2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA 

Executive Newsletter 

A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond 

Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor 

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR VEGAS 

If you plan to attend the third Harness Racing 

Congress Feb. 19-22 and stay at the Mirage, the 

site of the Congress, it is important that you let 

HTA know if you have not already done so. Our 

room block expires later this month, and once 

we release it Mirage rooms will be offered only 

on an “if available” basis. 

Also, if you wish to avail yourself of show tickets 

through HTA/USTA, you need to do that soon 

too. We are holding ticket blocks for Siegfried 

and Roy and Danny Gans at the Mirage, Mystere 

at Treasure Island, and EFX Alive at the MGM 

Grand. For either theater tickets or room reservations, 

contact Sable Downs or Vicki Duraine 

at the HTA office, 520-529-2525. 

The full agenda of the two general sessions, 

Wednesday and Thursday mornings, February 

20-21, will be announced here and elsewhere later 

this week. 

NO PROGRESS IN MARYLAND 

That’s yesterday’s report in the Washington Post, 

quoting Maryland Jockey Club president Joe 

DeFrancis on the dispute between his organization 

and thoroughbred interests and Rosecroft 

Raceway on crafting an organizational plan for 

the future of racing in the state. The dispute is 

not academic; it could very likely determine 

whether the state legislature, which is tired of the 

deadlock, allocates a $10 million purse supplement 

which was provided in 2000 but taken away 

in 2001. The General Assembly, which reconvenes 

this month, withheld the supplement last 

year because of industry infighting, and DeFrancis 

says no recent progress has been made on simulcasting 

and other issues at stake. The 

Maryland racing commission also has said 

it will impose its will if no compromise solution 

is reached. 

January 2, 2002 

GOOD NEWS GOOD, WHEREVER 

Any time racing can get solid positive coverage 

these days is welcome, so HTA’s member track 

The Meadows near Pittsburgh can have a postholiday 

celebration today. Woodene Merriman, 

the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s food critic, discovered 

Triumphs, the Meadows’ off-track betting 

site restaurant in West Mifflin over the holidays, 

and gave it rave revues in today’s issue of the 

paper, which has a daily circulation of 240,245. 

Ms. Merriman, who wrote that she is not a racing 

fan, added that you don’t have to know an 

exacta from a superfecta, or a daily double from 

a twin trifecta, to enjoy the quality of the food. 

She said she and His Honor, who we assume is 

her husband or significant other, found the place 

on a Saturday evening in Century Square Plaza 

in Pittsburgh, and were surprised and delighted. 

She and His Honor liked the beef stew and wedding 

soup, and she really touts the chicken cordon 

bleu, which she said seemed a little pretentious 

and out-of-place in an OTB facility, “but 

turned out to be an excellent choice. The dinner 

cost only $12.95, and James T. Och, the Triumphs 

chef who previously worked for Portobello on 

Mount Washington and the Ramada in Pittsburgh, 

got kudos along with manager Erin 

Regan. So if Woodene wasn’t a racing fan, where 

did she come up with the lingo? From the 

placemats, which educate eaters like her and His 

Honor. And, she notes, if you don’t play, you 

can always watch CNN on the monitors. 

THE BUCK STOPS HERE 

As of yesterday, all monies won by U.S. horses in 

Canada will be converted to U.S. dollars in the 

record keeping computers of the United States 

Trotting Association, ending for now the crediting 

of those earnings at par. The USTA has a series 

of questions and answers for those who 

think this is complicated or difficult, and they 

are recommended reading.





ROARING GRAND ROARS ON 

It is 131 years old now, having aged with the turn 

of the calendar, but harness racing’s Grand Circuit 

roars on, with 17 tracks scheduling Grand Circuit 

events in 2002. Freehold Raceway in New 

Jersey kicks off the Circuit with races May 3 to 

10, and the beat keeps up all spring, summer and 

fall, with the last meeting at Dover Downs in Delaware 

November 2-30. Between those season-spanning 

dates there will be Grand Circuit racing at 

Scioto Downs, the Meadowlands, Hoosier Park, 

Goshen Historic, Northfield Park, Pocono Downs, 

The Meadows, the Springfield, DuQuoin and Indianapolis 

state fairs, Balmoral Park, Mohawk 

Raceway, Delaware Ohio, The Red Mile and 

Maywood Park. 

Also returning in 2002 is the Classic Series for 

older trotters and pacers, with $65,000 and $85,000 

preliminaries at Dover Downs April 22 and at 

Mohawk Raceway May 4, final preliminaries at 

the Meadowlands June 1, and $250,000 finals at 

both gaits at the Meadowlands June 8. 

CHICAGO TALKS DRONE ON 

No settlement yet, but negotiations continue in 

Chicago today, where a boycott of the entry boxes 

at Maywood and Balmoral in a dispute over guaranteed 

purses has halted live racing for six nights. 

Both tracks continue day and night simulcasting. 

SANTA ANITA DROPS NY SIMO 

Blaming the unpredictability of New York weather, 

Santa Anita has dropped Aqueduct from its simulcasting 

schedule and will rely on signals from its 

sister track at Gulfstream Park and from the Fair 

Grounds in New Orleans. It also will use Turf 

Paradise in Phoenix. The track’s CEO, Jack 

Libeau, told Daily Racing Form the Aqueduct 

signal may be restored “later in the 

year.” 


WISCONSIN CRACKS DOWN 

The state of Wisconsin, after a 20-month investigation, 

has filed charges against a former greyhound 

and kennel owner and his assistant that 

could send the pair to jail for up to 85 years. The 

charges involve transporting more than 1,000 retired 

or unwanted racing greyhounds to their deaths 

in medical experiments, for which the pair received 

at least $374,000. Scott Scepaniak, the administrator 

of the Wisconsin Division of Gaming, said 

former kennel operator Daniel Shonka of Cedar 

Rapids, Iowa, and his assistant, Heidi Dierks, were 

charged with four counts of felony theft, three 

counts of felony theft by fraud and one count of 

racketeering in a criminal complaint filed by the 

Wisconsin Department of Justice. The pair allegedly 

sold dogs that owners thought were still racing 

or had been adopted to the Guidant Corporation 

of St. Paul, Minnesota, a cardiac research facility, 

where all died except some 100 that were 

rescued during the state investigation in the spring 

of 2000. Dierks, a former dog hauler for Shonka, 

was called “as guilty as her boss” by Scepaniak, 

because she knew what was going on and was a 

willing participant. Scepaniak called their actions 

“horrific” and said the pair received about $400 a 

dog for those sold to the research facility. 

TWO WEEKS FOR EFX SPECIAL 

If you are headed for the Harness Racing Congress 

and want to see the slambang EFX Alive! 

show at the MGM Grand, you have two weeks to 

get tickets from HTA. The deadline for our block 

of tickets to the extravaganza expires then. Tickets 

are $70 each for the highly rated show. There 

is a later cutoff for Siegfried and Roy and Danny 

Gans at the Mirage and Mystere at Treasure Island, 

next door to the Mirage. For details, call 

HTA. Room reservations also need to be made 

soon for guaranteed confirmations.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor January 4, 2002 

HTA’S 2001 NOVA CHAMPIONS 2-year-old filly: CAM SWIFTY, winner of 9 of 11 

The racing secretaries of Harness Tracks of races and $599,041, owned by William F. Peshina’s 

America’s 35 members have chosen their divisional 

champions of 2001, and the owners of their 

Royal Wire Products, Inc., North Royalton, Ohio. 

selections will receive HTA’s bronze Nova awards 3-year-old colt: REAL DESIRE, winner of 7 of 17 

at the Night of Stars at the Mirage hotel in Las races and $1,646,036, owned by Robert and Karin 

Vegas Feb. 21, closing event of this year’s third Burgess, Campbellville, Ontario; George Segal’s 

Harness Racing Congress. 

Brittany Farms, Versailles, KY; and William 

Perretti’s Perretti Farms, Cream Ridge, NJ. 

The trotting winners are: 

2-year-old colt: ANDOVER HALL, winner of 8 of 

9 races and $450,920 last year, owned by Erkki 

Laakonen of Georgetown, Ontario. 

2-year-old filly: CAMERON HALL, winner of 6 

of 7 races and $639,426 in 2001, also owned by 

Erkki Laakonen. 

3-year-old colt: SJ’s CAVIAR, winner of 15 of 20 

races and $1,198,490, owned by Eliezer N. 

Solomon, Riviera Beach, MD; Donald L. Bartling, 

Timonium, MD; and Ugo Chiola’s Kosmos Horse 

Breeders, Littlestown, PA. 

3-year-old filly: SYRINX HANOVER, undefeated 

in 12 races and winner of $1,018,629, owned by 

Anthony Pecoraro’s Need to Know Stable, South 

Plainfield, NJ. 

Older Trotter: VARENNE, winner of 2 races and 

$750,000 in North America in 2001, owned by 

Scuderia Dany, Naples, Italy. 

The pacing champions are: 

2-year-old colt: WESTERN SHOOTER, winner 

of 9 of 14 races and $904,462, owned by the Robert 

McIntosh Stables, Inc., Windsor, 

Ontario; CSX Stables, Liberty Center, 

Ohio; and Michael P. Kohler, Sterling 

Heights, Michigan. 

3-year-old filly: BUNNY LAKE, winner of 19 of 

21 races and $1,146,219, owned by Wendy Spring’s 

W Springtime Stable, Johnstown, NY. 

Older Pacer: GALLO BLUE CHIP, winner of 10 

of 19 races and $1,123,940, owned by Martin 

Scharf, Lawrence, NY. 

The Horse of the Year and Trotter and Pacer of 

the Year, and divisional champions chosen by members 

of the United States Harness Writers Association, 

will be named at the Night of Stars dinner 

Feb. 21. Also honored that night will be Jim Dennis, 

Harry Harvey and Catello Manzi, newest inductees 

into harness racing’s Hall of Fame. 

The Harness Racing Congress is co-sponsored by 

Harness Tracks of America and the United States 

Trotting Association, and participating organizations 

include the United States Harness Writers 

Association, North American Harness Publicists 

Association, Hambletonian Society/Breeders 

Crown, Standardbred Canada, Racetracks of 

Canada, Association of Racing Commissioners 

International, Harness Horse Youth Foundation, 

and Standardbred Investigative Services. For additional 

information on registration or reservations, 

contact Sable Downs at HTA, 520-529-2525, fax 

520-529-3235, e-mail harness@azstarnet.com.





MORE GOOD NEWS AT THE SPA 

HTA’s member Saratoga Equine Sports Center 

had more good news over the weekend, when five 

committee members of the Saratoga County Board 

of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve VLTs 

for the track. The full board, whose new chairman 

has put off a scheduled January meeting until February 

13, still has to give its approval, but things 

are looking up. 

Good news in Chicago, too, where horsemen boycotting 

the entry box, resulting in the loss of 4 

nights and 43 races -- came to a settlement with 

Maywood and Balmoral Parks. Under the agreement, 

the tracks will guarantee $90,000 a night in 

purse distribution for the year, with a kick-out 

clause if wagering drops by 25% or more a night, 

and the horsemen agreed to three 9-horse fields a 

night at Maywood Park, at claiming levels no 

higher than $12,000. Racing resumed Saturday 

night. 

MASS. PHONE BETS BY APRIL 

It may be no April Fool’s Day this year at HTA’s 

Plainridge Racecourse, if Massachusetts Racing 

Commission chairman Robert Hutchinson can 

keep the advent of phone account wagering on 

schedule. Hutchinson told Ed Gray of the Boston 

Herald that he hopes that the way will be cleared 

by then for each of the state’s four racetracks to 

get their own systems underway. Hutchinson said, 

“I expect that it will go in for a hearing in the next 

30 days and hope to have it in operation on or before 

April 1. Everyone’s signed off on it, but we 

still have to do the drill.” Under the new legislation, 

each track will be able to accept wagers by 

phone on all tracks that are offered on its simulcast 

menu that day. There will be no change in 

premiums paid for intratrack signals in the 

state, and payoffs will be the same on account 

wagering as at the track. 


NJ AWAITS SUBSIDY VOTE 

The New Jersey Assembly was scheduled to vote 

today, on the final voting session before a new legislature 

takes over in Trenton, on the $18 million 

dollar purse subsidy needed to keep the state’s 

tracks competitive. No word at press time. 

HOPE, AND SURPRISES, IN KY 

Janet Patton, the Lexington Herald-Leader’s 

Eclipse award-winning business writer, thinks a 

potential $532 million budget shortfall in the state 

bodes well for VLTs at tracks in Kentucky. She 

thinks the issue is important enough that she hied 

herself off to Toronto to see Woodbine, and returned 

to write that the biggest winner in racing 

these days isn’t Point Given or Storm Cat, Bob 

Baffert or D. Wayne Lukas, but Woodbine. Ms. 

Patton says the legislative jockeying on the issue 

starts tomorrow, and noted that Kentucky’s shrine 

of purity, Keeneland -- which didn’t even have a 

race announcer until they hired harness racing’s 

Kurt Becker a few years ago -- now is ready to 

accept slots. Track president Nick Nicholson says, 

“To say ‘we don’t want it’is no longer a responsible 

position to take.” Ms. Patton quoted Kentucky 

governor Paul Patton, who said “I normally 

don’t make comment on specific bills until I see 

them, but I would not be inclined to veto an action 

by the General Assembly that they already convinced 

me that they have enough votes to pass.” 

Whether the Assembly has enough is uncertain, 

but Kentucky tracks obviously are starting to lose 

their coyness in discussing the matter. Ms. 

Patton’s Eclipse, it turns out, will be presented at 

the Fountainbleau instead of the shiny new Diplomat, 

which isn’t ready. We could have warned the 

NTRA if asked. HTA was to have met at the Diplomat 

in 2001, but switched to 2003 when that spectacular 

new twin tower venture wasn’t finished. 

It still isn’t, plagued by leaks, embarrassing 

since it is owned by the plumbers’ union.





WAPLES SUSPENDED 30 DAYS 

Canada’s leading driver, Randy Waples, who set 

new records for races won (550) and money won 

by his mounts ($10,636,973) in 2001, has been suspended 

from driving for 30 days for verbally abusing 

the nation’s second leading driver, and Waples’ 

chief challenger, Chris Christoforou, in the Woodbine 

paddock after a race last month. The Woodbine 

Entertaiment Group also fined Waples $500 

and placed him on probation for six months. 

“GR0WING SLOTS MOMENTUM” 

That was the word in Maryland as the General 

Assembly began its 2002 session yesterday. Delegate 

Howard (Pete) Rawlings once again introduced 

his bill for a public referendum on legalizing 

slots at the state’s tracks, telling the Baltimore 

Sun that “Clearly there’s a growing momentum 

for lots. All it does is add gambling where it already 

exists. It’s almost like adding keno to the 

lottery.” Rawlings acknowledged that the Senate 

faces a problem in voting for the measure because 

of the reelection campaigns of a number of its 

members, but said that attitude “overlooks the 

possibility of all of that money going to help schools 

and libraries instead of going to Delaware and West 

Virginia,” both of which have VLTs at their tracks. 

“Ultimately,” Rawlings told the paper, “We’re 

going to be surrounded by gambling, and we’ll have 

to have it. But until we realize it, we’re losing all 

this money.” 

IT’S SIR DOMINIC NOW 

Dominic Frinzi, longtime president of Harness 

Horsemen’s International and president of the 

Milwaukee Italian Community Center, has been 

knighted by the Republic of Italy. Frinzi, 80, has 

been named “cavaliere all-ordine del merito 

della Republica Italiana.” A formal knighting 

will be in Chicago soon. 


GET THIS FIRSTHAND IN VEGAS 

Today’s London Daily Telegraph carries a major 

story on MGM Mirage, the world’s second largest 

gaming company, launching a United Kingdom 

online sports betting site this summer, calling it 

“the first major challenge by the Las Vegas casinos 

to British bookmakers.” Attendees at the third 

Harness Racing Congress at the Mirage in Las 

Vegas next month will hear the story firsthand -- 

and views on the Internet and its role on the future 

of horse racing -- when J. Terrence Lanni, 

president and CEO of MGM Mirage, addresses 

the general session of the Congress on the morning 

of February 21. If you haven’t already made 

your Mirage reservations, contact HTA. And if 

you haven’t already made your air reservations, 

you might want to do that now too, with special 

fares available at online services on the Internet. 

COMPLEXITIES OF TAKEOUT 

Yesterday’s New York Daily News carried an interesting 

story by sports writer Jerry Bossert on 

the issue of lowering takeout. After writing about 

the New York Racing Association’s experiment 

with lower takeout at Saratoga Race Course last 

summer, Bossert wrote, “Most tracks around the 

country haven’t followed NYRA’s lead, but now 

might be more inclined to give it a try. However, 

as is usually the case in horse racing, it’s not that 

simple. Keeneland in Lexington, KY, reduced the 

takeout at its fall meet only to see New York City 

OTBs refuse to take its signal, arguing the takeout 

rates at Keeneland were too low for OTB to 

make money. As a result, NYC-OTB took wagers 

on an inferior product, primarily Calder Race 

Course in Miami. Meanwhile, NYC-OTB is currently 

making more money than last year on the 

NYRA signal with the reduced takeout, due to the 

higher handle. NYRA’s current takeout rate is 

14% on straight wagering and 17.5% on 

multiple pools.





FROM JOY TO GLOOM, IN 24 HRS 

When the New Jersey state Assembly voted 48- 

21 to approve the $18 million purse subsidy bill on 

Monday, after the Senate had approved it 27-5 

last month, there was joy among horsemen and 

management throughout the Garden State. It was 

short lived. Yesterday morning, just before leaving 

office at noon, acting governor Don 

DiFrancesco exercised a line item veto of the purse 

subsidy portion of the legislation and cut the appropriation 

to $6 million. With the total divided 

35% to harness purses and 65% to thoroughbreds, 

the cut means that harness racing will receive $2.1 

million instead of $6.3 million, and thoroughbred 

racing $3.9 million instead of $11.7, and not all of 

that money goes to purses. Some goes directly to 

horsemen’s associations, so the net purse boost is 

diminished even further. Those cuts underscored 

the reticence of Bruce Garland, senior executive 

vice president of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition 

Authority, to accept proposed date allocations 

at the recent New Jersey Racing Commission 

meeting. 

GOD ENTERS KY VLT ISSUE 

Legislators and the governor will make the final 

decision on VLTs at Kentucky racetracks, but representatives 

of the Lord plan to intervene before 

the issue is decided. The Associated Press reports 

that church leaders plan to “take to the pulpits” to 

stop any attempts to allow tracks in the commonwealth 

to have VLTs. The executive director of 

the Council of Churches used strong language in 

attacking the idea, saying it was “a potential billion 

dollar rape of Kentucky’s economy” and was 

being driven by “pure greed.” She was backed by 

the president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, 

who promised that Kentucky’s largest Protestant 

denomination would protest. He 

brought race into the issue, calling the idea 

“a redistribution of money from nonwhite, 


noneducated, lower-income people to white, educated, 

higher-income people.” Polls show varying 

sentiment, depending on whose you consider. One 

commissioned by conservative and religious coalition 

opponents of the idea claims that 64% of 

registered voters oppose allowing VLTs at tracks. 

A racing industry poll shows that 60% of Kentuckians 

support VLTs at tracks if part of the money 

goes toward social causes. The church groups invited 

all 138 Kentucky legislators to a press conference 

on the issue yesterday, but according to 

the Lexington Herald-Leader “only a handful” 

showed up. 

TWO GREAT PACERS IN HALL 

The outstanding pacing mare Handle With Care 

and the brilliant racehorse and sire Western 

Hanover have been elected to the Living Horse 

Hall of Fame. Members of the Hall voted the two 

into the shrine in annual balloting. Handle With 

Care retired in 1975 as the richest and fastest pacing 

mare in the sport, having won some of the 

sport’s major stakes, including the mile and a quarter 

International Pace and one mile U.S. Pacing 

Championship, against males. Western Hanover, 

the 2-year-old pacing colt of 1991 and 3-year-old 

champion of 1992, was retired to Hanover Shoe 

Farms in Pennsylvania and last year ranked first 

in the sport in money-earnings of his 2-year-olds. 

Previous great horses voted into the Hall of Fame 

by its members are the pacers Abercrombie, Albatross, 

Artsplace, Cam Fella, Fan Hanover, 

Niatross, and On the Road Again, and trotters 

Mack Lobell, Peace Corps, Speedy Crown, Super 

Bowl and Valley Victory. 

JIM MANGO ON VERNON BOARD 

Jim Mango, most recently executive vice president 

and COO at Pimlico and Laurel, and before 

that executive assistant at HTA, has been 

named to the board of directors of Mid-State 

Raceway, parent of Vernon Downs.





WEG LOWERS SOME TAKEOUT 

Racing fans and bettors at facilities operated by 

Woodbine Entertainment Group will receive larger 

payoffs on bets on U.S. racing starting next week. 

WEG announced it was lowering takeout on exactor 

and daily double wagers on foreign race betting 

hosted by Woodbine Entertainment by 1% on 

that date, as a first step in making those bets more 

competitive. “We estimate the reduced takeout 

will put $1 million back in the pockets of bettors 

this year” said Steve Mitchell, Woodbine 

Entertainment’s vice president of wagering operations. 

“Woodbine Entertainment wants to reduce 

Canadian takeouts over the next few years to give 

more back to our customers who supported us during 

those years when we could not afford lower 

takeouts.” The reduced takeout will benefit customers 

who bet on Woodbine’s most popular simulcast 

products, those from Gulfstream Park, the 

Meadowlands, New York and California tracks, 

and the Fair Grounds. 

MAGNA MAKES PHONE MOVE 

As expected, Magna Entertainment has filed an 

application to conduct account wagering in California, 

and says it is ready operationally to start 

just as soon as the California horse racing board 

clears the way. Magna will use a long-established 

harness racing phone betting system, Call-A-Bet 

at its Meadows operation in western Pennsylvania, 

to launch its account wagering, and Jack 

Liebau, president of Magna’s three California 

tracks at Santa Anita, Golden Gate and Bay Meadows, 

told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was 

optimistic that the racing board would approve 

Magna’s application at its meeting in two weeks. 

Playing it low key, Leibau said phone account wagering 

“is not the savior of racing, but certainly 

over time we would assume it would grow 

and be helpful.” The Call-A-Bet operation 

at The Meadows is long established, 

having been in operation at the track since 

1983. 


FREEHOLD 2001 FIGURES UP 

HTA member Freehold Raceway, the nation’s oldest 

parimutuel harness track, showed gains in both 

on-track and simulcast betting last year. Average 

daily on-track handle was up 1.84%, and average 

daily simulcast numbers were up 7.03%. Total onsite 

handle was up by $9.43 million, a gain of 5.63%, 

and overnight purses at the central New Jersey 

daytime operation rose 10.9% last year over 2000. 

Richard Orbann, Freehold president and general 

manager, said, “It’s tremendously exciting to see 

this kind of growth, especially coming off such a 

solid year in 2000.” Freehold also has become 

the home of major harness stakes, its 2001 schedule 

featuring the $460,926 Cane Pace and $302,206 

James B. Dancer Memorial, both for 3-year-old 

pacing colts. 

SAMMY RISES IN THE PACIFIC 

There have been no Elvis sightings reported recently, 

but Sammy Davis Jr. will be seen again 

soon, his image speeding worldwide online from 

the tiny new gambling headquarters of the Pacific, 

Vanatu. According to interactive gaming News, 

Gaming & Entertainment Technology has entered 

into an agreement with the LaRoda Group, which 

handles Sammy’s estate and licenses his image 

and likeness, to develop and brand an online casino 

and land-based slot machines carrying 

Sammy’s name and visage. LaRoda CEO Barrett 

LaRoda says, “Sammy is synonymous with gaming 

and Las Vegas, but because legislation is not 

passed yet here in America, we aren’t looking to 

market the play-for-pay casino to the American 

public. We are going to wait until legislation 

passes, and we believe that it will.” 

TOMORROW: VEGAS AGENDA 

The agenda of the Harness Racing Congress 

general sessions will appear here and in 

HTA’s online Topics tomorrow.





CONGRESS GENERAL SESSIONS 

Here is the agenda for the general sessions of the third Harness 

Racing Congress, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday 

mornings, Feb. 20-21, at the Mirage in Las Vegas: 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 

8-8:20 Welcome and Opening Remarks 

David Willmot, President, HTA 

Corwin Nixon, President, USTA 

8:20-9:00 The Medication Issue: Is There Light At The End 

Of The Tunnel? 

Lonny T. Powell, President & CEO, Racing Commissioners 

International 

Alan Foreman, Chairman/CEO, Thoroughbred Horsemen’s 

Assn. 

9-9:25 Living With The People Who Regulate Your Lives 

Bennett Liebman, Albany Law School, former member, New 

York State Racing and Wagering Board 

9:25-9:55 Making Money Legally Without Losing Your Sanity: 

Some Thoughts on Managing in the Racing Industry 

Lyle Sussman, Professor of Management, School of Business, 

University of Louisville 

9:55–10:20 The Realities of International Simulcasting 

Tom Aronson, Senior Vice President, International, Television 

Games Network 

10:20-10:45 Racing Industry Issues At The Federal Level 

James J. Hickey Jr., President, American Horse Council 

10:45-11:15 Washington Today, and Some Harness Racing 

Remembrances 

United States Senator Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island 

11:15-Noon Big and Small: What’s Ahead for Harness Racing 

in the Age of the Giants? 

John R. Long, President, Churchill Downs Management; Executive 

VP & COO, Churchill Downs 

Jim McAlpine, President & CEO, Magna Entertainment Corporation 

Noon-1:30 Luncheon, All Attendees. Awards Presentations 

by U.S. Harness Writers Assn. 

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 

8-8:30 The Internet: Racing’s Bright Future or 

Fearsome Threat? 

J. Terrence Lanni, Chairman and CEO, MGM Mirage; 

Director, Santa Anita and Del Mar Race Course 


8:30-8:55 The Depth of Disaster: The Economic Impact of 

MRLS (Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome) on Harness 

Horse Breeding in Kentucky in 2001 and Beyond. 

Professors Bob Lawrence and Richard Thalheimer, 

University of Louisville Equine Industry Program 

8:55-9:20 Database Marketing: How It Has Helped Other 

Sports and How It Can Help Harness Racing 

Philip M. Sugar, CEO, Smart Button Associates, Inc. 

9:20-9:50 Product Distribution, Interactive Development 

and Rewards Programs 

Nick Eaves, SeniorVP Marketing, Gaming & Business 

Development, Woodbine Entertainment Group 

Andrew Macdonald, Director, Business Development, 

Woodbine Entertainment Group 

9:50-10:10 What About All Those Ladies Who Love 

Horses: Have You Given Them Any Thought in Your 

Marketing? 

Mary Midkiff, author of popular books on women and 

horses, including the best-selling She Flies Without Wings 

10:10-10:55 Lobbying: Relations With The People Who 

Write The Laws Governing Harness Racing 

Steve Bochnak, The Steve Bochnak Firm, Advocate for the 

Pari-Mutuel Industry Hector Clouthier, former Member of 

Parliament, now Special Adviser to Prime Minister Jean 

Chretien of Canada 

Norman Towne, Legislative Advocate, Carpenter Snodgrass 

Leon Zimmerman, Public Relations, New Jersey SBOA 

10:55-11:15 What Harness Racing Can Expect in Technology 

Before Its Next Congress 

Al Bergstein, Product Strategy Group, Microsoft Corp. 

11:10-Noon Print, Radio and Television Coverage In The 

Age of Simulcasting 

Bill Heller, free-lance racing writer and president, United 

States Harness Writers Association 

Alan Kirshenbaum, co-creator and executive producer of 

the CBS comedy Yes Dear, head writer of ABC comedy 

Coach, andharness racing owner and driver 

Debbie Little, harness writer, New York Post 

Rob Longley, harness writer, Toronto Sun 

Ken Miller, sports radio host, ESPN affiliate KJNN, 

DesMoines, Iowa, and racing secretary, Prairie Meadows 

Phil Pikelny, Director of New Media, Landmark Broadcasting 

Noon-1:30 Luncheon for All Congess Attendees, Awards 

Presentations by United States Harness Writers 

Association. 

The Night of Stars, honoring the owners of the 

champion harness horses of 2001 and other 

dignitaries, starts at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21.





SUNY WINS PROXIMITY AWARD 

The State University of New York at Morrisville’s 

program in Equine Science and Management has 

been named the 2002 winner of the United States 

Harness Writers’Proximity Award. Named for the 

great trotting mare of a half century ago, the Proximity 

is awarded annually to an individual or organization 

that makes a consistent and important 

contribution to harness racing. The SUNY- 

Morrisville program is the only one in the nation 

in which students can focus exclusively on harness 

horses, and it offers degrees in equine science and 

management and equine racing management. Of 

its 200 students, 10 to 15 each year prepare trotters 

and pacers for racing across the Northeast, 

and the school now conducts a standardbred sale 

that has been increasing in quality and importance 

each year, growing from a $70,000 gross in its first 

year in 1988 to more than $2 million last year. The 

program is housed in a new Equine Breeding and 

Training center that includes a 34,000-square foot 

facility and a separate 80-acre equine center with 

a half mile harness training track. Associate Professor 

of Equine Science Bill Maddison will accept 

the Proximity Award at harness racing’s Night 

of Stars at the Mirage in Las Vegas February 21. 

IT’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL; SO? 

The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati 

has ruled, in a 2-1 decision, that the city of 

Detroit violated the United States Constitution in 

giving preferential treatment when it awarded two 

casino licenses. The suit was brought by the Lac 

Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa 

Indians, and the federal judge who heard the case 

upheld the Detroit ordinance. The Appeals Court 

has overturned his decision and remanded the case 

back to the lower court for further consideration. 

Both companies that were awarded the licenses 

are operating casinos. 


What happens next is anyone’s guess. The two 

casinos involved, Greektown Casino and Atwater 

Entertainment Associates, which partnered with the 

Mandalay Resort Group of Las Vegas, both helped 

place initiatives on the city ballot, then organized 

support for the statewide referendum. Detroit’s 

city ordinance stated that preference should be 

given in awarding licenses to developers who 

“made significant contributions by actively promoting 

and significantly supporting” the ballot initiatives. 

The Lac Vieux argued this discriminated 

against the tribe for failing to take a politically 

correct position in the initiative debate, and the 

federal appeals court agreed with them. The court 

said the city effectively ended the high stakes competition 

for the casino licenses before it began, and 

concluded, “This we cannot allow. Barring governments 

from endorsing or punishing political 

activity, or the lack of it, is among the paramount 

functions of the First Amendment’s Free Speech 

Clause.” 

WEG ROLLS ON: NET IS NEXT 

Bouyed by a record year in which overall handle 

rose 11.1% to $1.35 billion, the Woodbine Entertainment 

Group has announced it hopes to have 

Internet betting available for patrons “within six 

months.” WEG and HTA president David Willmot 

said “the enabling regulations are very close,” 

noting that the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Association 

has agreed that the concept of other electronic 

devices is exactly the same as betting over a telephone 

line, which WEG has been doing for a number 

of years. Willmot said it was important to establish 

legal Internet wagering to counteract illegal 

off-shore sports books. Elsewhere, more good 

news. In New Jersey, the Meadowlands and 

Monmouth set on-site betting records and handled 

a total of $1.575 billion from all sources, paying 

$99.9 million in purse money, and in Quebec 

Hippodrome de Montreal was up 3.12% in 

total handle.





HOPES & REALITIES GALORE 

Everybody wants VLTs, but everyone isn’t going 

to get them. Here’s today’s roundup of hopes and 

realities: 

In Maryland, the sponsor of a proposal for a constitutional 

amendment that would allow slots at 

tracks acknowledges that it won’t make it to the 

starting gate, given the election-year politicking 

facing members of the General Assembly. The 

bill, as written, would be exempt from a gubernatorial 

veto, but its sponsor, Howard P. Rawlings, 

chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, 

told the The Capital in Annapolis that “it is important 

to lay out the parameters of this discussion” 

even if its chances are slim or none this year. The 

Senate president, Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., 

called the bill “a futile gesture” but said ultimately 

legalized casino-style gambling in Maryland is “inevitable.” 

In Kentucky, casino gambling got a boost from 

Larry Dale Keeling, editorial writer for the Lexington 

Herald-Leader. He endorsed the idea “for 

purely practical reasons. It is fiscal insanity for 

this state to sit idly by while hundreds of millions 

of Kentucky dollars flow into neighboring states’ 

economies and treasuries.” Kentucky’s Speaker 

of the House, Jody Richards, said in a joint news 

conference with the Senate President, David Williams, 

that if VLTs come to tracks in Kentucky 

“someone would have to police it...some state entity” 

and Williams added that it would probably be 

the Kentucky Lottery board. He said it was very 

doubtful that a separate commission would be 

formed. Both Richards and Williams said slot 

machines could be legalized only after a constitutional 

amendment, not by an ordinary bill, and 

added that they did not see much enthusiasm 

for the issue in their respective chambers. 

Editorialist Keeling had a view on this. 

He wrote that until last week he was “one of 


those naive souls who thought the only way expanded 

gambling legislation would get through the 

2002 General Assembly was in the form of a constitutional 

amendment” and that was conventional 

wisdom, but that “conventional wisdom ignores 

the reality that, to the true moralists and the falsely 

pious (those who think gambling is a sin only if 

their church doesn’t get a cut of the action) a vote 

for an amendment is the same as a vote to plop 

down a Caesar’s Palace clone in every Kentucky 

schoolyard. Said vote condemns said legislator to 

an eternity without air conditioning or cool, refreshing 

beverages. And if (horrors) Kentucky voters 

reject the amendment anyway, said legislator loses 

any chance of buying himself/herself out of purgatory 

by bringing home a piece of the bacon that an 

estimated $300 million in extra revenue might 

buy.” Keeling went on to write that a mass shunning 

by legislators of an invitation to an anti-gambling 

meeting (138 were invited and 2 attended) 

led him to the conclusion that the dynamics of the 

gambling debate changed drastically when the budgetary 

good times ended, and that legislators now 

feel statutory approval is far preferable to constitutional 

revision. 

In New Hampshire, the House Ways and Means 

committee is reviewing nine gambling-related bills 

today, including one that would authorize VLTs at 

both dog and horse tracks. Rockingham Park GM 

Ed Callahan thinks numerous legislators are in 

favor of that measure, “but when you have 400 of 

them, sometimes it gets a little difficult.” 

In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette again 

editorially supported track VLTs, saying “the time 

is right” for the state to expand gambling at the 

state’s four racetracks, since “Pennsylvanians will 

spend as much as $3 billion on gaming in neighboring 

states” this year.





HOLMES WINS MESSENGER 

Jane Holmes, whose pioneering, exceptional efforts 

in unifying horse racing in Ontario paved the 

way for the remarkable gains in the province in 

recent years, is the winner of Harness Tracks of 

America’s Stanley F. Bergstein Messenger Award 

for 2002, the highest honor bestowed by the association 

of 35 harness racing operations in North 

America. 

Ms. Holmes is the Executive Director and founding 

force of OHRIA, the Ontario Horse Racing 

Industry Association, unique in North America as 

an organization that represents both harness racing 

and thoroughbred racing interests in governmental 

and other relations. 


ANOTHER STRONACH TRACK? 

Racing writer Dave Joseph, reporting in the Ft. 

Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, says Frank Stronach 

has had “preliminary discussions” with city officials 

in Ocala, in the heart of Florida’s horse country, 

about building a track and entertainment center 

there. Although discussions are in an early 

state, the chairman of the Ocala Breeders Sales, 

Norman Casse, says there is a possibility that the 

company, which holds the only racing permit in 

Marion county, where Ocala is located, might work 

out some sort of partnership with Stronach, who 

owns more than 3,000 acres of land in the Ocala 

area. Mike Amsden, a member of Ocala’s city 

council, said he believes Stronach’s plans include 

making the site a tourist destination. 

Ms. Holmes joined OHRIA after 15 years of management, 

consulting and strategic planning experience 

in both the public and private sectors. She 

graduated from the University of Waterloo with a 

Bachelor of Environmental Studies, Honors Geography, 

in 1979. 

Since she joined OHRIA as founding director in 

July, 1995, her efforts were largely responsible for 

the horse racing industry receiving a pari-mutuel 

tax reduction and the implementation of slot machines 

at Ontario tracks. She negotiated the 20% 

industry slot revenue share, and ensured all 18 

racetracks in Ontario the opportunity to participate 

in the slot program, which has had a huge 

positive impact on breeding, racing and purse distribution 

in the province. Her tireless efforts in 

creating crossbreed cooperation won her the Canadian 

Gaming Industry Award of Excellence for 

Horse Racing in 1999. Her bronze and marble 

Messenger trophy, fashioned by noted sculptress 

Lisa Perry, will be presented at the Night 

of Stars awards dinner Thursday, Feb. 21, 

at the Mirage in Las Vegas, closing event 

of the third Harness Racing Congress. 

JACOBS GETS COLONIAL OK 

Colonial Holdings shareholders have approved the 

acquisition of the company by Gameco Inc., a private 

entity owned by Jeffrey P. Jacobs, who is 

Colonial’s chairman and CEO. Gameco plans to 

close on the transaction by February, and Colonial 

Downs would become a privately held subsidiary 

of Gameco, under the sole ownership of 

Jacobs. 

KANSAS GOV ENDORSES SLOTS 

Although legislators say chances of approval are 

slim, the governor of Kansas, Bill Graves, has 

endorsed the idea of slots at tracks. “Limiting slots 

to pari-mutuel facilities is what I believe would be 

the appropriate policy for the state of Kansas,” 

Groves told the Associated Press. 

ROSENBUSH MOVES UP AT DRF 

Rich Rosenbush, who has been executive editor 

of Daily Racing Form, has been named Editor-in- 

Chief by chairman and publisher Steve Crist. 

Charles Hayward, president and COO, 

takes over as chief executive editor.





INDIANA SUBSIDY VOTE NEAR 

The chairman of the Ways and Means committee 

of the Indiana House has told the Indianapolis Star 

that he expects a vote within two weeks on House 

Bill 1004, which if passed would transfer $10 million 

of the $26 million track subsidy from riverboat 

casino admissions to the general fund. Riverboat 

casino admissions might be raised from $3 to $5, 

but that would not offset the track subsidy loss 

since the additional $2 admission tax also would 

go to the state’s general fund. Also in the legislative 

hopper is Senate bill 333, which could affect 

revenues by legalizing dockside gaming and pull 

tabs, a form of VLTs, at tracks and OTBs. 

$1 MILLION GRAND SLAM BACK 

You’ve probably seen the car commercial running 

these days that says, “Not that you would but you 

could.” It applies to harness racing again this year, 

with two $1,000,000 bonuses on the line for a 3- 

year-old trotter or pacer that can win all four of 

the sport’s Grand Slam events. For pacers the 

tests are the $1.2 million (Canadian) North America 

Cup at Woodbine, the $1 million Meadowlands Pace 

at the Meadowlands, the $640,000 Little Brown 

Jug at Delaware, Ohio, and the $500,000 Breeders 

Crown at Woodbine. The hurdles for trotters 

are the $1.2 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands; 

the $520,000 World Trotting Derby at the 

DuQuoin, Illinois; the $400,000 Kentucky Futurity 

at the Red Mile in Lexington; and the $500,000 

Breeders Crown at Woodbine. Although the Grand 

Slam is only a year old, its degree of difficulty is 

formidable. No trotter or pacer to date, pre-Grand 

Slam or since its introduction, has been able to 

win all four races involved. That should be comforting 

to the Royal Surplus Lines Insurance company 

that writes the policy, but this is another 

year, and hope springs eternal within the 

human (owner’s) breast. 


SCORE ANOTHER FOR SIS 

Most of its accomplishments are registered without 

press or fanfare, but the solid work of Standardbred 

Investigative Services produces benefits 

for harness racing day by day. One came to light 

yesterday with a release from the U.S. Department 

of Justice, office of the United States Attorney, 

Eastern District of Michigan. It was a story 

on David F. Novak of Livonia, Michigan, who entered 

a guilty plea on the second day of his jury 

trial in federal court in Detroit on charges of illegally 

selling prescription human and animal drugs 

to an undercover investigator. “The investigator,” 

the release said, “was actually employed by Standardbred 

Investigative Services, a private organization 

dedicated to maintaining the integrity and 

security of horse racing and is funded by the horse 

racing industry. The year and a half long investigation 

was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration, 

Office of Criminal Investigation, with 

the assistance of Standardbred Investigative Services 

and Michigan’s Office of the Racing Commissioner.” 

SIS is jointly funded by USTA and 

HTA. Novak will be sentenced in April, and faces 

up to three years imprisonment, followed by one 

year of supervised release. 

BIG A WANTS 2,500 VLTS 

In an interesting juxtaposition of approaches, the 

New York Racing Association is asking for 2,500 

VLTs for its Aqueduct operation, and simultaneously 

campaigning against Saratoga Equine 

Sports Center getting them in what could be a battle 

for survival in Saratoga Springs. Suddenly deeply 

concerned with traffic, restaurants and hotels in 

Saratoga in the month of August, when NYRA’s 

Saratoga operation is jamming the town, NYRA 

president Barry Schwartz is worried that VLTs at 

the Equine Center “would be a nightmare.” What 

about the other 11 months of the year when 

NYRA’s not there? Would you go for that, 

Barry?





$2.1 MILLION UP IN SMOKE? 

When Bruce Garland of the Meadowlands appeared 

before the New Jersey Racing Commission 

last month in a date hearing, he told the commission 

that he could not agree to the proposed 

allocation because there was no certainty that $18 

million in purse supplement legislation would be 

enacted. Shortly after, acting governor Donald 

DiFrancesco used a line item veto to reduce the 

supplement from $18 million to $6 million. Now, in 

another blink of the eye, it appears those millions 

are gone entirely, as New Jersey’s new governor, 

James McGreevey, started his regime by announcing 

draconian cuts, saying he was not bound by 

lame duck actions of his predecessor and was stopping 

all discretionary spending in the state. New 

Jersey faces a $2.8 billion shortfall, and 

McGreevey says reducing it will be 

“an agonizing prospect.” It appears that harness 

horsemen at the Meadowlands will have to share 

the agony, and purses will certainly have to be 

slashed in the face of the loss of the $2.1 million 

subsidy. 

MAGNA LAUNCHES XPRESSBET 

Using a good old harness track and harness racing 

service as the platform, Magna Entertainment 

announced today that it is launching XpressBet 

account wagering, using the old Call-A-Bet system 

at its Meadows track in Pennsylvania. It also 

announced Call-A-Bet will be renamed XpressBet. 

Part of the new system will be a multi-million dollar 

installation of speech recognition technolog 

provided by VeCommerce Limited, the Australian 

firm that services TAB in Australia. The system 

combines VeCommerce’s own multimedia platform, 

FirstContact, with what the company calls “the 

world’s best natural language speech recognition 

engine from Nuance Communications.” 

With it, consumers will simply phone their 

bets direct to the Meadows site. 


HOOF IN MOUTH DISEASE IN NH 

We have no idea who the next governor of New 

Hampshire will be, but if it is the Republican contender 

Gordon Humphrey the state is in for some 

interesting times ahead. While testifying this 

week before the House Ways and Means Committee 

there, Humphrey called gambling “a 

scummy, sleazy enterprise that has no place in this 

state.” The Telegraph in Nashua, which reported 

the slur, said that Dave DeLisle, president of the 

New Hampshire Thoroughbred Breeders Association, 

followed Humphrey to the microphone and 

said he found the candidate’s remarks “absolutely 

unconscionable and unbelievable.” Yesterday Ed 

Callahan, vice president and GM at New 

Hampshire’s Rockingham Park, demanded an 

apology from Humphrey. Callahan said all 6,000 

people involved in the gambling industry in the 

state were “outraged and insulted” by the 

candidate’s remarks. 

