With simulcasting unavailable due to ongoing disputes with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, Sam Houston Race Park saw total handle down nearly 93 percent this year, from over $101 million in 2022 to about $6.39 million in 2023, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Purse levels have remained fairly steady, thanks to a state sales tax on equine products, but several Texas stakeholders shared their concerns with the TDN for the industry’s future.

“We have some serious concerns about the direction that Texas Thoroughbred racing is headed given the resistance to participate with HISA,” Jeff Hooper, chairman and CEO of Texas’ Highlander Training Center, told TDN. “We’re certainly not saying HISA is 100% hitting on all cylinders. [But] we feel that it is in Texas’s long-term best interests to find a way to participate with HISA.”