Q&A WITH FTBOA PRESIDENT GREG WHEELER

BS - It’s hard to believe that this month you will complete your one-year term as FTBOA’s president and board of directors chairman. What are some of your biggest takeaways from the experience? GW - The dedication and drive that the board members and staff display every day in running this operation are truly exceptional. As the ground suddenly began to shift under our feet early this year, senior management identified all aspects of what was or might be changing within our industry due to the spread of the coronavirus. The board, the staff, and our key Tallahassee-based advisors then got to work studying the potential outcomes, even as the circumstances were changing daily. We were actually able to look forward through the fog of multiple uncertainties, make a plan, implement it, and maintain the flexibility to modify that plan as needed.

As I look around at many of the other thoroughbred states and jurisdictions, I would venture to say that we have fared better than most. So, my biggest takeaway would be that I have seen firsthand, from a unique vantage point, that the leadership, staff, and membership of the FTBOA are as strong as I have seen in any group or association I have ever been around.

BS - Unfortunately, over half of your term as president has taken place during the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying recession. From your perspective, how did these new challenges and uncertainties impact you, your farm, your work, your presidency, the FTBOA, and the industry? GW - We have all been impacted by the pandemic, every single one of us. My wife, Donna, and I are the epitome of a small farm owner and breeder. Like many small operations, we don’t necessarily have the financial backing, clout, or fortitude that larger outfits may have to endure such a lengthy shutdown of the economy. Also, like most, we live from sale to sale, and we pray for those monthly breeder award checks. For us, as it was for so many, the sales were tough, and the cut in the breeder awards structure stung. It has hurt and it’s been a struggle.

However, I am an optimist at heart. I am absolutely not accepting these times as a “new normal.” I feel strongly that in the coming months ahead, we — as a country, as a society, and as a community — are going to overcome this daunting challenge. Our economy and our industry will once again be vibrant and strong. In the interim, we need to take the proper steps to prepare ourselves, our farms, and our outfits for those brighter days ahead.

BS - Now that you’ve served as a board member and in almost every FTBOA officer position, what are your observations on the work, services, and programs undertaken by the FTBOA, both before and during the pandemic? GW - FTBOA’s services have always run like a well-oiled machine. Working with such a small team, efficiency has always been a top priority and FTBOA has mastered that. During the spring, FTBOA operations were impacted as the team began to work remotely, but the group’s advance planning ensured that there would be no interruption of services at such a critical time for our members.

Two registration deadlines occurred while the FTBOA offices were closed to the public, and a third “relief ” deadline was added by the board in the midst of the pandemic, and FTBOA operations ran smoothly through it all. For those who came to the FTBOA offices for the August foal registration deadline, they were greeted with a shady picnic table and a fan, an outdoor paperwork drop box, and a doorbell to call a staffer to assist them, if needed. FTBOA communications continued through a variety of methods, including mailings and publications with more digital placements, texts, and e-mails. While the FTBOA office was closed to the public, the staff continued to deliver the same high level of service our members have come to expect.

One of the biggest impacts to our community was the cancellation of the FTBOA’s annual awards gala. This signature event honors those who have achieved so much in our industry, and the absence of that stage on which to celebrate their accomplishments was a real letdown. However, thanks to some creativity, board members and staff found a way to distribute many of the awards at the winners’ farms and businesses and still honor their success. These presentations were an important recognition of their hard work, even in the midst of a pandemic, and the photographs will preserve the memory of this unusual time in all of our lives.

Additionally, the loss of our member day at Tampa, our fundraisers for Florida Thoroughbred Charities, and our charity golf outing, all of which give us a chance to enjoy each other’s company, were equally disappointing. However, these events will be back again.

With no live events to use as a vehicle for our charity auctions, our charity committee chair Valerie Dailey has been working actively with our staff to put together the FTBOA’s first virtual auction. We know that with adversity comes innovation. Hopefully, we will find an even larger online audience to support our initiatives on thoroughbred retirement, educational scholarships, and other industry and community charities, raising even more dollars than we have in the past.

At minimum, the online auction will create more national awareness of these programs.

BS - You started your term asking for greater participation from our membership, friends, and community in supporting Florida Thoroughbred Charities, Florida Thoroughbred PAC, Florida Equine Communications advertising, and FTBOA sponsorships and memberships. As you near the end of your term, would you like to re-visit that discussion one more time? GW- Of course, it’s imperative, especially during these trying times, that we give as much as possible, wherever and whenever we can. I understand that it’s particularly difficult under the current circumstances, but it’s vitally important. Florida Thoroughbred Charities supports and helps those who are in need and struggling in our own community. These people are our neighbors, our co-workers, and our friends. I feel strongly that it’s our duty and our responsibility to support Florida Thoroughbred Charities with every means at our disposal.

In regard to our political action committee (PAC), right now and in the coming months, it is crucial for our Association and our industry to wholeheartedly support the PAC. Needless to say, the state budget has been decimated by the pandemic. Many cuts are on the horizon. We need to do everything possible and use every tool at our disposal to protect the interests of the Florida thoroughbred breeder and owner.

