Monthly news & updates
October, 2021
Do You Have Unclaimed Funds with the Florida Horsemen’s Bookkeeper Corporation?
Call the FHBPA Office to Find Out!
The Florida Horsemen’s Bookkeeper Corporation (FHBC) is looking for the owners of its inactive accounts. FHBC was the official Horsemen’s Bookkeeper at Gulfstream Park until January of 2020. We are now looking to disburse the funds remaining in the FHBC accounts. There are more than 3,000 individual accounts, some of which have been inactive for more than five years. Funds in these inactive accounts will have to be turned over to the State of Florida if we cannot find the accountholders.

We are in the process of contacting all accountholders with funds of $50 or more, but we do not have up-to-date contact information for all accounts. We are asking our owners and trainers to contact the Florida HBPA Office if you feel you may have funds in an FHBC account. In order to claim funds in an inactive account, the owner or trainer will need to fill out the necessary paperwork and provide proof of identity.

Click here for a list of accountholders for the inactive accounts. (Thank you if you have already contacted us to collect your funds!). If your name appears on the list, or if you are the heir of an accountholder, please give us a call at (954) 457-3516, or email us at FHBPA@FloridaHBPA.com.
Spotlight On: FHBPA Board Member Terri Pompay
For Terri Pompay, it was love at first sight. She was looking out the window of her childhood home in Saratoga Springs, NY, when a man walked his horse across the front lawn. (Those things happen when you grow up in Saratoga.) She couldn’t contain her excitement at being so close to such a beautiful animal, and her grandfather, as grandfathers do, made that early encounter even more memorable.

“My Grandpa asked the owner if he would let me sit on the horse’s back,” Pompay reminisced. “I was maybe two-years-old, and I fell head over heels. I still have that picture somewhere.”

Horses have been in the picture ever since. Pompay started working on the racetrack in high school, and took out her trainer’s license in 1995. She was elected to the Board of the Florida HBPA in 2018.

Pompay’s grandfather helped keep the passion for horses alive when she was small, introducing her to Saratoga racing not at the famed Thoroughbred oval, but at the harness track across the street.

“He used to take us on drives at night, and we’d go to the Standardbred track,” Pompay said. “You could park on the grass and we’d go up and pet the horse’s noses.”

Her father took the family on a once-a-year trip to Saratoga Racecourse. By the age of 11, Pompay was taking formal riding lessons. At the age of 16, she started galloping racehorses to help pay the show horse expenses.

“I was so addicted, all I wanted to do was ride,” she said.

She was very good at it. One of her first racetrack bosses was trainer John Russell, and she had the privilege of getting on champions like Relaxing and Private Account. Later, she galloped Copelan for Fred Hooper. She played actress Kristy McNichol’s stunt double for all of the scenes on horseback in the 1979 movie “My Old Man,” which was filmed in Saratoga.


Photo Credit: Teresa Genaro
FHBPA Nominations and Awards Dinner Set for Saturday, Dec. 11 at Ten Palms
Guest Speaker: NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney
The Florida HBPA's annual General Nominating Meeting and Awards Dinner will be held Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, at Ten Palms at Gulfstream Park. We invite all of our members to join us at this year's event. Each FHBPA member is welcome to bring one guest.

The night will start with a Cocktail Hour, followed by a Buffet Dinner. Our guest speaker will be the newly appointed NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney. We will also honor this year's FHBPA Award Winners, and our Grooms of the Month.

"Our annual Election Dinner Gala is back," enthused FHBPA Election Committee Chair Teresa Palmer. "It will be hosted at the beautiful Ten Palms restaurant at Gulfstream Park. The board of the FHBPA, along with the FHBPA staff, have been hard at work to make this a memorable evening. Our President Stephen Screnci will give an update on issues effecting our industry and how they affect Florida racing. We will be hosting a guest speaker, our Grooms of the Month and our jockeys will join us. We will also honor our horses in select categories and one local hero with our 'Person of Distinction' award. 

"Make it a date night and join us for food, music, fellowship - and nominations to the upcoming election." 

The Florida HBPA is supervised and managed by a Board of 15 Directors. Six seats are reserved for Owner/Directors, and six seats are reserved for Trainer/Directors. Three Directors may be either an owner or a trainer. Elections are held annually, and the term of all Directors is three years.

The next election will be held on March 15, 2022. At that time, five Directors will be up for re-election: Owners Adam Lazarus, Troy Levy and Stephen Screnci, and trainers Joe Orseno and Terri Pompay. 

In order to be a candidate for the FHBPA Board of Directors, owners and trainers must be licensed as an owner and/or trainer and be in good standing, and must have started a horse five or more times during the 12 months immediately preceding the date of the election in which they are running for a seat on the Board. An individual licensed as an owner may only run for a seat on the Board as an owner; an individual licensed as a trainer or as an owner and trainer may only run for a seat on the Board as a trainer.

Nominations for the 2022 Election will be accepted during the General Nominating Meeting Dec. 11, and must be endorsed by three members of the Association, or be accompanied by a petition signed by no fewer than 75 members of the Association.


RSVP for the Dec. 11 FHBPA Nominations & Awards Dinner to fhbpa@floridahbpa.com.

Photo: NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney
SCHEDULE REMINDER - No Live Racing Nov. 22-Dec. 2, 2021: The Gulfstream Park Flamingo Festival meet closes Sunday, Nov. 21. Live racing resumes on opening day of the Championship Meet, Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. The Championship Meet runs through Sunday, April 3, 2022.