At its Aug. 23 board meeting, the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association recognized legal counsel Warren Husband of Metz, Husband and Daughton with a Hero award for his more than 30 years of service recognizing his work that led to successful legislation and legal accomplishments for the Association. Husband retires in December 2024. Since 1994, Husband has been very involved with matters of the Association, in addition to being behind the scenes creating the blueprints of legislation, maneuvering ways to ensure the message was accurate, and adding the nuances that were needed in order to really push forward legislation by the rest of the team in Tallahassee. His body of work has created a legacy and in the last few years the work has been game changing for the industry leading to $33.5 million in annual industry incentives.

The Florida Horse podcast executive producer, Tammy Gantt, sat down with Husband upon his impending retirement. Here is his commentary:

“I can hardly bring myself to say 30 years, but it seems to have gone by in a flash. As I mentioned in the boardroom, FTBOA is my oldest client and my first client. I was only a year out of law school when they came to the firm that I was with at the time.  Then executive vice president Dick Hancock kept me on and involved me more and more in the Association’s activities. I have seen a lot come and go in 30 years. 

It’s very nice to be honored with an award like this. So, somebody else recently said ‘you’re fortunate if you’re blessed with some clients that you really like and value, and that really like and value you.’ And certainly, the breeders have been the top of that list in terms of me and my interaction with them. It’s just great to receive that kind of recognition but you know, frankly the memories and the years are recognition in and of themselves. 

Certainly, you know just starting out as a lawyer I never anticipated I’d be involved in horse racing and gaming. It just kind of happened, because you can never tell the path your life is gonna take you down. I could have gone into all kinds of different areas of the law that I never would have conceived, but I grew up in Tampa, so I was aware of Tampa Bay Downs and horse racing. The deep history of horse racing in the state and in the Marion County area, in particular; was certainly something that my eyes were open to in terms of getting involved in the industry. 

Like any industry there’s been lots of challenges. There are challenges that come from outside and then there’s challenges from inside most any industry. I tend to dwell on the most recent. You know the new state funding that we secured over the last couple years, it is pivotal and critical to keeping the industry vibrant.

Kudos to Lonny Powell and his vision. He’s always thinking of new dynamics, trying to look at situations from different angles. I think it’s been very rewarding to collaborate, try to come up with ways to deal with the challenges that faces the Thoroughbred industry. 

My philosophy has always been to do whatever it takes to best position the client for success. If I can go to bed each night saying ‘yes, I’ve done that,’ then I’ve succeeded.  My bottom line has always been service, kind of my thought ‘how can I be of service?’ That’s kind of been my guiding light through my legal career and this represents that. I think I’m doing something right apparently. 

It’s been really impressive to see all your volunteer board members and how active and engaged they are, and I’ve worked with a lot of staff over the course of 30 years. Like I say one of Lonny Powell’s great talents, and he has many, is putting together a good, really solid team. He has certainly done that here, across everyone the whole organization really. So, I would say that again, there’s clients that you just really enjoy working with all the people and you value them and you know they value you. It’s been just a great professional opportunity and a great personal opportunity to, work with everybody here at the FTBOA. 

If I could speak to the members directly, I would say everybody at the Association knows how hard you’re working out in the field to be successful, and you should be assured that everybody here at the Association is working hard for you to make that happen and make that as easy as it can be, and as rewarding as it can be. And that it’s a two-way street and members  just know you’re appreciated here at the Association. They’re working hard for you every day to to try to make things better.

Thanks very much for 30 great years.

– Warren Husband