Seven months after a joint agreement to drop a year-old lawsuit against Camarero Race Track over complaints about a purportedly unsafe dirt surface, the Puerto Rico Horse Owners Association, Inc. (PRHOA) is back in federal court against the island's only Thoroughbred track, alleging that Camarero and a different horsemen's group, the Confederacion Hipica de Puerto Rico (CHPR), have undertaken a “concerted scheme” to exclude PRHOA from simulcasting revenues while at the same time trying to “coerce” PRHOA members to join the rival faction.
According to the lawsuit, filed Oct. 31 in United States District Court of Puerto Rico, the defendants, which also include executives from both Camarero and the CHPR, “are jointly engaged in a pattern, scheme, and agreement, as well as acts and omissions, that violate the United States Constitution and other applicable federal statutes [and are] designed to deprive the PRHOA and its members of their rights, benefits, and lawful participation in the horse racing industry.”
These allegations represent only one side of the story in a years-long series of regulatory and legal battles between the PRHOA and the track that have been playing out at the gaming commission, state, and federal court levels.
The defendants in this new lawsuit could not be reached for comment prior to deadline for this story, but they will have a chance to answer the complaint within a court-mandated time frame.
The Oct. 31 lawsuit cited both the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978 (IHA) and the Puerto Rico Horse Racing Industry and Sport Act in outlining why the PRHOA believes it is entitled to “preliminary and permanent injunctions ordering Defendants to immediately resume and maintain equitable distribution of simulcast-in proceeds to PRHOA” and compensatory and treble damages of “no less” than $500,000.
“Camarero, operating under an exclusive license or franchise from the Commonwealth, administers all wagering proceeds under governmental regulation, including simulcasting, making it an instrumentality of the state,” the lawsuit stated.
“For many years, prior to PRHOA's creation, CHPR was the only association of horse owners operating at the Camarero Racetrack, consisting of the majority of the horse owners in Puerto Rico,” the lawsuit stated.
“On Jan. 23, 2007, Camarero and CHPR entered into a written agreement [that was later] renewed on a month-to-month basis by Camarero and CHPR,” the lawsuit stated.
“On Jan. 29, 2013, several licensed horse owners decided to form PRHOA, [which is now] composed of a substantial number of licensed [owners who] own a significant number of Thoroughbreds participating [at Camarero]. As mandated by state law, since PRHOA's creation, Camarero has uninterruptedly distributed simulcast in proceeds to PRHOA's members and nonaffiliated horse owners to either PRHOA or CHPR,” the lawsuit stated.
“PRHOA is not a contracting party to the Contract, and the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico expressly so held in a final and unappealable decision,” the lawsuit stated.
“However, since PRHOA's organization, Camarero and CHPR unlawfully applied the Contract to PRHOA and its members, deducting sums from the purse earnings of their horses not authorized by the Horse Racing Act, but stemming from the Contract to which PRHOA has never been a party,” the lawsuit stated.
“The Contract violates the [Puerto Rico] Horse Racing Act [and] the IHA and it is unconstitutional since it requires racehorse owners to be affiliated to the CHPR to receive simulcast-in proceeds, and it is unconstitutional since it requires racehorse owners to be affiliated to the CHPR to receive simulcast-in proceeds,” the lawsuit stated.
“On Nov. 26, 2021, PRHOA filed a suit against Camarero and CHPR in the Puerto Rico Court of First Instance, seeking the return of the illegally deducted funds and an injunction to permanently halt the unlawful practice. The State Case remains pending and unresolved as of this filing,” the lawsuit stated.
“In the meantime, Camarero and CHPR [have been] for some time conspiring to harm PRHOA and its members by means of in-person meetings, email correspondence, and other interstate electronic communications to deprive PRHOA and its members of their legal right to receive their share of the wagering on simulcast-in races arising from sources outside of Puerto Rico,” the lawsuit stated.
“Via a letter sent on Oct. 17, 2025, following private meetings between Camarero and CHPR, PRHOA received notice that beginning on Nov. 1, 2025, Camarero would cease distributing proceeds from simulcast-in wagering to PRHOA and its members,” the lawsuit stated.
“PRHOA has made multiple efforts to persuade Camarero not to do so, but all such efforts have failed. As a result, PRHOA and its members now face imminent and irreparable harm,” the lawsuit stated.
“In [a separate state lawsuit], the Puerto Rico Supreme Court further recognized that horse owners have a constitutional right to affiliate-or to decline to affiliate-with any association of their choosing, rights grounded in the freedom of expression and association guaranteed by the Constitutions of Puerto Rico and the United States,” the lawsuit stated.
“Currently, Camarero and CHPR are conditioning the payment of monies-belonging by law to all licensed racehorse owners-on those their mandatory membership in CHPR, in direct violation of constitutional protections,” the lawsuit stated.
“Camarero's decision to halt payments of proceeds from simulcast into PRHOA's members is arbitrary, lacks any statutory or regulatory basis, was made without notice or hearing, and directly violates Puerto Rico law,” the lawsuit stated.
“The exclusion seeks to coerce PRHOA's members into joining CHPR, thereby consolidating political and financial control over the racing industry. If this were to happen, only one racehorse owners' association would forcibly exist,” the lawsuit stated.
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