WILLIAM HILL BIDS U.S. ADIEU 

British gambling giant William Hill has decided to 

give up the colonies. In a letter to U.S. customers 

signed by Jamie Hart, Sportsbook Director, the 

bookmaker said they were writing “because you 

have an account with William Hill Sportsbook and 

your registered address indicates that you are resident 

in the United States. Due to the continuing 

uncertainty of the legality of sports wagering over 

the Internet by U.S. residents, William Hill has 

decided to stop accepting such wagers with effect 

from 31st January.” The letter went on to say the 

decision does not affect U.S. citizens who are resident 

outside the United States, nor does it affect 

the William Hill casinos, “which will continue to 

accept wagers from U.S. residents.” After 5 a.m. 

Jan. 31, no deposits or bets on sports and racing 

will be accepted, and “any bets placed prior to 

that time will be settled in the normal way,” 

and balances can be withdrawn.





BIG M: NO PURSE CUTS NOW 

The Meadowlands, faced with the prospect of the 

loss of $2.1 million in state purse subsidies, says it 

has no intention of changing the purse structure 

for its races at this time. Because previous harness 

racing purse supplements were allocated in 

such a way that there were no marked fluctuations 

in purses, the track feels confident it can maintain 

its current harness racing purse structure if business 

remains relatively steady. 

MGM MIRAGE SEEKS CHICAGO 

Well, not the whole city, but at least the casino 

that will serve it. The Chicago Tribune reports the 

Las Vegas company has offered some $615 million 

to buy out the owners of Emerald Casino, the 

company that has been beleaguered in its efforts 

to complete its casino in Rosemont, a Chicago suburb 

near Arlington Park. Emerald ran into difficulty 

with licensing because of allegations of ties 

to organized crime and charges that top officials 

made misleading statements to state regulators. 

If the MGM Mirage offer is approved, it could 

settle pending lawsuits and administrative appeals, 

but it has a way to go. Another lawsuit filed by 

billionaire Marvin Davis and a group of Lake 

county investors challenges Emerald’s legal standing 

to hold the license. MGM Mirage’s intention 

to bid for the license originally was announced in 

July, but was deemed unacceptable by the Gaming 

Board as then constituted. A new director, Philip 

Parenti, was named in August. Antigambling interests 

and political hopefuls have opposed the MGM 

Mirage offer. The Tribune was unable to reach 

Emerald officials over the weekend, and MGM 

Mirage declined to comment on its offer. But the 

paper said the offer “creates a potential windfall 

for minority and female shareholders, who by law 

have to hold 20% of the casino. Under the 

new offer, they will have an opportunity to 

buy back in. 

MGM Mirage’s chairman and CEO, J. Terrence 

Lanni, will address the Harness Racing Congress 

at the Mirage on Thursday morning, Feb. 21, on 

Internet wagering. The company’s Online division 

hasn’t gone live yet with its casino on the Isle of 

Man off Britain, but meanwhile it is applying for a 

bookmaker’s license in the United Kingdom somewhere 

outside of London, according to Interactive 

Gaming News. Bill Hornbuckle, the president of 

the company, says the casino and the sports book 

will be linked off a portal, much the way Ladbrokes 

operates its gaming sites. “There will be a central 

portal,” Hornbuckle said, “and you’ll go to either 

the sports site in the U.K. or for games you’ll be 

put off into the Isle of Man.” Hornbuckle is looking 

for an office site this month, and based on which 

township he decides to locate in, he’ll then apply 

for the license. When issued, MGM Mirage Online 

will launch its Web site. The company originally 

considered partnering with Ladbrokes or another 

large bookmaker in the United Kingdom, according 

to IGN, but decided to go it alone. Concerning 

that, Hornbuckle said, “We clearly understand 

bookmaking and risk management assessment; we 

just need to acquire some local knowledge and we 

think that’s accessible to us.” He also said the 

company plans fixed-odds betting, and will focus 

for now on the international scene where Internet 

gambling is legal for, but would “absolutely” move 

its servers to the United States should online gaming 

be legalized here. 

KING RACE AT POMPANO PARK 

To commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, 

Pompano Park will hold a race in his name 

tonight featuring African-American drivers only. 

Competing will be Floridians Hank Hayward, 

Ode11 Thompson, Allen Johnson, Jeff Porter, and 

Dewayne Minor, Chris Williams from Pennsylvania, 

Dave Howard from Freehold in New 

Jersey and Randy Tharps from Northfield 

Park near Cleveland.





BOUCHARD DRIVER OF YEAR 

Stephane Bouchard, a 35-year-old native of Quebec 

now living in Little Ferry, NJ, and racing primarily 

at Yonkers Raceway in New York, has won 

harness racing’s most difficult award for driving, 

Harness Tracks of America’s Driver of the Year. 


John Campbell, harness racing’s all-time moneywinning 

leader with more than $200 million won by 

his mounts, finished 10 th , leading the continent in 

money winnings for the 14 th time with $14,184,863, 

but failing to make the top 25 in percentage standings. 

Based on races won, money won and in-the-money 

percentage, the competition requires a driver to 

finish in the top 25 in North America in all three 

categories. Last year, of 5,591 drivers who raced 

in the United States and Canada, only 5 were able 

to accomplish that goal. 

Under the HTA formula, 25 points are awarded 

for finishing first in each of the three categories, 

down to 1 for finishing 25 th , with a 25-point bonus 

awarded for finishing in the top 25 in all three. 

Bouchard was 2d on the continent in races won 

with 753 winning drives, 14 th in money won by his 

mounts with $5,090,468, and 6 th in percentage 

standings, finishing first, second or third in more 

than half of the 3,411 races in which he drove. 

The percentage statistic was remarkable in view 

of the fact that Bouchard’s 3,411 drives in 2001 

were the most of any driver in North America last 

year, making him the busiest as well as the highest 

ranking in the sport. 

Bouchard’s accomplishments earned him 81 points. 

Chris Christoforou, Ontario’s brilliant 30-year-old 

standout, and his archrival Randy Waples, finished 

in a dead heat for second with 77 points, their totals 

as close as their annual competition for top 

honors on the highly competitive circuit at Woodbine 

in Toronto and Mohawk Raceway in 

Campbellville, Ontario. Sylvain Filion, another 

Quebec star, finished fourth with 76 points, 

and the western Pennsylvania perennial 

leader Dave Palone, HTA’s Driver of the 

Year in 1999 and 2000, rounded out the top 

five with 72 points. 

Bouchard, who spent his formative years driving 

in Canada, Italy, Germany and Florida, has been 

around horses all his life. His father was a barrel 

racer, and Stephane began competing in rodeos in 

Quebec when he was only 10 years old. He spent 

his first years at Hippodrome de Montreal, working 

for trainer Pierre Touchette, and then for 

trainer Paul Gauthier. When Gauthier died, his 

wife gave Bouchard her husband’s green and white 

silks, and those have been his colors ever since. 

He rose steadily from 1989 on, and in 2000 he 

burst into prominence at Yonkers, winning 671 

races to finish second in the U.S and Canada, and 

was named Rising Star of the Year by the U.S. 

Harness Writers Association. Last year he rose 

to the top. His Driver of the Year trophy will be 

presented during the Night of Stars at the Harness 

Racing Congress in Las Vegas Thursday 

night, February 21. 

The top 10 in 2001: 

Wins $$ Av. Pts 

1. Stephane Bouchard 753 $5,090,468 .354 81 

2. Chris Christoforou 622 9,570,998 .326 77 

2. Randy Waples 550 10,636,348 .323 77 

4. Sylvain Filion 463 5,830,873 .352 76 

5. Dave Palone 642 3,493,971 .389 72 

6. Walter Case 801 3,248,964 .417 49 

7. Brian Sears 485 3,008,946 .359 38 

8. David Miller 457 10,551,102 .286 36 

9.Luc Ouellette 378 10,006,054 .278 28 

9.John Campbell 

340 14,184,863 .300 28





HTA HONORS FOUR STARS 

Four of harness racing’s truly high achievers, who 

have contributed much to the sport, will be honored 

by Harness Tracks of America at the Night 

of Stars gala at the Mirage in Las Vegas February 

21, concluding event of the third Harness Racing 

Congress. 

The four are Ellen Taylor, executive director of 

the Harness Horse Youth Foundation; Ellen 

Harvey, executive director, and Gen Sullivan, 

manager of media relations, of Harness Racing 

Communications; and David Carr, director of information 

and research at the United States Trotting 

Association. 

Ms. Taylor and Mr. Carr will receive HTA’s Distinguished 

Service Medals for exceptional service 

to the sport and industry. Ms. Harvey and Ms. 

Sullivan will receive the association’s Dan Patch 

award for exceptional media, publicity and public 

relations contributions to harness racing. 

Ellen Taylor has been the inexhaustible driving 

force behind not only the Youth Foundation but its 

Harness Racing Youth Camps. From the HHYF 

offices in Carmel, Indiana, she introduced the 

Foundation’s popular Harness Heroes cards, has 

developed and guided its many important and 

worthwhile projects, and organized, scheduled and 

supervised the Youth Camps and their educational 

program, first suggested by noted owner Mal 

Burroughs. Five of the camps will be held again at 

HTA tracks next summer. Stan Bergstein, HTA 

vice president, said, “If it had not been for Ellen 

Taylor, there would have been no Youth Camps. 

Her work has been inspirational for the youngsters 

who attended them, and one of the most significant 

programs in the sport. The daughter 

of Dick Taylor, a well-known harness 

horse trainer, and of a mother who spent a 

lifetime working in the sport, no one knows 

more about it or works harder on its behalf.” 


Ellen Harvey and Gen Sullivan’s Harness Racing 

Communications office in Colt’s Neck, New Jersey, 

a division of the United States Trotting Association, 

provides the hub for distribution of news 

of harness racing to national media and local outlets 

across the country. Their work has lifted servicing 

of news and features to press associations 

and print, radio and television media, and has included 

magazine features on the sport in a wide 

array of magazines. Both talented writers, the pair 

has contributed significantly to press relations 

nationally and internationally. 

David Carr is the failsafe go-to guy at USTA for 

information, statistics and data generated by the 

organization’s computer system. Paul Estok, 

HTA’s staff counsel and executive assistant, said 

of Carr’s efforts, “He is an always reliable, consistent 

and constant source of information, and he 

provides it quickly, accurately and cheerfully. He 

is a hugely valuable asset for the sport and he has 

contributed materially to the creation and maintenance 

of HTA projects and our computerized database.” 

LOSSES AND BETTER NEWS 

Joe Toscano, whose racing career spanned 50 

years and 20 tracks in both harness and thoroughbred 

racing, including service at the Meadowlands 

and Garden State Park, died on Jan. 15. Joe was 

one of the sport’s good guys, and HTA sends its 

condolences to his widow Rita and his two daughters 

in Medford, NJ. In another loss, world renowned 

tournament bridge champion Norman Kay, 

a prominent harness horse owner whose best horse 

was the New York free-for-aller Mr. Karamea, died 

at 74, and our sympathy to his wife Judy and their 

son and daughter. 

On a happier note, both former HTA president 

Earle Palmer Brown and the sport’s irrepressible 

super salesman, Chuck Bowen, 

are recovering from physical setbacks.





NEVER MIND TYSON AND LEWIS 

Racing is getting physical these days, and Tyson 

and Lewis aren’t the only guys scuffling, shoving 

and swinging. Down in Tallahassee, where video 

gaming at tracks is a major issue as elsewhere, a 

Battle of the Bathroom developed when Jack 

Cory, a lobbyist for dog and horse breeders, and 

Pat Rooney, 63-year-old owner of the Palm Beach 

Kennel Club, part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, 

and brother of Tim Rooney of Yonkers Raceway, 

had a vigorous go-round in a men’s room near the 

House committee room where a hearing on VLTs 

was underway. According to the Miami Herald, 

Cory apparently was offended by a remark Rooney 

made at the meeting, and confronted him in a hallway. 

Brian Ballard, Rooney’s lobbyist, said, “Cory 

knocked Pat into the men’s room and then he 

grabbed at him again. Pat is just hopeful that the 

next time he comes to Tallahassee he doesn’t get 

accosted in the men’s room.” Cory, who also got 

into a brawl with Senator Tom Lee in the closing 

week of the 1999 legislative session, said of his 

confrontation with Rooney, “We are very volatile, 

excitable Irishmen who communicate their feelings 

to each other.” 

In Maryland, meanwhile, in what the Washington 

Post said “may have been a new low in terms of 

divisiveness and acrimony,” members of the 

Maryland Racing Commission clashed verbally. 

After member John Franzone bitterly lambasted 

Laurel Park and its general counsel and treasurer, 

Martin Jacobs, at one point calling the track “a 

monstrosity,” Franzone’s fellow commission member, 

John McDaniel, said, “You better go testify 

over there on the side (of the horsemen), Mr. 

Franzone, if you want to argue (their case).” At 

issue was the schedule of racing days at Colonial 

Downs, which the Maryland Jockey Club 

manages. Horsemen want them in September, 

the MJC wants them in July-August, 

as in 2001. 


WEST VA. CHAIRMAN OUT 

There were no arguments, apparently on this one. 

The tax and revenue secretary of the state of West 

Virginia, says he asked the chairman of the state 

racing commission, Bob Burke, to resign after an 

internal investigation involving Burke placing bets 

over the telephone at state racetracks, and Burke 

did. Burke has been a member of the racing commission 

for 13 years and chairman for 9. Brian 

Kastick, the tax and revenue secretary, told the 

Charleston Gazette, “We looked into the matter 

when it was brought to my attention. I thought it 

was the right thing to ask him to resign. It’s time 

for him to move on.” Burke told the paper, “I just 

wanted to hang it up.” He said his greatest accomplishment 

was the addition of video lottery 

machines to the tracks, noting that the state’s racing 

industry was producing only $11 million in revenue 

when he joined the commission in 1989, and 

that it would reach $300 million next year. 

HORSEMEN JOIN THE BATTLE 

Harness horsemen are speaking out in the 2002 

version of the Battle of Saratoga, and have a new 

ally: the Saratoga County Farm Bureau. Mickey 

McGivern, one of the most successful of the 

Saratoga Equine Sports Center’s horsemen, told 

the Albany Times-Union that without VLTs “it is 

very unlikely we’re going to be able to field full 

cards,” particularly if Yonkers Raceway, Vernon 

Downs and Monticello get them. The battle is far 

from over, however, even though the press has 

been reporting that the Saratoga county commissioners 

will approve VLTs for the track when they 

meet February 13. One commissioner, Anthony 

(Skip) Scirocco, is urging people from Saratoga 

Springs to come to a public meeting January 29 

and voice their opinions. Scirocco is unhappy with 

the state law legalizing the machines, saying the 

legislation was unfair and “the city should 

have received a share.”





MAGNA, TVG GET CAL OKS 

In action that surprised some skeptical observers 

who doubted that California phone betting would 

progress this fast, the California Horse Racing 

Board yesterday approved applications by 

XpressBet, a division of Magna Entertainment, 

and Television Games Network to operate advanced 

deposit wagering systems in-state. The 

systems will enable account holders to legally wager 

on races run in California and other jurisdictions 

by phone. The XpressBet license was granted 

for two years, TVG’s for this year only. Magna’s 

television will be launched soon, and will be offered 

free on satellite TV through the end of February, 

when a charge will be imposed for subscribers. 

TVG already is in place, of course, and seen 

in some 700,000 homes in California on the Dish 

network. Board concern over cannibalization presumably 

played a role in the differential in license 

duration. Two commissioners, William Bianco and 

television producer Alan Landsburg, voted against 

the Magna license. TVG’s approval was unanimous, 

7-0. 

Because Magna and TVG were unable to reach 

accord, those account holders wishing to bet on 

Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, Bay Meadows, 

and harness racing at Capitol Racing at Cal Expo 

and out-of-state tracks, must use Magna’s 

XpressBet. Those betting on races at Hollywood 

Park, Los Alamitos, Del Mar, Fairplex and Oak 

Tree at Santa Anita must wager through TVG. 

Bettors wagering on out-of-state races can use 

either service. 

Both Jim McAlpine, president and CEO of Magna 

Entertainment, and Mark Wilson, president 

and CEO of TVG, said they are ready to roll immediately. 

The board tabled applications 

submitted by Youbet.com and Autotote Enterprises 

until applications are complete. 

Youbet said it expected that would be next 

month. 


MORE ON STICKS AND STONES 

Fur has been flying in racing these days, as reported 

yesterday. At the Maryland Racing Commission 

meeting Wednesday, little got done except 

name calling and ill will. The board deferred action 

after more hassling, with the thoroughbred 

horsemen and Maryland Jockey Club still feuding. 

One commissioner, Terry Saxon, told the two 

sides, “You guys can’t agree on anything. It’s 

amazing.” Then, commissioner John Franzone and 

MJC counsel and treasurer Marty Jacobs got into 

a shouting match after Franzone called Laurel 

dirty, saying a dead bird had been laying in the 

same corner of the clubhouse for two months. 

In Florida, meanwhile, it turns out that the heavyweight 

bout between Palm Beach Kennel Club’s 

Pat Rooney and lobbyist Jack Cory of the Florida 

Greyhound Association, reported here yesterday, 

was caught on videotape by a camera crew from 

Tampa’s WFTS, channel 28. It showed Rooney 

pushing Cory and saying, “That’s the last time I’m 

going to put up with any of your s---.” Rep. Johnnie 

Byrd told the station, “This is the American way. 

Sometimes tempers flare. This is important work.” 

Two lobbyists who broke up the fracas had nothing 

to say. 

ON THE VLT FRONT 

If a crowd of 300 who gathered this week for a 

public hearing on VLTs for the Saratoga Equine 

Sports Center is any indication, things are in good 

shape for the track. The Albany Times Union reports 

a majority of the crowd “made it clear” that 

they wanted the VLTs approved. In Batavia, meanwhile, 

the Genesee county legislature approved 

operation of video lottery terminals at Batavia 

Downs 8-1, saying the move was “in the best interest 

of the county and economic development 

and tourism.” Marty Basinait hopes to be 

in operation with the VLTs by Nov.1.





COUNTING CHICKENS IN NY 

They haven’t quite hatched yet, but the hoped for 

VLT chickens (and their eggs) in New York state 

are being counted by Gov. George Pataki. The gov 

has budgeted $61 million in fiscal 2002 (April 1 

thru March 31) as revenue from VLTs which his 

Lottery Division says aren’t likely to be operational 

until November. If the projection is correct, 

it means the state expects some $200 million a 

year minimum from the VLTs, and probably considerably 

more, since all tracks may not be online 

by the end of this year. The New York Racing 

Association, meanwhile, is moving ahead with its 

plans for a 100,000-square foot VLT area at Aqueduct, 

but also is continuing its negotiations with 

the Lottery Division for changes in the distribution 

system of VLT revenue and other aspects 

throwing a heavy burden of operational and maintenance 

costs on the tracks. 

In New Jersey, the Meadowlands is casting a wary 

eye across the Hudson river, and the New Jersey 

Sports and Exposition Authority’s CEO, James 

DiEleuterio, plans to hire experts from both business 

and academia to do a three- to six-month 

study on the effects on the Meadowlands of VLTs 

in New York state, casinos in the Catskills, and 

slots in Delaware. DiEleuterio says he wants to 

know the impact on what he defines as a finite 

market for gambling dollars in the region. 

Another troubling aspect of New Jersey racing will 

be considered again by the state racing commission 

on Wednesday. This issue is the number of 

racing days at the Sports Authority’s Monmouth 

Park. The thoroughbred horsemen want 141 days 

of racing between Monmouth and the Meadowlands. 

Bruce Garland, the NJSEA’s senior VP racing, 

wants 120, as in 2001. 

Garland thinks 120 days, with 70 at 

Monmouth, is all the state can handle if it is 


to maintain high purses and the quality racing they 

assure. He has an ally in one of the most powerful 

voices in the New Jersey legislature on racing 

matters, state senator Richard Codey, who compares 

Monmouth to Saratoga, “fine for a limited 

time.” The commission has expressed contrary 

views, and will take up the controversial matter 

again this week. 

DAVE WALL BADLY INJURED 

Dave Wall, one of Canada’s best known drivers, 

was severely injured Saturday at Western Fair 

Raceway in Ontario after filling in for a driver who 

didn’t show up. Wall was catapulted from his sulky 

when a horse fell in front of him, and suffered a 

broken wrist, cheekbone, ribs and left shoulder. 

He also had a concussion and facial injuries from 

broken driving glasses. One report said he hit the 

track’s hub rail. Western Fair is one of the last 

raceways in Ontario to still have one, most others 

having flexible pylons. Wall, 55, has won 5,890 

races and more than $47 million in purses in a 30- 

year-driving career. 

VARENNE IS WORLD’S BEST 

There was little doubt about it before yesterday, 

and none today. Varenne is the world’s best trotter. 

He won France’s greatest trotting race, the 

Prix d’Amerique, for the second straight year yesterday 

at Vincennes near Paris, and elevated his 

near legendary status in Italy, where he is a national 

hero. Italy’s leading sports daily, La 

Gazzetta dello Sport, carried a front page headline, 

photo and editorial that said, 

“He’s a hero that’s born only once.” Seven thousand 

Italian fans were on hand at Vincennes for 

the race, and one of them -- movie actress Valeria 

Marini, says driver Giampaolo Minnuci could be 

a movie star next. Italian radio and television interrupted 

soccer for the live call of the 

$700,000 race.





BACK TO SQUARE ONE IN NY 

There are some things you can bet on with impunity, 

but the sale of New York City OTB, and who 

might get it if it is sold, is not one of them. New 

mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City spoke 

out yesterday, saying that before he starts thinking 

about selling it he needs “a great executive” 

to take over OTB and maximize its revenues from 

the $1 billion it currently handles. So much for the 

sale to Magna. Apparently, Bloomberg thinks 

the city can, or should, make more than the $35 

million it currently makes off OTB. Bloomberg 

faces a $4 billion dollar deficit. That’s billion, with 

a B. He said he is not a fancier of the city being in 

the gambling business, but acknowledged that 

OTB generates “a significant amount of money,” 

which is a subject Bloomberg understands thoroughly. 

So hold your bets for the moment. Mike 

is studying the problem. 

WILL SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS? 

Parris N. Glendening, the governor of Maryland, 

is a bitter foe of slots at the state’s tracks, and has 

vowed they will not happen while he rules. Yesterday, 

however, the Baltimore Sun reported that the 

state lottery, which presumably falls under the ultimate 

purview of the governor, is considering the 

possibility of Maryland participating in an international 

lottery, “raising the prospect that lottery 

players here could compete for megaprizes with 

gamblers in Australia or Japan.” For a governor 

concerned with an expansion of gambling, there is 

none bigger than this idea, unless it is interplanetary. 

Delegate Howard P. Rawlings, the appropriations 

chairman who is a strong supporter of 

the idea of slots at tracks, said he would be interested 

in the governor’s position on the lottery proposal. 

Rawlings said, “I personally believe that 

the best venue for gaming in the state is 

slots at tracks, not an expansion of the lottery, 

which preys on poor people.” 


SHADES OF THE MIDDLE EAST 

Innovative ideas are always welcome in today’s 

complex world of simulcasting, alternative wagering, 

Internet betting and all the rest, and today’s 

HTA Nova award for innovation goes to state senator 

Chris Beutler of Lincoln, Nebraska. Surrounded 

as it is by five gambling states (a sixth, 

Wyoming, does not allow casino-style gaming) 

Nebraska suffers from its citizens crossing state 

borders to gamble. Senator Beutler has introduced 

a constitutional amendment in the Nebraska legislature 

which would create a two-mile buffer zone 

inside the Nebraska border, where casino gaming 

would be legal, and thus eliminate the need for 

Nebraskans to carry their money to foreign shores. 

The beauty of the arrangement is that such a buffer 

zone would include Omaha, the state’s biggest city, 

which would be included in the buffer zone between 

Nebraska and Iowa, a major gaming state. The 

amendment would require voter approval, and 

would limit casinos in the state while still allowing 

Nebraska to compete with its neighbors who already 

have them. 

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 

Bear, Stearns & Co. has released its newest report 

on gambling, and it has to be encouraging to 

those in horse racing. It says horse racing’s growth 

potential is huge through legislative and technological 

change. Marc Falcone, the company’s 

managing director and gaming and leisure analyst, 

says, “Account wagering currently comprises just 

4% to 6% of the $18 billion pari-mutuel wagering 

industry. The room for growth is staggering, particularly 

as the legislative environment heats up 

and technology continues to rapidly evolve.” We 

may be prejudiced on the issue, but we are intensely 

proud that the report carries a number of 

footnote credits listing Paul Estok, HTA’s counsel 

and executive assistant, as the source.





SARATOGA SUPPORT FOR VLTs 

Eighty-two people spoke out on the issue of VLTs 

for the Saratoga Equine Sports Center at a standing 

room only meeting attended by more than 500 

yesterday, and 52 of them were in favor of the idea, 

29 were opposed, and 1 ran out of time before announcing 

yea or nay. Not present, but again voicing 

opposition, was Barry Schwartz of NYRA, who 

is limiting VLTs to Aqueduct. Barry says he is 

worried about traffic in the town and crowded restaurants, 

but it sounds from this distance as if he 

may be more concerned about competition for hallowed 

Saratoga in August from across Nelson avenue. 

Someone may wander across it and see one 

of the prettiest little tracks in America, and decide 

they like it and its VLTs. 

Saratoga Springs’ Public Works Commissioner 

Tom McTygue argued for the idea yesterday, the 

town’s Chamber of Commerce boss, Joe Dalton, 

argued against it, and announced a lawsuit challenging 

its constitutionality. He said the suit would 

cost $100,000, and the pastor of a local church said 

his congregation was kicking in $10,000 toward 

the bill. When Bruce Levinsky, a local developer 

and strong supporter of the idea, called opponents 

“elitists”, the remark brought a “rousing 

ovation” from the crowd, according to Thoroughbred 

Times. Cornelius Murray, who represents 

Dalton and other plaintiffs in the suit, said if the 

action is successful, “what Saratoga County does 

will be irrelevant.” Commenting on his suit, an 

article in the New York Law Journal of today called 

it “extraordinary” and said it places under challenge 

“the very modus operandi of the New York 

legislature -- which routinely passes bills in the 

middle of the night that virtually no one has read.” 

The article said Murray wanted to know who was 

representing the people. An interesting 

question, when the voice of the people, as 

heard yesterday loud and clear at the public 

meeting, is ignored. 


MAGNA’S ‘TERRITORIAL’ FEES 

Magna Entertainment has announced its “territorial 

fees,” known elsewhere in the industry as 

source market fees, and they are based on takeout 

rather than on handle. The company says it 

will pay a host fee of 25% of takeout, which would 

approximate 5% of handle, and pay an additional 

35% of takeout, or some 7% of handle, on bets 

made within a 25 mile radius of a partner with an 

account wagering distribution contract and TV or 

Internet signals. No exclusivity is required in contracts. 

In another Magna-related development, Frank 

Stronach’s son Andy has announced that a company 

he founded four years ago -- Futuristic Entertainment 

-- is working on a pari-mutuel teller 

machine for novice bettors, fashioned after slot 

machines. He says the machines will be issued in 

11 models designed for specific type bets -- win, 

place, across the board, exacta wheels etc. -- and 

will display payoffs on each horse instead of odds, 

as the old tote board at Roosevelt Raceway used 

to do. Stronach says the machines also will have 

Internet capabilities, provide handicapping services, 

and handle streaming video. “It makes a 

beginner into an expert,” he told Eric Mitchell of 

Blood-Horse Interactive. 

TRACKMASTER DAVIS DIES 

Bill Davis, whose skills as a designer, builder and 

maintainer of harness race tracks across the east 

made him an in-demand figure for half a century, 

died Sunday at his home in Claymont, Delaware. 

Davis attained his first fame as a track builder at 

Brandywine Raceway when that track opened in 

1953. That track’s all-weather surface was considered 

a model, and farm owners and tracks up 

and down the Atlantic seaboard soon were seeking 

Davis’s services. He received HTA’s 

Medallion of Honor in 1983 and retired from 

Brandywine in 1985, but continued as a track 

consultant.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor January 31, 2002 

COLEMAN GROOM OF THE YEAR That total is substantial, for the Colemans have 

long been a fixture on the British Columbia racing 

Linda Coleman, who has spent her lifetime grooming 

horses and managing a family stable in British formerly Cloverdale Raceway, in their home town 

circuit, doing most of their racing at Fraser Downs, 

Columbia, is the winner of the Harness Tracks of of Surrey. Mrs. Coleman’s charges have included 

America/Hanover Shoe Farms Caretaker of the numerous claimers of the year and colt champions 

Year award. 

on that far western circuit, including Western 

Shadow, Holdridge Frisco, Delta Duke and 

Beverly Corky. 

Mrs. Coleman cares for 8 to 10 horses in the family 

stable she operates with her husband, trainer 

and former driver Philip Coleman, and her daughter, 

21-year-old driver Casie Coleman. The family 

operates as a team, but it is Mrs. Coleman who 

gets each and every horse ready for training each 

day. As winner of the international award, she represents 

caretakers everywhere in the sport, and 

symbolizes their work ethic and devotion to their 

horses. 

She will receive an oil painting of herself and her 

best known horse, the Western Canadian filly pacing 

champion Fast Lane Cruizin, done by one of 

HTA’s most popular equine artists, Andrea Harman 

Steiner of Michigan. 

Mrs. Coleman was nominated by her driver daughter 

Casie, who wrote in part in her nominating letter, 

“My mother has been grooming horses all her 

life. She hardly ever takes a day off because she 

misses her horses and they miss her. She has been 

the main man (woman) and the unsung hero of the 

Coleman Stable for the last 25 years. 

"She knows where each and every pimple is on 

each of our horses, and knows the personality of 

each. Her horses are her babies, and when one is 

a little sick or a little lame and my dad and I want 

to jog it, she will let us know and insists on getting 

the vet to check it before allowing us to take it out 

on the track. Mom goes nuts when it’s time 

to put our colts in a claimer for the first 

time. If it were up to her, we would still 

have every horse we ever owned.” 

The Colemans’most outstanding horse, by far, was 

Fast Lane Cruizin, the brilliantly fast filly that burst 

on the scene two years ago and won nine straight 

races, earned $490, and took a record of 1:51.3. 

Mrs. Coleman groomed her from the time she was 

a weanling, and traveled with her to Sandown Park 

in Victoria; Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta; 

Stampede Park in Calgary; and across Canada to 

Mohawk Raceway in Ontario and Woodbine in 

Toronto, where she took her record. 

The filly was nominated for an O’Brien award, 

Canada’s highest equine honor. Mrs. Coleman also 

groomed the filly’s half-brother Fast Lane Phillips, 

an invitational pacer that held the track record at 

Fraser Downs. 

In nominating her mother, Casie Coleman wrote, 

“I believe this award is one of the biggest awards 

in harness racing, because it is only about the 

grooms who truly are the unsung heroes in our industry.” 

Mrs. Coleman will be honored Thursday night, 

February 21, at the Night of Stars, closing event 

of the Harness Racing Congress at the Mirage in 

Las Vegas, Nevada. 

All grooms nominated in the annual competition, 

which is judged by an HTA committee of former 

caretakers who now hold responsible positions 

in the sport, will receive handsome blue and 

gold caretakers’ jackets from HTA and 

Hanover Shoe Farms.





MORE PROBLEMS IN NJ 

The New Jersey Racing Commission has issued 

racing dates for 2002, but the kettle is still boiling 

over the allocation. After the commission 

awarded the New Jersey Sports and Exposition 

Authority 120 days for thoroughbred racing at 

the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park -- 76 at 

Monmouth and 44 at the Meadowlands -- and 

approved another fall harness meeting for the 

Meadowlands, the state’s thoroughbred horsemen 

began threatening all sorts of actions. They 

announced they would sue the commission; they 

threatened to withhold permission for the Meadowlands 

to accept simulcasting; and they said 

they would be willing to drop the Meadowlands 

altogether in return for racing 141 days at 

Monmouth. When legislation was passed last 

year allowing off-track and telephone account 

betting in New Jersey, it was tied to 141 days, 

but the Sports Authority objected to having to 

race that many days of thoroughbred racing, 

particularly in light of the apparent loss of $10 

million in state purse subsidies. The Meadowlands 

has not heard directly from thoroughbred 

horsemen, but management indicated a willingness 

to explore any option that would create successful 

meets for both thoroughbred and harness 

racing. 

KNOW THY ENEMIES 

Not that we ever thought of him as an ally, but at 

least we now know who our enemies are in Washington. 

Frank Fahrenkopf, the high paid lobbyist 

of the American Gaming Association, is one 

of them. He now is opposing the Goodlatte legislation 

in Congress because, he says, “it seems to 

side with the horse racing industry.” Congressman 

Goodlatte says he thinks Fahrenkopf is 

caught in an internal fight among his 

members, and said that Fahrenkopf told 

him the vast majority of his members support 

the Goodlatte idea. 

February 1, 2002 

Fahrenkopf denied that there was a division in 

AGA, but a reading of Las Vegas statements on 

Internet gaming would seem to lend credence to 

Goodlatte’s version rather than Fahrenkopf’s. 

Goodlatte told the Las Vegas Review Journal that 

the primary opposition to his bill comes from offshore 

entities, and that both lotteries and the attorney 

general -- both of which opposed the bill 

during the Clinton administration -- now favor 

it. The Goodlatte bill would update the 1961 Wire 

Act to declare Internet betting illegal, but respects 

of the federal law, including the Interstate Horse 

Racing Act of 1978 as amended, which allows 

racing to do interstate simulcasting and account 

wagering electronically in the 12 states that have 

embraced such legislation. 

LIEBMAN IN NEW JOB TODAY 

Bennett Liebman, former member of the New 

York State Racing and Wagering board and author 

of HTA’s definitive The Law of Racetrack 

Exclusions at the Turn of the 21st Century, starts 

a new chapter in his distinguished career today. 

He has been named Coordinator of the Racing 

and Wagering Law program at the Government 

Law Center at Albany Law School in New York. 

Patricia Salkin, associate dean and director of the 

Government Law Center, said, “We are excited 

that Bennett Liebman is joining the GLC staff. 

He brings significant statewide and national legal 

and policy expertise to the areas of racing, 

wagering and gaming.” Liebman will address 

the Harness Racing Congress in Las Vegas on 

February 20 on Living with the People Who Regulate 

Your Lives. In other job developments, harness 

racing veteran Gerry Connors has joined 

the staff of the Pennsylvania State Harness Racing 

Commission, and Bob Mulcahy, former president 

and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition 

Authority, has had his contract as 

athletic director at Rutgers University extended 

through 2005.





ON THE LEGISLATIVE FRONT 

The general manager of Rockingham Park in 

New Hampshire was telling media over the weekend 

that the track may have to close after this 

season in the wake of a resounding rejection of 

VLTs in the New Hampshire legislature. The lawmakers 

voted 217-130 to kill a bill that would have 

allowed 1,200 machines at Rockingham and 900 

at each of the state’s three dog tracks. The Associated 

Press quoted the general manager of the 

Rock, Ed Callahan, as saying, “The fact is that if 

the legislature doesn’t want us any more, and if 

we can’t make it work, then Rockingham will not 

be there down the road.” He said he would be 

making recommendations to the track’s owners, 

“and I don’t believe they will be very rosy.” 

Rockingham’s business has declined by more 

than half in the last decade. 

In Florida, where there also have been precipitous 

declines in track business, the legislature will 

be asked again for VLTs. The South Florida Sun- 

Sentinel’s chief correspondent in Tallahassee reported 

in today’s edition, “Plagued by plummeting 

attendance and fighting for their financial life, 

Florida’s pari-mutuels are pushing what they say 

could be the answer to their sagging revenues -- 

video lottery.” Noting that the legislature is aware 

that state voters have rejected an expansion of 

gambling three times in the last 24 years, bureau 

chief Linda Kleindienst wrote, “This year, however, 

many track and fronton owners --along with 

horse and dog breeders -- are gambling that the 

state might be more receptive, especially since up 

to $1 billion of the $1.6 billion that they hope to 

raise would be earmarked for education.” 

Florida, like other states, already has been forced 

to make $1.3 billion in budget cuts. Legislators 

also are drafting a state budget that provides 

few new dollars for public schools 

and may force cuts in health, criminal 

justice and social services, according to the 

Sun-Sentinel. 


In Indiana, the state senate, after an hour’s debate, 

passed by a vote of 27-23, and sent to the 

House, legislation that would permit electronic 

pull-tab machines, similar to VLTs, at Hoosier 

Park and Indianapolis Downs. Influential senator 

Larry Borst, chairman of the Senate finance 

committee and considered a friend of harness racing 

in the past, says he is concerned that the bill 

does not include any provision for taxing wagering 

money generated by the machines. Revenue 

legislation must originate in the House, and the 

crossover date for legislation between the House 

and Senate is Thursday, so the fate of the measure 

should be known this week. 

In Kentucky, Kentucky.com reported a legislative 

press conference in which the speaker of the 

house, Jody Richards, was asked if state redistricting 

boded well for slots legislation. He said 

that odds for passage would be better if a bill 

came out of the senate first. The president of 

the state senate, David Williams, who also was 

involved in the press conference, said, “That’s a 

longshot,” and Richards replied, “It’s a longshot 

the other way, too.” 

In Hawaii, two bills that would have allowed legalized 

gambling in the state were killed by the 

House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs committees. 

One bill would have legalized stand-alone 

casinos on Waikiki and Kapolei, and the second 

measure would have provided for a casino-resort 

on Kapolei. 

DON’T MESS WITH THE FRENCH 

Giampaolo Minnucci, the driver of Varenne, winner 

of the Prix d’Amerique for the second straight 

time a week ago, has been fined 1% of the purse 

-- some $21,000 -- for causing three recalls in the 

race. Jean Rene Gougeon, one of France’s 

legendary driving heroes, had an easy solution 

to the problem: go American, and 

use a mobile starting gate.





TRN REVIVED AS RTN 

The announcement that Roberts Communications 

Network is partnering with Magna Entertainment 

and Greenwood Racing of Philadelphia 

to launch Racetrack Television Network (RTN) 

as a subscriber satellite service for hardcore racing 

fans should be heartening to those thousands 

who last summer despaired over the demise of 

The Racing Network. Todd Roberts, president 

of Roberts Communications, said the new service 

was a response to the mass of people who 

lamented the passing of the old, and he said it 

will be “the best vehicle for the true player.” The 

service will provide up to 8 racing channels, 2 

produced by Magna, 2 by Greenwood, and the 

others offering multiple racing with direct track 

signals and no editing. The Magna and Greenwood 

channels are likely to show 4 tracks at a 

time in a quad screen format with odds and other 

information, dissolving to a live race and then 

returning to the split screen format until the next 

race is shown. The Magna channels will, not surprisingly, 

feature Magna track racing, and 

Greenwood’s presumably will feature Philadelphia 

Park, Penn National properties and Freehold 

Raceway, owned jointly by Philadelphia 

Park and Penn National. The signals will be accessed 

by digital set-top box and small dish satellite 

technology, and those who have dishes that 

delivered the old Racing Network Direct service 

(not Dish Network) will be able to use their receivers 

without purchasing new dishes. They also 

will be able to access the service free until March 

1, the official launch date. Roberts said the new 

service is technically compatible with the old TRN 

Direct satellite service, and that the telecast quality 

production by MEC and Greenwood over 

multiple channels “will make this service highly 

desirable” to fans, bettors and participants. 

The monthly subscription charge 

has not been announced, but is likely to be 

around $100 a month. 


FLAMBORO GETS WEG SERVICE 

Woodbine Entertainment’s Racing Network 

Canada, meanwhile, has expanded its scope to 

Flamboro Downs, which introduced telephone 

account betting over the weekend using 

Woodbine’s Horseplayer Interactive. Fans at 

Charlie Juravinski’s track now have the option 

of hooking up to the service either online or by 

subscribing to Racing Network Canada over satellite 

or cable networks and betting by phone. 

“Just like football and basketball, we’re taking 

our product to the people,” Juravinski said. “It’s 

got to help raise interest in the game. It will 

broaden our base of patronage when viewers see 

the ambience of the track,” Juravinski told the 

Hamilton Spectator, adding, “It’s a great spectacle, 

and that’s what it’s all about. You’ve got 

to move with the times.” 

BAY STATE SLOTS TRY -- AGAIN 

If you get gold stars for persistency, Democratic 

state representative David Flynn of Massachusetts 

deserves a page full. For the third time, 

Flynn has introduced a bill that would provide 

1,500 slots to the four racetracks in Massachusetts. 

Bob O’Malley, COO of Suffolk Downs, told 

Daily Racing Form that although the state of the 

economy might create some progress, he was “not 

aware of any change in the atmosphere in the 

state house that would make a difference than 

past years,” when the bills failed. 

A FIRST STEP TOWARD UNITY 

In a major first step toward some semblance of 

unity, the Association of Racing Commissioners 

International (ARCI) and the North American 

Pari-Mutuel Regulators Association (NAPRA) 

held a joint meeting Friday and Saturday at Lone 

Star Park in Dallas to discuss uniform parimutuel 

rules. Both ARCI president and CEO 

Lonny Powell and NAPRA executive director 

Frank Lamb expressed delight at 

progress made during the meeting.





BIG M SIGNS WITH XPRESSBET 

The Meadowlands has signed a non-exclusive 

agreement with Magna Entertainment to participate 

on Magna’s XPressbet system, opening the 

way for the Meadowlands signal to appear on 

the newly formed Racetrack Television Network 

(RTN) that Magna is launching March 1 as a 

subscriber satellite service with Roberts Communications 

Network and Greenwood Racing of 

Philadelphia. Including the sport’s premier race 

meet in the U.S. would give the new service a 

strong hand in attracting harness racing customers 

for its 8-channel offerings. 

NO CARS AT SPORTSMAN’S 

There will be no automobile racing at Chicago’s 

Sportsman’s Park in 2002. Saying “business and 

economic conditions in the motorsports industry 

today” made a meeting financially unfeasible, 

Chicago Motor Speedway chairman Charles 

Bidwill and president Chip Ganassi announced 

cancellation of the track’s 2002 schedule, which 

included the CART FedEx Series, Target Grand 

Prix and the Sears Craftsman 175 in the 

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The suspension 

announcement said the Speedway “looks 

forward to providing this region with continued 

entertainment and sporting events in the future.” 

Sportsman’s 70th year of thoroughbred racing 

will not be affected, and the track will continue 

hosting a variety of events, including concerts. 

The track was totally rebuilt, at huge expense, 

four years ago, and auto racing made its debut 

there in 1999. 

POMPANO STARTS RICH SERIES 

Pompano Park drew this morning for the $50,000 

first leg of the $250,000 Isle of Capri Casino 

Pacing Series, and got two auspicious, 

full and highly competitive fields 

for the event, with each carrying a $25,000 

purse. 


The series features two $50,000 preliminaries and 

a $150,000 final on Feb. 23. The $60,000 inaugural 

of the Mack Lobell Invitational Trot will 

be held that same night. 

NJSEA RUNNERS’PURSES HOLD 

Despite the loss of a huge state subsidy for purses, 

Meadowlands senior executive vice president of 

racing Bruce Garland has announced that daily 

purses for the runners at Monmouth Park still 

will be more than $300,000 a day. “We have committed 

ourselves to quality racing, thoroughbred 

and harness, in the state of New Jersey, and we 

expect to offer purses in line with world class racing,” 

Garland said. The Sports Authority will 

race 120 programs this year, rather than 141, and 

vice president of racing Bob Kulina said, “Maintaining 

a major league purse schedule for 120 

days of racing this year, with our available purse 

money, is much more realistic than diluting the 

product for 141 days and making it less competitive 

with other major racing centers.” 

IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER 

That’s what they say about beauty, and it apparently 

holds for pari-mutuel handle too. The 

Jockey Club statistics for 2001 were released today, 

and depending where you read about them 

you could get enthused or concerned. Blood- 

Horse Interactive ran the story under a headline 

reading, “2001 U.S. Purses and Handle Set 

Record,” and reported that “Since last declining 

in 1993, pari-mutuel handle on U.S. racing has 

grown at a 6.4% annualized rate.” The Daily 

Racing Form put it in slightly different perspective, 

its headline reading “Handle’s growth rate 

slows,” and reporting “Pari-mutuel wagering on 

U.S. thoroughbred races increased 1.6% in 2001, 

well short of the 6.4% annualized returns the industry 

has grown accustomed to in the simulcast 

era.” For the first time, average starts 

per horse dropped below 7, thoroughbreds 

averaging 6.97 starts a year.





MORE ON ARTHUR ANDERSEN 

If you’ve had your fill of Arthur Andersen news, 

our apologies, but the beseiged accounting firm 

is in controversy again, this time in gaming circles. 

Frank Fahrenkopf, the feisty president of the 

American Gaming Association, used Andersen to 

do an upbeat study of legalized gambling. When 

the Rev. Tom Grey, executive director of the National 

Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, 

found out about it, he fired all barrels. 

Fahrenkopf quickly replied, “Our opponents 

have been known to take shots at us without substance 

in the past. When the light of day shines, 

we always tend to come out on the proper side. 

If anyone wants to challenge the accuracy of this 

report, show us where it is inaccurate.” Grey 

said the report was flawed for two reasons. First, 

he noted that the Andersen firm is a member of 

the American Gaming Association, and the study 

reflects an in-house view of the casino industry. 

Second, the study does not include a cost-benefit 

analysis, because it shows only gambling’s upside 

and none of its downside. Grey said he was 

“glad to hear Frank defend the study, because 

it’s not a smoking gun for us. It’s live ammunition.” 

Arthur Andersen declined to comment. 

The Las Vegas Review-Journal said the company’s 

Las Vegas representative, who was overseer on 

the project, did not return calls, and a spokesman 

in the Chicago main office said, “We refer 

questions like that back to our clients.” 

JACOBS FAMILY SOLIDIFYING 

In a move that takes other shareholders out of 

the picture, the Jacobs family of Cleveland has 

merged Black Hawk Gaming & Development 

with Gameco, Inc., effectively privatizing the 

operations. The move faces two shareholder 

lawsuits, but Stephen Roark, head of 

Black Hawk, says when the smoke clears 

two casinos in Colorado, one in Reno, Colonial 

Downs in Virginia and 


truck stops with VLTs in Louisiana all will be 

under one Jacobs-owned umbrella. 

NEW CHAIRMAN IN INDIANA 

In a move that caught all parties by surprise, and 

with ramifications still unknown, Gov. Frank 

O’Bannon of Indiana suddenly announced he has 

appointed Richard (Pete) Beck, a member of the 

Indiana Horse Racing Commission for five years, 

as chairman, replacing Nick Stein, who remains 

a member. The governor’s office declined to say 

why the switch was made. Beck, a former harness 

horse owner, served in the Indiana House 

for seven years, from 1987 to 1994. O’Bannon 

said of Beck, “As a veteran member of the commission, 

Pete understands the challenges facing 

breeders and racers. He also understands what 

the public wants.” 

BIG PROBLEMS IN HONG KONG 

Thoroughbred racing in Hong Kong, often looked 

at as a model of what the sport can be, is having 

some serious problems. While the numbers are 

still huge, betting declined by $200 million U.S. 

dollars in the first half of the current racing season, 

and now a major scandal has rocked the 

sport. Two jockeys and 16 other people, including 

employees of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, 

have been arrested for allegedly accepting bribes 

to fix races for an illegal gambling operation, according 

to Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The arrests 

came after a raid at the Happy Valley track by 

officers of the Independent Commission Against 

Corruption. The agency said the two jockeys and 

four other racing club employees were accepting 

‘advantages’ from an illicit bookmaking operation 

to supply stable racing information and 

manipulate race results. The four employees were 

two exercise riders, a racing registry assistant, 

and a clerk. An illegal bookmaker, a saleswoman 

and 10 civilians also were arrested.





GLAZER’S FATHER SCAM VICTIM 

Enron has captured most of the scam headlines 

these days, but it is not alone. In Cleveland, 

Samuel Glazer, co-founder of Mr. Coffee and father 

of harness racing’s leading owner Bob 

Glazer, was said by his lawyer to have lost $30 

million in a scam investment scheme which the 

Cleveland Plain Dealer said an investment broker 

named Frank Gruttadauria had admitted 

orchestrating. Gruttadauria has vanished and 

his whereabouts are unknown. Glazer is a retired 

real estate developer and builder of malls 

and more than 5,000 Cleveland area houses. The 

newspaper called Glazer’s losses “the biggest 

publicly acknowledged loss by a single investor 

so far in the scandal,” saying Glazer and Cleveland 

attorney and NAACP president George 

Forbes were “among a core group of 25 of the 

Gates Mills broker’s biggest victims -- many of 

them wealthy Cleveland-area power brokers -- 

in what investigators now believe was an elaborate 

Ponzi scheme.” The story said investigators 

revealed that Gruttadauria used the richest investors’ 

accounts as piggy banks, draining them 

without account owners’ knowledge to cover 

withdrawals requested by other investors, and 

tapped some of the money for himself. In most 

cases, the paper said, investors’ accounts were 

gutted. Gruttadauria allegedly hid his chicanery 

by sending clients authentic-looking but fake account 

statements, and shifted clients’ money to 

Lehman Brothers accounts he controlled under 

fictitious names. Gruttadauria managed Lehman 

Brothers’Cleveland office, and he left a letter for 

the FBI confessing to a 15-year pattern of misappropriation 

before he and his passport disappeared 

on January 11. In the letter, he denied 

taking money for himself. Gruttadauria, 44, is 

being investigated by the FBI, the Securities 

and Exchange Commission, the 

Association of Securities Dealers and 

Lehman Brothers. 


CIRCLING THE WAGONS IN AZ 

There is a gubernatorial election coming up in 

Arizona, and one legislator who would like to be 

governor has decided the welfare of Arizona horse 

and dog tracks would be a good place to start 

running. Randall Gnant, a Republican representing 

toney Scottsdale, is president of the Arizona 

Senate. He introduced a legislative referendum 

this week that puts him at direct odds 

with the present governor, Jane Hull, and with 

Arizona’s 21 Indian tribes. Gnant wants to give 

Turf Paradise, the Phoenix running track, twice 

the number of slots of any of the state’s Indian 

casinos -- up to 1,000 VLTs -- and calls the idea 

“a minimal expansion with a huge payback.” 

Amy Rezzonico, spokeswoman for the recently 

formed Arizona Racetrack Alliance, explained the 

apparent change in their former stance by saying, 

“The racing industry is prepared to do whatever 

it has to do to produce a product that will 

allow us to survive.” The Alliance, formed in 

January, consists of Turf Paradise, Tucson Greyhound 

Park, Phoenix Greyhound Park and 

Apache Greyhound Park. The group says it cannot 

compete with the Indian casinos, which supposedly 

have reaped an estimated billion a year 

since being legalized nine years ago. If Gnant’s 

idea makes it past the legislature, it would go to 

a public vote next November. 

ON THE WARPATH IN NJ 

The war cries continue in New Jersey, where thoroughbred 

horsemen are suing the state racing 

commission, planning to file another suit on constitutional 

grounds, and threatening to block simulcasting 

in the state. While the rift between 

thoroughbred and harness interests widens there, 

the existing tension between the two breeds continues 

in Maryland, where the racing commission 

and legislature have lost patience with 

stalemate. Anybody back there have a 

peace pipe left over from Franklin’s days?





IT’S A GIRL! 

Moni Maker, winner of $5,589,256 in the U.S. 

and Europe and twice Harness Horse of the Year, 

and her consort Valley Victory, considered by 

many to be the top trotting sire in America, are 

happy to announce the birth of a daughter, born 

at 7:30 yesterday morning. Mother and daughter 

are doing well, and are expected to make their 

first public appearance today. No name as yet. 

MAGNA TO ADD LONE STAR? 

No one on either side is confirming it, but the 

Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning 

News both are reporting that Magna Entertainment 

is buying Lone Star Park’s interest in the 

Texas track, and that the sale could be consummated 

in the next two weeks. The city of Grand 

Prairie, where Lone Star is located, is the owner 

of the track, and leases it to a management company 

headed by chairman Bob Kaminski and the 

Trammel Crow family, which owns huge segments 

of Dallas real estate. The management 

company holds the racing license, which presumably 

is what Magna would be buying, with Grand 

Prairie remaining as a partner. The Morning 

News points out that majority ownership of any 

class 1 track in Texas must be held by residents, 

but the restriction does not apply to public companies 

like Magna. As owner, the city of Grand 

Prairie could block the sale, but statements by 

the mayor indicate that won’t happen. He said 

that a sale would be “a good deal for Lone Star,” 

and said he would not stand in the way. It seems 

unlikely that the Texas Racing Commission would 

object, but executive secretary Paula Flowerday 

said the commission had not yet been notified of 

any sale. If the sale closes, it would be the eleventh 

track acquisition for Magna, the others being 

Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields, 

Great Lakes Downs, Gulfstream Park, 

Multnomah Greyhounds, Portland 

Meadows, Remington Park, Santa Anita, 

The Meadows, and Thistledown. 


WASHINGTON STATE SAYS NO 

There will be no expansion of gambling in Washington 

state. A senate committee chairwoman 

told Gov. Gary Locke that she did not have 

enough votes to get his measure doing that out of 

the Labor, Commerce and Financial Institutions 

committee. Dying with the proposal of more gambling 

was the governor’s proposal for a 10% state 

tax on non-tribal gaming, a move Locke said 

would close $75 million of the state’s billion dollar 

budget shortfall. The Recreational Gaming 

Association, which represents non-tribal gambling 

in Washington, said the tax would drive its 

members out of business, and countered with a 

proposal to include casino games as well as poker 

and blackjack now allowed. Margarita Prentice, 

chairwoman of the Labor, Commercial and Financial 

Institutions committee, did not even bring 

that proposal up for a vote. 

In another Washington state development, the 

state auditor claimed the horse racing commission 

failed to collect nearly $1 million in simulcasting 

satellite fees between 1999 and 2001. The 

state auditor has no authority to issue performance 

audits in Washington, and the governor 

vetoed legislation to give the auditor that authority 

last year when he signed the budget, saying 

there was “no compelling reason” to do so. 

IN THE OTHER WASHINGTON... 

It appears there is a split between two of the 

staunchest foes of Internet gambling on the shores 

of the Potomac. Rep. Jim Leach, the Iowa Republican 

who wants to outlaw Internet gambling 

payments by credit cards, checks and electronic 

funds transfers, has sent out a letter saying his 

bill is a more workable mechanism with better 

chance of passage than Bob Goodlatte’s more 

sweeping bill introduced last November. 

The Leach bill has two co-sponsors; 

Goodlatte’s bill has 155.





THE AXE FALLS ON NJ SUBSIDY 

New Jersey’s new governor, James E. McGreevey, 

made it official yesterday, telling the legislature 

that among his budget cuts was the $6 million 

purse subsidy for the state’s racetracks. Talking 

about a state constitutional requirement that the 

governor close any gaps between revenues and 

spending by the end of the fiscal year June 30, 

McGreevey said, “I didn’t create this problem, 

but I’m determined to work with you to fix it. 

We’re going to do what it takes to balance our 

budget, and we’re going to do it right. Tough 

and fair.” With that pronouncement, the die is 

cast in the differences between the state’s thoroughbred 

horsemen and the New Jersey Sports 

and Exposition Authority. NJSEA senior executive 

vice president for racing Bruce Garland has 

said all along that to maintain quality thoroughbred 

purses at Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands 

without the subsidy a shorter schedule 

was absolutely necessary. The thoroughbred 

horsemen want 141 days of racing rather than 

120, and are tossing lawsuits at the state and 

threatening simulcasting bans. 

A HARNESS HORSE SHEEP DOG 

With racing coverage as tough as it is to get these 

days, good features are more important than ever. 

Harness Racing Communications landed one 

with Associated Press, and it’s easy to see why. 

It’s a story about a retired pacing mare who was 

known on the race track as La Nena Cierva when 

she raced at Monticello Raceway and now is 

known as Muzzie, in her new career as a sheep 

dog. She only won 1 race in 33 starts and earned 

a paltry $3,706 as a pacer, but guarding sheep 

she has proved invaluable to farmer Sam (Mad 

Sammy) Phelps in Walden, NY. Phelps has a 

problem with coyotes killing his sheep, 

and his sheep dogs gave up the battle 

after several were seriously injured fighting 

the coyotes. 


Enter Muzzie. After Mad Sammy sold her foal, 

she turned her maternal instincts toward Phelps’ 

15 sheep, and herds them home whenever coyotes 

show up. She then heads back to confront 

the coyotes. Phelps, who told the AP “the only 

good coyote is a dead coyote,” has offered a 

bounty on them, with two payoffs. With Muzzie, 

he doesn’t expect to have to pay many more. 

CHARLIE WANTS A SMOKE 

Charlie Juravinski, the colorful and controversial 

owner of Flamboro Downs in Ontario, is in 

the news again. Never one to duck a fight, Charlie 

now is battling a Dundas city ordinance banning 

smoking in public places, including his race track. 

He reminded city councillors that Flamboro generates 

some $5 million a year in commission and 

realty taxes for Dundas, and he thinks a smoking 

ban would cut Flamboro business by a fifth. He 

said he has spent $5 million in ventilation improvements 

and that out of an annual customer 

base of 1.8 million he has received only 48 complaints. 

Charlie thinks he has addressed concerns 

by providing smoking and non-smoking dining 

rooms, and he does not want to partition his 

grandstand because “it would certainly ruin the 

place.” He did not address health issues. 

A LONG REACH FOR SLOTS 

Hawaii’s legislature said no again recently to 

gambling, but a former and current candidate 

for mayor of Honolulu thinks he has an answer. 

He wants Congress to turn over Midway Island 

to Hawaii or Honolulu and let either build a resort 

casino there. Midway is 1,200 miles northwest 

of Hawaii. 

AGENDA ON OUR WEB SITE 

The agenda for next Tuesday’s HTA Committee 

of the Whole meeting in Las Vegas is 

now posted on our members’Web site.





A STUNNER IN KENTUCKY 

In a rather remarkable racing development, the 

attorney general of Kentucky has notified the 

Kentucky Racing Commission that his office has 

permanently withdrawn as legal counsel for the 

commission, and it should find its own legal representation 

as of March 30. Attorneys general 

traditionally serve as counsel for racing commissions, 

and the Kentucky move, and the abrupt 

manner in which it was handled, was a total surprise. 

The chairman of the commission, Frank 

Shoop, said he wasn’t given a lot of detail, and 

didn’t know the reason. The attorney general’s 

spokeswoman said she was not allowed to say why 

the office was severing ties with the commission, 

but that the office, which represents many other 

state agencies, had not cut off any others in recent 

memory. Responding to a statement by 

Shoop that “I assume it has something to do with 

the slot bill that’s going through,” the AG’s 

spokeswoman, Barbara Hadley Smith, said, “I 

can very strongly tell you that is not the case.” 

The commission’s executive director said the decision 

to withdraw could not come at a worse 

time, the commission’s budget having been cut 

from $1.3 million to $300,000 by the legislature 

and the commission now having to hire outside 

counsel. 

GAGLIANO GOES TO MAGNA 

Jim Gagliano, executive vice president and general 

manager of Philadelphia Park, resigned from 

that post today and announced he is leaving 

Greenwood, the parent of the track, effective Feb. 

22 to take a position with Magna Entertainment 

as head of their OTB operations, reporting to Jim 

McAlpine. Gagliano, formerly associate general 

manager of racing at The Meadowlands, left that 

track for Philadelphia Park when Hal 

Handel left the Jersey track to become 

chief executive officer of the Greenwood 

operation. 


SARATOGA VLT VOTE TODAY 

The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors meets 

this afternoon at 4:45 in Saratoga Springs, NY, 

to vote on the issue of VLTs for HTA’s member 

Saratoga Equine Sports Center, and all advance 

handicapping indicates a favorable vote. Robert 

Hall, the chairman of the board, indicated he 

expects the board to approve the measure, and 

others involved with the issue -- including opponents 

of the idea -- also believe it will pass. Hall 

said the majority of speakers at two public hearings 

on the issue were in favor of VLTs, but Joe 

Dalton, president of the Saratoga Springs Chamber 

of Commerce, is dying hard, and said he will 

seek an injunction if the county board approves 

the VLTs. 

UPSON DOWNS AT CHURCHILL 

Churchill Downs had no sooner released its record 

net revenue of $427 million for 2001, up 17.6% 

from 2000, and record earnings of $22 million, 

up 15.2%, than it had to apologize to any Kentucky 

legislators it may have “cast in an unfavorable 

light.” President and CEO Tom Meeker 

made the financial announcements and told Wall 

Street analysts that Churchill saw alternative 

gaming as a means to strengthen its racing business. 

He said Churchill’s strategic objective was 

to get laws passed that would allow slots, electronic 

gambling or even full-fledged casinos at 

the seven tracks in five states that it owns outright 

or partially. He said that if it were successful 

in that quest, “It’s more likely than not that 

we would manage those facilities internally.” The 

apologies came from spokesman John Asher, who 

said that, in hindsight, Churchill should have 

“held ourselves to a higher standard” in FedExing 

$15,500 in campaign contributions the weekend 

before the legislative session began. The state legislative 

ethics committee ruled that no laws 

had been violated, but the action “fell well 

short of exercising good judgment.”





A VALENTINE FOR SARATOGA 

It was Happy Valentine’s Day at the Saratoga 

Equine Sports Center this morning, after HTA’s 

member track received approval last evening 

from the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors 

to install video lottery terminals. Legal challenges 

and court decisions still lie ahead, but of the 23 

county supervisors, only 3 voted against the track 

having VLTs, and in a population-weighted vote 

the supervisors approved VLTs 175,164 to 25,474. 

One of the supervisors, Phil Klein, representing 

Saratoga Springs, summed up the sentiment of 

his colleagues when he said, “Anytime we can 

vote to save 500 jobs and create 500 jobs, I believe 

we should.” One of the three supervisors 

who voted against the proposal tried twice to have 

it tabled, but was unable to do so. The meeting 

did produce some fine sound bites from the losers, 

though, with one of the objectors saying, 

“The state gets the elevator, the county, the city 

and the harness track get the shaft.” And Joe 

Dalton, the president of the Saratoga Springs 

Chamber of Commerce who noisily led the opposition, 

said, “The barn door is open and the 

horse is out.” Skip Carlson, general manager of 

the Sports Center, saw it differently, saying he 

was “extremely grateful” to the supervisors, and 

“absolutely ecstatic” with the results of the vote. 

The SRO crowd in attendance, which the 

Saratogian said included many employees of the 

harness track and other supporters of VLTs, stood 

and applauded the supervisors after the final vote. 

VERIFYING, DELTA DOWNS 

As if confirming the enthusiasm expressed at the 

Saratoga vote, The Blood-Horse reported this 

morning that “hundreds of eager gamblers lined 

up Wednesday outside Delta Downs in Vinton, 

LA, to gamble in its new 1,500-machine 

slots parlor.” The facility opened yesterday 

after months of delay. 


‘NOT FOR SALE’SIGN IN NY? 

He hasn’t outright said ‘no’ yet, but New York 

city’s new mayor Michael Bloomberg made it 

clear yesterday that selling New York City OTB 

is not one of his high priorities, despite facing a 

$4.8 billion budget deficit. The mayor did not 

include any proceeds from the sale of OTB in his 

budget for the city for this year, but also did not 

rule out selling the operation. He earlier indicated 

his intention of “maximizing the value of 

the asset.” 

AND A HUGE WRITEOFF ON TV 

The advertising slump that hit the market in the 

last year has caused Rupert Murdoch’s News 

Corporation to take a $909 million operating 

charge in its second quarter, largely because of 

the expense of its three national sports television 

contracts in the U.S. Murdoch, commenting on 

the announcement of the writeoff this week, said, 

“I think you have to say that the prices being 

paid for sports have gone beyond an economic 

level, not just here but around the world.” The 

corporation’s Fox Entertainment Group wrote 

off $387 million of its eight-year, $4.5 billion contract 

with the National Football League, $297 

million of its eight-year $1.9 billion NASCAR 

auto racing deal and $225 million of its six-year, 

$2.4 billion contract with Major League Baseball. 

Others have felt the impact as well, with 

General Electric’s NBC reportedly losing an estimated 

$300 million on its NBA telecasts. News 

Corporation said the downturn in advertising in 

this country prevented it from meeting sales forecasts 

for sports broadcasts. 

VARENNE RACES, DRIVER HERE 

The world’s best trotter, Varenne, races in Italy 

Sunday, but his regular driver, Giampaolo 

Minnuci, is headed for Las Vegas. Suspended 

for recalls in the Prix d’Amerique, which 

he won, Minnuci will accept HTA’s Nova 

award for Varenne at the Night of Stars.





NEW SPORTS AUTHORITY BOSS 

The new governor of New Jersey, James E. 

McGreevey, has appointed a new head of the New 

Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. His 

choice is financier George Zoffinger, and both 

Zoffinger and the governor apparently plan drastic 

shakeups. The governor said, “We will fundamentally 

change the way the New Jersey Sports 

and Exposition Authority does business,” and the 

new appointee, promised to “clean house” at the 

NJSEA. How far that cleaning goes remains to 

be seen, but Zoffinger said, “I don’t have a list 

yet, but there has to be a list,” speaking of the 

number of executives he plans to lay off in his 

shakeup. The Newark Star Ledger noted that 

“both Continental Airlines Arena and Giants Stadium 

were among the top grossing sports facilities 

in the nation last year, and the Meadowlands 

Racetrack remains the top harness track in the 

world.” Zoffinger was New Jersey’s commerce 

commissioner under former governor Jim Florio. 

He said the state would have to seriously consider 

bringing VLTs to New Jersey’s tracks if New 

York moves forward with VLTs at tracks there. 

All counties that needed to sign off on that plan 

in New York now have done so, clearing the way 

for Buffalo Raceway, Vernon Downs, Saratoga 

Equine Sports Center, Monticello Raceway and 

Yonkers Raceway to install VLTs once litigation 

is over. 

NOT QUITE ACCURATE 

A story on today’s Thoroughbred Times.com concerning 

an HTA study at the University of Arizona 

showing that racing is a bargain compared 

to major league sports was not quite accurate. 

The study was initiated by HTA as a joint HTA- 

TRA project, not on behalf of the Thoroughbred 

Racing Associations, and was supervised 

by HTA counsel Paul Estok. Student Pam 

White did the research, with thoroughbred 

data provided by Tony DiMarco of 

TRA. 


CONGRESS BEGINS TUESDAY 

The third Harness Racing Congress, organized 

by Harness Tracks of America and the United 

States Trotting Association in cooperation with 

the United States Harness Writers Association, 

gets underway at the Mirage in Las Vegas on 

Tuesday. Registration starts Monday, and 13 

harness racing organizations will take part. In 

addition to HTA, USTA and USHWA, those participating 

are the Association of Racing Commissioners 

International, Canadian Pari-Mutuel 

Agency, the Hambletonian Society/Breeders 

Crown, Harness Horse Youth Foundation, Harness 

Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, North 

American Harness Publicists Association, Racetracks 

of Canada, Societe Nationale du Cheval 

de Course, Standardbred Canada, and Standardbred 

Investigative Services. 

Individual group board meetings are scheduled 

for Tuesday, with general sessions Wednesday and 

Thursday. More than 20 presentations are scheduled, 

and speakers include Jim McAlpine, president 

and CEO of Magna Entertainment; John 

Long, president of Churchill Downs Management 

and executive VP and COO of Churchill Downs; 

J. Terrence Lanni, chairman and CEO, MGM/ 

Mirage, and a director of Santa Anita and Del 

Mar; Lonny Powell, president of the Association 

of Racing Commissioners International; 

Alan Foreman, chairman/CEO of the Thoroughbred 

Horsemen’s Association; James Hickey, 

president of the American Horse Council; U.S. 

Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island; Hector 

Clouthier, special adviser to Prime Minister 

Jean Chretien of Canada; and Tom Aronson, senior 

VP International of TVG. The Congress concludes 

Thursday with the Night of Stars, honoring 

the owners of the champion harness horses 

of 2001. More than 400 reservations have 

been received and owners from as far as 

Rome, Italy, will be on hand.





McERLEAN NEW PRESIDENT 

Chris McErlean, vice president and general manager 

of the Meadowlands, is the newest president 

of Harness Tracks of America, and at 34 is the 

youngest ever to hold the post. He also is the 

second former HTA executive assistant to assume 

that position, the first being Tom Aldrich, general 

manager of Northfield Park. 

McErlean was elected to head a slate that includes 

outgoing president David S. Willmot as chairman 

of the board; Bruce Garland as vice chairman; 

Stan Bergstein as executive vice president; Mike 

Jeannot of The Meadows as senior vice president; 

and vice presidents Tom Chuckas Jr. of Rosecroft 

Raceway, Laverne Hill of Scioto Downs, Jerry 

Schweibel of Buffalo Raceway and Charley 

Lockhart of Dover Downs. Paul Estok was elected 

as secretary and general counsel, and Hap Hansen 

returned as treasurer of the association. The 

Executive Committee, headed by McErlean, will 

include Hansen, Joe Lashinger Jr. of The Downs 

at Pocono, Brock Milstein of Northfield Park, 

Richard Orbann of Freehold Raceway, Jeff Smith 

of Hoosier Park, Mike Jeannot and Charles 

Lockhart, with Tom Aldrich, Bruce Garland, 

Lester McKeever and David Willmot as ex officio 

voting members. Mike Jeannot will head the 

Finance Committee, with Tom Chuckas, Jim 

Ormiston of WoodbineEntertainment Group, 

Conrad Sobkowiak of The Down at Pocono and 

Richard Moore of Hoosier Park as members. The 

Nominating Committee will include chairman 

Lester McKeever, former presidents Tom 

Aldrich, Bruce Garland, David Willmot and Paul 

Fontaine of Plainridge Racecourse. 

HTA also announced its 2003 annual meeting and 

awards dinner will be held March 4-9 at 

the new Westin Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, 

Florida. 


PRESENTATIONS ONLINE 

The speakers at last week’s Harness Racing Congress 

in Las Vegas were exceptional, and drew 

enthusiastic acclaim from attendees. Because the 

substance of their remarks are of interest to all 

in racing, their presentations will appear in their 

entirety, including Power Point presentations, on 

the public section of HTA’s Web site, 

www.harnesstracks.com, just as soon as they have 

been transcribed. 

A GLORIOUS NIGHT OF STARS 

The editor has attended USHWA Award dinners 

for more than 40 years, and shares the view, expressed 

by many, that last Thursday’s Night of 

Stars was the best in those four decades. The 

Mirage’s audio-visual department, responsible 

for lighting and sound, did full justice to Mike 

Sheehan’s and Alex Dadoyan’s video presentation, 

and the crowd of 421 included all major 

award winners. Unique and successful was a 

trio of masters of ceremonies -- Gary Seibel and 

Robin Burns of Television Games Network and 

Alan Kirschenbaum, executive producer and cocreator 

of the CBS comedy hit Yes Dear, head 

writer for three seasons of ABC’s popular series 

Coach, director of a number of episodes of CBS’s 

Everybody Loves Raymond, and a harness owner, 

breeder and driver as well as former announcer 

on the Breeders Crown telecasts. On hand from 

Rome to receive HTA’s and the harness writers’ 

Nova and Dan Patch awards for older trotter of 

the year were Francesco Ruffo, manager; Jori 

Turga, trainer; and Giampaolo Minucci, driver, 

of the world’s greatest trotter Varenne. 

HEARTFELT THANKS TO ALL 

The third Harness Racing Congress was a cooperative 

triumph because of a huge effort by the 

staffs of HTA, USTA, and the United States 

Harness Writers Association. A deep vote 

of thanks to all for long, hard work above 

and beyond the call of duty.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor February 26, 2002 

THE FIRST HAMMER FALLS In New Jersey, where thoroughbred leaders are 

During last week’s Harness Racing Congress in calling on all their political clout to reverse the 

Las Vegas, Dan O’Leary, HTA’s longtime legal state’s racing date allocation for 2002, state senator 

Martha Bark has introduced a bill to allow 

counsel in Wagering Insurance Northamerica 

(WIN) warned HTA directors of the impending the governor to replace the entire racing commission. 

She played a key role in passage of off- 

crisis in explosive premiums on renewal of present 

policies. He suggested that the best approach to track and account betting legislation, now stalled. 

the problem would be to utilize WIN, HTA’s existing 

off-shore captive, rather than try to reinvent 

the wheel, and that a number of self-insurance 

options were available to all tracks -- harness, 

thoroughbred and greyhound-- under WIN. 

As if to echo O’Leary’s warnings, the hammer 

fell this week on trainers in California. Daily Racing 

Form reports today that after recent negotiations 

with one of two providers of workers’ 

compensation coverage, Legion Insurance, collapsed, 

the trainers were notified over the weekend 

by State Fund, the only remaining provider, 

of huge rate increases, in some cases as high as 

100%. The Form reports that in addition to the 

huge escalation in premiums, State Fund is requiring 

deposits from trainers that range from 

$5,800 to $18,000. 

WIN’s program is open to everyone, and does 

not preclude tracks maintaining present broker 

relationships. While joining would not avert premium 

increases, any underwriting profits would 

be retained by the members of the captive, as they 

have been for years. Interested parties should 

contact Dan O’Leary in Chicago at 312-251-1000 

for further information. 

AH YES, POLITICS AND RACING 

In Kentucky, the chair of the Kentucky Majority 

Caucus, Democrat Jim Callahan, said a bill 

to give slots to tracks in the state would be introduced 

today, but that the House would not 

vote on the bill or even consider it in hearings 

until there were indications that the 

Republican-controlled Senate would look on 

it favorably. 

WHERE TO IN ILLINOIS? 

The Chicago Tribune’s editorial board has been 

interviewing major candidates for governor in 

Lincoln land, and today’s installment on the views 

of Republican candidates on gambling are illuminating. 

All three candidates-- Patrick 

O’Malley, Corinne Wood and Jim Ryan -- are in 

favor of auctioning casino licenses to the highest 

bidder when they come up for renewal. O’Malley 

thinks Illinois made a mistake getting into the 

casino business in the first place, and said that if 

it were up to him he would do away with the legalization 

of gambling. He said that if elected he 

would go to the people and find out by referendum 

if they wanted to continue with legalization 

of gambling. When asked if that extended to 

horse racing and the lottery, O’Malley said absolutely 

on the lottery, but that as for horse racing 

it promoted agriculture and he was supportive 

of agriculture. 

GOOD NEWS AND BAD 

Two former members of HTA, Batavia Downs in 

New York and Suburban Downs in Illinois, have 

returned to membership, bringing the total of 

tracks and racing organizations to 36. 

On a deeply unhappy note, longtime HTA director 

Sid Anton, who at various times represented 

Maywood Park, Wolverine Raceway and 

Windsor Raceway on the HTA board, died in 

Florida at the age of 77. Our condolences, 

personal and corporate, to his widow Lois 

and to their six children.





ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD 

The news of the day includes items that prove 

the old adage on glitter still holds. 

In Oklahoma, a city attorney in Sallisaw began 

foreclosure proceedings against Blue Ribbon 

Downs because the track’s owners could not catch 

up on a delinquent 1995 loan of $2.4 million from 

the city’s municipal trust authority. The track 

owes the trust $240,000 and no payments have 

been made since January of 2001. If the foreclosure 

goes forward, the track will be sold at a 

sheriff’s sale. 

In Nevada, Aladdin Gaming, the operator of the 

Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas, asked a federal 

bankruptcy judge for permission to liquidate the 

company’s assets through a court supervised 

auction of the property. The $1 billion casino 

resort, only 13 months old, sought Chapter 11 

bankruptcy protection from creditors last September, 

listing $698.1 million in assets and more 

than $593.4 million in debts. Previously, four 

other Las Vegas properties -- the Riviera, Stratosphere, 

Four Queens and Fitzgeralds had filed 

for bankruptcy. In another Nevada development, 

the Clark county board of equalization turned 

down a proposal that casinos should pay less 

property taxes because their ‘intangible’assets - 

- items like trademarks, customer bases and gaming 

licenses -- should be exempt from taxation. 

Had the petition been granted, it could have lowered 

the casinos’ property taxes by as much as 

22%. The casinos had argued that such assets 

accounted for 30% to 40% of a casino’s value, 

and should be excluded from the assessor’s appraisal. 

The argument fell on deaf ears. 

In West Virginia, Mountaineer Park 

stock fell as much as 23%, or $3.59, after 

the track reported continued difficulty 

in converting its slots to a $5 maximum bet. 


In Louisiana, Boyd Gaming’s Delta Downs slots 

operation was closed for 24 hours by state police 

because casino employees were unable to reconcile 

slot receipts since February 15, had signed 

out cash in $10,000 increments to pay gamblers 

waiting for jackpots without completing proper 

paperwork, and failed three times to contact state 

agents when children were discovered in the gambling 

area. 

In the Caribbean, two offshore sports books 

folded and left bettors stuck for millions, according 

to Interactive Gaming News. The two, Aces 

Gold Casino and Sports-Market, both owned by 

Seinpost Holding of Curacao, had been in business 

since 1996 and had enjoyed good reputations. 

Their demise represents a good argument 

why Internet wagering should be conducted by 

American entities with established credentials. 

ON A BRIGHTER NOTE 

In Indiana, the House approved, 55-43, gambling 

legislation that includes electronic slotlike pull 

tabs for Hoosier Park and Indianapolis Downs, 

subject to voter approval in referendum votes in 

the tracks’counties. The measure now goes to a 

House-Senate conference committee where legislators 

will attempt to reach compromises during 

the final weeks of the current session. 

In Kentucky, with 26 days left in the legislative 

session, Democratic House Majority caucus 

chairman Jim Callahan and House Speaker Terry 

Clark, also a Democrat, introduced their slotsat-tracks 

bill, with bipartisan support from 13 

other representatives. It is questionalble, however, 

if the bill can get past the Republican controlled 

Senate, and both the Senate majority 

leader and Senate president said they doubted 

that the measure had enough support in that 

house. The bill provides track revenue on 

a sliding scale, from, 43% to 62%. on a 

“more you earn, more you pay” basis.





WHEN UPSET, TURN ON RACING 

That seems to be happening with increasing frequency 

lately, the latest example being that of 

Donald Stephens, the mayor of Rosemont, the 

Chicago suburb where the Emerald Casino sits 

in skeletal form. A story in today’s Chicago Tribune 

reports that Stephens, the central figure in 

drafting the final deal with Emerald that led to 

enabling legislation three years ago, now claims 

he was ‘snookered’ by racing lobbyists, and is 

threatening to scuttle the deal as structured by 

increasing the monies that would go to the state 

and slashing those scheduled to go to racing. The 

paper quotes Stephens saying, “The horse industry 

will get two times what the state gets, and 

that’s just not right. If this casino were getting 

ready to open in Rosemont with that in it, where 

the state gets less than half of what the horse racing 

industry gets, they won’t open here because 

we’ll stop it. I’d go before the Gaming Board 

and ask them not to issue the license.” Thom 

Serafin, an Arlington Park spokesman, wondered 

how come Stephens was taking the stand now, 

three years after the law’s passage and after three 

years of silence on the issue. “We’re befuddled 

by the whole thing,” Serafin said. “The detailed 

analyses of the legislation and the numbers were 

all there in black and white. The fact that things 

haven’t gone the way he (Stephens) would have 

liked shouldn’t mean that the 40,000 plus people 

who work in the horse racing industry should 

suffer and not be able to make a living.” The 

Tribune reported a stormy luncheon at which 

Dick Duchossois and Scott Mordell reportedly 

walked out after angry words with Stephens, but 

Duchossois denied that report and said he and 

Stephens merely had “agreed to disagree,” amicably. 

Others in Illinois racing said they felt betrayed 

by Stephens, and the long delayed 

casino issue has led to bitterness and 

charges of deceptions and outright lies. 


HARDBALL AT THE NJSEA 

That was the headline in today’s Newark Star- 

Ledger, over a long story telling how Raymond 

Bateman, called “the most powerful member of 

the Sports Authority board” by the newspaper, 

promised a fight over new Governor James 

McGreevey’s appointment of financier George 

Zoffinger to head the agency. Bateman faxed a 

four-page statement to the agency’s 11 other commissioners, 

senior staff and Senate co-president 

Richard Codey saying Zoffinger “can’t have my 

vote until he apologizes to the men and women 

who work at the Sports Authority.” Bateman 

was referring to Zoffinger labeling the NJSEA a 

bastion of political patronage, although it is the 

top grossing sports and entertainment destination 

in the country, with the race track serving 

as what the Star-Ledger calls “the financial engine 

of the business.” According to the newspaper, 

Zoffinger, a Democrat, must receive votes 

from 8 of the NJSEA’s 14 board members, 9 of 

whom are Republicans, with 3 vacancies. The 

paper said NJSEA vice-chairwoman Candace 

Straight also sent a letter to her Republican colleagues 

on the board, and to the governor and 

Zoffinger, saying she would not support the nomination 

until Zoffinger explains his management 

philosophy and plans for the agency. 

AND HARDBALL IN NEW YORK 

Margaret DeFrancisco, the head of New York 

state’s lottery division, has said tracks should not 

expect any state financial help in covering the 

costs of installing and operating VLTs. Tom Precious, 

writing for Blood-Horse Interactive, quotes 

Ms. DeFrancisco as saying, “I don’t know where 

it (construction funds) would come from. There’s 

just so much that can be done.” Between high 

costs for construction of facilities and a threeyear 

sunset provision on the VLT legislation, 

plus legal challenges, no immediate 

action seems likely in New York.





BATAVIA GETS LICENSE, IN HTA 

After a long and persistent legislative and competitive 

battle, Western Regional OTB has received 

its license from the New York Racing and 

Wagering Board to operate live and simulcast 

racing at Batavia Downs, and plans to open an 

85-night meeting July 29. When it does, it will 

once again fly the flag of Harness Tracks of 

America, returning Batavia to the fold as HTA’s 

36th member. President and GM Marty 

Basinait, who had Western OTB buy Batavia for 

$2.5 million and then led the fight in Albany and 

elsewhere to have it licensed, will join the HTA 

board as Batavia’s director. The track recently 

received county approval to install state-sanctioned 

VLTs, and will incorporate them into its 

operation as soon as the state resolves legal challenges 

to them. 

GLAZER’S DAD FILES HUGE SUIT 

Samuel Glazer, co-founder of Mr. Coffee and 

father of Bob Glazer, perenially one of harness 

racing’s leading owners, has filed a billion dollar 

lawsuit in Cleveland against Lehman Brothers 

and SG Cowen Corporation. The suit accuses 

those firms of allowing Frank Gruttadauria 

to conduct a 15-year financial scam and asks for 

$500 million in punitive damages against each 

firm and $40 million in actual losses. 

Gruttadauria, who law enforcement agencies 

had been unable to find for a month, surrendered 

on February 9. The SEC filed fraud charges 

against him last week, accusing him of stealing 

at least $40 million from more than 50 clients. 

Glazer’s attorney said his client had invested $7 

million with Gruttadauria in July, 1998, and had 

account statements from Lehman representing 

his account to be worth $24 million when it actually 

contained only $15,000. Lehman offered 

to return only the original $7 million. 

A Cleveland grocery chain operator 

also sued Lehman for losses of $26 million. 

March 1, 2002 

FLORIDA SLOTS TO FULL HOUSE 

Pompano Park -- and Florida’s 30 other racing 

and jai alai operations -- have something to savor 

this weekend, after a bill to allow VLTs 

passed a final House committee and advanced to 

the floor of the full House. A similar Senate bill 

bogged down in committee, but should be heard 

next week. The House bill’s chief sponsor, Democratic 

representative Ron Greenstein, says the 

bill will put $641 million into Florida education. 

A Key Largo legislator, Rep. Ken Sorensen, said, 

“In these days, that’s kind of hard to look away 

from.” 

AS STATED IN LAS VEGAS.... 

Attendees at last week’s Racing Congress in Las 

Vegas were told that smart cards and other technological 

advances in coming years would make 

reception of racing statistics and signals ubiquitous, 

in cars, offices, homes, everywhere. Evidence 

of the accuracy of that prediction came 

quickly, with the announcement of a company 

called Performance Technology that it had contracted 

with another called eConnect to produce 

a PlayersCash smart card that will allow electronic 

cash transfers to be sent through the 

Internet to either open or replenish an OTB track 

betting account. The company said the combination 

of the new smart card and a PIN will act 

as a comprehensive authentication device for 

defining the age and location of the player, and 

lends itself toward implementation of other home 

gaming services. 

IN THE NEWS.... 

SKIP CARLSON has been named general manager 

of the Saratoga Equine Sports Center...Delaware 

county fair’s Lady Pace on Sept. 

14 will honor HTA vice president LAVERNE 

HILL, president of Mid-America at Scioto 

Downs... HTA sends condolences to Newark 

Star-Ledger harness columnist RAY 

BRIENZA on the death of his wife, Una.





FOR THE RACING CHEMISTS 

The editor’s Daily Racing Form column on EPO 

and its derivatives, in online editions of Friday and 

the print edition of Saturday, apparently touched 

the nerves of some members of the AORC, the 

organization of racing chemists. They were spending 

valuable research time discussing it on their 

chat lines, with one comment noting that I had 

missed last week’s stories from Great Britain of a 

surprise dawn search of six jump training centers, 

resulting in 408 tests for EPO, all coming up empty. 

I had not missed the stories, nor the follow-up 

story by Jonathon Powell in The Mail in which he 

wrote that he had “uncovered fresh evidence of 

the trade in the illegal and performance-enhancing 

drug EPO, which can be used to boost a horse’s 

stamina.” Powell went on to write, “One of the 

most successful jump trainers in the business revealed 

to me yesterday that six weeks ago he was 

offered unlimited supplies by one of his own stable 

lads, who had previously held a trainer’s 

license.....He indicated that he could get the EPO 

from Spain via a contact in this country (Great 

Britain).” Last year, in New Jersey, state police 

found more than 200 bottles of EPO on the farm 

of now-suspended trainer Richard Chansky. EPO, 

it appears, is in plentiful supply on both sides of 

the Atlantic, and in the hands of horsemen. If the 

racing chemists do not think it is a high priority to 

develop a test for this stuff that will stand legal 

challenges -- which was the gist of the Racing Form 

column -- the editor still does. 

SWIATEK A WILD THING 

The HTA office receives calls from time to time 

asking about the whereabouts of John Swiatek, 

president of HTA from 1994 to 1996. It turns out 

he is an owner of the newly established Washington 

Wild Things, an independent professional 

baseball team that will play 84 

games in the 12-team Frontier League this 

season, starting May 29. 


Swiatek, managing partner of the new team, is 

having the time of his life. The team formerly was 

the Canton, Ohio, Crocodiles, and the first thought 

after purchase was to rename them the Washington 

Generals, since their home base is Washington, 

PA, hard by The Meadows, which Swiatek ran. 

Recalling the team that carried that name through 

countless seasons as the Harlem Globetrotters’ 

foils, the Generals was discarded and the Wild 

Things adopted. Kent Tekulve, who pitched for 

the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1975 to 1985, after 

which he played four more seasons with the Philadelphia 

Phillies, is the Wild Things Director of 

Baseball Operations. Ross Vechhio, who served 

in both the St. Louis Cardinals and Montreal Expos 

organizations, is general manager, and Joe 

Charboneau, rookie of the year with the Cleveland 

Indians in 1980, is the team’s hitting coach. 

Swiatek also is an investor in a water technology 

company that specializes in water line infrastructures, 

and does racing consulting. His team will 

play in a brand new facility at the intersection of 

routes 70 and 79, less than three miles from The 

Meadows. 

