Damon Thayer has retired from his job as the Senate Majority Floor Leader in the state of Kentucky, where he was one of horse racing's staunchest and most important allies. Thayer may no longer be walking the halls of the Capitol in Frankfort, but he is still working hard to help the sport he loves. He is now a senior advisor with Thoroughbred Racing Initiative (TRI), a group devoted to stopping decoupling efforts at Gulfstream Park and to see to it that racing in South Florida remains a vital part of the industry.To bring us up to speed on the latest goings-on in Florida, Thayer was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.“The Thoroughbred Racing Initiative, which is a coalition of owners, trainers, breeders, and sales companies from Florida banded together sort of in an emergency situation back in February when the decoupling bill came from nowhere to get dropped on us,” Thayer said. “My board is David O'Farrell, president; Jon Green vice president; and then members, Aron Wellman; dual Hall of Fame trainer, Mark Casse; and Dr. Barry Eisaman. We worked very hard putting together a coalition to kill the bill. But there's another legislative session coming up in January. And while there hasn't been anything pre-filed yet, our sources in Tallahassee tell us that Gulfstream Park is active in Florida's capital, trying to see if there is any support for decoupling.“If we hadn't banded together and formed our coalition and fought the decoupling bill, it probably would have passed,” he said. “But we got in there and scrapped and fought and clawed and testified in front of multiple legislative committees to tell the story of the $3.3 billion economic impact and the 33,000 jobs the horse industry has on the Sunshine State. So that's why we've seen support come from all over the place. We've been gearing up to fight the decoupling bill again. Last year we were sort of caught on the back foot. This year, we're going on offense. We are prepared, better prepared to tell our story. Our coalition is engaged and while we can't match Gulfstream Park dollar for dollar on the political side, we are going to be involved in the political side of things before the opportunity to make contributions shuts down when the legislature goes into session in January.” Randy Moss asked Thayer that even if the decoupling bill were to be defeated what would stop The Stronach Group from closing the track and selling the land, which is immensely valuable? He admitted that is a possibility but if it happened his group would look to find a new venue for South Florida racing.“First of all, I want to note that there are three willing buyers for Gulfstream Park,” he said. “One of them is public. Mike Repole has offered to buy Gulfstream Park and keep it as a racetrack in its current coupled state with the slot machine casino there on the first floor. There are at least two other potential buyers who haven't gone public and I'm not really in a position to reveal that. The Florida HPBA and TRI are co-funding a feasibility study with the Cornerstone Group, which did the Maryland Racing Feasibility Study.“We're looking at a half a dozen different options for the future of racing in Florida,” he said. “I'm a big fan of making sure from a financial point of view that we figure out some way forward in South Florida, either at Gulfstream Park, at Hialeah, or perhaps somewhere else, north of the Miami-Dade-Broward area where perhaps a new racetrack could be built where land is less expensive. I'm not ready to give up yet on racing at Gulfstream Park. I don't know how long-term viability is for racing 200 days a year there, but I do think there's a way forward in keeping racing in South Florida in general and at Gulfstream Park in particular.”Thanks largely to the efforts of Mike Repole, The Stronach Group's bid to decouple faces one major obstacle. At this year's OBS Sales, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came out and said he would likely veto any bill that called for decoupling. How does The Stronach Group get past that roadblock.“One of the big victories that we achieved was getting Ron DeSantis to come to the OBS sale, which is one of our biggest supporters and an important part of our coalition,” Thayer said. “He came there and in front of a large crowd of owners and breeders and trainers and consignors and industry participants all but said, pass this bill and I'll veto it. And the Republican super majorities there probably didn't want to choose a fight with their very popular governor. That was a really big win for us. You are absolutely correct that Mike Repole played a major role in that. But so did one of our board members. Dr. Barry Eisaman worked behind the scenes on that as well. But I would never try to minimize Mike's role in this. If you were there on Kentucky Derby day, who was in the winner's circle when Mindframe won for Repole? Ron DeSantis.”The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was “Louisiana Lightning,” also known as Touchuponastar (Star Guitar). The Lousiaina-bred earned a 108 Beyer figure when winning the Delta Mile Stakes at Delta Downs. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar, who stands the stallion Mullikin (by Violence).Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, the KTOB, 1/ST TV and West Point Thoroughbreds, Moss and partner Bill Finley discussed the controversial scratch of White Abarrio (Race Day) just minutes before post time for the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Both agreed that the Breeders' Cup and the CHRB has done a good job keeping the racing safe, but that more transparency is needed.Moss and Finley also came to the defense of social media influencer Griffin Johnson, who was criticized in some quarters after receiving the 2025 “New Owner of the Year Award” from OwnerView. Because his social media postings on the horse he co-owned, Sandman (Tapit), reached so many young people who were not otherwise familiar with racing, Moss went so far as to say maybe Johnson should have gotten a Special Eclipse Award.To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To listen to the show as a podcast, click here.The post Damon Thayer Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Presented By Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.