The horses are ready at the starting gate. The bell sounds. And they’re off, leaving economic benefits in their tracks.
A recent study conducted by Cummings Associates, a group commissioned by Florida horse racing and breeding organizations, found the industry generates about $1 billion, supplies more than 12,000 jobs in the state and pays $400 million in payroll to horse workers.
“That $1 billion industry makes us larger than spring training baseball is for the state of Florida,” said Lonny Powell, CEO of Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association. “So that just shows in relative terms how big the horse industry is in Florida.”
Florida’s horse industry ranked No. 2 behind Kentucky in terms of economic impact, he said.
The warm climate plays a big role.
“You gotta give the good Lord and Mother Nature a lot of credit, because if we didn’t have the weather we have. I don’t think we’d have nearly the horse industry,” Powell said.
Summer Best, a Marion County horse farm owner and UF graduate student in the journalism college, said she’s glad the horse industry is thriving in Florida.
“Most people aren’t aware of the tremendous economic impact that comes along with horse sales, breeding, showing, racing and recreational riding or driving. These days we have some horses that fly on jets, and some horses as pets — all contributing,” said Best, who also worked for the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association for about six years.
Just a short drive from Gainesville and with more than 70 percent of Florida’s thoroughbreds, Ocala is one of the largest areas in the country where horses are trained and bred for races and breeding purposes, Powell said.
Live Oak Stud is one of the more than 200 horse breeding and training centers in Ocala. The center has a couple hundred horses, making it an influential force in the racing community in Ocala, said General Manager Bruce Hill. He said he thinks Florida’s horse industry will continue to advance in the upcoming years.
“The horse industry has survived recessions and depressions and economic booms for centuries. This is nothing new,” Hill said. “You have to ride those waves out, but this is something that the horse business people love.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 2/5/2014 under the headline "Florida horses gallop their way to big industry, study shows"]