HOW BIG? THIS BIG 

How big is the Internet gambling business these 

days? Big enough that online casinos have become 

the fifth largest ad buyer on the Internet, 

according to a Jupiter Media Metrix study. The 

company says online casinos “are now competing 

for advertising mindshare with the most visible 

industries, including retail, financial services and 

travel.” In another development of interest to all 

track operators, the March issue of Wired magazine 

features a long story called “The High Tech 

Trifecta”, with a subhead reading, “They’ve got 

multimillion-dollar bankrolls, lightning-fast networks, 

and a probability-crunching system that 

leaves the odds in the dust. Meet the parimutuel 

fund managers who are redefining 

horse racing.” It’s fascinating reading. and 

we have copies.





TWO STATES AT CROSSROADS 

It’s crunch time in two neighboring midwestern 

states, and the coming weeks are critical. In Kentucky, 

hearings have begun on the possibility of 

VLTs for Kentucky tracks, and the heavy hitters 

have come forward with testimony. In Indiana, a 

House-Senate conference committee is debating 

slot-like pull tabs for Hoosier Park, Indianapolis 

Downs and two OTBs. 

The Kentucky debate included a three-hour formal 

hearing on Monday and heated consideration 

of the matter now is underway. Long gone from 

racing is Ted Bassett’s “mythical armada” of a 

decade ago, with a gambling fleet now across the 

Ohio river and firing away in easy range of 

Churchill Downs. Keeneland has met the future, 

and president Nick Nicholson ackowledges that 

“the situation changed” and Keeneland now favors 

VLTs from both an offensive position and 

defensive one, both seeking slots and defending 

against others in the state getting them with tracks 

left out. Although discussions in Kentucky’s legislature 

and on its racing commission center on 

thoroughbred racing, Nicholson -- a realist and 

former high level legislative aide - knows that any 

bill will have to incorporate both breeds in Kentucky, 

and he says he would prefer to enter into 

some cooperative arrangement with HTA’s member 

The Red Mile. “Whether the slots would actually 

be here, there, or somewhere else is something 

we’d have to determine,” Nicholson told 

Daily Racing Form, and the Red Mile’s location, 

a mile from the heart of downtown Lexington, obviously 

is highly attractive. The current situation 

was summarized best by Churchill Downs president 

Alex Waldrop, who said, “We are in an arena 

that we don’t control, and it’s impossible to predict 

what will happen over the coming 

weeks in Frankfort.” The Indiana pulltab 

issue also will be voted up or down in 

the days ahead. 


GANDHI HEADS FOR POMPANO 

Well, okay, not the real Gandhi, long gone and 

missed, but the man whose portrayal of him won a 

Best Actor Academy Award, and who now has put 

down the sheet and put on clothes and a snarl and 

was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscar 

for Sexy Beast, along with earlier Academy Award 

nomination for Bugsy. That’s Sir Ben Kingsley, of 

course, knighted last year in London, and he will 

be taking up residence at Pompano Park where 

nearly 40% of a new film, All for Nothin’, will be 

shot. The story is based on the true story of telecommunications 

pioneer Walter L. Shaw and his 

son Walter T., the confessed ‘Dinner Time 

Burgler’. Filming is scheduled to start early next 

month. Casting is underway, but no word yet on a 

role for Steve Wolf. 

IS GARY ON TO SOMETHING? 

The question of the day is what does Gary 

Piontkowski, president of HTA’s New England 

member Plainridge Racecourse, know that we 

don’t? 

Word has reached here that Plainridge is introducing 

a Stan Bergstein Pace in July, a late-closing 

open event for 3-year-olds with eliminations 

on July 15 and a final on July 22. 

As everyone knows, those kind of events are usually 

memorials, and we are waiting for the other 

shoe to drop. We scheduled a quick medical 

checkup followed the notification, and were given 

clearance to schedule a flight for Boston whenever 

we chose, and to run in the Boston Marathon 

if scheduling can be arranged. We don’t plan to 

leave until July, but if you want to reach us on July 

22, just call Plainridge. 

Meantime, our deep thanks to Gary, and 

to racing secretary Paul Varrette for not 

scheduling the series for geldings.





RACING’S LEGISLATIVE HALLS 

Senate and House conferees were scheduled to 

meet again this afternoon in Indianapolis, hoping 

to hammer out a conference accord that would pass 

muster with the state’s governor, Frank O’Bannon. 

The fate of slotlike pull tabs for Hoosier Park and 

Indianapolis rests in the balance, precariously, and 

could be impacted favorably by large ads in Louisville 

newspapers urging legislators in that state 

to vote for VLTs at Kentucky’s tracks to offset 

Kentucky gambling money going to Indiana. The 

conference committee chairman in the Indiana legislature, 

Senator Gregory Server of Evansville, 

said, “We have to get something passed by the 

House and Senate, then the governor has to do 

what he has to do. That’s his thing,” referring to 

the governor’s veto power. “Sure, we’re going to 

take that into consideration, but hopefully we can 

give him a deal he can’t refuse.” 

In Iowa, the Des Moines Register, quoting Polk 

county supervisor Jack Bishop, reports that a proposal 

to sell Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino 

to the Racing Association of Central Iowa for 

$150 million is dead. “A sale is pretty much off at 

this time,” Bishop said. “Maybe sometime down 

the road there will be another opportunity to think 

about getting the county out of the gambling business.” 

For the present, Bishop thinks attention 

should turn to next November’s elections, where 

Polk county voters will decide whether to allow 

gambling in the county for another eight years. A 

draft appraisal of $107 million raised the ire of 

county supervisors, in view of a $242 million analysis 

of Prairie Meadows’ value five years ago. The 

county gets $12 million plus a percentage of track 

profits annually, but negotiations are ongoing on 

future lease arrangements. Prairie Meadows 

chafes under a gaming tax that increases 

2% a year and will reach 36% in 2004. 


In West Virginia, Mountaineer Park is taking an 

innovative approach to expansion, considering a 

partnership arrangement in which it would help the 

state’s division of highways build a toll bridge 

across the Ohio river to provide easier access to 

the track for Ohio residents. The state already 

has said that the track would be expected to participate 

in the cost to connect West Virginia route 

2 with Ohio route 7. 

In Pennsylvania, the former mayor of Philadelphia, 

hoping to be the Democratic candidate for governor, 

says he favors VLTs at tracks as a means of 

raising $500 million in new funds needed for education. 

Candidate Edward Rendell says one in 

three schools in Pennsylvania faces a budget shortfall 

this year, and that 2,500 VLTs at each track 

could provide $469 million toward that goal. 

Rendell’s Republican opponent in the Democratic 

primary, Robert P. Casey Jr., also favors VLTs at 

the track, but wants the money raised to go to senior 

citizens. 

In British Columbia, the government has replaced 

four pieces of gambling legislation in a single gaming 

act that places all gambling, including horse 

racing, under the supervision of the British Columbia 

Lottery Corporation, with the Gaming 

Policy and Enforcement Branch conducting registrations, 

audits and investigations for the entire 

gambling sector. 

In New South Wales in Australia, which includes 

the nation’s largest city, Sydney, racing has gone 

to the government seeking a ban on mobile telephones 

at the track. Racing says the industry 

needs protection from privately-run interstate betting 

shops in the Northern Territory and elsewhere 

that compete directly with the Totalisator Agency 

Board (TAB) off-track operations and licensed 

bookmakers, who are legal in New South 

Wales.





MAGNA STRIKES 11TH TIME 

Magna Entertainment tossed another hundred 

million in the pot yesterday, entering an agreement 

to buy Lone Star Park near Dallas. Magna’s chairman, 

Frank Stronach, called the purchase “another 

step in MEC’s program of expanding its racing 

and wagering operations through the ownership of 

the country’s premier racetrack properties.” The 

agreement calls for $80 million in cash and assumption 

of liabilities including a capital lease obligation 

of some $19 million to the city of Grand Prairie. 

The track was built for $100 million and opened 

six years ago. Lone Star joins Bay Meadows, 

Golden Gate Fields, Great Lakes Downs, 

Gulfstream Park, The Meadows, Portland Meadows, 

Remington Park, Santa Anita, Thistledown 

and Multnomah Greyhound Park as part of the 

Magna stable. 

A twelfth property appears on the Magna horizon, 

because Robert O’Malley, CEO of Suffolk Downs, 

said this week that negotiations for Magna to lease 

Suffolk “are continuing and I’m optimistic there 

will be a deal. There’s just some added housekeeping 

that has to be done before it happens.” 

SHAWN SCOTT AFTER VERNON 

Shawn Scott, the 35-year-old gambling entrepreneur 

who bought Delta Downs for $10 million and 

sold it to Boyd Gaming for $130 million, has agreed 

to loan Vernon Downs $400,000 for operational 

purposes and also has purchased at least 19,000 

shares of stock -- 4% of the total -- as he moves to 

gain a controlling interest in the track. Justice 

Cheney, president of Vernon, told the Associated 

Press that Scott is negotiating with other large 

shareholders, including bankruptcy officials, to end 

up with a majority of the stock. How this will affect 

an option held by Eric Cherry, Sandy 

Goldfarb and Steven Goldberg is uncertain. 


That trio has notified Vernon in writing that they 

intend to exercise their option to purchase the 

track, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. 

Should Scott succeed in obtaining enough 

shareholder support to block approval of the option, 

it could clear the way for him to acquire 

Vernon. All actions have been delayed by a pending 

audit and SEC inquiries. 

FATE OF MILLIONS IN DOUBT 

The continuing civil war in Maryland racing has 

once again put a multimillion purse subsidy in 

doubt. The speaker of the Maryland House, 

Casper R. Taylor Jr., chose not to introduce a bill 

on racing’s behalf this week because thoroughbred 

and harness interests still have not reached a mutually 

satisfactory compromise. When the Baltimore 

Sun asked Taylor if it was a longshot that 

money would be approved in the budget crisis atmosphere 

of the current legislative session, Taylor 

said, “I’ll guarantee that it is.” 

Taylor had been looking for a compromise bill on 

the so-called 6:15 law, which Rosecroft felt all parties 

had signed off on some time ago. Under that 

proposed compromise, Rosecroft would have 

waived the 6:15 p.m. barrier on thoroughbred simulcasting 

in return for free enterprise, in which 

all signals, in and out of the state, would be available 

to all at any time. Rosecroft’s GM and CEO, 

Tom Chuckas Jr., told the Sun, “From Day One, 

our position has been the same; it was always a 

trade.” It is customary, of course, in disputes like 

this, to paint the harness side as the villain in media. 

It happened in New Jersey as well as Maryland, 

where the runners would like the whole pie. 

Still to be resolved is the issue of whether monies 

paid by the tracks into a fund for track improvements 

can be retrieved for purse purposes. As 

Taylor indicated, that might be a longshot too, 

unfortunately, but Rosecroft will continue 

to pursue it.





NEW ERA AT NORTHLANDS 

HTA’s member Northlands Park in Edmonton, 

Alberta, opens its 2002 season today with two problems 

all tracks wish they could face: the highest 

purse structure in its history, and a stable area 

overflowing with horses. Thanks in large part to 

increased revenue from the track’s 262 slot machines, 

Northlands expects its average daily purse 

distribution to be $112,000, up 18% over last 

spring’s average of $95,000. With the high purse 

schedule and plenty of horses to compete for the 

money, horsemen know they are only going to get 

to race their horses every other week, rather than 

weekly, because of the supply. Northlands will 

race only two programs a week -- Friday and Saturday 

-- until the end of this month, when Wednesdays 

will be added to the schedule. Weeknight 

post time will be 6 p.m., Saturday afternoon cards 

will start at 1 p.m. 

A BONUS IN KENTUCKY? 

It’s too early to tell if Kentucky will get VLTs, but 

if the legislation put forth by the state’s tracks 

passes, there will be a bonus above and beyond 

the machines. The bill also provides for repeal of 

the license and admission taxes on Kentucky 

tracks, which last year amounted to more than 

$600,000. The chief sponsor of the bill in the 

House, Jim Callahan, says the loss of tax revenue 

would be minimal compared to the revenues that 

VLTs would produce. If the tracks’ projections 

are right, Callahan’s comments are understated. 

The tracks think the state could get $40 million in 

the first year, $142 million in the second, and more 

than $300 million a year after that. Callahan told 

the Associated Press that “It’s the only type of 

revenue you can look at and say each year it’s 

going to get better. And it doesn’t cost the 

taxpayer a penny.” The license tax, which 

the tracks propose repealing, currently 

costs Churchill Downs $1,500 a day, and 

smaller tracks $500 or so a day. 


DOVER SPINOFF MARCH 18 

Dover Downs Entertainment’s board of directors 

has approved the spinoff of its gaming interests, 

and that division of the company’s business will 

take place a week from Monday, on March 18. 

The gaming business, including HTA’s member 

Dover Downs, will be transferred to Dover Downs 

Gaming & Entertainment, a newly formed Delaware 

corporation, with 100% of the shares of that 

company’s common stock and Class A common 

stock being distributed, on a pro rata basis, to 

Dover Downs Entertainment’s stockholders. Dover 

Downs Entertainment will change its name to 

Dover Motorsports, Inc. and will continue trading 

on the New York Stock Exchange under its existing 

symbol of DVD. The new gaming group has 

been authorized to list its shares of common stock 

on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 

DDE and will be publicly traded for the first 

time on or about the effective distribution date of 

March 31. No Dover Downs Entertainment stockholder 

will be required to pay cash or other consideration 

for any shares of Gaming & Entertainment 

stock received in the spinoff, or to surrender 

or exchange shares of DDE in order to receive 

Gaming and Entertainment stock. IRS has issued 

a ruling that the stock distribution will be tax free, 

except for cash received in lieu of fractional 

shares, which will not be issued as such. Dover 

Downs Gaming and Entertainment will consist of 

Dover Down Slots, the newly built Dover Downs 

Hotel and Conference Center, and Dover Downs 

Raceway. 

AN IOWA SLUGFEST AHEAD? 

Without fanfare, a bill to eliminate the Racing Association 

of Central Iowa, which holds the license 

and operates Prairie Meadows Racetrack and 

Casino, and replace it with local officials, has won 

committee approval in the Iowa House. The 

bill also calls for two votes in November, 

one on continuing horse racing and the other 

on continuing the casino.





MAGNA STOCK OFFERING 

Magna Entertainment has announced that it now 

is proceeding with the stock offering it first announced 

on Oct. 26 of last year, but deferred “in 

view of market conditions.” Magna now intends 

to proceed with a public offering of 20 million 

shares of its Class A Subordinate Voting Stock in 

the U.S. and Canada. Magna says the net proceeds 

will be used for general corporate purchases, 

including repayment of borrowings, working capital, 

capital expenditures and the potential acquisition 

or construction and development of additional 

racetracks and related entertainment operations, 

training centers, OTB facilities and account wagering 

operations. 

THE ROCK ON THE MARKET 

Blaming the state legislature for sealing the fate 

of his track by defeating a bill that would have allowed 

VLTs, Rockingham Park general manager 

Ed Callahan says it no longer is a matter of 

whether Rockingham will close, but when, and that 

the track’s owners are trying to sell the plant. “I 

don’t believe there is any long-term viability for 

horse racing in New Hampshire,” he said. “The 

light at the end of the tunnel isn’t there.” 

Rockingham had sought slots all winter, but a bill 

to permit was killed by the House last month. 

Callahan says Rockingham will complete its 2002 

season and simulcasting operations, but will not 

decide until later this year as to whether it will seek 

a license for 2003. 

KY VETS MAY GO OWN WAY 

Kentucky track veterinarians, and others who 

share their views, may formalize into a vets’ organization 

separate from the American Association 

of Equine Practitioners. Currently known as 

The Race Track Practitioners, the rump 

group says it feels their minority views on 

race day medication and other issues are not 

being heard. 


The Blood-Horse quotes Dr. Arnold Pessin, one of 

the most vocal of the Kentucky group, as saying 

current AAEP efforts to implement uniform medication 

rules represent “a stacked committee, cloak 

and dagger.” Dr. Jerry Johnson, a Kentucky veterinarian 

who tried but failed to be included on an 

industry-wide AAEP-sponsored committee studying 

the problem, said that group “feels Kentucky 

is the root of all evil -- a druggie state.” AAEP 

president Dr. Jerry Black told Blood-Horse that 

the medication group did listen to vets, and “ended 

up with a policy that supports the broader issue of 

uniformity in medication. The AAEP policy is more 

mainstream in what’s being done across the United 

States.” That policy rejects the Kentucky wish 

for use of multiple therapeutics on race day. 

MASTER OF HIS CRAFT IS GONE 

The death of Ted Leonard last week at 76 removes 

from the harness racing scene one of the most 

outstanding practitioners of the craft of racing classification. 

The editor knew and regarded 

Leonard’s father as one of the most accomplished 

trainers in Illinois harness racing, and grew up in 

the sport as a contemporary of Ted’s as he served 

with distinction at 20 tracks in the sport. Ted knew 

the job so completely and thoroughly, in all its nuances 

and complexities, that he was admired by 

horsemen as a master of his craft. Our condolences 

to his family. 

MARYLAND LOOKS FOR EXEC 

The Maryland Racing Commission is looking for 

a replacement for the veteran Ken Schertle, now 

retired. Candidates must have 10 years of experience 

in administrative or professional work, including 

5 related to the pari-mutuel industry. Applications 

and resumes should be sent to the commission 

at 500 North Calvert Street, room 201, 

Baltimore, MD 21202, with postmarks no 

later than March 15.





THE FLEXIBLE FLYER 

When the editor was a kid, the thing to have in 

winter was a Flexible Flyer. It was the Cadillac of 

sleds, and it and a Daisy BB gun were possessions 

to treasure. 

There is a new Flexible Flyer these days, named 

Frank Fahrenkopf. As the spokesman for the 

American casino industry, he waves with the winds 

of Las Vegas, and in the last year or two he has 

been caught in the vortex of winds blowing in different 

directions, particularly on the issue of 

Internet gaming. Some Vegas casino bosses think 

of it as a threat; others, like Terry Lanni of MGM 

Mirage, think it is the future. Two years ago 

Fahrenkopf and his American Gaming Association 

supported the Goodlatte bill banning Internet gaming. 

Today, as a new version goes before the Crime 

Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee 

this afternoon, Fahrenkopf is a bitter foe. The 

earlier Goodlatte bill added a new section to the 

Wire Statute, section 1084 of the Criminal Code. 

Today’s bill amends it. Fahrenkopf says the AGA 

opposes the new legislation because of “significant 

changes largely detrimental to my members.” 

What he really is upset about, it appears, is the 

provision in the bill that exempts horse racing because 

it already is covered under federal law in 

the Interstate Horseracing Act. Fahrenkopf has 

hinted at support for the alternative gambling ban 

being proposed by Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, which 

would outlaw the use of credit cards, checks and 

electronic money transfers. He says “other bills 

pending action may well serve as a better vehicle 

for enacting needed updates to federal law in the 

area of wire or wireless gambling transactions.” 

At the moment, Goodlatte’s bill has 156 co-sponsors 

in the House; Leach’s bill has 6. It remains 

to be seen how much Las Vegas will influence 

the outcome, but the Flexible Flyer 

slides on money as well as snow. 


GALLAGHER LEAVING NTRA 

As rumored for months, Jim Gallagher, executive 

director of the NTRA Racing Integrity and Drug 

Testing Task Force, will leave that post at the end 

of this month to become vice president of parimutuel 

operations at the New York Racing Association. 

Gallagher says, “I’m very proud to have 

helped get the ball rolling in an area of such vital 

importance to the horseracing industry, but New 

York racing is in my blood, and the opportunity to 

once again be a part of it is too attractive to pass 

up.” Gallagher formerly was head of racing operations 

of the New York State Racing and Wagering 

Board. 

Gallagher’s successor in the NTRA post will be 

Dr. Scot Waterman, who shares a common bond 

with HTA’s General Counsel Paul Estok and Information 

Architect, Sable Downs. Both Waterman 

and Downs topped their classes as Distinguished 

Senior when they graduated from the University 

of Arizona Race Track Industry program, and 

Estok won the College of Agriculture’s award as 

outstanding senior before the Distinguished Senior 

award was introduced. 

TIME RUNNING OUT IN INDIANA 

Members of the Indiana House and Senate Conference 

Committee meet again today in Indianapolis, 

trying to hammer out a compromise bill that 

will be acceptable to governor Frank O’Bannon. 

Aware that the governor has suggested he might 

veto a bill that allows slot-like pull-tabs at Indiana 

tracks and two OTBs, Rep. Mark Lytle, a member 

of the committee, said, “It’s not something 

where we’re trying to say, ‘OK, governor, here it 

is. Take it or leave it.’If we get rid of pull tabs 

you lose enough votes in the House that it will not 

pass.” Lytle says a cap of 500 to 750 pull-tab 

machines at each site might be a compromise, 

but time is running out. The General Assembly 

is scheduled to adjourn by Thursday 

night.





INTERNET BAN TO JUDICIARY 

As expected, the Crime Subcommittee of the 

House Judiciary Committee marked up H.R. 3215, 

the Combating Illegal Gambling Reform and Modernization 

Act, better known as the Goodlatte bill, 

yesterday, and reported it to the full Judiciary Committee 

on a voice vote. Although changes were 

made in the bill, the exclusion of activities allowed 

under the Interstate Horseracing Act remained intact 

in the version passed, but it is still too early 

for any celebration. Frank Fahrenkopf, the president 

of the American Gaming Association representing 

Las Vegas casinos, sent a three-page, 

single spaced “Dear Bob” letter to Goodlatte, 

whining about horse racing’s exemptions among 

other aspects of the bill, and is pulling out all of 

casino gambling’s clout in an attempt to have 

changes made in Judiciary. 

INDIANA VLTS STILL IN FLUX 

Members of the Indiana legislative conference 

committee were expected to present a proposal 

today that would scrap the state’s existing casinotax 

structure and replace it with a sliding scale formula 

that would provide higher taxes for higher 

performing riverboats. The Associated Press reports 

that the proposal would likely remove the 

existing $3 per person admission tax which is the 

source of racetrack subsidies, and replace it with 

a wagering tax higher than the present 20% that 

would be based on gross profits, but the situation 

is changing hourly. The tracks, the AP reports, 

would receive up to 1,400 electronic pull-tab slot 

machines each, and could then decide for themselves 

how to distribute those machines between 

the track and two off-track betting parlors. The 

committee has only until tomorrow, when the General 

Assembly is scheduled to adjourn, to draft a 

mutually acceptable agreement, although 

there has been some talk of a special session. 


A CAUTIONARY TALE 

When Pompano Park lost its entire Saturday card 

last weekend because of a blown transformer, it 

sounded bells of alarm that have been heard at 

other tracks around the country from time to time, 

mostly too late. Pompano’s trouble began when 

track electricians, trying to correct a lighting problem 

in one section of the track, shut down all track 

lights and then turned them back on, and a transformer 

blew. It was only the third time in 39 years 

that Pompano had to cancel racing because of lighting 

problems, but it has happened at other tracks 

with costly results as well. While checking the 

condition of transformers, new or old, can be a difficult 

assignment, and adding or replacing them is 

an expensive one, it seems prudent that at the 

least tracks might consider an expert evaluation 

of their lighting situations, concerning backups, 

alternate plans, circuitry, whatever. 

On a happier note, Pompano is hosting a celebrity 

race called “A Dave at the Races,” with noted 

nationally syndicated Pulitzer Prize winning columnist 

Dave Barry driving one of Pompano’s miniature 

horses in a race that will benefit Barry’s 

Debbie Institute. That enterprise, a part of the 

University of Miami’s Department of Pediatrics, 

helps young children with special needs. The 

Florida Amateur Driving Club is donating a $4,000 

purse, which will go to the Debbie Institute in the 

name of the winning driver, and Barry will drive 

along with Lesley Milne, a channel 6 news and 

weather reporter; Footy from the Y100 FM Morning 

Show; Greg Cole, sports columnist for the Miami 

Herald; and the Ibis Mascot from the University 

of Miami. The race will take place, at 100 

yards, Saturday night, March 23, at 8:30 p.m., following 

an hour of miniature horse cart rides for 

children. The Debbie Institute also is having a 

charity dinner at the track that evening.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor March 14, 2002 

TURBULENT TIMES IN IOWA Bills must be approved in one chamber of the legislature 

and a committee of the other this week, 

A racing morality play is unfolding in Iowa, where 

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino is under and Brent Siegrist, the Republican House speaker, 

siege from business leaders and politicians. When says he does not think that will happen, “because 

gaming legislation was passed and saved Prairie we don’t want to engage in a full-fledged gambling 

Meadows from extinction, retiring some $95 million 

in debt in less than two years, the intent was negotiating with the Racing Association of Cen- 

debate.” The horsemen, meanwhile, have been 

to save the racing industry in Iowa and all of its tral Iowa, which holds the license at Prairie Meadows, 

and the two sides are discussing one scenario 

agricultural ramifications. Now, however, those 

who hailed the success at the time now are calling that would cut purses from this year’s $20 million 

it lavish, and want the money themselves for other to between $13 million and $14 million. Commenting 

on the current crisis, Iowa’s HBPA vice presi- 

civic purposes. They no longer care about horse 

racing -- as many anti-slots foes have predicted dent, Leroy Gressman, said, “What people forget 

would happen -- and, as the Des Moines Register is there would be no slots, no $43.7 million a year 

said editorially on Sunday, “Given the continuing in state tax or $28 million a year for Polk County 

decline of the racing industry, and the current image 

of Prairie Meadows, the safe money would be men made the difference in getting the original bill 

last year if it weren’t for the horsemen. The horse- 

on voters telling the horses it’s time for the glue passed to introduce slots at Prairie Meadows and 

factory.” The newspaper editorial also said, “Unfortunately, 

while the slots have been wildly popu- 

of Iowans have invested millions of dollars to build 

bailed the county out of debt. Now that hundreds 

lar, interest in horse racing continued to decline. up the Iowa horse-racing industry, Greater Des 

The sport of kings is about as viable as most monarchies 

around the world....While it would be a bitment 

group) wants to take it all away.” One sar- 

Moines Partnership (the city’s economic developter 

acknowledgment of failure for Iowa to quit horse castic pol, state senator Steve Hansen of Sioux 

racing, that may be inevitable if it comes down to City, ignoring racing’s economic and agricultural 

a choice between horses and other pressing needs impact in Iowa, called the purses “welfare for 

in Iowa.” And perhaps its most damning indictment 

said: “The horsemen have done themselves Racing Association of Central Iowa gave itself two 

horses.” In other developments in the mess, the 

no favor by refusing, until very recently, to consider 

cuts in purses. They may well have invited fer to purchase the track and its property from 

weeks to decide if it can put together a viable of- 

their own doom.” The paper suggests the proper Polk county. The track’s board voted 10-0, with 

approach is a public referendum in November as three absentees, to explore that possibility. Consultants 

hired by Polk county said the county would 

to how the gambling revenue is spent. Yesterday’s 

Register says a proposal to replace the 13-member 

Racing Association of Central Iowa with a pub- 

value the operation and property at $68 million to 

be better off leasing the track than selling it. They 

lic board of directors, and allow separate referenda 

on continuing slots and horse racing at Prai- 

suggest that rental of $19 to $22 million a year 

$90 million, depending on purse schedules, and 

rie Meadows, is unlikely, quoting the House would be reasonable. Track president Bob 

Speaker as saying that proposal will not Farinella said if the valuation is accurate, anything 

be approved by the legislature this year. 

over $9 million a year in rent “really is pure 

gravy.”




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor March 15, 2002 

INDY POLITICS KILL SLOTS BUT KY SLOTS STILL ALIVE 

Hoosier Park, caught in the middle of a bitter political 

party fight between the Indiana legislature chief sponsor of a slots-for-tracks bill there, Demo- 

Kentucky faces budgetary problems too, and the 

and the state’s governor, lost its pull-tab slots this cratic representative and majority caucus leader 

morning, when the legislature virtually abdicated Jim Callahan, says he has seen increasing support 

this week in both House and Senate for his 

its responsibilities and adjourned without doing 

anything to close the state’s expected $1.3 billion legislation. The House Majority Floor Leader and 

shortfall. A furious governor Frank O’Bannon was, a colleague proposed a bill this week that would 

according to the Indianapolis Star, “left pounding finance prescription drugs for senior citizens with 

his fist in frustration on a table in his statehouse slot revenues, and Callahan said that as far as 

office” as he faced the only options left: deeper specific projects that could benefit from slots revenue 

are concerned, “Anything is on the table -- 

budget cuts, including to education, and bringing 

the legislature back for a special session. “The anything legal.” The bill, which passed the House 

people of Indiana at some point are going to demand 

there will be a special session,” the gover- 

majority this week, is scheduled to return to the 

Licensing and Occupations Committee by a large 

nor said. “At the time when we needed vision, committee for technical amendments and could 

some closed their eyes. At a time when we needed reach the full House for a vote by midweek next 

leadership, some turned their backs. At a time week, or sooner. In its present form, the bill would 

when we needed courage, some chose to do nothing.” 

of profits, with purses getting from 10 to 12.7% 

give tracks somewhere between 43.28% and 62% 

and the state getting the balance. 

The Star said legislative leaders warned that no 

legislation expanding gambling would get a final 

vote unless proposed tax and budget bills passed 

first. When the legislature turned its back on 

those, House bill 1332, which contained the provisions 

for pull-tabs, went down with the tax and budget 

legislation. There was the usual name calling 

from both sides of the political aisle, with Republicans 

blaming Democrats, Democrats blaming 

Republicans, some blaming the governor, and one 

Republican legislator, Michael Murphy of Indianapolis, 

blaming the public “because there was 

no groundswell from the average taxpayer for tax 

increases, and we report to them.” Regardless 

who is to blame, there will be no pull-tabs at the 

moment for Hoosier Park or the embryonic Indianapolis 

Downs when it arrives on the scene next 

fall. One Democratic senator, Vi Simpson 

of Bloomington, called last night’s events 

“a shame...a lost opportunity, and for 

what? Political posturing.” 

BREAK FOR YEARLING BUYERS 

When the president signed the Economic Stimulus 

package last week, it included substantial breaks 

for buyers of yearlings. Affecting such purchases 

from Sept. 11 onward for three years, the bill provides 

new depreciation rules that allow a 30% bonus 

in the year of purchase, and possibly -- subject 

to clarification -- the current expensing deduction, 

which allows up to $24,000 of first year 

writeoff. According to the American Horse Council, 

a cumulative depreciation deduction of 47.5% 

will be available in the first year, an additional 

26.25 in year two, another 17.5% in year three, 

and the remaining 8.75% in year four, bringing 

total depreciation to 100% in four years. The new 

rules allow 37.5% of the cost of a yearling purchased 

after Sept. 11 of 2001 to be written off in 

2001, more than three times the amount allowed 

under the old rules.





SLOT HOPES DIM EVERYWHERE 

The quest for slots at tracks has taken a turn for 

the worse, with widespread adverse rulings and 

legislative action. 

In Florida, the state Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, 

ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment 

that would have asked voters to decide on 

slots at tracks failed to meet constitutional requirements 

for a single-subject issue for citizen initiatives. 

Pompano Park had joined two dog tracks in 

that quest, and raised some 180,000 out of a required 

488,722 signatures, but the entire process 

will have to start over, and the earliest that a referendum 

vote now might appear on a ballot is November 

of 2004. In another Florida development, 

state senators Ron Silver and Steve Geller, faced 

with lack of support from Gov. Jeb Bush and Senate 

and House leaders, withdrew their proposal to 

allow Florida’s 31 horse and dog tracks and jai alai 

frontons to offer video gambling. 


In Kentucky, where the slots-at-tracks issue is 

being debated hotly, Senate and House leaders say 

they see little support for the bill and little chance 

for its passage. Despite that dark view, its principal 

booster, House Democrat Jim Callahan, announced 

specifics of how the $350 million a year 

he says would be realized for the state would be 

spent. The bill would devote 40% of proceeds, or 

$140 million, to education, including teachers’ pay 

raises; 25%, or $87.5 million, to capital construction, 

including local projects and schools; 15%, or 

$52.5 million, to the state’s general fund; 7%, or 

$24.5 million, to prescription drugs for seniors; 

7%, another $24.5 million, for mental health; and 

6%, or $21 million, for environmental projects. 

Despite those projections, the Speaker of the 

House, Jody Richards, says he does not think the 

entire House will get a chance to vote on the measure. 

“Not any time in the foreseeable future,” 

Richards says. “Why bother if the Senate won’t 

take it up?” 

In Maryland, a House subcommittee voted to reject 

a bill that would have put the issue of legalizing 

slot machines before voters next fall, presumably 

killing the measure. Racing received some 

consolation, however, when the state Senate on 

Friday, against the governor’s wishes, attached 

an amendment to the Senate budget that would 

release $4.5 million languishing in a track redevelopment 

fund to purses in the state, with 70% of 

the money going to thoroughbred purses and 30%, 

or $1,350,000, to harness purses. The money had 

been accruing since July 2000 from uncashed tickets 

and an increased takeout that had been earmarked 

for track improvements. A final Senate 

vote on the budget is due today, and then must 

clear the House of Delegates. 

Also in Maryland, a bill has been 

introduced that would create two commissions, 

one thoroughbred and one 

harness. 

A Louisville Courier-Journal poll on the issue resulted 

in 56% of respondents favoring slots at the 

state’s tracks, and 79% favoring having the decision 

left to the voters, not the legislature, expressing 

among other things the confidence level of 

voters today in their elected officials. 

In Indiana, the slots issue ended last week when 

the General Assembly, after months of intense debate, 

failed to reach a compromise and let the bill 

that would have allowed pull-tab slots die a natural 

death. 

YOUBET’S RECONSTRUCTION 

With chairman and CEO Robert Fell and two other 

directors off the board, and co-CEO Ron Luniewski 

resigning and leaving the firm, co-founder David 

Marshall assumes command as chairman 

and CEO.





MORE ENRON FALLOUT 

In a move that could have serious impact on beleaguered 

Arthur Andersen, the attorney general 

of New Jersey, David Samson, yesterday moved 

to bar Atlantic City casinos from doing business 

with the accounting firm, saying the company’s federal 

indictment calls its integrity into question. “It 

is essential,” Samson said, “to maintain public 

confidence in New Jersey’s casino industry and 

its financial soundness through objective and impartial 

auditing.” The New Jersey Division of 

Gaming Enforcement’s acting director, Thomas 

Auriemma, said, “Based on the seriousness of the 

charges set forth in the federal indictment, exemption 

from licensure is no longer warranted.” 

Auriemma’s division filed a motion yesterday with 

the state Casino Control Commission seeking a 

temporary order prohibiting Atlantic City casinos 

and their parent organizations from using 

Andersen, and the matter is scheduled to be heard 

March 27. If the attorney general’s and Gaming 

Division’s efforts are successful, the question 

arises as to similar action in Las Vegas, where 

Andersen serves as outside auditor for companies 

controlling 12 Las Vegas casino properties. Bobby 

Siller, a member of the Nevada Gaming Control 

Board, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal , “It’s 

too early to tell what the impact would be here,” 

saying his board was waiting to get an explanation 

of the proposed temporary order from New Jersey 

officials. Andersen’s Vegas clients include 

MGM Mirage, Mandalay Resort Group, Harrah’s 

Entertainment, Station Casinos and Ameristar Casinos. 

TOP GEMSTAR EXEC QUITS 

Peter Boylan, co-president and co-COO of 

Gemstar-TV Guide, the parent of TVG, resigned 

yesterday as the company announced it 

will take a write-down for amortization of 

goodwill of up to $5 billion this quarter. 

Gemstar shares fell 9.1% in after-hours trading. 


THE VERNON SITUATION 

In a long “Top News” story, the Syracuse Post- 

Standard has examined the interesting situation 

developing over control of Vernon Downs. Titled 

“Scott’s track record depends on who’s telling the 

story,” the article zeroed in on Shawn Scott, the 

35-year-old wunderkind who bought Delta Downs 

for $10 million in 1999 and sold it to Boyd Gaming 

last year for $130 million, and who now is seeking 

control of Vernon. Scott has bought some 4% of 

Vernon stock, loaned the track $400,000, and is 

seeking an agreement with the track’s majority 

shareholders to gain control. The Scott story is 

fascinating. He says he went to Louisiana after 

seeing an ad for a Best Western motel that was 

for sale. He bought it and an adjoining truck stop( 

which are allowed to have 50 VLTs in Louisiana), 

bought a 65-foot houseboat and a home, and ultimately 

bought the ailing racetrack. He is handsome 

and charismatic -one colleague described him 

as “JFK-like...you put him on TV and he makes 

all the old ladies’ hearts spin” -- but there are those 

in Louisiana and Nevada who have different views. 

Complicating the picture as Vernon celebrates its 

50th anniversary, is an option held by a harness 

racing group consisting of Eric Cherry, Sandy 

Goldfarb and Steven Goldberg. Cherry and his 

partners exercised their option, but it must be approved 

by Vernon’s shareholders, and if Scott is 

able to get control he presumably could have the 

option voted down. Further, all of the applicants 

will need to gain approval of the New York State 

Racing and Wagering Board. 

TAMPA GETS KY SIGNALS 

In a move certain to have repercussions, the Kentucky 

HBPA has voted to reinstate Kentucky simulcasting 

signals to Tampa Bay Downs, long 

embroiled with its horsemen, who got colleagues 

in other states to embargo signals to the 

track. Churchill and Keeneland signals are 

included as well as Turfway Park.





NO ACTION, BUT A FORECAST 

In a committee hearing reported by the Bergen 

Record that produced no results, the future may 

have reared its head -- ugly or otherwise -- in the 

New Jersey legislature. The Assembly Tourism 

and Gaming Committee this week heard testimony 

in favor of legislation that would allow living room 

Internet betting on Atlantic City casinos. The committee 

took no action, but Assemblyman Anthony 

Impreveduto, who has been the prime mover of 

Internet casino betting in New Jersey, said, “We 

cannot be like a proverbial ostrich and stick our 

heads in the sand and say it doesn’t exist. Anyone 

can gamble. Anyone who currently gambles on the 

Internet is nuts. You don’t know the safety of the 

game. You don’t know the legitimacy of the game. 

They could be Colombian drug dealers, for all we 

know. People in New Jersey are gambling on the 

Internet and New Jersey’s not getting a penny.” 

Perhaps more significant than Impreveduto’s remarks 

were those of Thomas N. Auriemma, acting 

director of the Division of Gaming Enforcement, 

who said that since federal law is silent on 

Internet gambling and Internet gambling cannot 

feasibly be eliminated, the Attorney General’s office 

will not oppose the proposed legislation. “If 

the Legislature and the people decide to legalize 

Internet gambling in some form, we can and will 

regulate it,” Auriemma said. Gary Guear, the chairman 

of the Assembly committee that heard the proposal, 

said, “Somewhere down the line, in the future, 

we’re going to see Internet gaming here in 

the state of New Jersey.” 

FIRST TO THE MARKET” 

Underscoring the New Jersey proposal is the news 

item from Los Angeles from a company called 

Bentley Communications, which claims to have a 

“first-to-market” advantage on legal 

online wagering with “real time online 

ATM card pay-in, pay-out transactions.” 


The company says such transactions 

“can be done at any Internet connected PC 

equipped with a certified user-friendly credit card, 

ATM card and Smart card stand-alone unit like 

the Cash pad (TM).” 

$57 MILLION LEASE IN IOWA 

Prairie Meadows, hoping to settle a dispute with 

Polk county, Iowa, which owns the track, has offered 

to lease the track from the county for three 

years for $57 million, $19 million a year, including 

$2.5 million in property taxes. 

CASH TIME AT VERNON DOWNS 

Vernon Downs agreed yesterday to borrow nearly 

$9 million from Las Vegas entrepreneur Shawn 

Scott, and track president Justice Cheney says 

Vernon’s board of directors has decided to give 

three option holders -- Eric Cherry, Sandy Goldfarb 

and Steven Goldberg -- one more chance to up their 

$9 million bid. That was the word today from the 

Syracuse Post-Standard, which reported that Scott 

and his partner, Hoolae Paoa, now control more 

than a third of the shares of Mid-State Raceway, 

the parent of Vernon, and they alone can kill the 

option held by the Cherry trio. Dominic Giambona, 

a member of the Mid-State board, said he had contracted 

to sell his stock to Scott and that Scott and 

his partner “have a great business plan.” Paoa 

was quoted as saying the loan would pay off the 

track’s debt, including a $2.8 million loan due at 

the end of the month on the track’s Country Suites 

hotel. He said Vernon would not get a license from 

the New York Racing and Wagering Board if it does 

not have enough working capital, and that “if you 

lose your two most valuable assets -- your hotel 

and your racing license -- you might as well shut 

the place down.” Scott bought Delta Downs in 

Louisiana for $10 million three years ago and 

sold it to Boyd Gaming last year for $130 

million.





ANTIGUA ACTS IN COHEN CASE 

The government of Antigua in the Caribbean, working 

with high powered U.S. attorneys, is submitting 

an amicus brief asking the United States Supreme 

Court to hear the case of Jay Cohen, convicted 

in a New York federal court on conspiracy 

and violating the Interstate Wire Act of 1961. The 

brief, according to Interactive Gaming News, asks 

the Court to hear the case because of its international 

ramifications. Cohen, who operated an 

Internet betting operation in Antigua, where such 

wagering is legal, is free on bond but facing 21 

months in jail. One of his attorneys, Ian 

Gershengorn of the powerful Washington law firm 

Jenner and Block, says the interest of Antigua 

confirms his position, which is that the Cohen case 

raises issues of national and international importance. 

Although the Supreme Court asked the federal 

government for a response to the Cohen petition, 

there is no indication the Court will hear the 

case. 

A RACE TRACK IN ST. LOUIS? 

As photo finishes go, this one was won more by a 

whisker than a nose. The Missouri House this 

week approved year-round simulcasting by a 75- 

74 vote, changing its 18-year-old pari-mutuel law 

and thus opening the way to the possibility of a 

new track to be built by the Cella family that owns 

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Although 

a racing bill was approved by voters by a 60% 

majority in 1984, the legislation was so restrictive 

that no takers showed interest, and the state’s racing 

commission was disbanded in 1995. The House 

majority leader who introduced the legislation told 

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Virginia Young 

that “the only way we can have a track in the state 

of Missouri is to allow simulcasting,” and the 

Cellas now are at the half-mile pole in their 

quest for that action. Still ahead is House 

action requiring 82 votes to send the bill 

to the Senate. 


MORE ON SLOTS AND PURSES 

If you want to know anything about racing figures 

in Louisiana, you go to the state police. They control 

the numbers, and they guard them as if they 

were evidence in a murder trial. They do let the 

Gaming Control Board in on the secrets, however, 

and they told that group that in 16 days of operation 

the slots at Delta Downs generated almost $8 

million in revenue, drew more than 134,000 gamblers, 

and contributed $1.42 million to purses in 

the first two weeks since their February 13 introduction. 

Those numbers are making it sound like 

Boyd Racing, which bought Delta for $130 million 

last year from Shawn Scott, who in turn bought it 

for $10 million two years earlier, will do as well as 

Scott with their investment. Scott, meanwhile, is 

closing in on Vernon Downs, which is in position to 

get slots if the enabling legislation passed in New 

York holds up under legal challenges. 

A SLOTS NAYSAYER IN KY 

While the Kentucky legislature debates slots for 

tracks there, a major Bluegrass breeder has issued 

a strong dissent. The Lexington Herald- 

Leader ran a letter from Arthur Hancock, owner 

of Stone Farm in Bourbon, who asked “why anyone 

would connect this form of gambling to the 

beauty and splendor of Kentucky’s thoroughbred 

business, which is respected and praised throughout 

the world.” The answer, we presume, is that 

the tracks on which Kentucky’s beautiful and splendid 

thoroughbreds run, and the state’s equally 

beautiful and splendid trotters and pacers trot and 

pace, need the money to put on the races on which 

a steadily declining number of people appreciate 

the beauty and splendor of the animals. Even 

Keeneland, the heart and soul of Bluegrass racing, 

has acknowledged this, and the contribution 

to purses at Delta Downs, mentioned above, is one 

more indicator that beauty and splendor 

alone don’t cut it these days.





