sale was good. While the farm averaged about $40,000 per sale and had a top seller of $280,000 in Guida Muscle, he said the sale was proportionately better for those offering produce in the “slot-fueled states” of New York and Pennsylvania. Referring to the New Jersey Horse Industry Symposium, held Sept. 20 at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, Marks said, “It would appear imperative for the movement commenced at Monmouth [Park] to mushroom so that this state remains superior to or at least competitive with neighboring states.” Marks added that the Atlantic City casino operators, who might be considered impediments to having slots at New Jersey racetracks, are able to work in neighboring states. Those proceeds remain in other states with “nary a penny” for New Jersey, he said. Dr. Paul Spears, president of the Standardbred Horse Sales Co. in Pennsylvania, sent an e-mail to consignors lauding the high increases in the average sales price at Harrisburg. “Ontario led the way, followed by New York and now Pennsylvania,” he wrote. “I believe that once Pennsylvania slots get under way, immense pressure will build in Maryland and Ohio for similar slots initiatives.” Spears stated that New York, which has an established slots program, had its yearlings show a dramatic increase in average sale price, from $29,421 last year to $50,785 this year. Because all the surrounding states have slot machines or video lottery terminals (VLTs) at their racetracks, New Jersey’s best form of financial help would be the slots, said Leon Zimmerman, the public relations consultant to the New Jersey Sire Stakes program. “Larger amounts of revenue than the other states likely would strengthen the racing and breeding industry,” Zimmerman said. “The problem New Jersey has that the other states don’t have,” he added, “is a bigger casino industry that opposes slots at the tracks.”