Our talented lobbying team in Tallahassee, led by Matt Bryan at the direction of our CEO Lonny Powell, represents our interests as breed-

Cot Campbellwhen he said,

‘Pound for pound, the Ocala horsemen are some of the best in the world.’ I would have to agree! ”

ers and owners and are our voice before the state legislature. The legislators need to be continuously educated on the many facets of our unique industry and updated on the latest developments. There will be new faces in Tallahassee after this next election. In this tight fiscal environment, the battle for funding and support is going to be fierce. Our team is going to need every ounce of support that we can give them as an Association. I’ve seen firsthand the work they do within the halls of the Capitol.

Quite frankly, they need every ounce of assistance that we can muster. We need to empower them in any manner possible. Our PAC is fighting for each of us.

I’d also like to thank the advertisers who have continued to run ads in our publications this year. They’ve benefitted additionally from the transition of Wire to Wire Racing Digest to a daily digital publication during the pandemic and the broader audience that move created, with print copies available during the OBS sales in June and July.

Digital publication also means that advertisers are being seen worldwide thanks to email delivery of each and every issue. I would also like to encourage those who have not advertised recently to place some ads to promote your business and, in turn, support the industry. A healthy Florida Equine Communications, a subsidiary of the FTBOA, makes for a healthy FTBOA that can do even more to promote the Florida thoroughbred and encourage industry investment in the state.

As for the FTBOA’s sponsors and members, thank you for your continued support. It was disappointing that the FTBOA’s annual awards gala could not be rescheduled, but our sponsors have been key allies through it all. The support has been appreciated, and it will help ensure that our next gala is produced at the same high caliber we have all come to expect. I cannot say enough about how the sponsors are so supportive financially year-to-year and year-after-year, making our events world class and something we can all be very proud of.

The need of members for our services has never been greater. Our staff has reported handling more member calls than ever before.

During the shutdown, our member services staff continued to operate, taking calls from members who were uncertain about what actions to take in response to the virus, who needed assistance with federal and state pandemic assistance programs, or who just needed to hear a steady and reassuring voice. As president, I can confidently tell members that the FTBOA is here for you and that your membership in this organization is important. If you are reading this and you have never been a member, please join today, and if you have not renewed your membership, it is not too late to do so. Finally, if you are a member who is among the 20% or so who wait to renew until it is foal registration time each year, you are truly missing out on two-thirds of your membership benefits. Mark it on your calendar to renew in January and you will be pleased you did. My final plea is to current members. I know each of you know someone who has expressed an interest in the wonderful world of thoroughbreds, so please help them join or, better yet, give them the gift of membership.

BS - Tell us a little bit about the professional work you and your wife Donna do when you are off the farm. Also please share a little bit about your farm. GW - Donna and I are physical therapists by trade. We both earned our Master of Science degrees in Physical Therapy from Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers. Currently, Donna owns her own outpatient physical therapy clinic, Empower Physical Therapy, on SW 60th Avenue in Ocala. She looks out of her front window across the street to the paddocks of Winding Oaks Farm. She specializes in orthopedics and neurological and vestibular disorders. She is also a certified nutritional physical therapist. By the nature of her practice, coupled with her horse background and equine knowledge, she has treated and taken care of many horsemen and horsewomen who are probably reading this article right now.

I am currently working for Encompass Home Health, Inc. We see patients in their homes, as well as at assisted living facilities and memory care facilities. I have an expansive territory where I drive 600 to 900 miles per week, and I supervise a group of physical therapy assistants.

If I may digress a bit here, I’d also like to touch on what I am seeing in the field in regard to COVID-19. While every death from COVID-19 is a tragedy, strictly from my observations, it seems to me that we actually have a relatively good handle on this disease when it comes to treatment and recovery. But the collateral damage stemming from this pandemic is also very real and very tragic, and I’m afraid it’s not going away anytime soon.

The isolation of our family members in assisted living facilities and nursing homes is taking its toll. And our adolescents are facing challenges that are difficult for most of us to comprehend. During a recent two-week span, I knew two patients in assisted living and two teenagers who attempted suicide. Fortunately, they were not successful. Tragically, however, a friend and colleague of mine was successful in his attempt. He leaves behind a wife and two children. In each situation, the underlying theme was despair and an absolute loss of hope.

So, I’m reaching out to my community of Florida horse people. Please, check on your family, and do it today. Check on your kids, grandkids, parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends. Check on your riders, your grooms, and your hotwalkers. If you have a family member in a nursing home or assisted living facility, go visit them, even if it’s through a pane of glass. If you can’t visit, then call. Bear in mind that the emotions and psyches of our teenagers are more fragile than they might initially admit, and quite frankly, they have not developed the coping skills necessary to handle such stressful times.

While talking with your child is important, it is even more important to talk with their friends. Your child may not come to you when they are in trouble, but their friends will. Our most vulnerable, our children and our greatest generation, need us now more than ever.