POMPANO IN MAJOR SIMO PACT 

Pompano Park announced this morning that it had 

reached accord with Gulfstream Park to exchange 

simulcast signals daily, starting Sunday at Pompano 

and Monday at Gulfstream, and continuing 

through the close of Gulfstream’s current season 

April 24. Dick Feinberg, Pompano’s general manager, 

called the agreement “a big win for south 

Florida horse racing fans. They can now come to 

Pompano, day or night, and bet on thoroughbreds 

or harness horses and go to Gulfstream and do 

the same.” Scott Savin, Gulfstream’s president 

and GM, called the joint simulcasting venture “productive 

for both tracks by affording horse racing 

fans the convenience of easily accessible locations 

to enjoy their favorite sport.” Pompano will simulcast 

Gulfstream races Wednesday through 

Sunday, and Gulfstream will simulcast Pompano 

and other leading harness tracks on Mondays and 

Tuesdays, its simulcast-only days, and also as part 

of its live thoroughbred racing and simulcast cards 

Wednesday through Sunday. There will be no admission 

charge at either Gulfstream or Pompano 

for the simulcast-only programs. 

A LATE WORD ON BUTE 

It’s highly questionable if trainers will pay much 

attention to it, but an Ohio State study of phenylbutazone, 

better known as Bute, reports that heavy 

use of the popular pain killer may cause more problems 

than it solves. The study, conducted by four 

vets at Ohio State’s Orthopedic Research Laboratory, 

was published in the American Journal of 

Veterinary Research and reported today in Blood- 

Horse Interactive. It shows that Bute and other 

non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, also 

known as NSAIDS, might be detrimental to joint 

cartilage regeneration in horses. In simple 

terms, drugs that suppress inflammation 

might also slow healing. 


One of the researchers, Dr. Alicia Bertone, noted 

that in past years the veterinary community used 

Bute “like it was water” in large quantities for long 

periods of time, and that the findings of the study 

should drive the industry to develop painkillers that 

do not further harm the horse’s systems. “The 

take-home message,” Dr. Bertone said, “is that 

Bute is not an innocuous drug, and horses that 

don’t need it shouldn’t be on it.” 

KY SLOTS GOING, GOING.... 

The prospects for track slots in Kentucky are not 

yet dead, but are on life support, and it may be 

shut down any moment. Democrats in the House 

want Republicans in the Senate to assure them 

they will allow a vote, and that is not about to happen, 

since the Senate president is actively working 

against the bill, according to the Louisville 

Courier-Journal. The House leaders will not force 

their members to vote on the issue without assurance 

of 20 votes in the 38-member Senate, and 

the chief sponsor of the House bill calling for slots, 

Rep. Jim Callahan, said he thought it unfair for 

the Senate president, David Williams, “to dictate 

how 37 other members can vote....he should let 

the other members of the Senate decide for themselves.” 

Alex Waldrop, president of Churchill 

Downs, said “We’re going to keep talking with legislators. 

This is too important an issue for the 

horse industry and the people of Kentucky.” Only 

nine days remain in the current session of the legislature. 

MORE HONORS FOR NIXON 

USTA president Corwin Nixon, who served as minority 

House leader in Ohio from 1978 to 1992, 

has received more honors in the Buckeye state. 

Warren county, where he was elected commissioner 

in 1947, has included Corwin on a Distinguished 

Citizens Wall located in a new administration 

building. He already has a 

bridge and nursing home named for him.





ZOFFINGER NAMED PRESIDENT 

George R. Zoffinger, Gov. James McGreevey’s 

choice as new head of the New Jersey Sports and 

Exposition Authority, was appointed president by 

the Board of Commissioners last Friday and is 

working on a plan to realize greater administrative 

efficiency and enhance revenues at the Meadowlands 

and other NJSEA facilities. Zoffinger, who 

has accomplished notable business restructuring 

during his career, called that aspect of his new post 

“the most exciting, most important period of any 

new assignment,” and said he had been spending 

time since his appointment by the governor visiting 

facilities and preparing a budget and transition 

report to the governor. 

SETBACK FOR FLORIDA VLTS 

The Florida legislature ended its session Friday 

night without approving VLTs for the state’s 31 

racetracks and jai alai frontons, but Senator Steve 

Geller says the proposal will still be on the table 

when legislators return to Tallahassee to work on 

the state budget. “Not only do we need the tax 

dollars,” Geller told the Miami Herald, “but we 

also need to keep the Florida parimutuel industry 

alive. The VLT bill is still in play.” 

A similar bill still is in play in Kentucky, but time is 

running out with only eight days left in the session 

and Senate leaders saying the bill has about as 

much chance as a $20,000 claimer in the Kentucky 

Derby. Legislative leaders in both houses are calling 

passage unlikely, and the Senate may not even 

vote on the bill. An attachment to the budget bill 

may have the best possible chance. The Lexington 

Herald-Leader thinks a referendum on the issue 

would take political pressure off legislators, 

but the bill’s principal House sponsor says he 

will deal with that only when he knows the 

bill is dead. He may not have long to wait. 


NY DEADLINE FOR TRACK VLTS 

The New York state lottery division, which will 

administer track VLTs in the Empire state, has 

given tracks until April 1 to opt in or out of the 

program. The division is ready to divvy up the 

11,400 VLT terminals among eight tracks, but only 

on the terms of the legislation, without further financial 

assistance. Under its plan, Yonkers Raceway 

will get 2,500 machines, Monticello 1,800, the 

Saratoga Equine Sports Center 1,000, Buffalo 

Raceway and Batavia Downs 750, and Vernon 

Downs 500 this year and another 600 next year. 

The 25% track cut will remain static, and tracks 

still must foot the bill for construction and security, 

and there still is a 3-year sunset provision on 

the legislation. 

While this is going on in New York, Tri-State Racetrack 

in Nitro, West Virginia got commission approval 

for another 1,000 slots, doubling its present 

allocation, to bolster the Charleston-area track as 

a tourist attraction. Tri-State says it will use slots 

revenues to finance $15 million in expansion construction, 

including a new restaurant, simulcast parlor, 

four bars and an entertainment facility with a 

stage for performers. 

$100 MILLION 5-YEAR LEASE 

The Des Moines Register reported yesterday that 

the impasse in negotiations between Prairie Meadows 

Racetrack and Casino and its landlord, Polk 

county, have produced an agreement on a $20 million 

a year, five-year contract that will give the 

county $100 million and enable it to go forward 

with bond repayments adequate to build a new $212 

million Iowa Events Center in downtown Des 

Moines. A county supervisor says “We promised 

that we would not build the Events Center on the 

backs of taxpayers. This allows us to do that.” 

The handshake agreement must be ratified by 

the county and Racing Assn. of Central 

Iowa, which holds the Prairie Meadow license, 

and the county.





MD TRACKS TO GET $$$ HELP 

Although there still is no agreement between harness 

and thoroughbred racing in Maryland, legislators 

apparently have decided the threat to the 

state’s racing is too great to withhold help to the 

tracks. The Senate moved last week, and the 

House is expected to follow suit this week, on returning 

$4.5 million to the tracks that was raised 

through increased takeout originally intended to 

finance the sale of bonds for track improvements. 

That plan never materialized. John Franzone, a 

member of the Maryland Racing Commission, told 

the Baltimore Sun, “We should have reduced the 

takeout and gotten rid of the bond fund, but it’s 

the same story: everybody couldn’t get together 

on all the aspects of a global bill.” The takeout 

increase had earmarked the first 1.5% for the 

bond fund, which will amount to some $4.5 million 

by June 30, 2003, the end of a new fiscal year in 

Maryland. Instead, the money will be returned to 

the tracks from whence it came, 70% to thoroughbred 

racing and 30% to harness racing. Governor 

Parris N. Glendening already transferred $3.7 

million of the takeout money from the bond fund 

to the state’s general fund. Joe DeFrancis of the 

Maryland Jockey Club said that in view of the 

budget crisis in the state, racing was fortunate that 

the $4.5 million would be returned to racing. Commissioner 

Franzone may have echoed the legislators’ 

fears when he noted that thoroughbred racing 

was having trouble filling races and neighboring 

Delaware Park was due to open April 27, with 

its slots and higher purses. 

ANOTHER VLT BILL IN FLAMES 

Kansas became the latest state to shoot down track 

VLT legislation, when the House Tourism Committee 

tabled, by a 9-7 vote, 

a measure that would have allowed slots 

at the state’s five pari-mutuel operations 

and one other unspecified site. 


The action brought angry accusations from Republican 

legislators against the Democratic committee 

members who killed the bill. The Democrats 

said the bill would benefit the Kansas City 

Wyandotte county area at the expense of other 

counties. The angry Republicans had a different 

view. The House speaker pro tem said, “Apparently 

they felt if they couldn’t get their way, they 

would shoot themselves in the foot.” Another 

Republican leader said the committee action 

meant there would be no slots bill passed this year, 

adding, “They threw it away for one million or one 

and a half million bucks.” 

NEVADA SAYS NO TO INTERNET 

After the state attorney general cast doubts on 

the legality of Internet gambling, saying federal 

laws still were unclear (what a surprise!) the Nevada 

Gaming Control Board ruled that the state’s 

casinos can’t legally take bets from outside the 

state. Gaming consultant Gene Christensen said, 

“Things are stopped as far as the state of Nevada 

is concerned, and I wouldn’t expect that to 

change.” MGM Mirage, which is developing an 

Internet site on the Isle of Man, said it planned to 

go forward there and would make certain it accepted 

bets only from areas where Internet wagering 

is legal. Nevada, meanwhile, is taking a 

calculated risk. It has asked the Justice Department 

to review the Nevada attorney general’s 

overview of federal laws and give it “guidance and 

clarification.” Justice notified the AG’s office that 

it “would study the matter.” The AG’s office called 

the matter “a million dollar question right now.” 

It may get an answer it doesn’t want, and it may 

find the question is a lot more than a million dollar 

matter. 

BE A TV STAR AT NORTHFIELD 

Northfield Park is inviting fans to take part in 

new TV commercials. Dress is “business 

casual” for the shoot, 7 to midnight, Saturday, 

March 30.





AS THE WORLD TURNS 

While Congress considers whether the Internet is 

here to stay, and the Christian Coalition and Southern 

Baptist Convention endorse Rep. Jim Leach’s 

bill to ban credit cards, electronic fund transfers 

and checks to pay for Internet gambling transactions, 

and Frank Fahrenkopf moans about racing 

getting breaks while his Las Vegas casinos don’t, 

England talks sense and catches up with the 

present. 

The British government is half-way home in the 

long process of regulating and legalizing Internet 

gaming, according to Interactive Gaming News. It 

appears it has a common sense leader in Culture 

Secretary Tessa Jowell, who says, “Both society 

and technology have overtaken the law, and when 

that happens the government must act. These reforms 

will significantly increase adult choice while 

making sure that those who need protection receive 

it. We are confident that the measures we 

intend to introduce will rid the industry of outdated 

restrictions and allow British companies to compete 

with off-shore based Internet operations, 

while ensuring the continued integrity of the industry 

and protecting the vulnerable. They represent 

an exciting opportunity for the British gambling 

industry to become a real competitor in the 

global gambling market.” 

HAVE TROUBLE WITH CHECKS? 

Bad ones, that is. So does the Ritz casino in London, 

big time. It tired of chasing the Syrian-born 

Fouad al-Zayat, also known as the Fat Man, whom 

it said wrote $2.9 million in bounced checks, and it 

took the rare step for a casino of going public, and 

going to court. The court froze Fouad’s assets, 

including a Boeing 727 jet and a $226,000 Rolls 

Royce. The casino said al-Zayat had visited 

the Ritz 156 times since 1999, losing 

more than $14 million. 


MGM MIRAGE REBUFFED IN CHI 

A continuing saga in Chicago is the fate of the 

embattled Rosemont Emerald casino, still standing 

as a skeleton awaiting the outcome of actions 

by the Illinois Gaming Board. The latest act in 

the long running drama is the board’s rejection of 

an offer by MGM Mirage to buy out the investment 

group that started the Rosemont project. 

MGM had offered to pay a total of $615 million 

for the casino, but the board’s administrator, Philip 

Parenti, issued a statement saying, “The board has 

rejected the current MGM proposal and is considering 

its own counterproposal, which encourages 

a process in which other candidates, including 

MGM, can participate as part of a settlement 

agreement.” Park Place Entertainment also has 

expressed interest, and the board’s rejection of 

MGM Mirage’s offer led gambling opponent Rev. 

Tom Grey to say, “The price of poker has just gone 

up.” 

JUST HOPE IT DOESN’T RAIN 

Churchill Downs has announced its ambitious security 

plans for the upcoming Kentucky Derby, 

and presumably has received celestial assurances 

that it won’t rain on Derby Day, May 4. Among 

many other things, the track will not allow umbrellas 

to be brought onto the grounds. You may get 

wet, but you won’t get hungry, if the weather 

doesn’t cooperate. You can bring box lunches and 

other food items if they are packaged in clear plastic 

bags not more than 18 inches by 18 inches, but 

no bottles or cans or thermoses. Back packs and 

duffel bags also are out, and there will be security 

sweeps of all vehicles entering the grounds. If 

you bring cell phones you’ll have to turn them on 

before entering, and vehicles parked in all lots will 

be subject to search. Concrete barricades will be 

set up 75 feet outside gates where vehicles can 

enter, and all 120,000 or 130,000 entering 

will be subject to magnetic wand searches. 

Have fun, and stay dry.





CAL NUMBERS INTERESTING 

The California Horse Racing Board meets today, 

and the board and its staff, headed by executive 

director Roy Wood, are to be congratulated for 

listing agenda items and reports on its Web site, 

www.chrb.ca.gov. 

Most interesting currently is a staff analysis on 

telephone betting being reported to the board members 

at today’s meeting. While Advanced Deposit 

Wagering, as it is called in California, is new, the 

initial report shows it impacting racing in the state 

far less than some had anticipated. From January 

25 thru March 17 it has accounted for only 3.46%, 

or $13,096,879 of the $376 million combined 

ontrack, offtrack and ADW betting in California 

during that time. Translated into results, telephone 

betting has produced more than $600,000 for 

purses, $50,000 for owners and breeders, $600,000 

for commissions and a total of $570,000 for the 

three hub operations. According to the report, 

“ADW does not appear to be having any significant 

impact on the California ontrack and offtrack 

handle, with total handle for 2002 and 2001 being 

essentially unchanged and total California attendance 

down fractions of a percent.” 

The report lists daily handle for the three hubs, 

TVG, Xpressbet and Youbet, and shows that 

Xpressbet, which includes Santa Anita betting opportunities, 

far outpaces its two rivals. Xpressbet 

handled $9,258,037 during the slightly less than 

two months covered, TVG handled $3,309,015, and 

Youbet, which operated during only the last half of 

the reporting period, handled $529,827. The high 

individual handle during the period was the 

$444,018 handled by Xpressbet on March 2, Santa 

Anita Handicap day, when TVG handled only 

$86,775 and Youbet $25,816. Graphs in 

the report illustrate another interesting 

development. 


In the two weekends since Santa Anita Handicap 

day, handle receded sharply from the March 2 figure, 

but was constant on both Saturdays, with a 

total of $491,699 bet thru the three hubs on Saturday, 

March 9, and $506,241 bet on Saturday, 

March 16, as opposed to the $556,609 bet on Saturday, 

March 2. Good horses and big races, it 

seems, along with the promotion and advertising 

surrounding them, make a difference. 

AROUND THE CIRCUIT 

In NEW JERSEY, the state Casino Control Commission 

voted 5-0 yesterday to force casinos and 

their parent companies to sever ties with Arthur 

Andersen by May 15. The commission said public 

confidence in Atlantic City casinos would be 

undermined if they continued to use Arthur 

Andersen for auditing purposes. 

In ILLINOIS, federal investigators served a subpoena 

on the Illinois Gaming Board, demanding 

records relating to the board’s rejection of MGM 

Mirage’s $615 million bid for the stalled Emerald 

Casino project in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont. 

In KENTUCKY, key legislators seem to be writing 

off the proposed slots-for-tracks bill. House 

Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark said the measure 

was “almost on its last legs.” House Democratic 

Floor Leader Greg Stumbo said of passage, “It’s 

not impossible, but I think it’s less likely as every 

day goes by.” Those days are numbered. There 

are only five left before adjournment April 15. 

In DELAWARE, Dover Downs Entertainment has 

opened its 232-room hotel, adjacent to its racetrack 

which seats 140,000, and its state-of-the-art 

casino. President and CEO Denis McGlynn says, 

“Now we are a real entertainment destination, as 

opposed to a day trip.”





PRAIRIE MAY DITCH HARNESS 

Harness racing at Prairie Meadows in Iowa may 

soon be a thing of the past. Jim Rasmussen, chairman 

of the Racing Association of Central Iowa 

which operates the racetrack, has told Royal 

Roland, the president of the Iowa Harness 

Horsemen’s Association, that the sport’s days are 

numbered, and that this year’s fall meeting may 

be the last. Although harness racing has a rich 

history dating back well over a century in Iowa, 

and the Des Moines Register says harness interests 

were instrumental in lobbying for the parimutuel 

bill that brought racing to Prairie Meadows, 

Rasmussen now says there is little support 

for it at the Des Moines-area track, and that the 

racing association may instead support increased 

funding for harness races at Iowa’s summer county 

fairs. Prairie Meadows currently pays $750,000 

for harness purses at the fairs, has $600,000 slated 

for this year’s 20-day fall harness meeting, and 

says it costs an additional $175,000 to $200,000 to 

convert its track from the runners to harness racing. 

If the sport is abandoned, it would mark its 

third setback at Prairie Meadows. The harness 

meet was halted after 34 days of a scheduled 53- 

day meeting during Prairie Meadows inaugural 

season of 1989 when the track ran out of money, 

and was dropped after the 1990 meeting. It returned 

to the track’s racing schedule in 1999, but 

total daily handle last year was down to $36,221. 

Thoroughbred and quarter horse dates will drop 

from 98 to around 75 days in 2003, and purses for 

those meetings will drop from $20 million to $15 

million. 

WAPLES SUES WEG 

Randy Waples, Canada’s leading harness race 

driver who was banned for a month and put on probation 

for six last December after a paddock 

incident with another driver, is suing 

Woodbine Entertainment Group for $11 

million. 


Waples claims he is being denied the opportunity 

to make a living, despite the fact that he was eligible 

to drive again at WEG tracks on February 1 

but chose not to accept conditions for a code of 

conduct following his earlier paddock outbursts. 

STRONG WORDS IN MARYLAND 

A member of the Maryland Racing Commission 

has told the Washington Post that he and at least 

three other commissioners would oppose a sale of 

the Maryland Jockey Club’s Pimlico and Laurel 

racetracks to Magna Entertainment, based on their 

operation of Gulfstream Park. Commissioner 

Terry Saxon said, “We would never approve it, I 

can tell you that. I personally would look long and 

hard after the experience at Gulfstream.” Another 

commissioner, Lou Ulman, had a more balanced 

view. He said he “would need to know what their 

objectives are, and I think Maryland should have 

year-round racing. I think some of the companies 

might have other objectives.” Magna president 

Jim McAlpine had no comment on the commissioners’ 

statements. 

MAGNA SETTLES ON RUNOFF 

Magna Entertainment’s Portland Meadows, which 

lost half of its winter meeting because of disagreements 

with the Environmental Protection Agency, 

has settled its wastewater runoff problems, at least 

temporarily. In a consent agreement in a suit filed 

by the Northwest Environmental Defense Center 

and the Columbia Riverkeeper, the track has 

agreed to divert its storm drains from the Columbia 

Slough to the city of Portland’s sewage system 

-- at a cost of $750,000 -- and pay a $100,000 fine 

to the U.S. Treasury in a civil penalty. The track 

now can race until 2005, when it will have to relocate 

or close, according to the Portland Oregonian. 

Magna already holds options on land in the area, 

but will need rezoning.





WESTERN SHOOTER PUT DOWN 

Western Shooter, the outstanding 2-year-old pacer 

of 2001, winner of $904,000 and last year’s Breeders 

Crown and Governor’s Cup and top-rated in 

this year’s Experimental Handicap of 3-year-olds, 

was euthanized Saturday evening at the Biederman 

Veterinary Clinic in Maidstone, Ontario. Owned 

by trainer Bob McIntosh, the CSX Stables of Ohio, 

Michael Koehler of Michigan and Walnut Hall Ltd. 

of Lexington, the colt was named champion juvenile 

pacer of 2001 by both Harness Tracks of 

America’s racing secretaries and the United States 

Harness Writers Association. He developed a lump 

on his neck two weeks ago and was treated at Ohio 

State University’s Veterinary Clinic. A week ago 

today he was sent home to Ontario, where his condition 

— diagnosed as toxemia — worsened. He 

was sent to the Biederman Clinic and appeared to 

improve by mid-afternoon Saturday, but he then 

suffered a relapse, and as he sank into severe distress 

in the early evening the decision was made 

to end the brilliant young pacer’s suffering, and he 

was euthanized at 7:30 p.m. His death removes 

from the scene a colt that owner-trainer McIntosh, 

who has conditioned some of the most successful 

horses in the sport, said “He goes fast easy, and 

does it easier than any I’ve ever trained.” 

RACING VS. BOATS IN IOWA 

Iowa’s discriminatory taxation of racing’s slots at 

tracks as opposed to the state’s gambling 

riverboats has reached the Iowa Supreme Court, 

which now will decide the constitutionality of the 

widely disparate rates. The Racing Association of 

Central Iowa, which operates Prairie Meadows 

Racetrack and Casino, is challenging the present 

structure under which the track’s casino revenues 

are taxed on a graduating scale that has risen 

2% a year from 20% in 1994 to 32% at 

present, and will continue to rise for two 

more years to 36% in 2004. 

April 1, 2002 

Iowa’s riverboats, meanwhile, continue to be taxed 

at a maximum rate of 20%. The rationale offered 

for the differing rates by Iowa assistant attorney 

general Jeffrey Farrell seem ludicrous. He argues 

that the state was trying to keep riverboats from 

leaving Iowa, which some did, and that it was not 

interested in attracting more racetracks. He also 

noted that riverboats, under the law, were required 

to have historic river themes, and the tracks are 

not. One Supreme Court judge last Friday, responding 

to Farrell’s argument about keeping riverboats 

in Iowa, asked, “If people were leaving western 

Iowa, could we tax them at a different rate than in 

central Iowa?” If having to maintain river themes 

is a valid reason for hugely disparate tax rates, 

then Prairie Meadows would seem to have an easy 

solution. Paint historic Iowa rivers on all of the 

walls. A Polk county district judge agreed with the 

state’s arguments in December, 2000, but the Supreme 

Court now will consider the matter. A decision 

is not expected to be handed down for several 

months, but if Prairie Meadows prevails Polk 

county could owe the racino a rebate of $60 million, 

Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in Council Bluffs 

could receive $49 million and Dubuque Greyhound 

Track and Casino could get $12 million in refunds. 

NEW POST FOR HARTMANN 

Joe Hartmann, veteran publicist and former general 

manager of HTA member Plainridge Racecourse, 

has been named executive director of the 

Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association. 

Past president and chairman of the board 

of the United States Harness Writers Association, 

Hartmann also has served as president of the 

North American Harness Publicists Association, 

director of communications at Pompano Park, director 

of public relations at the Red Mile, and director 

of simulcasting at the Little Brown Jug. He 

takes over his new duties a week from today.





WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY? 

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board 

is meeting at Vernon Downs today to decide on a 

2002 license for the financially embattled track. 

Track president Justice Cheney thought that the 

fact that the board had moved its meeting from 

yesterday in Albany to Vernon today was an encouraging 

sign, saying “they will get a chance to 

see how important our license is to the local 

people and the local area.” Vernon hopes to open 

its 50th season of racing May 3, but the racing 

board wants to review its financial status and 

hear details of the $8.5 million, 2-year-loan, at 

15% interest, from Las Vegas entrepreneur 

Shawn Scott, and the threatened lawsuit by the 

Eric Cherry group that exercised an option to 

buy the track for $9 million but can be voted 

down by Scott, who has gained control of almost 

40% of Vernon’s stock. 

POMPANO DEAL CHALLENGED 

Pompano Park’s agreement to exchange simulcast 

signals with Gulfstream Park, which got 

underway on Sunday, March 24 and was challenged 

by the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel 

Wagering two days later, now is under reconsideration 

following a teleconference between 

Pompano, Gulfstream and Calder officials and 

attorneys, horsemen’s reps, the Division, and the 

Bureau of Business Regulation, which oversees 

the Division. The Division contends that the exchange 

is contrary to Florida law and told the 

tracks they had exposed themselves to “potential 

disciplinary action by the state.” Lawyers 

for the tracks disagree with that interpretation, 

have a different view of the statute, and presented 

their opinions accordingly. Track officials said 

they considered the conference to have been a 

good meeting and look forward to further 

dialogue with the Division, and are continuing 

the daily simulcast exchanges pending 

further word. 


FEINBERG FLIES UNITED 

Regardless of how the cross-breed simulcasting 

discussions turn out, Pompano Park general 

manager Dick Feinberg flies on in national commercials 

for United Airlines. A United spot shows 

one of its huge airliners with “Richard Feinberg” 

painted large on the side of the fuselage. The 

commercial goes on to say that “We fly 120 (or 

whatever the number) 747s and one Richard 

Feinberg.” That should be good for a few years 

-- maybe a lifetime --of free first-class tickets to 

anywhere, Dick. Look into it. 

BAD NEWS COMES IN THREES 

The old adage hit harness racing hard in the last 

week. First came the collapse and death of Louie 

Louie Too, third ranked 3-year-old pacer in this 

year’s Experimental Handicaps, while preparing 

for a training mile for Joe Holloway last 

Wednesday at Showplace Farm in New Jersey. 

Then the top rated colt, Western Shooter, was 

euthanized in Ontario. And yesterday trainer 

Chris Marino announced that the 3-year-old 

trotting filly of 2001, Syrinx Hanover, undefeated 

in 12 starts last year, was being retired after going 

lame while training at the Red Mile in Lexington, 

Ky. She will be bred to the red hot trotting 

sire Garland Lobell. 

GOT A PROBLEM? RAISE TAKE 

California, like the rest of the country, is facing 

a major problem as insurance premiums soar. 

No official approach has been taken yet, but discussions 

at a California Horse Racing Board 

meeting last week floated the idea of softening 

the blow by -- you guessed it -- raising takeout, 

and have the constantly diminishing public that 

bets on racing underwrite the cost. The 

Thoroughred Owners of California think they will 

support the idea. One who won’t is the 

CHRB’s vice chairman Roger Licht, who 

says he opposes a hike in takeout.





VERNON TRIES AGAIN TODAY 

The New York Racing and Wagering Board, meeting 

yesterday at Vernon Downs, declined to license 

the track and tabled the matter, raising questions 

about financing including the status of Shawn Scott, 

the Las Vegas investor who has loaned Vernon 

$8.5 million to stay afloat. The track used $3.5 

million to avoid foreclosure on its Vernon Country 

Suites Hotel, where yester-days’ racing board 

meeting was held. Board chairman Mike Hoblock 

said the board had spent six months investigating 

Eric Cherry’s agreement to buy Vernon, but had 

only a week or so to check on Scott’s bid and his 

background. The board’s deputy director of audits 

and investi-gations reported yesterday that 

during that brief time he found “regulatory compliance 

issues” involving Scott in other states. In 

response, Scott said he would relinquish any control 

over the Mid-State Raceway board, which 

operates Vernon Downs, and over Vernon president 

Justice Cheney, while the board was checking 

his own credentials. Cheney said the 15% 

annual interest Scott is charging for his loan was 

not out of line with other loans Vernon has taken 

out in recent years, and the Associated Press reported 

the track carried seven mortgages. Racing 

board executive director asked Cheney about 

Vernon’s future financial viability if it received an 

interim license, and Cheney replied, “I don’t have 

an answer for you.” Former HTA and Maryland 

Jockey Club executive Jim Mango, now a Mid- 

State Board member representing Eric Cherry, said 

Cherry was willing to risk his investment with other 

shareholders, but that Scott had little personal risk 

if the track fails. Also representing Cherry yesterday 

was Morty Finder, a longtime figure in the 

sport, who said Mid-State’s action raised “an 

aroma of double-dealing” that might require court 

action. Racing board chairman Hoblock 

said the board would consider the application 

again today. 


NEXT WORD FROM BUFFY 

Taking a light touch, this is how the Lexington 

Herald-Leader’s Janet Patton sized up the struggle 

for VLTs for tracks in Kentucky today, under a 

headline reading, “Slots bill is dead, or maybe it 

isn’t. Patton is noncommittal.” 

Ms. Patton’s story read, “The slots bill is 

dead....unless it gets sucked into the budget freefor-all. 

Otherwise, the slots bill is dead.....unless 

the budget bickering blossoms into a special legislative 

session. But otherwise, the slots bill really 

is dead....unless the governor calls a special 

session just for slots. For now, until we hear from 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the slots bill is slumbering 

in a dead-end committee with a Senate stake 

in its mechanical-fruit heart.......An April Fool’s Day 

joke pretended to spring the controversial bill for 

a vote, but later on Monday night, House Bill 768 

was quietly buried in the Appropriations and Revenue 

committee.” 

Proponents, including the House bill’s sponsor, 

Rep. Jim Callahan, the Majority Caucus chairman, 

promised they would be back. Callahan said if there 

were no agreement on the state budget and a special 

session is called, he will ask Gov. Paul Patton 

to consider putting slots on the table. Patton was 

non-committal about doing so if he calls a special 

session on the budget, saying, “Slots have not 

been our agenda, and we never proposed a budget 

based on slots.” And if that were not negative 

enough, House Speaker pro tem Larry Clark, a 

strong supporter of the bill, said, “I think it’s probably 

at the funeral home right now.” 

In Arizona, Gov. Jane Hull said the state’s horse 

and dog tracks were lying and distorting facts on 

her plan to continue Indian casino operations. She 

told legislators tracks were “playing fast 

and loose with the truth” in radio and newspaper 

ads they ran opposing her plan.





RACING WAITS ON EMERALD 

And it may be a long wait. The Emerald Casino, 

whose gaunt steel skeleton holds high promise for 

Illinois racing at some distant date, is in more deep 

controversy. Kevin Flynn, who says he and his 

relatives have put nearly $40 million into the illfated 

casino, now says he will fight to prevent anyone 

else from gaining rights to the project until his 

family is assured of “a fair return” on its investment. 

Flynn did not tell the Chicago Tribune what 

a “fair return” would be, but the newspaper reports 

that had the Illinois Gaming Board approved 

a sale of the Emerald license to MGM Mirage, 

which it did not, the Flynn family would have received 

some $240 million. Fair enough. 

Flynn says that “if we can’t find a middle ground, 

we will have to work to vindicate ourselves and 

our reputations in a court of law.” The Gaming 

Board last year found Flynn and his father Donald, 

a former Waste Management executive, unsuitable 

for a casino license, saying they had lied to 

regulators and sold shares to mob-related figures. 

A spokesman for a minority investor group that 

includes the widow of Chicago Bears hero Walter 

Payton told the Tribune the Flynns “are trying to 

milk every dime out of a deal they frankly don’t 

have any right to. To be standing at the rail demanding 

profit is just audacious.” 

In another Emerald development, in which Donald 

Stephens, the mayor of suburban Rosemont where 

the casino is located, is trying to have a cap placed 

on the size of the subsidy that would go to tracks 

from the casino’s revenues. The Illinois House 

Republican leader told Stephens he would not support 

a reduction. A bill doing just that passed a 

House committee yesterday, however, on a party 

line vote, and Democrats also control the 

full House, where it may be voted on today 

or tomorrow. 


Stephens, who never objected to the track share 

until recently, now calls the law as currently written 

“a rip-off for the horse-racing industry.” 

Other Illinois Gaming Board developments also 

are making news in Chicago. Three days after 

retiring from the board, its deputy administrator 

signed on as executive director of the Illinois Casino 

Gaming Association. A board spokesman said 

the board found no conflict of interest, but public 

watchdog organizations are enraged. 

AND WHILE ROME BURNS 

The Nebraska attorney general plans to ask the 

state Supreme Court to decide whether betting on 

horses by telephone violates the state’s constitution. 

Citing a law passed 68 years ago that specifies 

that betting is limited “to wagering that takes 

place inside the confines of a racetrack”, he questions 

whether account wagering, approved for several 

tracks by the state’s racing board, is legal. 

The tracks contend that courts in other states have 

held that since telephone bets are recorded at a 

track, that technically satisfies any “on-site” requirement. 

The tracks’ attorney says telephone 

betting is no different than someone making a cell 

phone call to a friend at a track and asking him to 

place a bet on their behalf. “This conduct is clearly 

legal and not in violation of any statutory of constitutional 

provisions,” he said. 

INDIANS REVISIT MONTICELLO 

A dissident faction of the St. Regis Mohawk tribe 

in New York state, not currently recognized by the 

U.S. government, now claims it has new rights under 

a recent federal court decision, and says it plans 

to revive efforts to build a casino at Monticello 

Raceway. The government recognizes three chiefs, 

who ditched a Mohawk Monticello agreement for 

one with Park Place Entertainment, as the legal 

representatives of the tribe.





D-DAY FOR ILLINOIS TRACKS? 

The Illinois House was scheduled to vote today on 

a measure that would sharply reduce racetracks’ 

shares of revenue from the Emerald Casino, currently 

in skeletal limbo in the Chicago suburb of 

Rosemont. Under original legislation tracks were 

to get a 15% share of the proposed casino’s revenues 

to modify the impact of the increased competition. 

Wednesday a House Government Administration 

committee voted 5-3 for slicing that 

to 15% of the state’s tax revenue share. Today is 

the final day for a vote in the full House, and a 

close vote is expected if one is called. 

CASINO GIVES UP TAX FIGHT 

An Indiana riverboat casino, Caesars Indiana, has 

decided after a two-year fight and adverse opinion, 

not to ask for a rehearing in its request for a 

50% reduction of its 1999 property tax assessment. 

Caesars’ argument was that it had encountered 

unexpected business reverses, and had 

pleaded “economic obsolescence”, defined as a 

loss of value from factors beyond its control. They 

cited low water levels on the Ohio river that created 

a two-week shutdown in July 1999, delays in 

building their 500-room hotel, and an accident 

between their 5,000 passenger riverboat and a 

barge. Business men and farmers told the tax review 

board they would file for similar tax breaks if 

the board granted Caesars’ request, and the board 

told Caesars, “Sorry, but no.” Caesars says it 

still thinks it is entitled to the reassessment, but 

that it has decided it isn’t worth the money, time 

and effort to appeal any further. A favorable decision 

for Caesars would have cost Harrison county, 

where the riverboat is located, $275,000. In another 

loud “No!”, the town council of Scarborough, 

Maine, banned VLTs in the business zone in which 

Scarborough Downs is located. The track 

and horsemen had argued their economic 

viability depended on the track getting the 

slots. 


CONGRESS SPEECHES ON WEB 

Transcripts of individual and panel presentations 

from the Harness Racing Congress in Las Vegas 

now are available on the public section of Harness 

Tracks of America’s Web site, 

www.harnesstracks.com, and more are being 

added daily as transcriptions are completed. Currently 

available (click on red on Web site): 

The Medication Issue: Is There Light at the End 

of the Tunnel?, with Lonny T. Powell, president 

and CEO, Racing Commissioners International, 

and Alan Foreman, chairman/CEO Thoroughbred 

Horsemen’s Association and author of a new plan 

for uniform medication. 

Living with the People Who Regulate Your Lives. 

Bennett Liebman, Albany Law School, former 

member New York Racing and Wagering Board. 

Making Money Legally Without Losing Your Sanity: 

Some Thoughts on Managing in the Racing 

Industry. Dr. Lyle Sussman, professor of management, 

School of Business, University of Louisville. 

The Realities of International Simulcasting. Tom 

Aronson, senior vice president, international, Television 

Games Network. 

Big and Small: What’s Ahead for Harness Racing 

in the Age of Giants? John R. Long, president, 

Churchill Downs Management, and executive VP 

and COO, Churchill Downs, and David Willmot, 

president/CEO, Woodbine Entertainment Group 

and immediate past president, HTA. 

Print, Radio and TV Coverage in the Age of Simulcasting, 

with journalists Bill Heller; Alan 

Kirschenbaum; Debbie Little, New York Post; Rob 

Longley, Toronto Sun; and Phil Pikelny, 

Landmark Broadcasting. 

.





SCIOTO ROAR IS MOTORCYCLES 

For the first time in its 43-year history, something 

other than trotters and pacers will race around 

Scioto Downs’ five-eighth mile track later this 

month, and you won’t have any trouble hearing 

them. The roar and rumble of 750cc motorcycles 

will be heard loud and clear, as the American Motorcycle 

Association presents the third leg of the 

AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track 

Championship at Scioto Sunday, April 21. Scioto 

general manager Ed Ryan says the track is thrilled 

to be hosting the Buckeye National, and thinks 

the event will attract not only existing flat track 

fans, but his harness racing fans as well. “The 

entire family will have fun spending a day at the 

motorcycle races, and afterwards they can go to 

the pits and meet the racers.” We wonder if Scioto 

publicist Anne Doolin will hustle this one as “Going 

to the pits”. And we think Scioto is fortunate 

in having one of the best track builders and conditioners 

in the business as its general manager: Mr. 

Ryan himself. He may have a great time Monday, 

the 22d, putting his track back together, particularly 

since the cyclists’ operations manager 

says, “It’s a fast track with 14-degree banking in 

the corners. The riders should be able to get a 

heck of a run down the straights coming off banked 

turns. It should make for great racing.” 

PLAINRIDGE, BIG M, FOR YOUTH 

Two HTA tracks are stepping up to the plate with 

solid support for one of the sport’s most valuable 

assets, the Harness Horse Youth Foundation. 

Plainridge Racecourse in Massachusetts is donating 

100% of proceeds on ticket sales for its Kentucky 

Derby Raffle to the HHYF, and the Meadowlands 

in New Jersey will be the site of an exceptional 

wine tasting event in conjunction 

with its Berry Creek final that should prove 

to be a solid winner for the HHYF. 


Thanks to the efforts of Paul Fontaine at Plainridge 

and Jonathon Newman at the Meadowlands, the 

Youth Foundation should kick off the spring-summer 

season with two winners. At Plainridge, the 

promotion gives the lucky winner of the track’s 

Kentucky Derby Raffle on Saturday, April 27, a 

$5,000 bet on the Derby. Tickets are $1 each, and 

the bet must be placed through the windows at 

Plainridge at least an hour before post for the 

Derby May 4. Fontaine, who is vice president of 

the Youth Foundation, says, “This is a no-lose 

fundraiser with a huge potential for the winner of 

the raffle. The Foundation appreciates the cooperation 

of the track and management to include us 

and, given the nature of our industry we feel there 

should be a market for the ticket sales.” 

At the Meadowlands, fundraiser organizer and 

Youth Foundation trustee Newman says of the wine 

tasting, “This event is extremely exciting. Not 

only will the finest wines be served with a paired 

dinner at the Meadowlands, but the proceeds will 

benefit the Foundation whose work is vital to harness 

racing. Wine enthusiasts should certainly 

plan to attend this rare opportunity to enjoy some 

of the very best wines in the world.” Wines will 

include those from the domaine of Chateau Lafite 

Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton 

Rothschild, Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau 

Margaux. A tax deductible contribution of $1,000 

per person will help educate young people about 

all facets of harness racing. 

ANOTHER WOODBINE WINNER 

Woodbine Entertainment’s 2002 Media Guide is 

out, and it’s another open length winner. In a slick 

and shiny black cover and 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 format, 

uses the effective back-to-back upside- down presentations 

for harness and thoroughbred racing, 

and includes a CD on stakes results in an inside 

back cover pocket.





VERNON GETS TEMP LICENSE 

The New York Racing and Wagering Board yesterday 

issued a temporary 90-day racing and simulcasting 

license to Mid-State Raceway, the parent 

of Vernon Downs, which will enable the track 

to open its season as scheduled on May 3. Although 

the racing board staff expressed concern 

about licensing pending further investigation, 

board chairman Mike Hoblock said, “I think this 

is the best we can do under the circumstances,” 

adding that the track was “about a day” from being 

closed down. The issues of concern included 

the role of investor Shawn Scott and and regulatory 

compliance issues involving him. Scott’s $8.5 

million loan enabled the track to meet outstanding 

obligations and kept it from losing its stretch turn 

hotel. 

Under the terms of the conditional license, Scott 

and his associates are prohibited from being involved, 

directly or indirectly, in the management 

or affairs of Vernon, or of directly or indirectly influencing 

its directors, officers or employees in 

any way. Failure to comply with the conditions set 

forth by the board, or derogatory information concerning 

the licsensibility of Shawn Scott, the lender 

entities or those individuals or entities associated 

with the lender’s interests would result in termination 

of the temporary licenses prior to July 6, 2002, 

their ending date. Vernon president and CEO said 

he had no complaints with the conditions, and said 

that “if Scott wants to participate with Vernon 

Downs, I’m sure he’ll cooperate in every way possible.” 

SIMULCASTING TRIAL ENDS 

Bowing to racing regulators’ view that cross-breed 

simulcasting between Pompano and 

Gulfstream Parks violated Florida law, the 

two tracks ended their experiment yesterday. 

Dick Feinberg, Pompano’s GM, said 

racing fans were the biggest losers. 


Both tracks plan to pursue the matter, seeking an 

immediate review and “judicial resolution” of the 

issue. Under the agreement, the two tracks were 

exchanging their simulcast signals, and Feinberg 

said the cross-breed simulcasting “has been enjoyed 

by hundreds of racing fans who have appreciated 

the convenience of watching and wagering 

on thoroughbred racing at Pompano.” Pompano’s 

daily simulcasts of other out-of-state thoroughbred 

action after 6 p.m. is not affected by the ban. 

SCHWARTZ CALLS FOR MERGER 

Blood-Horse Interactive reports today that the 

magazine has obtained a copy of a late February 

letter sent by New York Racing Assn. chairman 

Barry Schwartz to New York City mayor Michael 

Bloomberg, saying a merger between New York 

City OTB and NYRA “would have no downside” 

and would make New York racing able to compete 

more effectively against Magna Entertainment and 

Churchill Downs, which NYRA considers competition. 

According to Blood-Horse, Schwartz offered 

to share excess profit above base numbers equally 

with OTB, and said the idea would provide “substantial 

budget relief to the city in the near term, 

and enormous potential for long-term economic development 

over the coming decades.” Schwartz 

told the mayor that Magna, which thought it had 

bought New York City OTB under the Giuliani 

administration, and Churchill had a strategy of 

“driving a wedge between NYRA and NYCOTB”. 

He said New York was “in grave danger of losing 

out leverage in the industry,” and that merger could 

make New York “a dominant force in determining 

the price for which races are bought and sold in 

the simulcast market.” He said unions, which opposed 

the sale of NYCOTB last year, would accept 

a merger, and talked of “crafting a merger 

that will be satisfactory to all concerned.”




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor April 10, 2002 

“A DELICATE BALANCE” SLOTS FOR SCHOOLS IN MD? 

A noisy, nasty fight has developed in Arizona between 

the state’s horse and dog tracks, such as V. Mike Miller Jr., said yesterday that he believes 

The president of the Maryland Senate, Thomas 

they are, and the state’s fiery, red-haired governor, 

Jane Hull. The governor has called the track billion-dollar increase in eduction funds that was 

the state will have to legalize slots to pay for a 

operators liars, and if they lose the fight they have approved by the General Assembly without provisions 

for funding the program. Miller told the 

started, they had better stay clear of the governor’s 

office for the remainder of her term. The issue, Washington Times that he thinks tying income 

not surprisingly, is Indian gaming, and a quest for from the VLTs to educational funding will ensure 

slots at the tracks, which have gained the support their approval and enable Maryland to stay competitive 

with neighboring states. The intractable 

of the president of the state Senate, Randall 

Gnant. Gov. Hull does not want slots at tracks, opposition to slots at tracks by Gov. Parris N. 

and Gnant has introduced a bill that could give Glendening will cease to be an issue when the 

them to the tracks through a statewide referendum. 

