HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA
$11 MILLION, & UNRESOLVED
This is not a post-dated, after-the-fact “I told
you so” item. When the California Horse Racing
Board first mandated synthetic tracks, we
wrote we felt it was a knee-jerk reaction to criticism
of on-track injuries. We are not opposed to
synthetics, but when you are talking $10 million
or so without testing under battle conditions you
are risking big money. A Bloodhorse.com article
this week carries a headline, “Santa Anita
Track Dilemma Not Over,” a story in which Paul
Harper, the technical director of Cushion Track
Footings, the builder of Santa Anita’s synthetic,
acknowledges that trying to create a track to
withstand 110 degrees “was in hindsight a mistake
as this has almost certainly compromised the
drainage characteristics of the surface.” With
heavy rain predicted for the next three days,
Santa Anita plans to seal its track to avoid further
drainage problems. Cushion Track noted
other installations, including one at Hollywood
Park, have been well received, and Paul Harper
said that if Cushion is unable to find a remedy
to stabilize the track it will install a new one at
the end of the current meeting, at an estimated
cost of $6 million. We sympathize with the present
problems, but memories of 40 years ago returned
when California plunged ahead with its
mandate. Back then, in the 1960s, the industrial
giant 3-M Company, urged by its then chairman
William McKnight, a racing man, turned its
huge research capabilities and financial resources
to creating what it called a Tartan track. It
worked initially, but was unable to withstand the
constant pounding it received under battle conditions
at The Meadows in western Pennsylvania,
and ultimately was removed. We were there
the first day Tartan was tested, at Max Hampt’s
farm in Mechanicsburg, PA, and the ensuing trials
and ultimate tribulations remain fresh
in mind. It will be five years before the
final verdict on year-round synthetics.
Executive Newsletter
A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond
Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor
January 3, 2008
Ron Charles, Santa Anita’s president, says
Magna has spent $11 million so far for its Cushion
Track, and it would cost another $6 million if
the track must be replaced with drainage problems
corrected. He has vowed to do whatever is
necessary to restore ideal racing conditions.
SPLIT ELLIS PARK IN TWO?
Ron Geary, owner of Ellis Park in Henderson,
KY, is thinking of cutting the baby in half. He
says if slots are approved in Kentucky, he would
build a casino in Owensboro -- not a racino in
Henderson -- to move it away from riverboat
competition in Indiana. Geary told the Indianapolis
Star, “Whether at Ellis Park or in Owensboro,
under an Ellis Park license, some percentage
of the money bet would go into the purse
funds at Ellis Park.” Kentucky’s new governor
Steve Beshear wants slots, and a state senator
from Owensboro already has filed pre-legislation
to amend the state constitution to permit them.
Owensboro is Kentucky’s third largest city, behind
Louisville and Lexington.
SCHEDULE CHANGES AT WEG
Woodbine Entertainment has changed its post
times for 2008. Starting tonight, and for the
balance of the season, Woodbine’s first post on
Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights will be
7:30, rather than the 7:20 that will remain on
Monday cards. Sunday racing is gone for the
winter and will not return until racing returns to
Mohawk on May 1.
DON’T GET SHUT OUT
We are in our final week for reservations at the
Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg, site of the
HTA/TRA meeting Feb. 17-20. If you would like
a stall, call Jen Foley at HTA, 520-529-2525, e-
mail jen@harnesstracks.com, and she will be
happy to accommodate you. Be sure to
make your own Tampa air reservations.