BS - What has been your favorite or most memorable moments with your thoroughbreds so far? GW - I would say that two moments really stand out. When first hearing this question, the image that immediately popped into my mind was of foaling babies. To this day, I am still in awe when all has gone well and a foal has been successfully delivered. I look at

what just happened and think, “I can’t believe This area is wholeheartedly a thoroughthat that just came out of that! Only 11 months bred community in every aspect of the busiago, that was just a clump of cells, and it’s now ness, from top to bottom. I remember talking a walking, talking, nursing 120 pounds (or so) to Donna when we first moved here. Even of bouncing baby horse. That’s crazy!” just going to the grocery store or getting gas

We have also had the privilege of breeding at the Shell station, you can feel and sense the a graded stakes horse that went on to race in “horse energy” around this town and its the Breeders’ Cup. Jordy Y was from the first neighboring communities. It’s a palpable incrop of Congrats, and she was out of our mare dustry vibe that seems to course through your Debt Free. We sold the filly at the Fasig-Tipton veins and it’s unmistakable, especially when July yearling sale. you first arrive here from somewhere else.

She was trained and campaigned by I’d also like to add that the quality and skill Wayne Catalano. She placed third that year in of the Central Florida horsemen and horsea photo finish in the G3 Alcibiades at women is second to none. I am going to wholly Keeneland. She had trained and performed paraphrase Cot Campbell when he said, “Pound well enough that Wayne entered her in the for pound, the Ocala horsemen are some of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race. best in the world.” I would have to agree!

We had my brother and sister-in-law meet Also, when it comes to racing and breeding us in Louisville and our dear friends Wayne programs, Florida’s are as solid as you will find and Margaret McFarland came with us as well. anywhere. Florida-breds are winning across the Jordy Y had a bad break from the outside post country and competing well at signature race out of the gate and didn’t finish so well, but meets like Gulfstream Park’s winter meet. that was the race in which Florida-bred AweThe myth circulated elsewhere that Florida some Feather pulled away from the field and won going away in a brilliant “ The Florida thoroughbred industry has been fortunate through the world’s recent upheaval showing. The following day, we stayed for all of and Florida-breds are still being showcased the Cup races, including because of the efforts of those people and the Classic, where Zenyatta was nosed out at the organizations, along with the FTBOA. ” wire by Blame. That was as thrilling a sporting stallions don’t produce has been shattered the event as I have ever been a part of...coming last two winter and summer meets at Gulfaround the turn and down the stretch, 120,000 stream Park. Florida-breds by Florida sires people let out a deafening roar while all standare producing more than 70% of the Floridaing in their seats. Then, within an instant, those bred award recipients. We’ve got to keep peo120,000 people went silent. It was amazing. ple focused on the facts when horses are going through the sales ring — for the breedBS - At the end of the day, why, in your ers, Florida sires offer the best value, and, for opinion, should people invest in, breed, own the buyers, they produce great racehorses. and/or race Florida-breds? In addition, the Florida Sire Stakes’ lucraGW - That’s an easy one. Florida offers tive purse structure and bonus program means the best of all worlds in regard to the full scope more money for Florida-sired horses than of the thoroughbred business. Of course, the their counterparts. One recent example was superior quality of the mineral rich grass and on Sept. 6 at Gulfstream Park. Florida-breds water found throughout our Central Florida running for $75,000 in the Sheer Drama and farmland is well documented. And our Florida the Benny the Bull Stakes, who were also FSS weather – while hot in the summer, just like horses, had the opportunity for $25,000 win everywhere else these days — is conducive to bonuses. Noble Drama and Heiressall took training year round. I believe 17 of the 18 those bags of money home. Kentucky Derby entrants passed through MarSurprising to some, but not to those of us ion County on their way to Louisville. who breed, race, train, and sell Florida-breds, Florida consistently has had more stakes winners in recent years by percentage of foal crop than any other state. With the Floridabred Incentive Fund (FBIF), additional funds are placed in races of all levels celebrating the excellence of Florida-breds and rewarding industry members.

Even in the Kentucky Derby, Floridabreds hold the record of having the most winners of the event, excepting its namesake state, despite Florida’s relative youth as a thoroughbred center. Our horses have also won more than their fair share of Breeders’ Cup races and the Florida-bred bloodlines of Unbridled run through many generations of Breeders’ Cup winners’ pedigrees.

DIMARCO PHOTO

In addition to Gulfstream, the road to the Kentucky Derby also leads through Tampa Bay Downs. Many early prep races set the groundwork for emerging favorites including many Florida-breds headed to the classics.

In closing, I’d like to express my profound thanks to the Florida tracks and horsemen who continue to find a way to race and to OBS for continuing to host sales. The Florida thoroughbred industry has been fortunate through the world’s recent upheaval and Florida-breds are still being showcased because of the efforts of those people and organizations, along with the FTBOA. I am grateful to have been a part of it all. ■