The governor has worked out what she calls limits if Republican candidate Robert L. Ehrlich 

governor leaves office next January under term 

“a delicately balanced compromise” with 17 of the Jr. wins in November. Ehrlich, currently a U.S. 

state’s Indian tribes, and she wants the Senate to Congressman, favors legalizing slots at tracks as 

ratify it. She is infuriated at ads run by the tracks, the only way to help Maryland’s tracks and horse 

and she showed up in a rare personal appearance industry. Either way, Miller says getting slots approved 

“will be a close vote and a tough sell.” 

at a Senate Government Committee hearing to tell 

the legislators, “I think there are other ways we 

EMERALD SWEETENS THE POT 

can be spending money other than on fancy slick 

A huge state budget shortfall also is at the heart 

ads that tell lies as the tracks have been doing for 

of another gambling matter. According to the Chicago 

Sun-Times, which obtained a copy of an of- 

the past several months.” She said that if gambling 

is not confined to the Indian reservations “it 

fering letter, the owners of the half-built but stalemated 

Emerald Casino in Chicago’s suburb of 

will put gambling in our neighborhoods, because I 

think once this goes you will have slot machines in 

Rosemont have doubled the stakes in the hope of 

every Circle K or 7-11 in the state, along with the 

being able to sell the license and take a huge profit. 

tracks.” A poll conducted by the Social Research 

They have sent a letter to the Illinois Gaming 

Laboratory at Northern Arizona University showed 

Board, offering $300 million to end the stalemate 

that 51% of a 400-voter sampling favored increasing 

the number of slots at Indian reservation casi- 

created by the Board when it refused last year to 

license them because of alleged unsavory ties with 

nos, with 34% opposed. The survey also showed 

mob figures. The “them” is primarily seven members 

of the Donald Flynn family, who have invested 

that 56% of those asked were opposed to allowing 

slots beyond reservation borders, with only 

$39.5 million to date in the Emerald project, but 

37% supporting the idea. The Gnant bill would 

stand to receive some $115 million if they are allowed 

to sell the property to MGM Mirage or other 

allow tracks to operate up to 1,000 VLTs. Hundreds 

of people packed a Senate hearing room 

interested parties. Another 50 investors would 

Monday to hear the debate, and busloads 

share $150 million if the sale is approved. The 

of people showed up for both sides in the 

gaming board turned down an earlier MGM 

dispute. 

offer of more than $600 million for the casino.





AN UGLY CALIFORNIA LAWSUIT 

A California trainer has filed a lawsuit alleging 

serious charges against Capitol Racing, which operates 

year-round in Sacramento. The trainer, 

Rudy Sialana, suspended by Capitol Racing for a 

year, charges irregularities in testing for 

milkshakes, and claims that Capitol and the California 

Harness Horsemen’s Association have financial 

vested interests in some trainers’ horses. 

The suit has been filed in Sacramento County Superior 

Court, with Los Angeles lawyer Jay M. 

Coggan representing Sialana and his son Russ, 

who also trains at Cal Expo. The Sialanas claim 

that testing methods and penalties are influenced 

by the financial interest held in certain horses. Alan 

Horowitz, general manager of Capitol Racing and 

executive secretary of the horsemen’s association, 

denies that Capitol had any financial interest in 

horses racing at the track. He told the Sacramento 

Bee’s writer Debbie Arrington, “We will advance 

shipping costs to trainers who want to bring horses 

out, and we have made some loans to trainers who 

wanted to improve their stock. But we have no 

financial ties to the horses they chose or race. 

There’s no relationship between that and the racing 

program itself.” One problem is the limbo in 

which milkshaking is held in California. It is not 

specifically mentioned under banned substances, 

as it is in some other major jurisdictions, but it also 

is not on the list of allowed substances. Mike 

Marten, the racing board’s spokesman, told 

Arrington, “Our policy is that if it’s not specifically 

permitted, then it’s not allowed to be there. 

Nowhere (in state regulations) does it say anything 

about baking soda -- or several other substances. 

But the burden is on the horseman not to have it in 

the horse.” California does not test for high carbon 

dioxide, a byproduct of milkshaking, but Capitol 

Racing does, with a blood-gas analyzer. 

Coggan, Sialanas’ lawyer, contends the 

persons doing the testing are “immediately 


taintedbecause they are connected financially to 

the parties they are regulating.” He says the 

Sialanas, father and son, want blood-gas testing 

eliminated entirely, or else administered by the 

state as part of its regulatory scheme. “If the state 

believes there’s a need to regulate soda, then they 

should take it on.” 

KILL IT? NAH, STUDY IT 

It’s a technique as old as legislatures themselves, 

of course, and the Rhode Island House pulled it 

out of mothballs again this week in the Case of 

the Narragansetts. That tribe, backed by their 

Las Vegas friends, Boyd Gaming, wants to build a 

Vegas style casino in West Warwick. The town 

wants the legislature to put the matter on the ballot. 

Ah, but another Nevada presence, Harrah’s 

Entertainment, also is involved in Rhode Island, 

and according to the Providence Journal-Bulletin, 

their executives and lawyers and lobbyists 

“helped to pitch and sell” the idea of a study. The 

House Finance Chairman, Gordon D. Fox, welcomed 

the study, saying, “You rush to judgment, 

you often get burnt.” West Warwick’s representative, 

Timothy Williamson, countered, saying, 

“Let’s not do the same song and dance, year after 

year after year about casino gaming. We are either 

going to give it to them, like we did in 1994 

(when a casino referendum failed), or not.” Fox 

replied, “When the stakes are high, there’s mischief 

that goes on.” Williamson laughed loudly at 

that, and so do we. Mischief when the stakes are 

high? Surely you jest, Mr. Fox. But Fox prevailed, 

easily. On a vote of 77 to 12, the House ducked 

the issue and voted for a Special House Commission 

to Study Gaming, sort of like the federal one 

that wasted zillions of dollars and went nowhere a 

few years ago. This one, however, has served its 

purpose already. There will be no referendum next 

November. No legislative committee could possibly 

study anything in seven months.





CLEVER, THESE KANSANS 

Slots for tracks is an issue in Kansas, as it is in 

most places with racing. The Woodlands is located 

in Kansas City, and it would like to have slots. So 

far, the legislature has not agreed. The governor, 

however, has agreed to support slots at tracks, and 

he has leaped into the battle in full armor after the 

Senate minority leader came up with a new approach 

to the issue. The senator, Anthony Hensley, 

a Topeka Democrat, has put forward an idea that 

avoids the difficult legislative problem of how to 

split the spoils. He proposed to the Senate Federal 

and State Affairs committee, and the committee 

agreed to introduce the measure, a plan 

whereby residents of any county with a track could 

petition for a vote on whether to create a commission 

to draft a plan to legalize slots in that county. 

Or county commissioners could order an election 

on their own. If voters agreed to create a commission, 

its seven members would be appointed by 

the governor. 

While Senators seem to like the idea, the House 

has been unyielding on the issue. Its Tourism committee 

was to meet earlier this week and send a 

new slots for tracks bill to the House floor for debate, 

but opponents refused to attend the session 

and without a quorum the panel was forced to adjourn. 

The Tourism committee had endorsed a 

slots bill, but the House rejected it. The chairwoman 

of the committee called the latest ploy “a 

boycott.” 

The governor, Bill Graves, likes the Hensley proposal. 

According to the Kansas City Star, he wants 

action on it, and he wants it quickly. The paper 

reported that a leading Republican backer of the 

slots for tracks bill told it that the governor had 

spoken to him and to the Republican 

Speaker of the House and told both of 

them that he wanted some action on the proposal 

in 48 hours. 


FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES 

Michael Strauss is a former sports writer for the 

New York Times, who retired to Florida and -- unable 

or unwilling to sit around idle -- became the 

sports editor of the Palm Beach Daily News. 

Strauss covered harness racing for the Times during 

the heyday of the sport in New York, and when 

The Society of the Four Arts unveiled an exhibit 

of 33 Currier & Ives lithographs Strauss knew what 

to do. He joined forces with Lou Barasch, former 

public relations director at Roosevelt Raceway and 

a consultant for Yonkers Raceway, who is another 

Florida retiree, and swung into action. Barasch’s 

wife, Grace -- better known in the sport as Bunny 

-- volunteered to give a gallery talk, and the curator 

of the Four Arts program, Nancy Mato, enthusiastically 

agreed. Thirty-three Currier & Ives 

trotting prints were provided by the Harness Racing 

Museum in Goshen, NY, and Mrs. Barasch 

gave a presentation called The Story of Harness 

Racing. Despite heavy rain, an overflow turned 

out, and the gallery was forced to add extra seating. 

To add to the success, the Daily News devoted 

the entire front page of its Arts section to a 

full color spread on the exhibition, headlined “The 

Charm of the Sporting Life,” with four large Currier 

& Ives prints displayed along with half a page 

of text. A wonderful job by all concerned, and a 

wonderful score. 

BIG BOOK SALE IN GOSHEN 

The Harness Racing Museum in Goshen, NY, is 

launching a used book sale that will enable the 

museum to rebind and repair the treasures of harness 

literature now in its library stacks. To finance 

that project, the museum is accepting used books 

on harness racing, which will be sold or -- if the 

museum doesn’t already have a copy -- will be 

added to its library. It’s a chance to get rid of old 

harness books, and help preserve our history 

at the same time. Call the Museum 845- 

294-6330 for details.





AZ. SLOTS IMPACT QUESTIONED 

Arizona’s racetracks would have to operate 13,000 

to 25,000 slot machines to raise the millions of 

dollars they say they can supply to the state’s budget, 

according to an analysis done for the state’s 

Dept. of Gaming. Senate President Randall Gnant 

has proposed legislation that would allow the tracks 

to operate up to 6,000 slots. Gnant estimated that 

the state would reap $200 million a year if the 

tracks operate slot machines and pay 30 percent 

of their proceeds to the state. But the racetrack 

slots permitted under Gnant’s bill, which is scheduled 

for a hearing today in the legislature, would 

raise only $123 million, according to an analysis 

done by the Howard Consulting Group of Reno. 

To raise $200 million, the racetracks would need 

13,000 slot machines, said Bill Eadington, an economics 

professor at the University of Nevada Reno 

and a principal of the Howard Consulting Group. 

He said it takes more machines to raise a disproportionately 

smaller amount of money because the 

market becomes saturated as more machines are 

added. Eadington’s argument also took into account 

the likelihood that Arizona’s Indian tribes 

would reject the gaming compact contained in 

Gnant’s bill. Gnant is counting on the tribes to pay 

up 12 percent of the revenue from their slot machines 

to the state, for a total of $100 million a 

year. David LaSarte, executive director of the Arizona 

Indian Gaming Association, told the Associated 

Press that Gnant’s proposal is unacceptable 

to the tribes because it would ask voters to impose 

limits on tribal gaming without negotiations. 

If the tribes aren’t part of the plan, Eadington estimates 

the racetracks would need 25,000 slot machines 

to raise $300 million. Eadington was asked 

for an analysis of Gnant’s bill after he was hired 

by the Dept. of Gaming to analyze the compact 

Gov. Jane Hull reached with Arizona’s Indian 

gaming tribes. 


HOOSIER OPENS WITH A CROWD 

The second largest opening night crowd for harness 

racing turned out to help kick off the ninth 

season of harness racing at HTA member Hoosier 

Park last Saturday. With a total of 6,398 in attendance, 

the opening night crowd for the 2002 season 

ranks eighth on the all-time attendance list at 

the track for either standardbred or thoroughbred 

racing. The total also surpassed both signature 

events during the 2001 season, beating out the 

attendance for the Dan Patch Invitational during 

the harness meeting and the Indiana Derby during 

the thoroughbred meet. “I couldn’t be more 

pleased with the evening,” said Rick Moore, Hoosier 

Park’s president and general manager. “All 

of our employees made sure that everyone had a 

great evening. It’s nice to see our employees buy 

into what we are trying to do this year. We have 

challenged them to ‘raise the bar’ and everyone 

reacted. Everyone did his or her job. It is always 

a group effort. It’s never one person here at Hoosier 

Park.” 

APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE!!! 

Applications for Harness Tracks of America scholarships 

for the 2002-2003 academic year are now 

available. This year, the scholarship fund will offer 

six $7,500 scholarships to deserving students. 

Scholarships are awarded for one year and are 

based on academic merit, financial need and active 

harness racing involvement. For information 

on the HTA scholarship program or to download 

and print an application, visit 

www.harnesstracks.com and follow the link marked 

“Scholarships.” Information can also be obtained 

by calling the HTA offices at 520-529-2525. The 

deadline for applications is June 15, 2002. The 

HTA scholarship program, begun in 1973, has made 

121 grants to 91 worthy students since its inception, 

with scholarships totaling $280,000.





UNITED TOTE’S FULLER TO RETIRE 

Don Fuller, president and chief executive officer 

of United Tote, announced his retirement effective 

August 1, 2002, after 37 years in the parimutuel 

industry. Fuller began his totalisator career 

at Charles Town Race Course as data processing 

manager in 1965. After several years, he 

joined AmTote, where he rose to the position of 

executive vice president of sales and service. 

Fuller left AmTote in 1994 and shortly thereafter 

joined United Tote as senior vice president. In 

1997 he was promoted to chief operating officer; 

Fuller added the title of president in 1999 and in 

2000 became the company’s president and CEO. 

“I want to thank my many friends and colleagues 

who have made my totalisator career very pleasant 

and enjoyable,” Fuller said in a statement released 

by United Tote. “I know that I will miss my 

friends and fellow employees as I wind down my 

career, but it is time to move on and enjoy my home 

with my wife Susie and my grandson Ridge. To 

my fellow employees and my many good friends in 

the industry, I wish the best. If I can ever be of 

help, please call.” Succeeding Fuller will be Joe 

Tracy, who has been named managing director of 

United Tote as of August 1, 2002. Tracy has over 

20 years experience managing system installations, 

service and marketing programs in the gaming 

industry. Most recently, Tracy managed the 

Maryland Lottery account for Automated Wagering 

International, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary 

of International Game Technology. 

NEW PRES. AT GEMSTAR-TV GUIDE 

Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., parent company 

of Television Games Network (TVG) on 

Monday named Fox Cable Networks group president 

and chief executive Jess Shell as its copresident 

and chief operating officer. The 

move comes as Gemstar tries to counter 

a wave of bad news that has cut its stock price 

in half. Shell’s appointment comes less than 


a month after Peter Boylan resigned as Gemstar 

co-president and the company’s stock started its 

slide from the low $20s to less than $10. In the 

first quarter of 2000 the stock reached a peak price 

of over $90 per share. 

CHURCHILL NAMES AUDITOR 

Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has named 

Brian S. Johnson director of internal audit for the 

Louisville, Kentucky-based racing company. 

Johnson will report directly to CDI President and 

CEO Tom Meeker and to the audit committee of 

the company’s board of directors. According to a 

CDI press release, in his newly created position, 

Johnson will analyze the effectiveness of various 

company-wide financial, operational and compliance 

practices, provide risk assessment, and identify 

issues and potential improvements related to 

these practices. Johnson is a CPA and previously 

served as an audit manager for Pricewaterhouse 

Coopers LLP, where he headed the audit team that 

regularly reviews financial reports for CDI and its 

racing facilities. “Churchill Downs Incorporated 

has experienced exponential growth over the past 

decade, and as we work to integrate six racing 

properties and nine off-track betting facilities under 

a common brand, it’s vital to continually examine 

our across-the-board business practices and 

look for ways to improve them,” said Meeker. 

“The creation of an internal audit position demonstrates 

our commitment to fiscally prudent management 

and delivering value to our shareholders.” 

MAGNA NETS $143 MILLION 

Magna Entertainment Corp. (MIEC), parent company 

of HTA member The Meadows, estimates 

the proceeds from its recently completed public 

offering of 20 million Class A voting shares 

of stock at $143 million.





REQUEST OF IMPORTANCE 

H.R. 3215, the Combating Illegal Gambling Reform 

and Modernization Act -- better known as 

the Goodlatte bill -- is now on the House Judiciary 

Committee calendar for markup, and could be 

called this week or more likely next. The bill 

amends the Wire Act, section 1084 of the criminal 

code, to clarify prohibitions that apply to all forms 

of wagering on the Internet and other interactive 

technologies, and contains an exemption for parimutuel 

racing and wagering activities allowed under 

the Interstate Horseracing Act. That exemption 

has been carefully crafted to permit racing to 

continue activities it has offered for many years, 

including the Internet to be used to disseminate 

information about racing and wagering and to continue 

interstate simulcasting and account wagering 

between states that permit such activities. The 

bill does not expand this wagering or override any 

state requirements or prohibitions on this already 

existing activity. 


Members of the House Judiciary Committee and 

their districts from states in which HTA tracks are 

located: 

FLORIDA -- Ric Keller (R), 8th, Robert I. Wexler 

(D), 19th. 

ILLINOIS -- Henry Hyde (R), 6th 

INDIANA -- John N. Hostettler (R), 8th, Mike 

Pence (R), 2d 

MASSACHUSETTS -- William Delahunt (D) 10th, 

Barney Frank (D) 4th, Marty Meehan (D) 5th 

MICHIGAN -- John Conyers Jr. (D) 14th 

NEW YORK --Jerrold Nadler (D) 8th, Anthony 

David Weiner (D), 9th 

OHIO -- Steve Chabot (R) 1st 

It is vitally important that our tracks do whatever 

they can to ensure that those horse racing exemptions, 

covered in Section 1084(f) of the Goodlatte 

bill, are preserved in the House Judiciary Committee. 

HTA believes this bill will ensure the continued 

integrity of racing and allow the racing industry 

and the $34 billion agri-business it supports 

to remain viable and competitive. Because of the 

time element, we are asking you to fax your representatives 

on the House Judicary Committee to 

support the pari-mutuel wagering provisions in the 

Goodlatte bill, and in that hope we are enclosing 

members of the Committee from states with HTA 

tracks. We also are faxing you a suggested letter 

and rationale provided by the American Horse 

Council, and you are free to use this material in 

your appeal for support from your representatives 

on the House committee. That 

material will be on your fax machines tomorrow. 

PENNSYLVANIA - George W. Gekas (R) 17th, 

Melissa A. Hart (R) 4th 

SCORE TWO FOR AZ GOVERNOR 

Arizona’s horse and dog tracks did not fare well in 

the early rounds of their battle with Gov. Jane Hull 

on their quest for slots. The Senate Government 

Committee killed, by a 3-2 vote, an attempt to raise 

$200 million a year for the state budget by giving 

6,000 slots to the tracks, and lost again, on a 4-1 

vote in favor of a slightly revised version of the 

governor’s agreement with 17 Indian tribes to expand 

gambling at tribal casinos while prohibiting 

slots at the track. The governor’s policy adviser 

for Indian gaming, Mike Bielecki, allowed that the 

battle is far from over. “If this was the last hearing, 

instead of the first, I’d feel a lot better,” 

Bielecki said.





DOWN AND DIRTY IN ARIZONA 

The bitter battle reported here yesterday and previously 

between Jane Hull, the governor of Arizona, 

and the president of the state Senate, Randall 

Gnant, over awarding slots to the state’s thoroughbred 

and greyhound tracks took another surprising, 

and perhaps alarming, turn yesterday afternoon. 

The governor has opposed giving the tracks 

slots, saying she preferred to keep them where 

they currently are, on land of 17 Indian tribes in 

the state. Gnant sponsored a bill that would have 

continued Indian gaming but also would have put 

casino style games at the state’s racetracks. That 

bill was killed Tuesday by the Senate Government 

Committee. 

Rather than accept that defeat, Gnant -- who professes 

to oppose political maneuvers to hamstring 

legislation -- used a rarely used procedural move 

to kill the governor’s bill late yesterday by having 

the Senate Rules Committee announce that the 

bill did meet constitutional standards. The ominous 

part of the move was that the Senate’s rules 

attorney and the state attorney general both told 

the committee that it did. Gnant cast the decisive 

vote for the measure, creating a 4-4 tie which in 

Arizona is tantamount to a defeat. Democrats were 

enraged, and one of them, Herb Guenther -- the 

sponsor of the governor’s bill -- quickly rounded 

up 18 signatures on a discharge petition to force a 

vote by the full Senate. He also said, “It demonstrates 

a part-time morality. We violated one of 

our own internal policies. When that happens, I 

lose faith.” The Arizona Republic reported that 

Gnant was deluged with angry calls and e-mails, 

and in a remarkably insensitive and racially tinged 

remark he told the newspaper, “I’ve been called 

everything but a white man.” He also said, “This 

is a message to the governor that the Senate 

runs the Senate, not the governor.” Or 

perhaps Randall Gnant. 


MORE TROUBLE FOR PRAIRIE 

The troubles for Prairie Meadows Racetrack and 

Casino, which seemed over with the drafting of a 

five-year, $100 million agreement with Polk county 

three weeks ago, fell apart Tuesday when the Polk 

county Board of Supervisors voted not to ratify 

the deal. The county has been concerned about 

getting enough from the lease to pay for a new, 

$200 million Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, 

and the county supervisors decided the $20 million 

a year might not be adequate to cover payments 

on the Events Center and other projects in 

downtown Des Moines if track and casino profits 

lag. The agreement calls for $1 million a month in 

rent, plus a quarterly share of net profits that would 

total $8 million a year. Track officials could opt to 

pay less than that if business expenses exceeded 

gaming revenues. The supervisors say they will 

meet with RACI in two weeks, but the association 

says arbitration may be the next step. 

ACCORD IN NEW JERSEY 

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority 

and New Jersey horsemen’s groups have reached 

accord on resolution of date differences for 2002, 

and will announce the settlement Friday afteroon 

at 1:30 at a press conference at Monmouth Park 

in which Governor James E. McGreevey, NJSEA 

president/CEO George Zoffinger, New Jersey thoroughbred 

attorney Dennis Drazin and harness 

counsel Joel Sterns will speak. 

YOUBET AUDITOR PESSIMISTIC 

Youbet.com’s auditor, BDO Seidman, says it has 

substantial doubt about the company’s ability to 

continue as a growing concern. In Youbet.com’s 

annual report filed this week with the SEC, BDO 

cited recurring Youbet operating losses and a need 

to raise additonal funds as causes for its concerns. 

Youbet says it is confident it can improve cash 

flow.




Magna Entertainment’s CEO Jim McAlpine told 

shareholders at an annual meeting at Santa Anita 

yesterday that Magna will be looking to acquire 3 

to 5 more tracks in the next 12 to 24 months, and 

will increase its off-track betting operations from 

its present 26 to as many as 75 in the next year 

and expand telephone and Internet wagering. Boss 

Frank Stronach said his company “is in the process 

of building the largest lottery corporation in 

the world,” and that it will be actively developing 

land around its racing operations 

into entertainment and retail venues. 

In New Mexico, two major figures are bat- 


ACCORD OPENS DOORS IN NJ tling for the right to build a fifth race track in that 

A major obstacle blocking telephone account wagering 

and off-track betting in New Jersey appears owner of Hollywood Park in California and The 

sparsely populated state. R.D. Hubbard, former 

to be cleared, with Gov. James E. McGreevey Woodlands in Kansas City, and present owner of 

scheduled to make the announcement this afternoon 

at Monmouth Park that thoroughbred and Shawn Scott, former brief owner of Delta Downs, 

Ruidoso Downs, is one of them. The other is 

harness horsemen have agreed to a plan that will which he bought in 1999 for $10 million and sold in 

provide thoroughbreds with 141 days of racing this 2001 for a reported $110 million, and current suitor 

year, which is what they sought. The agreement for Vernon Downs in New York. A Scott consultant, 

Toney Anaya, yesterday suggested that the 

carries a price for the runners, however, in the form 

of lower daily purses, and the issue of thoroughbred-harness 

split of revenues from simulcasting ability” of Hubbard as an applicant for a New 

New Mexico commission should look into the “suit- 

and OTB operations remains unresolved. George Mexico license because the Indiana Gaming Commission 

is investigating activities of Pinnacle En- 

R. Zoffinger, president and CEO of the New Jersey 

and Exposition Authority, says that issue will tertainment, a gaming company in which Hubbard 

be worked out in the next 90 days, and he also is a major stockholder. Ironically, Scott currently 

announced the extra 21 days of thoroughbred racing 

will be conducted at the Meadowlands. Wagering Board as to his suitability as the poten- 

is being investigated by the New York Racing and 

Zoffinger thinks that the agreement could enable tial purchaser of Vernon Downs. 

telephone account wagering to become a reality 

by the end of this year, four years after it was approved 

in a statewide referendum. Off-track betting, 

signed into law last August, is not likely in 

2002, but could be operational next year. 

A FEEDING FRENZY IN RACING 

Everyone, it seems, wants a racetrack. Or many 

racetracks. 

In North Dakota, the state racing commission increased 

its investment in a proposed track in 

Fargo from $1 million to $2.5 million, the money 

to be used to lengthen the track by 110 yards and 

to cover higher than anticipated construction costs. 

Despite the increased supplement for Fargo, which 

outbid the Mandan Park Board for the license last 

summer, the new track still will have portable toilets, 

gravel parking lots and bleachers instead of 

a grandstand, according to the Bismarck Tribune. 

Two and a half million barely gets you a seat these 

days. 

In British Columbia, Woodbine Entertainment is 

inching closer to completing its deal to take over 

the Pacific Racing Association, operators of 

Hastings Park Racecourse. The Daily Racing 

Form’s Randy Goulding’s lead on today’s story 

about the acquisition says, “It’s a done deal. Well, 

almost a done deal.” Hastings’ GM Phil Heard 

says, “I’m still optimistic, but I’ve been that 

way all along.”





PHONE BETS BY FALL IN NJ 

That’s the hope of Bruce Garland, senior VP /racing 

of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, 

following last week’s resolution of date and 

purse disputes in the Garden State. Telephone 

account wagering will be run by the Authority, and 

Garland says the goal is to be up and running for 

the Breeders’ Cup Oct. 26, or earlier if possible. 

Off-track betting, whose future also was cleared 

by the settlement, will take a bit longer, with the 

first of a possible 15 parlors not likely to open before 

late in 2003. Garland said that projections 

for the future when all the parlors are in place -- 

perhaps as long as five to seven years down the 

road -- estimate total revenue for the sports authority 

as high as $10 million a year, offsetting ontrack 

attendance declines expected in the wake of 

the introduction of phone and OTB betting. 

Extremely encouraging in the formal announcements 

of the settlement last week at Monmouth 

Park were words from New Jersey governor James 

E. McGreevey and Sports Authority president 

George Zoffinger. McGreevey said, “We need to 

understand that racing not only has quality of life 

values, but is indeed an economic engine for the 

state of New Jersey. I, as governor, am strongly 

and irrevocably committed to making racing work 

and work well in the state of New Jersey.” 

McGreevey also called Monmouth Park “one of 

this state’s precious resources.” His remarks 

would seem to dispel earlier concerns about privatizing 

of Monmouth and the Meadowlands, the 

nation’s largest harness track. Zoffinger, who made 

the settlement of the thoroughbred-harness impasse 

a priority of his new administration and 

played a major role in it, was equally positive in 

his remarks at the press conference, noting that 

the agreement protects harness racing, 

which he called the “core business” of the 

Authority. 


Under the 3-year agreement, thoroughbreds will 

race 141 programs each year, split between 

Monmouth and the Meadowlands, but the 2003 

Meadowlands’running meet will end Nov. 8, enabling 

the track to host Breeders Crown events. 

ANOTHER WIN FOR USTA 

After more than eight years of litigation and one 

appeals court victory after another, the United 

States Trotting Association has prevailed again in 

its defense of banning bent shaft sulkies. In what 

could be the final round of court action, a Franklin 

county, Ohio, common pleas judge has granted the 

USTA’s motion for summary judgment in Nassau 

Turf Equipment vs. USTA, saying “it is clear that 

Nassau is unable to maintain a claim for tortious 

interference against defendant as defendant’s conduct 

was privileged.” 

IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 

The provincial government of Quebec has agreed 

to another six-month, $11.8 million aid package to 

supplement purses at QUEBEC’S FOUR 

TRACKS between April 1 and September 

30.....Chicago harness racing’s DAVE MAGEE 

became the fifth North American driver to win 

9,000 races, joining Herve Filion, Walter Case Jr., 

Catello Manzi and Mike Lachance in that charmed 

circle......JOHN WALZAK, a faculty member at 

the University of Arizona’s Race track Industry 

Program for the last seven years and associate 

coordinator of the program, is leaving and returning 

to Ontario, where he will become Chief Operating 

Officer of the Ontario Harness Horseman’s 

Association. He is scheduled to take over his new 

post in June and HTA, which has worked closely 

and rewardingly with John over the years, wishes 

him and his wife Susan all the best.....Fueled by 

racing and gaming revenue increases of $4.5 million, 

NORTHLAND PARK’S total revenues 

for 2001 were up $6.8 million and earnings 

increased $1.8 million.





RACING BIZARRE? NAH, WEIRD 

When a routine report on little Mount Pleasant 

Meadows in Michigan showed a monstrous per 

capita last year, racing commission officials were 

curious. What they found after investigation 

makes a wildly weird tale. After the former GM 

was unable to make a payment to the horsemen’s 

fund, auditors found a slight discrepancy in the 

track’s funds: $545,000 was missing. It turns out 

that the GM had allowed a friend who owned a bar 

in Mount Pleasant to bet on credit, and then joined 

him in the fun. If you want to find the former GM 

these days, check the state pen, where he is vacationing 

after being found guilty of two felonies 

and a misdemeanor involving violation of 

Michigan’s rules of pari-mutuel betting. But if you 

need a loan, stop in the local bar and see the owner, 

John Hunter. Mount Pleasant Meadows decided 

it wanted to get its half million back, so it filed a 

civil action against Hunter. He acknowledged that 

he owed the track $240,000 for bets he made but 

didn’t pay for four years ago, and has repaid about 

half of that since that time. The former GM, Jon 

Leuth, reached an out-of-court settlement. Then 

a court ruled the track couldn’t collect from Hunter, 

because he had made an illegal bet, and the judge 

dismissed the charges against him. So Hunter sued 

the track, saying it had violated the RICO act by 

trying to recoup money from his bets. He got a 

jury trial, and the jury found Mount Pleasant 

Downs was guilty of trying to collect on an illegal 

wager. It awarded Hunter $100,000. Mount Pleasant 

Downs is appealing. Its attorney, John Lynch, 

says it absolutely has to, since under the Racketeering 

Influence and Corrupt Organization Act 

the track could be ordered to pay triple damages. 

“You can’t let a $300,000 judgment go for a person 

who testified he took the money,” Lynch says. 

Hunter also may not have to pay the 

$125,000 he still owes. Weird world, 

racing. Think I’ll buy a bar. 


HONEY, I SHRUNK THE PAYBACK 

Strange things happen in legislatures, and Maryland 

is no exception. A few months ago it was announced 

that $4.5 million that had been set aside 

for Maryland Jockey Club improvements that 

were never made would be returned to the tracks 

for supplementing purses, since the money really 

was theirs as a result of increased takeout. 

Somehow, somewhere, someone misread the law, 

or misinterpreted it, or missed a few decimal 

points. The tracks, it turns out, will get $3 million, 

not $4.5 million, split 70% to thoroughbreds and 

30% to harness racing. Sorry about that. 

INDY DOWNS ON SCHEDULE 

Actually ahead of it, general manager Gil Short 

tells TIMES:in harness. Short says a mild winter 

and good dirt have helped immensely, and the first 

section of the roof is on the stands and the structure 

should be enclosed in the next month or so. 

Enclosure is crucial, since the track’s scheduled 

opening is December 6. Short told the magazine 

Indianapolis Downs plans to be good neighbors 

with Indiana’s existing track, Hoosier Park. He 

says horsemen will reap the benefit of an expanded 

racing season, and he thinks both tracks will benefit 

as well. “I respect Hoosier Park’s initial reluctance 

to our going forward,” Short told TIMES. 

“If I had been in their position, I’d have felt the 

same way. But now, we’ll have to work together 

for the betterment of the industry in Indiana. And 

I think we will succeed.” 

CRUNCH TIME IN OHIO 

The Ohio legislature has two months left in which 

to decide what to do about the state’s huge financial 

shortfall. The president of the state senate 

says slots at tracks have re-entered the budget 

discussion, but still face a veto from Gov. Bob 

Taft. A 50-cent a pack tax increase on cigarettes 

also is in the works.





PURSES UP, UP AT WOODBINE 

Woodbine Entertainment and the Ontario Harness 

Horse Association have announced a 3% increase 

in purses, effective the first week of May. If any 

questions remain as to what slots can do for purses, 

consider this: the latest purse increase means that 

purses have risen 100% in the last five years at 

Woodbine Entertainment’s Woodbine and Mohawk 

operations. The new boost takes the average 

purse per race at the two tracks to $22,500, and 

before the year is over WEG will have paid overnight 

purses totaling $62.5 million. Jamie Martin, 

vice president of Standardbred racing, says the 

latest increase “reflects continued strong support 

for our racing product, and an increase in operating 

hours on the slot floors of Woodbine and 

Mohawk racetracks.” 

H.R.3215 ON HOLD, IGN SAYS 

House bill 3215, better known as the Goodlatte 

bill, will be considered sometime during the next 

week or two, according to Interactive Gaming 

News. That was reported here on April 17, but 

the newsletter says the measure updating the 1961 

Wire Act to include Internet gaming will be part of 

a “rolling mark-up, which means there won’t be 

an exact schedule by which the committee will look 

at each bill slated to be marked up.” 

HOLD ON TO THAT TOTE BOARD 

Hard core horse players are not ready for high 

technology, it seems. Pimlico in Maryland, which 

has torn down a third of its tote board and replaced 

it with a 26 x 32-foot video screen called a 

Lumitron, has been ordered by the Maryland Racing 

Commission to halt demolition of the traditional 

board after “a steady stream of complaints” from 

patrons. COO Lou Raffetto told the Washington 

Post that Pimlico will consider rebuilding the 

tote board, and move the Lumitron to Laurel 

to supplement that track’s existing tote 

board. 

PLEASE TELL ME IT WASN’T ME 

Kris Johns is vice president of marketing at Hoosier 

Park, HTA’s member track in Indiana. Since 

April 13 her telephone has been buzzing with calls 

from ladies in Muncie, Indiana, hoping she can talk 

them out of suicide. Well, perhaps not quite that 

serious, but after it was announced that a lady from 

Muncie had been mailed a mutuel ticket worth 

$1.75 million and did not redeem it, the ladies of 

Muncie who had received tickets in the National 

Thoroughbred Racing Association promotion because 

they were on Hoosier’s mailing list of 60,000 

names, just had to know if it was them. Kris told 

them all she didn’t know who the winner was, and 

NTRA wasn’t saying, so it’s now on to August, 

when the booty goes up to $2 million. This has 

been going on since August of 2000, with no one 

redeeming a winning ticket, and each subsequent 

failure raising the pot by $250,000. It’s a great 

promotion. You can be sure all those ladies from 

Muncie will be at Hoosier August 3, the next drawing. 

The April 13 drawing fell on opening night of 

Hoosier’s harness meeting and produced the 

track’s second largest handle for harness, which 

will still be racing Aug. 3. Thanks, NTRA. Good 

work! 

HOLLYPARK SETTLES WITH TOC 

Hollywood Park, which opens today, won a photo 

finish with the Thoroughbred Owners of California 

yesterday, reaching accord on horsemen’s 

shares of revenue from telephone account and 

Internet wagering. Horsemen will receive 5.3% 

of bets placed by California residents on 

Hollywood’s races, 4.5% from bets by Californians 

on out-of-state races, and 1.8% on bets placed out 

of California on California races. 

CONGRESS ON HTA WEB 

All presentations from the Harness Racing 

Congress now are on HTA’s Web site, 

www.harnesstracks.com.





CHICAGO TRACKS MUST WAIT BIG M REVISES FALL DATES 

Chicago’s horseracing -- harness and thoroughbred 

-- is champing at the bit for huge dollar inpute 

in New Jersey, the Meadowlands has made 

With the settlement of the thoroughbred dates discreases 

from their share of the proposed Emerald slight revisions in its fall harness racing schedule. 

Casino in Rosemont, but it appears as if they’ll The runners now will race from Labor Day, Sept. 

have to cool out and wait a little longer. The Illinois 

Gaming Board has again rejected a buyout harness will resume on Nov. 29 and race 17 pro- 

2 until Nov. 23. Following a Thanksgiving break, 

offer for the proposed Emerald Casino in the Chicago 

suburb of Rosemont. Earlier this year MGM The Fall Final Four, season-ending championship 

grams through Dec. 28, with Christmas Day dark. 

Mirage offered to pay $615 million for the license, races for 2-year-olds of both gaits inherited from 

but the board said no dice. More recently, the Garden State Park, will be raced Dec. 7, with elimination 

races for trotting colts and fillies on Nov. 

owners of Emerald said they would pay $350 million 

to the state if they could sell the license, and 29 and for pacing colts and fillies on Nov. 30. The 

the board now has vetoed that idea. All of this has races last year carried purses ranging from 

infuriated Donald Stephens, the mayor of $340,000 to $500,000. 

Rosemont, who told the Chicago Tribune, “This 

is getting to the point of asininity.” Stephens wants HEAVY HITTERS (IN MAINE?) 

to debate the board, but it is not in the mood for 

Or somewhere. The vagaries and potential impact 

of transcontinental (or international) simul- 

debates. It seemingly does not want the casino in 

Rosemont, and although it has not said why, the 

casting were felt yesterday from Maine to California, 

when last minute bets totaling $118,000 

Tribune noted that last year, when it denied Emerald 

its license, critics argued Rosemont should 

from a United Tote hub in Lewiston, Maine, 

be rejected as a location “because of business relationships 

Stephens has had with alleged associ- 

streamed into Hollywood Park at post time and 

drove down a maiden filly’s price from 9-2 on the 

ates of organized crime.” The paper said he is a 

post time flash to 2-5 at the finish of the race. Instead 

of the $11 that winning bettors on 

former business partner of Nick S. Boscarino, who 

was indicted in January in a scam involving 

Hollywood’s opening day expected to get on the 

Rosemont village insurance, and said Stephens 

filly with the appropriate name of Global Finance, 

also wrote to a federal judge pleading for a lenient 

they wound up receiving $2.80. It turns out that 

sentence for his longtime friend Anthony Daddino, 

23 bets of $5,000 and one of $3,000 were bet from 

convicted in a mob shakedown scheme. When 

Lewiston just before post on the filly, who had run 

Daddino was released, Stephens gave him a job in 

only once before, finishing seventh in a 10-horse 

Rosemont as a building inspector, according to the 

field at Santa Anita March 27. There was only 

Tribune. Board members have denied that 

$11,461 bet on her to win at Hollywood. The 

Rosemont was the reason for the license denial, 

Lewiston bets produced a profit of $47,200 for 

and chairman Gregory Jones said “Geographically, 

it’s a terrific location for our casino, given 

someone, somewhere. 

its accessibility to O’Hare airport.” Another board 

A similar case last winter at Gulfstream created 

member, Joseph Lamendella, who cast the 

wide consternation, and Hollywood carries a note 

board’s only vote in favor of the casino, 

in its program explaining out-of-state last 

said “It’s not a bastion of organized 

minute betting flashes. 

crime....it’s a model of municipal magnificence.”





NON-SURPRISE OF THE DAY IMPORTANT BILL INTRODUCED 

Those who like to plunge on absolute 1-to-10 sure A major stumbling block to international merged 

things had another winner this week, when Magna 

Entertainment announced that it plans to re- 

introduced on April 17 is passed. Introduced by 

pools and simulcasting could be removed if a bill 

negotiate with the Thoroughbred Owners of California 

after that organization gave Hollywood Park 4474) would stipulate that residents of foreign 

Congressman Jim McCrery (R-LA), the bill (H.R. 

and TVG a better deal on share of account wagering 

revenues than it had given Santa Anita in Janu- 

merged with U.S. tracks and not be subject to the 

countries could bet on U.S. races through pools 

ary. Thoroughbred Times reported that Magna current U.S. 30% alien withholding tax after Sept. 

VP and general counsel Ed Hannah said the company 

“would be back at the negotiating table” when although some countries have treaties with the 

30, 2002. The American Horse Council notes that 

its current contract expires. The discrepancies that U.S. that suggest that gambling winnings are not 

raised Magna’s hackles were horsemen’s share subject to this 30% withholding requirement, U.S. 

of 5.3% on bets by Californians on California races track shave been concerned that they might be 

through TVG accounts as opposed to 5.88% for liable for this 30% withholding if they did not take 

Magna’s XpressBet; 4.5% on Californian’s bets it out of payments to foreigners because the treaties 

are unclear or could be changed. This con- 

on out-of-state races as opposed to 5.19% for 

Magna’s service; and 1.8% on bets through TVG cern over liability has effectively prevented the 

by out-of-state residents as opposed to between racing industry from merged wagering pools internationally, 

except for a few countries. Several ex- 

2.9% and 5.64%, for a blended rate of between 

4.5% and 5% through Magna. Both the Magna ceptions to the 30% alien withholding requirement 

XpressBet and Hollywood TVG agreements were already are on the books, and the McCreary bill 

hammered out in the heat of last minute deadlines would add exemption from foreign betting to them. 

before the two services began operations at Santa H.R. 4474 has been referred to the House Ways 

Anita and Hollywood Park, respectively. The California 

racing board’s pari-mutuel committee will 

and Means Committee. 

discuss the contracts and market access fees at a 

meeting June 5. 

CAL SETS HOUSING RULES 

In another California development, the state’s racing 

board has established minimum standards for 

employee housing and stable area sanitation facilities. 

The standards, which are temporary until 

the board develops and approves permanent rules, 

require “habitable” rooms, with adequate light and 

ventilation, and separate toilet, bath and shower 

rooms for men and women. They also cover 

health and safety measures including pest 

control, garbage collection, and smoke 

detectors. 

APRIL REPORT NOW ONLINE 

HTA’s April report to directors, containing the text 

of 13 presentations from the Harness Racing Congress 

in PDF format in one easy-to-print document, 

is posted online today. It can be accessed at 

www.harnesstracks.com/docdatabse/htamembers/ 

456.pdf. Individual presentations from the Congress 

remain available on the HTA Web site at 

www.harnesstracks.com. 

The new HTA World Racing Directory goes to the 

printer next week. If your track has made any 

recent changes that may not have been transmitted 

to us, please do so now if you would like 

them included in the new book.





SCHWEIBEL LEAVES BUFFALO 

Jerry Schweibel, general manager of Buffalo Raceway 

and the track’s HTA and USTA director for 

the last 10 years, is leaving the post, effective tomorrow. 

Jerry, an innovator and promoter, says it 

is time to move on, and his boss, Buffalo CEO 

Dennis Lang, called his departure a “mutual agreement”. 

Schweibel’s wife suffered a health scare 

last week, and Schweibel says it caused him to 

reevaluate stress and work and life in general, although 

he added that he feels he still has much to 

offer to the industry. Lang said the society’s board 

will search for a new general manager after the 

track’s current meeting ends July 27, when Batavia 

Downs will resume racing under the aegis of HTA 

associate member Western Regional OTB. 

INDIANA SLOTS BACK IN NEWS 

Yogi Berra’s old cry of “It ain’t over ’til it’s over” 

was ringing through Indianapolis yesterday, as the 

South Bend Tribune reported that expectations 

are high that when lawmakers reconvene next 

month to discuss the state’s budget crisis and tax 

structure slots, in the form of pull tabs, may jump 

back into consideration. They were passed over 

in the recent session of the legislature, but one 

legislator, Rep. Scott Pelath of Michigan City, said 

expanded gambling “is not an issue that goes away. 

In fact, it hovers over every discussion of the budget.” 

