Arizona HBPA

The racing season at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, AZ, which was supposed to open Saturday, Nov. 2 before an 11th-hour intervention from HISA, is now set to begin next Monday, Nov. 11, according to a joint release sent out late Sunday evening from the track and the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA). On Thursday, Oct. 31, HISA issued a press release, expressing concerns over the condition of the racetrack surface. Track officials postponed the start of the season, and an inspection team from HISA was expected to be...

Racing is set to resume at Turf Paradise in suburban Phoenix in late January 2024, according to a post on X from the track which displays a message from the Arizona HBPA bulletin board. The message read: "There was an emergency HBPA meeting tonight. A race meet will take place. Race dates are Jan. 29 through May 4. Horsemen can arrive in their stalls Dec. 18 with the track opening for training on the 26th. All is based on the approval of the commission. Stall applications will go out asap...

The Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association has extended Turf Paradise's contract to simulcast races for wagering until Nov. 12, the Phoenix track said in a tweet Thursday morning. The extension avoids a shutdown of the track's 37 Off Track Betting sites. A new live horse racing meet is scheduled to start in early January. The news comes after Turf Paradise reported Sept. 19 that the owner of the track, Jerry Sims, would be retiring and that no more live racing or simulcasting would take place after Oct. 1. Additional...

In an open letter from AZHBPA President Lloyd Yother to Arizona horsemen released on Monday, he vowed to "fight like hell" to ensure racing in the state is not dead. Yother's letter is in response to Turf Paradise officials announcing last week that the track won't open as usual in November as the sale of the property is imminent. "I have had a few days to evaluate Turf Paradise and Arizona Downs' announced decisions to not hold race meets in 2023 or 2024," Yother wrote. "However, I am here to...

Representatives of the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA) and the management of Turf Paradise in north Phoenix have signed an agreement that will allow for 84 days of live racing at the track beginning Jan. 1, 2020 and running through May 4, 2021. The Arizona Racing Commission was to meet in special session Oct. 30 to approve the dates after a disagreement in the wording of the agreement between the two parties led to a 24-hour delay in submitting the plan to the ARC. The Commission will also...

Turf Paradise is proposing to host a live meet next year that will run Jan. 2 through May 1, according to a letter from Turf Paradise general manager, Vince Francia, to the Arizona horsemen dated Thursday. Turf Paradise had previously announced that it had cancelled its 2020-2021 race meet due to health fears associated with operating a live meet during a global pandemic. For the proposed meet to go ahead, however, Turf Paradise management listed in the letter a number of caveats, namely that $2.1 million of disputed purse account...

At the six-month mark of the shutdown of live racing in Arizona that is the result of both the pandemic and a prolonged fight over off-track betting (OTB) privileges, the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA) has reportedly secured some of the disputed money from the horsemen's account that had been controlled by Turf Paradise and placed it into a trust to pay purses if and when racing resumes elsewhere. This news was shared in the form of a widely circulated email that made the rounds on social media...

Ongoing tensions between the management of Turf Paradise and Arizona-based horsemen is placing the upcoming 2020-2021 meet under a cloud of uncertainty. Last week, Turf Paradise released a press release detailing plans to push back its opening day from Oct. 17 to Friday, Nov. 27. The revised dates meant an overall reduction in live race days from 133 to 110. "We are working with AZHBPA [Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association] president Bob Hutton as to a date when the horses can begin to arrive in the stable area," said...

This week saw the final horses stabled at Turf Paradise leave the premises as the facility closes its doors for the summer beneath an array of question marks dangling over the industry in the state. For one, the horses weren't the only Turf Paradise residents to vacate the facility this week. At the beginning of May, track management sent the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) a letter giving the organization 30 days to "remove its belongings" from its Turf Paradise office and to "remove the trailer (medical trailer)...

The Arizona racing industry is now well into month two of the simulcasting stand-off between an arm of The Stronach Group (TSG) tasked with distributing the company's signal and the Arizona Department of Gaming. In a leveraging bid, the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) this week voted to withdraw the Turf Paradise signal from all Stronach Group affiliates. According to a letter from the Arizona HBPA to the Arizona Department of Gaming dated Mar. 11, such a move would involve the following TSG-affiliated entities: Santa Anita, Golden Gate...