That does not mean the pull tabs will find 

adequate support, however, for Larry Borst, a key 

figure in the legislature long considered a friend 

of racing, opposes the idea, as does Gov. Frank 

O’Bannon. In fact, the Tribune says support for 

pull tabs could narrow if a broadly written bill that 

would include them were introduced, because of 

Borst’s and O’Bannon’s opposition. Borst instead 

is proposing higher taxes on casino admissions as 

the solution to the budget shortfall. They 

could help racing, depending on how such 

legislation was written. 


Indiana’s riverboat casinos, which want flexibility 

on dockside gambling, naturally oppose the Borst 

proposal, which calls for a rise from $3 to $4 on 

the riverboat casinos, and an increase on taxes on 

casino revenues from 20% to 22.5%, which he says 

will raise more than $800 million over three years. 

A lawyer and lobbyist for seven Indiana casinos, 

Phillip Bainbridge, summarized the special session 

by saying, “I’ve long given up saying this can’t 

happen unless that happens. You have to assume 

that anything can happen.” Indiana’s two tracks, 

Hoosier Park and Indianapolis Downs, currently 

under construction, will have to pin their hopes on 

Bainbridge’s assessment. 

A ‘RIDICULOUS’ OFFER BY FAX 

Shawn Scott, who bought Delta Downs for $10 

million and sold it two years later to Boyd Gaming 

for $110 million (or was it $120 million or $130 

million? Reports vary) and is trying to buy Vernon 

Downs, now has launched another track offer, this 

one by fax. Scott is trying to buy Ruidoso Downs 

in New Mexico and its Billy the Kid casino from 

veteran track operator R. D. Hubbard, without a 

phone call or personal contact, according to track 

president Bruce Rimbo. Rimbo, once publicist 

for harness racing at Los Alamitos, says Scott simply 

faxed the track saying he would buy it and the 

casino for $6 million. Rimbo called the offer “so 

ridiculous that it’s not worth responding to. It just 

appeared on our fax machine.” Scott also is bidding 

against Hubbard for the right to build still 

another track in far southeastern New Mexico. 

Scott filed an application with the New Mexico 

Racing Commission saying he would build a $30 

million racetrack and casino in the little town of 

Hobbs on the Texas border. The location might at 

first appear remote, but is less than 75 miles from 

three busy Texas cities, Lubbock, Odessa and 

Midland.





TOM WALSH JUG HONOREE 

Tom Walsh Jr., one of harness racing’s best known 

and most popular owners and one of the most generous 

contributors to the sport’s causes, has been 

named the 2002 inductee to the Little Brown Jug 

Wall of Fame. Walsh, an owner for more than 40 

years, has co-owned two Little Brown Jug winners 

in Magical Mike, the 1994 victor in harness 

racing’s best known classic for 3-year-old pacers, 

and Armbro Operative, which won the race in 1996. 

Magical Mike won $1.6 million in his racing career 

and now is a successful sire, his progeny including 

the $3.7 million winner and 2000 Horse of 

the Year Gallo Blue Chip. Armbro Operative was 

a winner of $1,012,712, and Walsh also has been 

involved in the ownership of three other $500,000 

winners — Conway Hall, Bold Dreamer and Victory 

My Way — and other top horses, most in 

partnership with his longtime friend David 

McDuffee. The pair were primarily responsible for 

funding the construction of the Little Brown Jug 

Barn at the Delaware County Fairgrounds where 

the classic is raced each September. Walsh will 

receive his traditional gold Jug ring at the Mayor’s 

Breakfast in Delaware , Ohio, on Sept. 18, the day 

before the 57th racing of the Jug. 

PICK 4 BEST BET AT BIG M 

With a 15% takeout, an average payoff of more 

than $9,000 and a $50,000 pool guarantee, the $2 

Pick 4 has become Saturday Night Live at the 

Meadowlands. Last Saturday’s $84,847 pool was 

the highest since the $50,000 guarantee was put 

in place, and for 15 Saturday nights to date the 

average pool has been $76,134. 

NEW UNIT AT CHURCHILL 

Recognizing the growth of simulcasting and its 

potential worldwide, Churchill Downs has 

formed a separate simulcasting business 

unit, Churchill Downs Simulcast Network, 

and named Churchill CFO and executive VP 

Bob Decker as president of the new venture. 


NY WOES MAY AFFECT SLOTS 

The Buffalo News reports today that the state’s 

finances have taken a sharp turn for the worse 

with the revelation of a new budget hole totaling 

up to $1.3 billion, and that Senate majority leader 

Joe Bruno and Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver 

were looking for ways to speed up introduction of 

VLTs at New York tracks. Gov. George Pataki, 

however is not counting on any money from track 

slots in 2002, and administration officials do not 

think machines will be operational before next 

spring. Bruno, however — whose word in New 

York is law — told Tom Precious of the News, 

“We’ll take a look to see if we can ramp them up 

faster.” Pataki sought to downplay gambling revenues 

as a solution to the present crisis, saying, 

“I don’t think that’s going to be a significant revenue 

factor in dealing with the budget.” 

HBPA’S MALINE “ON LEAVE” 

A conflict of interest investigation by the national 

Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association 

has led to the executive director of the 

organization’s Kentucky division, Marty Maline, 

being placed on administrative leave with pay. The 

national HBPA is looking into a company started 

by the former president of both the Kentucky di 

ision and national organization, Rick Hiles, in 

which Maline was an officer. The company, Century 

Consultants, was set up to advise racing companies 

on simulcast and legal issues, but had only 

one client, Choctaw Racing Services, a tribal company 

in Oklahoma, that pays a fee to the national 

HBPA based on handle at its off-track betting sites. 

John Griffith, Kentucky HBPA’s treasurer, resigned 

the week of April 22, when the external investigation 

began, and Don Sturgill, also an officer 

with Century Consultants, resigned two weeks ago, 

saying his resignation was triggered by work demands 

at his Lexington law firm. Hiles said 

the investigation was “blowing smoke,” and 

said he was telling HBPA “they better be 

careful.”





DOVER PREVAILS IN APPEALS CT. 

HTA member Dover Downs scored a big victory 

for racetracks everywhere yesterday when the 

decision of the United States Court of Appeals for 

the Third Circuit was announced in the case of 

Crissman v. Dover Downs Entertainment, Inc. and 

the majority found that the Crissmans had not demonstrated 

that their exclusion was state action under 

any tests or facts established by the Supreme 

Court. The case is an important one because it 

deals with the right of private racetracks with VLT 

operations to exclude licensees. The Crissmans 

asserted that the nature of the regulatory relationship 

between the State of Delaware and Dover 

Downs in both the racing operation as well as the 

video lottery operation made Dover’s decision to 

exclude impermissible “state action.” The trial 

court found in favor of Dover Downs on a motion 

for summary judgment, but on appeal, a panel of 

the court of appeals agreed with the Crissmans. 

The track asked for reconsideration by the full 

appeals court, which was granted, and that august 

body, after hearing oral arguments in November 

and receiving amicus briefs from Harness Tracks 

of America, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations 

and Delaware Park racetrack, released its opinion 

yesterday carefully analyzing the nature of the 

relationship between Dover and the state in its 

racing and VLT operations and agreeing that 

Dover’s actions were not fairly attributable to the 

state. In deciding for Dover Downs, the majority 

agreed that “the regulation and flow of funds involved” 

did not equate to state action and therefore 

“do not otherwise support a conclusion that 

the state is responsible for the Crissmans’ exclusion.” 

As yet, there is no word on whether the 

Crissmans plan to appeal the case to the Supreme 

Court. For those who are interested, the full text 

of the appeals court’s opinion is available 

in pdf format on the HTA Web site at 

www.harnesstracks.com. 

May 1, 2002 

SLOTS AN ANSWER FOR PENN? 

Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell 

believes his goal of combining tax relief with the 

legalization of slot machines at racetracks is a proposal 

that can win the approval of the state legislature, 

according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. 

In a meeting with that paper’s editorial board, 

Rendell said of the plan, “I think the votes are 

there right now. When you combine [slot machines] 

with property tax relief, it becomes an overwhelmingly 

popular issue around the commonwealth.” 

Rendell told the paper the key to getting public 

support and legislative approval for slots at tracks 

is to approach it as a “stand-alone” issue, not 

linked to riverboats or other gaming. Rendell also 

indicated that he would limit the machines to racetracks 

and not permit them at off-track betting 

parlors. “You’ll know where they are. They are at 

sites that somebody has already said are appropriate 

for gambling.” Rendell’s plan is based on 

putting 2,500 slot machines at each of 

Pennsylvania’s four racetracks, which he says 

would generate $469 million per year in revenue. 

NEV. REVISITS MONOPOLY RULES 

The casino industry has experienced substantial 

consolidation over the past few years, with several 

major companies rising up to dominate gaming 

in Las Vegas and the Silver State. Now, Nevada 

Gaming Control Board member Scott Scherer 

has drafted an amendment updating the state’s 

casino antimonopoly rules. Nevada law has included 

antimonopoly provisions for many years, 

but regulators have never used the rules to block 

a casino purchase. A major change being proposed 

would establish market-share thresholds. The current 

rules require regulators to consider the effect 

on gamblers, employees, vendors and taxpayers 

whenever an existing casino owner purchases 

an additional casino.





NEW NAME, NEW COMMITTEES 

The all-industry committee on medication issues 

that was formed at the University of Arizona 

Race Track Industry Symposium in Tucson last 

December held its second meeting yesterday, in 

Louisville, KY. Harness racing was represented 

by HTA executive vice president Stan Bergstein, 

USTA executive vice president Fred Noe, and 

Standardbred Investigative Services president 

Paul Berube. Twenty-six of the original 32 people 

who met in Tucson were present, and heard a 2- 

hour review of medications commonly used in 

racing today, and a rational and analysis of each, 

from California track practitioner Dr. Rick 

Arthur and Ohio State veterinary school professor 

Dr. Rick Sams. An intense afternoon session 

resulted in three internal committees being 

formed to move the organization forward, and a 

name change of the overall group to the Racing 

Medication and Testing Consortium. A third 

meeting will be held in July after the three committees 

have met to formulate a solid business 

plan and recommendations to regulators. 

WOODBINE BUYS HASTINGS 

Months of negotiations with the Pacific Racing 

Association, owners of Hastings Park in 

Vancouver, and with the government of British 

Columbia, ended yesterday with the announcement 

that Woodbine Entertainment Group had 

completed its acquisition of Hastings Park for $6 

million (Canadian). The announcement met with 

favorable response from Vancouver media and 

racing interests after David Willmot, president 

and CEO of Woodbine Entertainment, and 

chairman and immediate past president of HTA, 

told a turnout at the track, “We’re not a bunch 

of eastern carpetbaggers coming out to tell B.C. 

how to run its horse racing business. We 

are a not-for-profit...our core business is, 

and always will be, horse racing. And 

we believe in the health of horse racing 

throughout Canada.” 


Willmot announced Woodbine’s first management 

move would be free attendance. “That will 

be a $400,000 hit,” he said, “but we are prepared 

to take that. We are surrounded by casinos. You 

can’t charge people anymore for the privilege to 

come and bet.” As a proactive move, Willmot 

said Hastings will establish seven teletheaters in 

the Lower Mainland surrounding Vancouver to 

bring horse racing closer to customers. He said 

there was no magic wand to wave at Hastings, 

but added, “I’m one of those guys who likes to 

under-promise and over-deliver.” 

ANOTHER BIG BID IN CALGARY 

A new group headed by the former president and 

CEO of the Calgary Airport Authority has filed 

a provincial application to build a 7/8ths mile 

harness track inside a 1 mile thoroughbred track 

in Calgary. The former Airport Authority chief 

is Ernie Caron, who retired from that post last 

year, and he says he has invited Stampede Park 

to join forces in the new venture. Stampede, however, 

filed its own bid for a new Calgary track as 

the deadline for applications passed this week, 

saying they will build a new facility attached to 

its present grandstand for the 500 slots machines 

that will be given to the winner of bidding for a 

Calgary track, providing it is granted a 10-year 

license. 

PRAIRIE GETS NEW LEASE 

The term is the same -- 5 years -- and the total 

amount is the same -- $100 million -- but the conditions 

differ in a new lease for Prairie Meadows 

Racetrack and Casino agreed to unanimously by 

the Polk County, Iowa, board of supervisors. 

Under the agreement, which replaces a similar 

lease turned down by the supervisors several 

weeks ago, rent goes up from $12 million a year 

to $15.6 million, but the amount due from 

profits after reasonable capital improvements 

drops from $8 million to $4.4 million.





GOOD NEWS LOOMS IN NY 

If Tom Precious is right, there is good news for 

New York tracks hoping to take advantage of the 

recently enacted legislation that gives them VLTs. 

Precious is the veteran Albany bureau correspondent 

for the Buffalo News, who also writes for 

Blood-Horse magazine, and in both publications 

today he says state negotiators have agreed to 

provide an additional 5% of VLT revenues for 

construction and other capital costs in ramping up 

for the machines, and that the legislation itself, 

scheduled for a 3-year trial run before sunset provisions, 

will be extended to 5 years, increasing 

chances for institutional funding. Precious also 

says the negotiators from Gov. George Pataki’s 

office and the state legislature have agreed to extend 

the number of hours the VLTs can operate at 

the tracks. The original legislation specified 10 

a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to midnight 

on weekends. Precious says those hours will 

be lengthened, but with no specific agreement as 

yet on how much. Tracks have been urging 18- 

hour a day operation. 

Along with that ray of sunshine, however, came a 

cloud on the horizon. A five-judge panel of the 

appellate division of the state supreme court yesterday 

ruled that the compact between the St. 

Regis Mohawk tribe and two successive New York 

governors “is the antithesis of the highly restricted 

and ‘rigidly regulated’ forms of gambling permitted 

by the New York Constitution” and thus invalid. 

The court ruled, as others in other states 

have, that legislative approval was needed for compacts. 

The legislature can correct this by approving 

existing compacts, and yesterday’s decision 

did not deal with or affect larger issues beyond 

the specific St. Regis matter at hand. By its language, 

however, it conceivably could 

muddy legal waters enough in future cases 

to prolong the issue and possibly delay 

introduction of the VLTs at New York tracks. 


FONTAINE THE HANDICAPPER 

Paul Fontaine of Rhode Island has been many 

things in his career -- successful attorney, successful 

harness horse owner, track executive, HTA and 

USTA director -- but tomorrow afternoon he assumes 

a new role: Kentucky Derby handicapper 

for youth. It is a complex tale. 

Fontaine and his friend and associate, Gary 

Piontkowski, president of Plainridge Racecourse 

in Plainville, MA, have been strong supporters of 

the Harness Horse Youth Foundation, based in 

Carmel, Indiana. Fontaine is vice president of the 

highly worthy organization. At the Harness Racing 

Congress in Las Vegas in March, Fontaine and 

Piontkowski met with HHYF president Callie 

Davies Gooch and executive director Ellen Taylor 

to discuss future funding of the foundation. It 

was decided to have the HHYF participate in 

Plainridge’s Kentucky Derby promotion. In a 

spin-the-wheel event with local Plainville charities, 

the HHYF picked up $1,250. It also sold $1 raffle 

tickets for Plainridge with a top prize a $5,000 bet 

on the Kentucky Derby. Ms. Taylor sold the winning 

ticket to Harold Breidenbach, a harness racing 

owner in Lima, Ohio, and a trustee of the Youth 

Foundation. Breidenbach donated the ticket to 

the Foundation. Ms. Taylor, whose family has 

been in harness racing for generations, knows trotters 

and pacers inside-out, but not thoroughbreds. 

She named Fontaine as designated handicapper 

for the Foundation. So tomorrow Fontaine bets 

$6,250 on the Derby, for the kids. Careful, Paul, 

or you’ll be disbarred from future handicapping.. 

K.D. OWEN DIES AT 98 

Kenneth Dale Owen, one of harness racing’s most 

illustrious owners and breeders, has died at 98 in 

his birthplace, New Harmony, Indiana. Owen was 

a descendant of famed Welsh social reformer 

Robert Owen, who bought New Harmony 

in 1825 and created a Utopian community 

there.





CONSOLIDATION IN CHICAGO? 

The Chicago Tribune, quoting both HTA director 

Tom Carey III and Charles Bidwell III as sources, 

says consolidation of Hawthorne Race Course and 

Sportsman’s Park into one corporation could be 

as close as a month away. Bidwell told the paper, 

“We’ve kind of set deadlines for each other to have 

something more definitive in writing. I think within 

30 days we’re going to be able to show the racing 

board some real definitive stuff. We’ve worked 

out everything else as far as organization. I think 

we’re very close.” Carey also said the merger 

could come within a month, indicating that the 

problem is in economics and that “certain aspects 

need to be attended to.” The “certain aspects” 

are believed to involve Sportsman’s debt rising 

from its renovation costs in converting the track 

to an unsuccessful auto racing track several years 

ago and other potential stumbling blocks, including 

Sportsman’s right to operate off-track betting 

parlors once live racing ceases there; continuing 

real estate taxes on the track; and potential revenues 

from the Rosemont casino, when and if it 

gets built. Under the proposed agreement, all live 

racing would take place at Hawthorne, and 780 

years of thoroughbred racing at Sportsman’s Park 

would end. 

HOTEL, SHOPS AT BIG M? 

Although New Jersey governor James 

McGreevey’s office won’t discuss it, persistent 

reports are circulating that the giant Virginia developer 

Mills Corporation has submitted proposals 

to build a 300,000 square-feet convention center, 

hotel and retail shops on the site of the Continental 

Airlines Arena adjacent to the Meadowlands 

Racetrack at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition 

Authority. The most the governor’s office 

would say was that discussions are ongoing, 

and that further details would not be 

forthcoming at this time. 


NJ WIDENS BREEDING RULES 

With the stroke of his pen, New Jersey Gov. James 

McGreevey has substantially widened eligibility 

rules as to what constitutes a New Jersey-bred 

horse. McGreevey signed legislation that allows 

foals bred out of New Jersey with semen transported 

from that state to be eligible to the rich New 

Jersey Sire Stakes program, beginning with this 

year’s breeding season. “The elimination of the 

requirement that Standardbred horses be bred in 

New Jersey will bring additional vitality and competition 

to the Sire Stakes races,” McGreevey said 

on signing the bill. Until now, horses had to be 

bred in the state, but now as long as the stallion is 

registered and stands in New Jersey, conception 

using his transported semen can be foaled anywhere 

and be eligible to the Jersey races. As of 

mid-April, the U. S. Trotting Association reports 

74 mares bred out of New Jersey by semen from 

New Jersey stallions, as opposed to 6 at the same 

time last year. 

WAR EMBLEM AND ED RYAN 

Both were wire-to-wire winners over the weekend, 

but only one gets to go to Denmark as the result 

of the victory. Scioto Downs’general manager won 

the final of the World Cup of Amateur Driving 

Qualifying Tournament at Pompano, earning a trip 

as U.S. representative in the World Cup of Amateur 

Driving in Denmark in July. The other winner 

only gets to go to Baltimore. 

VARENNE AGAIN, IN NAPLES 

The world’s best trotter, American-bred, Italianowned 

Varenne, set a track record in winning Italy’s 

most prestigious race, the Grand Premio Lotteria 

in Naples. 

APOLOGIES TO MIKE 

Mike Izzo, executive director of HHI, was inadvertently 

omitted here last week in a report 

on harness racing representatives at the 

Medication Summit in Louisville.





WHERE’S PAT ROBERTSON? 

Where’s Pat when we need him? In an open letter 

in the Capitol Hill newsletter Roll Call, more than 

200 religious leaders yesterday called for President 

Bush and Congress -- and of course good old 

John Ashcroft -- to stop the growth of legalized 

gambling, which the churchmen called “a moral and 

cultural cancer. We call on members of Congress,” 

the letter said, “to place America’s citizens and 

families ahead of the false promises and hefty political 

contributions of the gambling industry, and 

to begin to address this rapidly growing menace to 

our national welfare.” The mention of gambling 

as a cancer brought to mind, at least to Tony Batt 

of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ashcroft’s use 

of the term when, as a Republican senator in 1998, 

he told a Southern Republican Leadership Conference 

in Biloxi, Mississippi, that gambling is “a 

cancer on the soul of our nation.” The White House 

replied to the open letter, through a spokesman, 

that “We are willing to work with Congress to address 

matters of importance to the American 

people.” A spokesman for James Dobson, president 

of Focus on the Family, praised the letter but 

said Dobson was not the driving force behind it. 

No word from Pat Robertson, but he did say earlier 

that he didn’t want people to bet on his 3-yearold 

thoroughbred, purchased for $520,000 under a 

stable name at the spring Keeneland 2-year-old in 

training sale a year ago. Just look at him, watch 

him run, and study his bloodlines, which is what 

Pat says he enjoys doing. 

TVG WIDENS ITS HORIZONS 

Television Games Network has entered into a 

patent license and content agreement with 

AmericaTab Ltd., which enables that service to 

make and use interactive wagering using TVG’s 

technology. The move opens betting on 

TVG partners at winticket.com, 

brisnet.com and tsnbet.com, all licensed 

by AmericaTab. 


AN EXPERIMENT AT BIG M 

In an interesting pari-mutuel experiment, runners 

and harness horses will race on a single mixed card 

at The Meadowlands. The track announced today 

that with the cooperation of its harness and 

thoroughbred horsemen, it would experiment on 

May 15 and 18 with two thoroughbred races on 

the turf at 6:35 and 7:20 and a regular harness 

card beginning at 8 p.m. Drew Shubeck, the Big 

M’s associate GM for wagering services, said, 

“There’s been interest in receiving the card from 

a simulcast standpoint, and it’s something we think 

our fans will find intriguing.” The Meadowlands 

is asking for commission approval for a thoroughbred 

daily double on the first two races, and a second 

thoroughbred-harness daily double on races 3 

and 4. They also are requesting straight, exacta 

and trifecta wagering on the two running races. 

Mixed breed racing was tried some years ago at 

Greenwood in Toronto, no longer in existence. The 

track had one mile dirt track for runners with a 5/ 

8ths mile harness track inside, and mixed cards 

were held over the two. Woodbine, Greenwood’s 

successor, races thoroughbreds on a dirt track in 

the afternoon and harness on an inside track at 

night at times during the year. 

WHO NEEDS CHRYSLER? 

Hoosier Park has increased its purses across the 

board by 10%, bringing its open events to $15,800 

from $14,400 and its lowest maiden and claiming 

purses to $5,300 from $4,800. The track’s 

invitationals have been raised from $20,000 to 

$22,000. Like most tracks nationwide, Hoosier 

set records on Kentucky Derby betting, and one 

regular patron at the track’s Indianapolis 

Trackside OTB operation -- a retired Chrysler 

worker -- almost broke the bank. He had a $1 

wheel on both the superfecta and trifecta, along 

with a $1 exacta box, and left Trackside with 

$101,000. Who needs Chrysler?





IT MAY BE TOO LATE, BUT..... 

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to 

mark up H.R. 3215 -- the Combating Illegal Gambling 

Reform and Modernization Act, better known 

as the Goodlatte bill -- today or tomorrow. If you 

haven’t contacted your representatives, as urged 

here on April 17 and again yesterday, it might still 

be a very good idea, for Congressman Chris Cannon, 

Republican of Utah, plans to offer an amendment 

that will strip horse racing’s exemption from 

the bill. Yesterday’s urgent request contained an 

incomplete list of Judiciary Committee members, 

and a full list of those from racing states follows. 

Ask for opposition to the Cannon amendment of 

H.R. 3215, and support for the bill as it stands without 

the amendment. Racing state members: 

ARIZONA - Jeff Flake 

CALIFORNIA - Elton Gallegly, Darrell Issa, 

Howard Berman, Zoe Lofgren, Maxine Waters, 

Adam Schiff 

FLORIDA - Ric Keller, Robert Wexler 

ILLINOIS - Henry Hyde, John Hostettler, Mike 

Pence 

MASSACHUSETTS - Barney Frank, William 

Delahunt, Marty Meehan 

MICHIGAN - John Conyers Jr. 

NEW YORK - Jerrold Nadler, Anthony David 

Weiner 

OHIO- Steve Chabot 

PENNSYLVANIA - George W. Gekas, Melissa 

A. Hart 

TEXAS - Lamar S. Smith, Sheila Jackson Lee 

VIRGINIA -Bob Goodlatte, Rick Boucher, Bobby 

Scott 

As you can see, 27 of the 37 members of the Judiciary 

Committee are from racing states. It is up 

to the industry to convince the 27 that the welfare 

of a major employer and agricultural industry in 

their states is at stake, and that the Cannon 

amendment would eliminate legal activities 

already in use. 


AND NOW FOR INSURANCE 

In announcing a loss for the first quarter of 2002 

operations yesterday, Churchill Downs president 

and CEO Tom Meeker included this observation: 

“As expected, we are incurring substantial increases 

in insurance costs.” So are you and everybody 

else, which is why you may want to show 

up at the Sonesta Beach in Bermuda when the 

board of directors of Wagering Insurance 

NorthAmerica, the successor to HTA Insurance 

Co., discusses reactivation of its off-shore captive 

insurance program. WIN had provided Workers’ 

Compensation, General Liability (including Participants 

Liability) and Automobile Liability coverage 

for its member tracks. To reactivate the program 

in this extremely difficult market WIN needs to 

reach a “critical mass” of premiums, and to do so 

it intends to open participation in the insurance 

program to all racetracks, regardless of breed. You 

are welcome at the meeting, which will be held next 

Thursday and Friday, May 16 and 17. If you can’t 

make it to Bermuda but are interested in weathering 

the insurance storm, give WIN’s legal counsel, 

Dan O’Leary, a call at his Chicago office at 

Mandell Menkes & Surdyk, 312-251-1000, fax 

312-251-1010. Dan will be happy to discuss the 

program with you in relation to your individual 

track needs, and describe the benefits and opportunities 

the program offers 

THE VERY BEST WAY 

The best way to discover errors is to publish something 

and wait for the bouncing ball. Yesterday’s 

report on mixed breed racing programs drew a 

quick response pointing out that Garden State Park 

also held one in the late 1980s. And the article on 

the licensing arrangement that TVG extended to 

winticket.com, brisnet.com and tsnbet.com, all licensed 

by AmericaTab, also applies to Northfield 

Park’s Bet Harness.com and 

BetRunners.com, AmericaTab’s only harness 

licensees.





MARKUP DELAYED ON H.R.3215 

The Goodlatte bill (H.R. 3215) was discussed and 

a markup began in the House Judiciary Committee 

yesterday, but the Interactive Gaming News 

reports that after the committee was called away 

for a vote on the House floor, Rep. Goodlatte pulled 

the bill from consideration. IGN reported that 

Goodlatte’s action was triggered by the danger of 

the bill being stripped of its amendments, one of 

which is the exemption for horse racing. The day’s 

respite should not be construed with any significant 

relief, however, for indications are that the 

exemption still will be challenged by Rep. Chris 

Cannon of Utah, and Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida 

Democrat, was loud and vigorous in opposing the 

horse racing amendment. Judiciary Committee 

chairman James Sensenbrenner said, “There are 

a lot of changes being proposed. Some we can do, 

some we can’t.” Track support for the bill as it 

stands, and opposition to the Cannon amendment, 

should it be offered as expected, still is needed. 

Let your representatives on Judiciary know how 

you feel, and if you need letters outlining the issues 

they are available here from HTA and/or from 

the American Horse Council, 202-296-4031, fax 

202-296-1970. 

ALL OUT OF STEP EXCEPT KY 

Still determined to negate the progress of the Racing 

Medication and Testing Consortium formed by 

the American Association of Equine Practitioners 

to try to bring uniformity to American medication 

rules, a group of Kentucky veterinarians led by 

Dr. Alex Harthill and Dr. Arnold Pessin now is calling 

for a public debate. What that would accomplish 

except noise is questionable, and an alternative 

suggestion that has been offered -- dissolution 

of the Union -- might be far preferable. Let 

Kentucky go its own way, and the rest of 

the nation go its way. 


128, AND BRIGHTER THAN EVER 

The Red Mile opens its 128th season of racing 

tonight, with a new lighting system that reportedly 

lights up not only the famous mile track but much 

of the area between Lexington’s Broadway and 

parallel Versailles Road, a mile away. The historic 

track, ablaze with its state-of-the-art illumination, 

will race 21 programs on Thursdays, Fridays 

and Saturdays until June 29. Ten of the sport’s 

outstanding amateur drivers will compete in a featured 

event on Saturday night. 

A PLETHORA OF OTHER NEWS 

Television Games Network has had an explosion 

of growth with the opening of Hollywood Park and 

subsequent action on the Kentucky Derby. TVG 

reports it has signed up 7,500 new subscribers and 

has processed over $8 million in handle, a 254% 

surge over last year’s figures. President Mark 

Wilson said TVG was “well on its way to the best 

quarter” in its history.......John Corckrarn has 

taken over from Ted Mudge as president of 

AmTote........Delaware North moved into new 

waters with its $80 million purchase of three New 

Orleans-based riverboats -- the Delta Queen, 

Mississippi Queen and American Queen --at a 

bankruptcy auction.......in New Jersey, Gov. James 

E. McGreevey announced his proposal for a $355 

million arena in Newark for the New Jersey Nets 

and Devils, with “the debt guaranteed by the teams 

and not the state of New Jersey.” The plan must 

be approved by the legislature -- no sure bet -- 

and the board of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition 

Authority.....in Massachusetts, Republican 

gubernatorial candidate Mitt Romney says the 

state should consider casino gambling, a surprising 

development since Romney, head of the Salt 

Lake Olympics, is a leader in the Morman church, 

which opposes gambling. Democratic candidate 

Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary, has 

stated that he is not in favor of casino gambling.





HTA HAS THREE NEW MEMBERS 

Three new member tracks have boosted Harness 

Tracks of America membership to 36 harness racing 

organizations. Two of the new members are 

returnees, Batavia Downs returning in New York 

state and Suburban Downs back in the fold after 

being given new life by the Illinois Racing Board. 

The third new member is the Delaware County Fair, 

home of one of harness racing’s greatest races, 

the Little Brown Jug. Martin Basinait will represent 

Batavia Downs on the HTA board, Tom Carey 

III will be the HTA director for Suburban Downs, 

and Phil Terry will represent the Delaware County 

Fair. We warmly welcome all three. 

GUESS WHAT? A NEW STUDY 

The Massachusetts House killed track slots for 

at least another year yesterday, but the legislators 

took the easy way out in doing it. They didn’t 

want to face the crisis of simply saying no to something 

that could have raised $600 million, so they 

voted, 101-51, to -- you guessed it -- appoint a 17- 

member commission to study the issue over the 

summer and report back by December what to do. 

One member of the House called the decision “a 

facade, a phony one at best”, but another defended 

the study, saying, “It’s a giant issue. I’m hoping 

that this commission will take a hard look at it, 

and give us the ability to produce a bill that addresses 

all of our concerns. The House’s action 

reminded us of the old story of the jury foreman 

who came in and told the judge, “Your honor, we’ve 

studied this thing up and down, listened to the prosecutor 

and the defense attorney, and we’ve decided 

we don’t want to get mixed up in this damn 

thing.” So it’s back to the drawing board for 

Plainridge Racecourse, Suffolk Downs and Massachusetts’ 

dog tracks, all of whom will have to 

wait at least until January of 2003 to take 

another shot at slots. 


The vote on the slots-at-tracks issue was a bit 

closer 94-58, and although proponents pointed out 

that it would allow the state’s four tracks to stay 

afloat, generate revenue and save jobs, opponents 

said it was a way “to make a few wealthy track 

owners even richer.” One House member, John 

Slattery, a backer of casino gaming in Massachusetts, 

answered that by saying, “We don’t need 

people denouncing race track owners as 

greedy.....because we’re doing the same things 

ourselves with the lottery.” 

AN INSURANCE REALITY CHECK 

With all tracks everywhere invited to participate 

in next week’s Wagering Insurance NorthAmerica 

(WIN) meeting in Bermuda, which will consider 

reactivation of the off-shore captive in the face of 

skyrocketing insurance costs, a West Virginia development 

underscores the threats that can come 

from anywhere. Penn National Gaming has been 

named a defendant in a $20 million damage suit in 

a bizarre case in which the plaintiffs are using dram 

shop charges. They contend that waitresses at 

Penn National’s Charles Town Races and Slots continued 

to provide free cocktails and wine to a 

woman patron for six hours while she played the 

slots there two years ago, although the woman was 

“visibly intoxicated.” With an alcohol content level 

more than three times the state limit, the woman 

slammed into the plaintiffs’ car while driving on 

the wrong side of the road. She was sentenced for 

up to 5 years for DUI and causing injuries. If interested 

in WIN, call counsel Dan O’Leary at 312- 

251-1000. 

HAPPIER PENN NATIONAL NEWS 

Retired Penn National VP Bill Bork filed with the 

SEC to sell 160,667 shares of Penn National common 

stock, which he valued at $6 million. CEO 

Peter Carlino filed to sell 300,000 shares, 

which he valued at $11.3 million, both under 

insider trading rules.





MACH THREE AND MONEY 

With Western Shooter and Louie Louie Too both 

gone, Mach Three clearly is the horse to beat in 

this year’s 3-year-old pacing division. He acted 

like the best again Saturday night winning the 

$300,000 Berry’s Creek at the Meadowlands. But 

a controversial side of the Mach Three story came 

to light Saturday when Standardbred Canada editor 

Harold Howe, writing in the Hamilton, Ontario 

Spectator, told of an apparent disagreement, or at 

least an abrupt change of mind, between Linda 

Magid, owner of the colt, and a four-member group 

headed by major breeder Peter Heffering which 

thought they had bought Mach Three. Heffering 

told Howe the group had already wired the money 

to Ms. Magid, and he said the price was “a very 

large sum.” That was not surprising since Mach 

Three had won $954,708 as a 2-year-old last season 

and a half-interest reportedly was priced at 

$750,000 in recent weeks. Unaware of all this, 

Mach Thee looked supremely at ease and confident 

in winning Saturday night, and Ms. Magid -- 

apparently feeling the same -- now says the horse 

is not for sale. 

THE HIGH COST OF RUNOFF 

The American Horse Council has been working 

for a year or more with the Environmental Protection 

Agency, the federal bureau controlling effluent 

limitation guidelines and water pollution. Racetracks 

have fallen under the agency’s purview, and 

just how expensive this can be was illustrated last 

week with completion of Portland Meadows’ 

project to prevent storm water runoff from the 

track’s stable area. The job cost $750,000, and 

horses are starting to return to the track’s backstretch 

today, three months after the track was 

forced to end its meeting two and a half-months 

early because the EPA said it was not in 

compliance. Magna Entertainment, which 

leases the track, plans to build a new one 

nearby after the lease expires in 2005. 


THE FEDS AND NYRA CLERKS 

The Albany Times Union reported yesterday that 

the Internal Revenue Service has launched “a 

widespread investigation” into Saratoga Race 

Course mutuel clerks who allegedly borrowed 

money regularly from their cash drawers but did 

not report the money as income. An unidentified 

teller told the newspaper that colleagues ‘shorted’ 

their cash drawers, and if they were unable to pay 

back the shortages by week’s end, they filled out 

a ‘short slip’ to have that amount taken out of their 

NYRA paychecks. NYRA provided clerks a yearend 

summary of how much NYRA was reimbursed 

by the clerks for the shortages, but the clerks reportedly 

then did not report those ‘loans’ as income. 

“If they shorted $30,000 and didn’t report 

it, they would only have $20,000 taxable instead 

of $50,000,” the clerk told the Times Union. If 

the investigation was a surprise to the newspaper, 

it was not to the New York State Racing and Wagering 

Board, nor to NYRA, both of which said 

they were aware of investigations that have been 

ongoing for some time. Mike Hoblock, chairman 

of the racing board, said the federal investigation 

has been underway for two years, and that the 

board has cooperated with federal authorities. 

NYRA said both state and federal investigations 

are underway and continuing, but would not discuss 

specifics. 

HONG KONG HITS OFFSHORE 

It won’t be official until May 22, but insiders say it 

is certain that legislation to prohibit offshore bookmakers 

from taking bets from Hong Kong residents, 

and to make it illegal for residents to place 

such bets, will pass on that date. One close observer 

said, “It’s pretty much a done deal.” When 

asked, in view of the same issue pending in North 

America, how the government intended to monitor 

and catch offenders, the answer was “Not 

surprisingly, the government has no real answer.”





BEGGING TO BE TAXED? 

A British businessman is begging the United States 

government for taxation without representation in 

an attempt to force U.S. authorities to regulate 

online gaming. Nigel Payne, chief executive of 

London-based Sportingbet, has placed advertisements 

in a number of American newspapers featuring 

an Englishman holding an umbrella under 

the slogan: “Please sir, can I pay some tax?” In a 

case of the Boston Tea Party in reverse, he has 

even hired an American lobbying firm to try to 

persuade Congress to force his company to pay 

money annually into U.S. coffers. The move follows 

attempts by several in Congress, chief among 

them Rep. Robert Goodlatte of Florida, to ban 

online gambling in the United States. Sportingbet’s 

Payne said the U.S. should follow the British example 

where the government has enforced strong 

regulation on the business and takes billions of 

dollars of taxes in return. “This is a massive, massive 

industry which cannot be stopped,” Payne said. 

“It is far more sensible to regulate it and take billions 

of dollars of taxes in return.” According to 

published reports, half of the world’s regular 

Internet gamblers live in the U.S. Sportingbet 

alone admits to having over 360,000 active U.S. 

customers. 

ARIZ. TRIBES WILL TRY BALLOT 

Arizona’s Indian tribes are taking their case for 

continued casino gaming directly to the voters, 

proposing to give the state up to eight percent of 

their proceeds in exchange for the exclusive right 

to operate slot machines. The tribes filed their initiative 

late yesterday afternoon, setting the state 

for a likely confluence of competing gambling measures 

on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. The 

initiative contains the same basic elements as the 

bill that Gov. Jane Hull has been trying to 

sell to lawmakers: 

an eight percent return to the state, contain- 


ment of casino-style gambling on Arizona’s Indian 

reservations and a 10-year compact duration that 

can be lengthened to 23 years. The biggest difference 

is that the tribal initiative would allocate the 

money to specific causes (primarily education and 

health care) while the legislation proposed by the 

governor would pour tribal revenues into the state’s 

general fund. 

ROSECROFT TO HOST POLICE 

Law enforcement representatives from around the 

country will converge on Washington, D.C., for the 

annual National Law Enforcement Memorial ceremony 

tomorrow, May 15. This year, the special 

ceremonial parade will feature 200 mounted police 

officers on horseback from all over North 

America. The officers are in Washington to honor 

their fellow officers who lost their lives in 2001 in 

the line of duty, including those who lost their lives 

in the tragic events of Sept. 11. Rosecroft Raceway 

will be home from May 11 through May 16 to 

the equine parade participants. The mounted police 

units will leave Rosecroft in parade fashion at 

7:30 a.m. tomorrow and make the journey into 

Washington, D.C. Their route will take them onto 

the Washington Beltway to I-295 North. The uniformed 

riders will then proceed into the city via 

the 7th street exit off of I-395. 

TODAY’S DURABILITY NOTE 

Speed Pine, one of only a handful of 14-year-old 

horses still racing, posted his 90th career win last 

Wednesday at HTA member Pompano Park in 

Pompano Beach, Florida, leading from start to finish 

in the track’s 11th race. Driven by Bruce 

Ranger, Speed Pine covered the mile in 2:00.3 for 

his sixth win of the year. The race was Speed Pine’s 

304th career start. A gelding by Nearly Perfect, 

Speed Pine is trained by Jake Huff and is owned 

by Rosalie Huff and Gary Berbere of 

Deerfield Beach.





CHANGE TO IHA PROPOSED 

Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) has introduced 

legislation that would fundamentally alter 

the Interstate Horseracing Act (IHA). The bill, 

entitled the “Live Horseracing Protection Act of 

2002,” would amend the IHA to require an additional 

consent, that of the “off-track horsemen’s 

group,” under the federal law before an interstate 

off-track wager could be accepted. The new consent 

would be in addition to those of the host 

horsemen’s group, the host racing commission and 

the off-track racing commission which are currently 

required under the IHA. The bill defines the “offtrack 

horsemen’s group” to mean: “The breedspecific 

group representing the majority of owners 

and trainers in an offtrack State that corresponds 

to the breed of horse in the races subject 

to the interstate off-track wager on any racing 

day.” The proposed legislation also makes the offtrack 

horsemen’s group eligible for damages for 

violations of the IHA and adds them to the group 

that may bring a civil action for violations. Congressman 

Pallone did not offer any introductory 

remarks explaining the purpose of the legislation. 

The bill has been referred to the House Commerce 

Committee. For a copy of the bill visit the HTA 

Web site at www.harnesstracks.com or call the HTA 

offices at 520-529-2525. 

SENECAS APPROVE CASINOS 

The Seneca Nation of Indians on Tuesday voted 

“yes” to casinos in western New York by a margin 

of 101 votes. The vote was 1,077 in favor and 976 

against signing the casino compact with New York 

state. The compact will allow the Senecas to operate 

up to three casinos in western New York. Seneca 

President Cyrus Schindler said the tribal council 

will move quickly to finalize the 14-year 

compact with Gov. George Pataki and the 

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. 


AGA NOW BACKS NET BAN 

The casino gaming industry’s chief lobbying group 

abruptly switched course Tuesday and endorsed 

Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s bill to prohibit Internet gambling, 

according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American 

Gaming Association, said the group will support 

the ban because of two changes the congressman 

made at the AGA’s request. “Fundamentally, he 

has met all our concerns,” Fahrenkopf said. The 

most significant change to the legislation addresses 

the AGA’s concern that Goodlatte’s bill would infringe 

on state regulation of gambling. Under the 

revised version, if a state ever legalizes Internet 

gambling, it would be allowed to take bets over 

the Web from residents in other states that also 

permit online wagering. The other change would 

allow Nevada sports books to continue common 

pooling bets on horse races in other states. Without 

that revision, Fahrenkopf said, casinos would 

be at a disadvantage to the horse racing industry, 

which has an exemption from the Goodlatte bill. 

“Candidly, we prepared the (revised) language on 

common pool wagering,” Fahrenkopf said. “On the 

states’ rights issue, we think each state should have 

the right to determine what goes on within its borders.” 

FELONY COUNTS IN KANSAS 

Richard J. Boushka, former co-owner of The 

Woodlands racetrack in Kansas, has been indicted 

in Wichita on 61 felony counts, many of which allege 

he falsified loan documents. Boushka was an 

original partner in The Woodlands, owning 40 percent 

of the track from the time it was built until 

1994. An audit released in 1995 showed that during 

the years he was a partner, Boushka made 

more than $12 million in salary, consulting fees, 

Woodlands stock dividends and Hollywood Park 

stock holdings.





REJECTION AGAIN IN ILLINOIS 

The Illinois Gaming Board has rejected a $330 

million offer from Emerald Casino Inc. to settle 

the dispute over the company’s stalled effort to 

open a casino in Rosemont, according to the Chicago 

Sun-Times. Emerald asked the Board to let 

MGM Mirage buy out Emerald for $615 million, 

with $330 million from those proceeds to be paid 

to the state, and operate a casino in Rosemont. 

“We expected that the gaming board would reject 

the $330 million offer and then there would be further 

negotiations,” Larry Suffredin, one of MGM 

Mirage’s attorneys told the Sun-Times. Gene 

O’Shea, spokesman for the gaming board, said the 

state agency will continue to negotiate with Emerald. 

The effort to open a casino in the Chicago suburb 

appears headed to an appeal before an administrative 

law judge. 

CASINO COULD PAY $1M FINE 

Belterra Casino could face more than $1 million in 

fines and possible probation following complaints 

that the Ohio River casino arranged for prostitutes 

to entertain wealthy gamblers, according to a report 

in the Merrillville Post-Tribune. The Indiana 

Gaming Commission held a hearing on the allegations 

Monday at Harrah’s Casino in East Chicago. 

Jack Thar, the commission’s executive director, 

said a company official brought prostitutes from 

California on his private plane for a golf outing 

last June. Belterra is owned by California-based 

Pinnacle Entertainment. Company officials reportedly 

offered to pay $1 million in fines to settle the 

complaint, but Thar suggested the final deal would 

be more expensive an could involve probation for 

the casino. Belterra, which opened in October 

2000, is one of seven casinos owned by Pinnacle. 

The investigation by commission staff and the Indiana 

State Police came in April after two 

female employees alleged that a casino 

official told them to entice wealthy men on a 


golf outing into the casino. They said the casino 

provided the golfers with eight to 12 prostitutes. 

The gaming commission also Monday gave tentative 

approval to an agreement that will force 

Pinnacle’s founder and former chairman, R.D. 

Hubbard, to pay a $740,000 fine and give up his 

license to operate a casino in Indiana. Pinnacle 

underwent a management shake-up last week in 

which Daniel R. Lee replaced both chief executive 

officer Paul Alanis and Hubbard. 

VERNON DOWNS BOARD GAMES 

Six board members appointed by Las Vegas investor 

Shawn Scott, who recently loaned the track 

$8.5 million, were asked by the state to vacate their 

positions. According to SEC filings and racetrack 

President Justice Cheney, directors were asked 

to vacate their positions because of an order that 

was slapped on the track concerning Scott. A release 

from the state’s Racing and Wagering Board 

stated that participation by individuals or entities 

associated with Scott would result in termination 

of the temporary license granted to Vernon in 

April. On July 6, the racing board will announce 

whether or not they will grant Scott a license to 

operate racing and gaming facilities in New York 

based on the results of their investigation of him. 

“We will not fill the vacancies until the racing and 

wagering board makes a decision whether to license 

Scott or not,” Cheney told the Oneida Dispatch. 

In other news from the Empire State, a plan for 

the state to give racetracks a greater share of proceeds 

from VLTs is collapsing in state budget talks, 

according to an article in the Buffalo News. 

Sources close to the negotiations said the sides in 

the talks could not decide from which pot of funds 

the proposed additional five percent in revenue to 

tracks should come.





HELP FOR TRACKS IN NY? 

New York lawmakers yesterday approved an $89 

billion budget for the state. As part of the budget, 

lawmakers agreed to extend the franchise of the 

New York Racing Association (NYRA) for an extra 

five years, through 2012, contingent on NYRA 

having VLTs up and running at Aqueduct by next 

April. The agreement also extends the initial approval 

period for VLTs at all tracks until Dec. 31, 

2007, up from the original three-year period approved 

earlier. One potentially important provision 

in the budget legislation will permit any track 

in the state to enter “into an agreement with its 

horsemen’s organization to reduce the percentage 

of [the horsemen’s] fee dedicated to enhancing 

purses at such track during the initial three years 

of participation by such track.” The revenue from 

the reduction then could be added to the track’s 

share and used to help fund casino construction at 

the tracks. 

IMPACT OF TRIBAL CASINOS 

Finally, somebody has produced a complete picture 

of the American Indian gaming industry. What 

it shows, in a nutshell, is that last year 212 tribes 

operated 340 gaming facilities in 30 states. The 

casinos paid $5.5 billion in wages to 298,000 employees 

out of $11.9 billion in gaming revenue and 

$1.2 billion in nongaming revenue. “The (total combined) 

revenue was $13 billion. However, when you 

look at the multipliers and indirect effects, it comes 

to $32 billion, so a large portion of the whole business 

is benefiting not just the tribes, but also benefiting 

the whole economy,” said Alan Meister, 

author of “The Economic Impact of Indian Gaming 

in the United States.” Meister is a Californiabased 

economist with InteCap, a consulting firm 

that specializes in economic and valuation issues. 

Meister said his study was neither funded 

nor sponsored by any pro- or anti-gambling 

interest. 


GEMSTAR EXECS RESIGN 

Four Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. executives 

resigned to join the company’s former cochief 

operating officer, Peter Boylan, at a new interactive 

television company, the Wall Street Journal 

reported. Mark Allen, one of the departing 

executives, was in charge of licensing Gemstar’s 

“interactive program guide” technology to cable 

operators, the paper said. Corporate development 

executive Toby DeWeese, Chief Technology Officer 

William Thomas and Senior Vice President 

Craig Wagge also resigned, the paper said. They 

all worked closely with Boylan, who now heads 

Liberty Broadband Interactive Television Inc. The 

Tulsa, Oklahomabased company, which is backed 

by John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp., plans to 

offer interactive services to the cable television 

and satellite industries. 

ARIZ. GOV. WANTS SESSION ENDED 

Arizona Gov. Jane Hull called Thursday for the 

legislature to end its special session on Indian gaming, 

but lawmakers are pressing ahead with their 

deliberations. Hull and 17 tribes have negotiated 

a deal to extend casino operation agreements for 

up to 29 years. Legislators have been considering 

a bill with those provisions for the past six weeks. 

The Senate passed it without the two-thirds majority 

necessary to protect it from a referendum 

election. It is still pending in the House. Without 

approval from the legislature this week, Hull said 

new casino agreements could not obtain needed 

approvals from the U.S. District Court and the U.S. 

Dept. of the Interior before the deadline for filing 

signatures to place an initiative on the fall ballot. 

“The Legislature has failed to act and it is now 

time for the tribes to pursue other options,” Hull 

wrote in a letter to legislators. “The people of Arizona 

will make the final decisions on November 

and I trust them to make a good one.”





PRICE OF POOL GOING UP 

VLTs and slots may level the playing field, which 

usually is cited as the reason for their need, but 

the price of acquiring them is going up. Last week 

the Illinois Gaming Board turned down an offer of 

$330 million to allow the owners of the stalemated 

Emerald Casino to sell its license to MGM/Mirage. 

Now come the Wampanoags of Massachusetts, 

offering the state up to $100 million as an 

upfront cash advance if it will allow them to build a 

giant Indian casino in southeastern Massachusetts 

as a buffer to the exodus of citizens of that state 

who travel to neighboring Connecticut to gamble 

in the two hugely successful Indian casinos there. 

The Wampanoags are pointing out to legislators 

that Connecticut has a budget shortfall of only 

$200 million or so, while Massachusetts has one 

in the $2 billion range. The outlook for the 

Wampanoags, however, does not appear much 

brighter than for the four race tracks in Massachusetts, 

which saw their bid for VLTs shot down 

in the legislature in recent days. The 

Wampanoags, while offering the $100 million 

upfront to help the state while they build their casino, 

estimate annual taxes from the venture would 

produce more than $200 million a year once up 

and operating. The chairman of the Massachusetts 

House’s powerful Government Regulations 

committee, Rep. Daniel Bosley, takes a dim view 

of the proposal. He told the Boston Herald that 

the Wampanoag offer “sounds like a bad movie 

where you borrow money from the gambling interests 

and they come after you later when you don’t 

pay.” It would seem he either sees too many mob 

movies or too many Westerns. A more credible 

source, the Rev. Richard McGowan, a Boston College 

professor called “a gaming expert” by the 

Herald says he doubts a Massachusetts casino 

would do as well as those in Connecticut. 

“In economics,” McGowan says, “it is 

what we call the first mover advantage.” 


EPO ‘PROHIBITED SUBSTANCE’ 

In a welcome move in the right direction, the board 

of the Association of Racing Commissioners recently 

announced a drug classification change of 

significance. Under a heading of “Prohibited Practices,” 

the RCI announced that possession or use 

of erythoropoietin and its derivative darbepoetin 

now fall into that category. The two controversial 

drugs are prohibited under a rule change covering 

“The possession and/or use of a drug, substance 

or medication, on the premises of a facility under 

the jurisdiction of the regulatory body for which a 

recognized analytical method has not been developed 

to detect and confirm the administration of 

such a substance; or the use of which may endanger 

the health and welfare of the horse or endanger 

the safety of the rider or driver, or the use of 

which may adversely affect the integrity of racing.” 

Now for the next, and urgent, step: to develop 

“a recognized analytical method” to detect 

the two prohibited substances. 

ELSEWHERE ON THE TRAIL 

While the rest of the country struggles toward unanimity 

in medication rules, 6 of the 13 horses in 

the PREAKNESS ran on “adjunct bleeder medications” 

allowed in Maryland......After $4 million 

in renovations to the 128-year-old RED MILE, 

managing partner Joe Costa says “We’re ready 

to cook.” In addition to a new $1 million lighting 

system, the track has new underground audio/visual 

wiring and transformers, a new track surface, 

repaired fences, a paved parking lot, roof renovations 

and other infrastructure improvements. 

Opening weekend drew 6,000, compared to 2,225 

last spring......SUFFOLK OTB president Mea 

Knapp said “we smiled when we saw the bid,” after 

selling a long-vacant OTB in Patchogue for $1.7 

million....veteran tote executive KEVIN O’KEEFE 

is retiring May 31 as executive VP and CEO 

of United Tote.





CLASSIC MATCHUP IN ELITLOPP 

The two biggest names in world trotting last year - 

- Varenne of Italy, winner of the 2001 Breeders 

Crown for older trotters, and Scarlet Knight, 

Sweden’s winner of the 2001 Hambletonian -- have 

drawn into separate eliminations for the May 25 

Elitlopp at Solvalla in Stockholm, and are likely to 

meet for the first time in the final of the rich Swedish 

classic. Both world leaders are by American 

sires, Varenne being by Waikiki Beach and Scarlet 

Knight being a son of Pine Chip, and both have 

become national sports heroes in their countries. 

The race will be simulcast in North America through 

a hub at Hippodrome de Montreal, and details can 

be obtained from Yvon Giguere at 514-739-2741, 

or by e-mail at ygiguere@total.net. 

MARYLAND SALE “NEAR” 

Although the parties are saying little, both the 

Baltimore Sun and Washington Times are reporting 

that the purchase of the Maryland Jockey 

Club’s Pimlico and Laurel operations by Magna 

Entertainment is in an advanced negotiation stage, 

and that Magna is close to buying the properties 

for $105 million. The reports say that the role of 

Maryland Jockey Club president Joe DeFrancis 

and his sister Karin, who is senior vice president 

of the operation, is a sticking point, but that minority 

partners Leucadia National corporation and 

well-known harness horse owner Lou Guida both 

would sell to Magna. Maryland Racing Commission 

approval also is required with 15-day notice 

of the proposed sale, and although one member of 

the 9-man commission has expressed displeasure 

with Magna, it seems likely commission approval 

would be forthcoming. This is not the first time 

DeFrancis has been close to selling the tracks, 

however, and there is no assurance that the deal 

will close now. A sale would give Magna 

another important link in its ambitious simulcast 

network plans. 


IN CHICAGO, GLOVES COME OFF 

Now the fun really gets underway. The Illinois 

Gaming Board begins opening arguments this 

week in Chicago, defending its decision not to allow 

the Emerald Casino to move forward with its 

plans in suburban Rosemont. The hearing before 

an administrative law judge in the chambers of the 

state Supreme Court in downtown Chicago, has 

taken some strange turns. It originally was requested 

by Emerald officials, but faced with what 

the Chicago Tribune calls “a string of embarrassing 

revelations,” Emerald’s lawyers have been trying 

to stop the hearing with appeals and legal maneuvers, 

and are calling the proceedings “a kangaroo 

court.” The gaming board, for its part, appears 

ready to produce witnesses and documents 

that could uphold its chairman’s charge that the 

case “presents one of the more striking examples 

of misconduct by a regulated entity to be found in 

the recent annals of Illinois business history.” A 

deal could cut the festivities short, but it seems 

more likely that the board now will plow ahead. 

LIVELY TIMES IN ARIZONA, TOO 

The Arizona House of Representatives was set to 

vote today on whether the state’s 17 Indian tribes 

get legislative approval for gaming agreements, 

and it is certain it will be an all-out battle. The 

tribes won a preliminary vote last night, but they 

were 10 votes short of the 40 needed to pass the 

bill, and its floor leader said, “It’s going to be a 

long night tonight to get the 40 votes.” The Indians 

and two other groups, one supported by Gov. 

Jane Hull, are circulating petitions to put the Indian 

gaming issue on the ballot Nov. 5. 

NO SLOTS FOR MONTICELLO? 

That’s what the Middletown Times Herald-Record 

says, reporting that the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

will support the Mohawk faction that prefers 

Kutshers Sports Academy nearby, backed 

by Park Place Entertainment.





WAPLES BACK, ON WEG TERMS 

After five months of exile -- four of it self-imposed 

-- Canada’s leading driver, Randy Waples, returns 

to Woodbine tomorrow when night action returns 

to the huge Toronto track. Waples was suspended 

for 30 days last December for abusive behavior in 

the Woodbine paddock, and the ban was continued 

when Waples refused to sign an agreement 

promising civil behavior in the future. He not only 

refused to sign, but filed an $11 million suit against 

Woodine Entertainment. Suffering serious financial 

loss and legal expense, Waples now has agreed 

to Woodbine’s terms, and has withdrawn the lawsuit. 

He has not driven at Woodbine or its sister 

WEG track Mohawk in 2002. Last year he won a 

record 417 races at the two tracks, and piloted the 

winners of more than $10 million in purse money. 

With the million dollar North America Cup for 3- 

year-old pacers and other rich races coming up in 

Woodbine’s summer meeting and the Mohawk 

meeting that follows, Waples apparently decided 

it was too costly to continue the Randy Rebellion. 

GOOD NEWS IN PENNSYLVANIA 

At least half good news. Ed Rendell, the former 

mayor of Philadelphia, yesterday cashed in on 

record support from his home base in southeastern 

Pennsylvania and won the Democratic nomination 

for governor. He will face Republican attorney 

general Mike Fisher in November. Rendell 

swept past his primary opponent, auditor general 

Bob Casey Jr., by garnering four out of every five 

votes cast in his Philadelphia area, which produced 

the biggest voter turnout in decades. Rendell has 

promised to lower property taxes and raise state 

funding for education, and has said he will pay for 

those goals by putting 15,000 slot machines at 

Pennsylvania’s five horse tracks, doubling the 

cigarette tax and cutting government 

waste. 


THAT’S OUR LINE, FRANK 

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American 

Gaming Association representing Las Vegas and 

other casinos, says he has reached agreement with 

Rep. Bob Goodlatte that will enable the AGA to 

support Goodlatte’s proposed Internet gambling 

ban. Fahrenkopf, in explaining the agreement, 

sounded like he was speaking for racing as well. 

“You’ve got to fundamentally remember,” he said, 

“that under our constitution, under the 10th amendment, 

each state has the right to make a determination 

as to what type of gambling they are going 

to have within their state borders and how they’re 

going to regulate it and how they’re going to tax it. 

What the Goodlatte bill did went against that because 

it was fundamentally saying that even if two 

states decided that they wanted to have Internet 

gambling, to license and control, they wouldn’t be 

allowed to.” Thanks for speaking up, Frank. 

PRAIRIE GETS 8-YEAR LEASE 

It appears the bickering and stalemate over a lease 

at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in 

Altoona, Iowa, is over. The Racing Association of 

Central Iowa, which runs the track owned by Polk 

county, is expected to sign an 8-year lease this 

afternoon, after county supervisors yielded to demands 

of Vision Iowa, a state board that is building 

to assure getting the money to go forward. The 

lease will give the county $20 million a year for 

the first five years Some interesting quotes came 

from the negotiations. After a community activist 

said the county supervisors’ insistence on building 

the Events Center was “tinged with self-interest 

and corruption,” one supervisor responded, 

“I’ve seen egomaniacs. I’ve seen bad decisions. 

I’ve seen people who are not too smart. But I 

haven’t seen corruption. What we do is what we 

think is for the best.” Come to think of it, that 

might be a good inscription to hang on the 

halls of Congress. .





INDY PULL TABS GET A BOOST 

Electronic pull-tabs, which Hoosier Park and Indianapolis 

Downs are counting on to provide substantial 

income, got a first step boost yesterday 

when the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee 

passed a measure including the pull-tabs, 

19 to 6. The chairman of the committee, Democrat 

B. Patrick Bauer, had his troops well in hand, 

and 16 of them voted for the measure. Bauer presided 

over four days of hearings on the bill, which 

also addresses dockside gambling and a casino for 

French Lick and increases in sales, cigarette and 

gambling taxes, and had warned that he needed 

Republican help to get it through the committee. 

He got it, with 3 Republicans joining to pass the 

measure. Bauer had told his committee, “I think 

it’s time to move the train out of the station,” and 

it now goes to the floor of the full House when that 

body returns June 3 after a Memorial Day holiday 

recess. If the bill passes the House, where it 

also needs Republican support, and ultimately 

becomes law, it will provide up to 700 pull-tab machines 

for Hoosier Park and Indianapolis Downs 

and two Indianapolis OTBs. 

AZ HOUSE KILLS GOV’S BILL 

An irate governor Jane Hull lashed out at legislators 

last night after the Arizona House of Representatives 

killed her bill that would have expanded 

gambling at 17 reservations in the state. The bill 

failed to win even a simple majority, falling 28-25 

in the 60-member House, with 7 members absent. 

“This bill wasn’t defeated,” Gov. Hull said, “it was 

mugged by track lobbyists who want casino gaming 

to spread off the reservation.” With the bill 

dead, the decision now will rest with the voters of 

Arizona next November. Those voters and their 

elected representatives often have disagreed in 

the past, with the legislature disregarding 

their expressed will and proceeding on its 

own. The tribes are organizing for a major 

push in the fall. 


DOGS FACE ANOTHER SCANDAL 

Greyhound racing has another major problem on 

its hands, after the remains of as many as 2,000 

racing dogs were found on a farm in Lillian, Alabama, 

and the owner said he has been paid to kill 

dogs for 40 years. The Humane Society of the 

United States has called for a state investigation, 

and an HSUS spokesman said, “The greyhound 

racing industry has vehemently denied its involvement 

in the disposal of unwanted animals for years. 

This case offers the best opportunity yet to investigate 

potential ties between the industry and the 

cruel and illegal killing of greyhound dogs.” Robert 

Rhodes, who admits shooting the dogs, says 

he killed animals brought to him by greyhound 

trainers for 40 years, shooting them for $10 each. 

One official called his farm “a Dachau for dogs.” 

Pensacola Greyhound’s racing director notified authorities 

of rumors of the mass killings. The Humane 

Society, acknowledging that fact, said that it 

suspects ties between track officials and Rhodes, 

saying “It’s inconceivable to think that this had 

been going on for years without track officials having 

knowledge of the fate of thousands of dogs.” 

A Humane Society senior vice president called the 

incident “the ugly underbelly of the greyhound 

racing industry,” and said the HSUS was asking 

Florida governor Jeb Bush to veto legislation favorable 

to greyhound racing. 

MILTON ROVINE DIES AT 81 

Milton Rovine, a major owner and breeder in harness 

racing in the late 1970s and 1980s, has died 

at 81 after a long illness. Rovine’s Shady Stable 

partnerships introduced scores of new owners to 

the sport, and campaigned such good Meadowlands 

performers as Keystone Sixty, Glen 

Almahurst and Tuff Choice. His horses were 

trained at his Shady View Farm in Middletown, 

Delaware, by his son David, now director of 

marketing at Gulfstream Park in Florida.





STRIKE AT HAWTHORNE? 

Larry Hamel, writing in today’s Chicago Sun- 

Times, reports that the Illinois Harness 

Horsemen’s Association is threatening a strike of 

the revived harness meeting at Hawthorne Race 

Course, due to open a 37-night meeting on June 7. 

Quoting the IHHA’s lead negotiator, driver Tony 

Morgan, Hamel says the issue is over Hawthorne’s 

earlier guarantee of $116,000 a night in purses. 

Illinois’purse recapture law, which rebates money 

to tracks, could be in danger because of a state 

budget crisis, and Hamel speculates that if that 

happened, Hawthorne might lose more than 

$200,000 in the last 13 nights of its meeting. Morgan 

contends that Hawthorne and the IHHA had 

agreed on $116,000 a night regardless of recapture 

or any other developments. 

THE EMERALD CASINO, AGAIN 

Like a long-running soap opera, only with hundreds 

of millions at stake, the Emerald Casino fiasco in 

Chicago took another turn yesterday, with the lawyer 

for Emerald’s investors saying they have 

agreed to sell out for no profit, which would mean 

the state could reap up to $500 million if it allowed 

the sale. Under the proposed deal, according to 

the Chicago Tribune, shareholders in the venture 

not accused of any wrongdoing would divide $13 

million in profits in addition to getting back their 

original investment of roughly $52 million. Illinois’ 

attorney general, Jim Ryan, reacted to the effort, 

which still would locate the casino in suburban 

Rosemont, by calling the Rosemont effort “a 

tainted deal” and promising to take legal action to 

block any settlement that might be negotiated before 

the start of a long-delayed hearing, now scheduled 

to start next Wednesday. Ryan reportedly 

wants to examine allegations of wrongdoing against 

top Emerald officials, notably former 

Waste Management executive Donald 

Flynn and his son Kevin. 


ON THE BUSY TRACK BEAT 

TOM CHOLAKIS, president and CEO of HTA’s 

associate member Capital District Regional OTB, 

based in Schenectady, NY, has announced he plans 

to retire at the end of the year after five profitable 

years of running the OTB operation. Cholakis said, 

“I’m sailing off into the sunset,” to spend more 

time with his wife Kathy, who has been wintering 

in Florida for three years. A search committee 

has been named, according to OTB chairman 

James Accattato, with a salary in the $115,000 to 

$125,000 range. Accattato said that under 

Cholakis’ regime Capital handle rose from $216 

million to $229.4 million, and the share to the 17 

communities served by the OTB rose from $5 million 

to $9.2 million.......Good news for 

ROSECROFT RACEWAY and OCEAN DOWNS 

and their horsemen. They will share in a $4.5 million 

windfall, instead of a lowered $3 million fund, 

as a result of a Wednesday meeting in which it 

was agreed that the full amount originally earmarked 

for purses by the Maryland legislature 

would be made available to Maryland’s tracks July 

1........Under the revised eight-year lease negotiated 

by and for PRAIRIE MEADOWS RACE- 

TRACK AND CASINO, Polk county, which owns 

the track property, will receive $147 million during 

the next eight years. It is the third version of 

the lease, which has been adjusted and revised for 

the last two months......MAGNA ENTERTAIN- 

MENT and POMONA FAIRPLEX have agreed 

to move the 17-day Los Angeles County Fair thoroughbred 

meeting to Santa Anita, subject to California 

Horse Racing Board approval. If approved 

at the board’s June 6 meeting, it will mark the end 

of 63 seasons of racing at Pomona. Hollywood 

Park, which failed to reach agreement earlier with 

Pomona, says it will oppose the 

transfer......Business Week reports rumors that 

DOVER DOWNS may be the target of a 

buyout bid by MAGNA or PARK PLACE.





MAGEE BIG MAN IN MONTREAL 

Dave Magee is a longtime hero to harness racing 

fans in Chicago, and now he is known and respected 

by followers of the sport in Montreal as 

well. Magee, HTA’s Driver of the Year in 1994, 

won both eliminations Saturday night for this 

week’s $501,450 (Canadian) Prix de Montreal at 

Hippodrome de Montreal. Catch-driving Henry 

Clay for regular driver Andy Miller, Magee sizzled 

home in 1:51.3, and then returned with his regular 

mount Mini Me to win the second elimination in 

1:52.1. Henry Clay was winning for the fourth time 

in five starts this year. Mini Me chased home the 

season’s top-rated 3-year-old pacer, Mach Three, 

in two starts at the Meadowlands before Saturday 

night’s victory. The field for the half-million dollar 

race, in alphabetical order, is Armbro Wave, 

Ashlee’s Big Guy, Canbec Mustang, Five Card 

Cam, Henry Clay, Mini Me, Montego Angus, Red 

River Hanover, Third Straight and Up Front Western. 

VARENNE HOT, BUT NO CROWN 

The world’s greatest trotter, Varenne, captured his 

second straight Elitlopp in Stockholm yesterday, 

setting world records of 1:53.2 and 1:53 for a fiveeighths 

mile track in taking both his elimination 

and the final of the Swedish classic. His connections 

said their plans do not include a defense of 

the Breeders Crown at the Meadowlands in July, 

shooting instead for a $1.9 million bonus if he can 

win all five World Cup trots this year. The Italian 

owned trotter, by the American sire Waikiki Beach, 

is a hero in his home country, and already has the 

Prix d’Amerique in Paris, the Gran Premio della 

Lotteria in Milan, and now the Elitlopp, under his 

belt this year. He will start in the World Cup trot 

in San Siro, Milan in June, will race in Scandinavia 

in July and August, return to Paris for a 

major August race there, and then defend 

his Trot Mondial crown in Montreal Sept. 

28. 


NEW BILL ‘CONCERNS’ HBPA 

Race tracks are not the only ones concerned about 

a bill, initiated by New Jersey thoroughbred horsemen 

wanting to amend the 1978 Interstate Horse 

Racing Act to require consent of a receiving track’s 

horsemen’s association. The national president 

of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, 

John Roark, also has expressed concern, 

saying that while he is all for live racing -- 

which the New Jersey horsemen say is their primary 

motivation in getting Rep. Frank Pallone to 

introduce the bill -- the proposed amendment could 

give off-track horsemen’s groups “a trump card” 

over horsemen at the originating host track. The 

bill has been referred to the House Subcommittee 

on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. 

MAGNA ON THE MOVE, AGAIN 

Magna Entertainment is proposing another major 

racing/entertainment center, this one at the site of 

its Golden Gate property in Albany and Berkeley, 

California. Magna is proposing replacing and relocating 

the Golden Gate stable area and building 

a 300,000 square-feet commercial, retail and entertainment 

facility; a 300,000 square-feet event 

center for 10,000; a new parking structure; and a 

100,000 square-feet expansion of its simulcasting 

facility. Hotels also could be part of the overall 

package. The proposal has triggered a review by 

the two communities that is expected to take two 

or three years. 

SUPREME COURT FOR COHEN? 

Jay Cohen, the former operator of an off-track 

betting site in Antigua, has petitioned to have his 

1990 New York conviction on violation of the Interstate 

Wire Act reviewed by the United States 

Supreme Court. He has enlisted major legal aid, 

being represented by the powerful Washington 

D.C. law firm of Jenner and Block.





CHICAGO MERGER ON TRACK 

The proposed merger of Sportsman’s Park and 

Hawthorne Race Course, the nation’s only backto-back 

racetracks, is progressing, according to 

Hawthorne’s director of operations, HTA director 

Tom Carey III. Carey told Jim O’Donnell of the 

Chicago Sun-Times that “everything is fluid, moving 

forward, the exchanges are all positive, and I 

am convinced we will move into the dates hearing 

as a single racing entity.” There still are significant 

hurdles to clear, however, including legislation 

to allow Sportsman’s National Jockey Club to 

retain certain tax entitlements, potential riverboat 

royalties and rights to OTB licenses in the Chicago 

area. 

TAKEOUT HIKE ABANDONED 

The idea of having California track patrons pay 

part of the cost of increased workers’ compensation 

premiums has been abandoned. Jack Liebau, 

director of Magna Entertainment’s racing operations 

at Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields and Bay 

Meadows, said that strong negative reaction to 

the idea of increasing takeout has led to an alternative 

plan, diverting monies from funds already 

in existence for vanning and stabling and marketing. 

That idea requires legislative approval, however, 

and Blood-Horse reports Liebau as saying 

“It’s hard to get the legislature to hear us right 

now. They’ve got their attention on their own budget.” 

THE CATS MEOW AT POMPANO 

There will be a new type of fund raiser at Pompano 

Park tomorrow night, when vets, horse owners 

and track personnel compete in a 9 Lives miniature 

horse race to raise money for -- we’re serious 

-- cats on the backstretch. More than 

$1,000 has already been raised to pay vets 

to test, immunize, spay and neuter the cats. 

Kids will benefit, too, with free rides behind 

Pompano’s miniature horses. 


BIG MAC ATTACK IN ONTARIO 

The McIntosh brothers -- Bob and Doug -- are 

raising havoc in Ontario stakes competition. Sunday 

at Windsor Raceway, Lady Graceful and Miss 

Frizzle, both trained by Bob McIntosh, finished 1- 

2 in the $130,000 Gold Series final for 3-year-old 

pacing fillies. Saturday, at Western Fair Raceway 

in London, Ryan Hall and Semper Fi Hall, both 

trained by Bob’s older brother Doug, finished 1-2 

in the $130,000 final for 3-year-old trotting colts. 

It’s a Cam Lie, trained by Bob, won a division of 

the Ontario Grassroots Series for 3-year-old pacers 

yesterday at Dresden Raceway, and last Friday 

I’m a Camedian and Watering Hole, two more 

Bob McIntosh trainees, won Grassroots divisions 

at Elmira Raceway. While all of this was going on, 

Trainforthefuture, also trained by Bob McIntosh, 

won the $170,513 Dexter Cup at Freehold Raceway 

in New Jersey. 

SWIATEK GETTING MAJOR INK 

If pre-event publicity means anything, HTA’s 

former president John Swiatek has a winner with 

his Washington Wild Things, a class A Frontier 

League newcomer that plays its first regular season 

game tomorrow in a new 3,200-seat field in 

North Franklin, near Pittsburgh. The game, 

against the Canton, Ohio, Coyotes sold out 47 minutes 

after ticket sales began. Swiatek, former vice 

president of Ladbroke Racing Pennsylvania, which 

owned The Meadows before Magna Entertainment 

bought the track, is managing partner of the 

Wild Things. He and other investors from Washington, 

PA, bought and relocated the team, formerly 

known as the Canton Crocodiles. Another 

group of Ohio investors then bought the London, 

Ontario, Werewolves and relocated them to Canton 

as the Coyotes. Swiatek says his team has 

sold the equivalent of 1,300 to 1,400 season 

ticket plans which range from $210 to $420 

each, and he hopes to draw 2,200 to 2,400 

for each home game.





STILL HOPING FOR VARENNE 

Although his connections in Italy have announced 

an all-European schedule for Varenne for the summer, 

with a return trip to Hippodrome de Montreal 

to defend his Trot Mondial crown Sept. 28, officials 

at the Meadowlands still have hopes the 

world’s best trotter may return there for the 

$800,000 Breeders Crown, which he won last year 

with one of the great performances of the season. 

Hambletonian Society president and CEO Tom 

Charters, who spoke to Varenne’s owners and 

trainer in Stockholm last Sunday, where Varenne 

won Sweden’s Elitlopp for the second year in a row, 

said, “We were told by trainer Jori Turja that their 

final decision will be made after the $200,000 

UNIRE World Cup at San Siro in Milan June 25.” 

Meadowlands vice president and general manger 

(and HTA president) Chris McErlean noted that if 

Varenne competed in the Breeders Crown July 27 

and the $500,000 Nat Ray the following week, he 

would have the opportunity to set trotting’s all-time 

earning record and possibly break the 1:51 barrier, 

something no trotter has ever done. Varenne 

currently has won 57 of 67 career starts and 

$5,262,127, second only to Moni Maker’s record 

$5,589,256. 

MERGER BILL PASSES SENATE 

The Illinois Senate has passed a bill, and sent it to 

the House, that would permit Sportsman’s Park 

and Hawthorne Race Course to merge. If the measure 

clears the House and is signed into law by 

Gov. George Ryan, it could result in eight months 

of racing at Hawthorne. There also was unwelcome 

Senate news for Chicago-area tracks, however. 

Republicans shuffled Ryan’s budget plan and voted 

30-26, the minimum needed, to strip millions from 

the Chicago teachers’ pension fund, city colleges 

and a regional transportation system, and 

replace it with higher casino taxes but 

hundreds of new slots for four Chicago-area 

casinos. 


One Democratic senator called it “punishment to 

Cook county and the city of Chicago,” and the 

move seemed certain to precipitate strong reaction 

in the Democratic controlled House. 

ELSEWHERE IN RACING..... 

Dire times in Detroit and MICHIGAN, where 

handle on horse racing dropped almost $25 million 

last year, from $399.3 million in 2000 to $374.5 

million last year, the lowest level since simulcasting 

was introduced six years ago. Northville Downs 

and Hazel Park Harness were the two tracks hardest 

hit. Despite that drop, racing commissioner 

Annette Bacola said companies continued to express 

interest in building a thoroughbred track in 

Detroit, which currently is without one. “In the last 

few months,” Mrs. Bacola said, “viable companies 

have come to me to talk about a track license 

in Detroit, and Magna was one of them.”......in 

CALIFORNIA, a federal judge has awarded 

trainer BOB BAFFERT $102,780 for legal expenses 

incurred in defending himself against the 

California Horse Racing Board on the positive 

morphine test back in May of 2000. If War Emblem 

wins the Belmont a week from Saturday and 

picks up $5.6 million in purse and bonus, it will be 

a good fortnight for the white-haired wonder........in 

KENTUCKY, the Blood-Horse reports that unless 

a two-year budget is in place by July 1, harness 

and thoroughbred tracks in the state will lose tax 

breaks, which could mean as much as $800,000 to 

Churchill Downs.......the recent mixed card at the 

MEADOWLANDS, with two thoroughbred races 

preceding the regular harness card, brought a reminder 

from PLAINRIDGE RACE COURSE of 

another interesting experiment conducted at that 

HTA member seven years ago. The track offered 

a coast-to-coast mixed daily double, with the first 

race a live harness race at Foxboro and the second 

a running race from Del Mar in California.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor May 30, 2002 

POMPANO SUES FLORIDA 

As all concerned know, simulcasting plays a major 

role in the life and times of race tracks these days. 

So much so, in the case of Pompano Park, that the 

track has filed suit against the state of Florida and 

its Department of Business and Professional Regulations, 

Division of Pari-Mutuel wagering, for forcing 

the track and Gulfstream Park to suspend the 

cross-breed simulcasting agreement the two tracks 

had entered in March. The tracks had agreed to 

exchange their live racing simulcasts and races 

from other harness and thoroughbred tracks 

across North America, and actually began the exchange 

before the Division of Pari-Mutuel wagering 

ordered them to stop, which they did. 

Pompano’s general manager, Dick Feinberg, says, 

“When we entered into our agreement with 

Gulfstream Park, we thought we had a compelling 

legal argument and clear statutory authority to 

exchange signals. We continue to think so, and are 

looking forward to our day in court.” 

In another Florida development, the state’s governor, 

Jeb Bush, pausing between visits to the oval 

office of his better known brother to buy offshore 

oil rights from wealthy companies, vetoed a measure 

to help find homes for struggling greyhounds 

(and at the same time extend gambling hours and 

limits for Florida’s dog tracks). The bill started as 

an aid to dog racing’s greyhound adoption program, 

but also included expansion of card room 

hours and the amounts that could be bet. Opponents 

of greyhound racing, including members of 

the Massachusetts-based Grey2K, objected loudly 

to the measure and applauded the veto. A lobbyist 

for south Florida dog tracks claimed the veto could 

cause some tracks to close, but Bush said his decision 

was consistent with his longstanding 

view that an expansion of gambling is bad 

public policy. 

DOWN AND DIRTY IN ILLINOIS 

The long awaited hearing over licensing or 

nonlicensing of the Emerald Casino project in 

Chicago’s suburban Rosemont finally got underway 

yesterday, and lived up to its billing as a theater 

for nastiness. Gaming board lawyers said 

Emerald’s owners created “a virtual culture of dishonesty,” 

and ensured the infiltration of organized 

crime into its operation. A lawyer for the Emerald 

group said the allegations of mob influence was 

patently false, and called it “a shameless, outrageous, 

vile allegation without any support whatsoever.” 

He said the case was based on “abuse of 

power, revenge, bias and profiteering.” And that 

was just for openers. In a two-hour opening statement, 

Emerald’s lawyer, Michael Ficaro, said 

Emerald CEO Kevin Flynn and his father, former 

Waste Management executive Donald Flynn, 

should not be penalized because casino stock was 

sold to two people allegedly linked to organized 

crime. “Do we have to check out the guy who delivers 

pizza to the construction site?” he asked 

sarcastically. “After all, he might be associated 

with someone who is associated with someone who 

ate spaghetti with a member of organized crime.” 

The Gaming Board’s lawyer, Robert E. Shapiro, 

had a different view. “The evidence will reveal,” 

he told administrative law judge Herbert L. 

Holzman, who is conducting the hearing, “a corporate 

culture so arrogant Emerald Casino never 

found a regulation they felt they had to comply 

with.” 

HTA REPORTS ON LEGAL CASES 

HTA’s May executive report, presenting five recent 

legal developments of interest and importance 

to all track executives, is online today in the members’ 

section of HTA’s Web site, 

www.harnesstracks.com. The report, by HTA 

general counsel Paul Estok, can be downloaded 

from the site, but also is being mailed 

to HTA directors and track legal counsel.





INTERNET BILL ON CALENDAR 

The American Horse Council says the Goodlatte 

Internet prohibition bill (H.R. 3215) is on the Judiciary 

committee calendar this week, and probably 

will be considered on Thursday. That leaves 

time to contact members of the committee, if not 

already done, to let them know your views on 

the importance of preserving the racing provisions 

of the bill, and opposition to the Cannon 

amendment that would eliminate them. For our 

members, that means Congressmen Ric Keller 

and Robert Wexler in Florida; Henry Hyde, 

John Hostettler and Mike Pence, Illinois; Barney 

Frank, William Delahunt and Marty Meehan, 

Massachusetts; John Conyers Jr., Michigan; 

Jerrold Nadler and Anthony David Weiner, New 

York; Steve Chabot, Ohio; and George W. Gekas 

and Melissa A. Hart in Pennsylvania. 

ANOTHER FLAW FOR EMERALD 

The Illinois General Assembly concluded its twoday 

weekend budget session yesterday, and 

tacked another nail in the legislative coffin of the 

beleaguered Emerald Casino project in 

Chicago’s suburban Rosemont. A bill had been 

introduced in the Illinois Senate which would 

have given control of the license to the state and 

permitted the state to put the license up at auction 

with a minimum bid of $500 million. That 

bill, had it passed, would have enabled some 

original investors to recoup their investments, but 

it was defeated in the Senate 30 to 21. So the 

battle of Rosemont goes on, with the state gaming 

board holding firm on not licensing or giving 

any recuperative breaks to the Flynn family, 

major investors in the project, contending they 

lied to state investigators. Charges of alleged ties 

to organized crime also are a factor in the 

board’s hard stand on the issue. As for 

the Illinois budget, the Assembly tossed 

the ball to Gov. George Ryan, passing new 

taxes on cigarettes and riverboat casinos. 

June 3, 2002 

PHONE BETS ILLEGAL IN NEB. 

The Nebraska Supreme Court declared phone 

betting at its five state tracks illegal last Friday, 

agreeing with the state’s attorney general, who 

had challenged the 1992 law passed by the legislature. 

The AG’s office had argued that when 

Nebraska voters approved pari-mutuel betting 

68 years ago the amendment to the state constitution 

specified that “the wagering which may 

be allowed...is limited to wagering that takes 

place inside the confines of a racetrack.” Nebraska 

tracks noted that courts elsewhere had 

held that since telephone bets are recorded at a 

track, that technically fufilled the constitutional 

requirement, but the Supreme Court brushed 

that aside and agreed with the attorney general. 

The AG also had argued that a majority of Nebraska 

citizens wanted to maintain the 1934 status 

quo, pointing out that they had voted against 

off-track betting in the state in 1995. The legislature 

had approved telephone wagering and 

OTB ten years ago, but OTB was declared unconstitutional 

in 1994 and voters rejected the idea 

a year later. 

OHIO LEGISLATORS NIX VLTS 

They didn’t exactly vote against them, they just 

ignored them. That was the fate of track VLTs 

in Ohio last week, but their principal backer, 

Senator Louis Blessing, says that by next January 

1 “we will introduce and pass a VLT bill.” 

The Ohio legislature took the same route as Illinois, 

imposing sharp increases on cigarette taxes 

to raise money, but Blessing doesn’t think that 

will solve Ohio’s budget crisis and he says there 

is no way that an income tax will be passed. 

TWO MILLIONAIRES RETIRED 

Two millionaire pacing warhorses have been retired. 

Principal owner David Scharf has announced 

that Red Bow Tie, winner of $2.6 

million, and Riverboat King, winner of 

$1.2 million, have raced their last miles.





TUMULT IN ILLINOIS GAMING 

There are some very unhappy people in Illinois 

these days. Riverboat and casino operators for 

openers. Some of them, like MGM Mirage, said 

they are pulling out, forgetting about spending 

$600 million or more to enter the Chicago casino 

derby. All this occurred after the state 

legislature’s action Sunday in raising progressive 

tax rates on riverboat gambling from 35% 

of revenue over $100 million to 50% over $200 

million, and increasing admission taxes to the 

boats from $2 to $3, without allowing more slots 

and table games. Casino stock shares fell sharply 

on Wall Street yesterday, ranging from losses of 

6.4% for Mandalay to 20% for Argosy, and by 

day’s end there was talk of legal action from the 

Illinois Casino Gaming Association. If Gov. 

George Ryan signs the bill, the increases would 

take effect July 1, and the governor did not seem 

intimidated by the threats of lawsuits. His 

spokesman said the governor believes the tax increases 

could withstand any sort of constitutional 

challenge, and is prepared to defend the actions. 

Things were no better for the embattled Emerald 

Casino. The Illinois Gaming Board flatly 

turned down its request for a new administrative 

law judge in the licensing hearing currently 

underway, and also denied the casino’s appeal 

to disqualify the Gaming Board chairman from 

voting in the matter. 

There were some lumps for horse racing, too. 

The Sunday afternoon massacre saw the temporary 

death by neglect of the proposed merger of 

Sportsman’s Park and Hawthorne Race Course, 

with intertrack squabbling -- not unusual in 

Chicago -- hastening the demise. The legislature 

not only failed to act on that but also on the Illinois 

budget, so it will continue in session. 

Chances for new measures now grow slimmer, 

since a supermajority will be needed to 

pass legislation. 


NYOTBS WANT NIGHT RUNNERS 

Buffalo, NY, racing writer Tom Precious, writing 

for Blood-Horse, reports that an unidentified “OTB 

official” says the state’s OTBs are running out of 

patience and want New York legislators to allow 

them to carry thoroughbred signals at night. “We 

think this is good for everyone. It’s not to be 

greedy, but to make life better for everybody,” the 

unnamed source told Precious. Everybody who? 

Everybody in OTB? Everybody in harness racing? 

The sport was guaranteed protection under 

hold harmless provisions when OTB came into 

being 31 years ago. The unidentified OTB official 

told Precious, “We’ve really been very, very 

patient.” So have we, waiting for some of those 

hold harmless provisions to kick in. We would hate 

to lose what we still have left, which are the nights, 

without some generous form of compensation for 

giving up that exclusivity. 

A DANGEROUS MIRACLE? 

Among the salves, ointments, notions, potions , 

preparations and beyond used on race horses, 

one has been singled out by the federal government 

as potentially dangerous, and ordered recalled. 

It is Miracle Leg Paint, marketed by the 

Equine Miracle Corporation of Grapeland, 

Texas. The Federal Drug Adminstration says the 

substance, used for the punishing old practice of 

‘blistering’ a lame horse’s legs, contains a mercuric 

chloride agent. Mercury is toxic and can 

cause illness and even death in humans. The FDA 

began investigating after an Alabama vet reported 

the death and autopsy of a horse that died 

after application of Miracle Leg Paint. No direct 

link has been proved, but the FDA is investigating, 

and says Equine Miracle was selling an 

unapproved drug. Georgia Brown, the co-owner 

of the company with her husband, was angry that 

the FDA had not notified her earlier, but 

agreed to the recall.





MAGNA BUYING FLAMBORO 

Charlie Juravinski, who has performed somersaults 

in winner’s circles from the Meadowlands 

to Woodbine, has real cause to do one now....and 

cartwheels as well. Frank Stronach’s Magna Entertainment 

has agreed to buy Juravinski’s racetrack, 

Flamboro Downs, for $47 million (U.S.). The 

move, in a sense, completes a racing circle for 

Stronach, who left the then Ontario Jockey Club 

in disagreement a few years back and now, after a 

wild buying spree of major and minor tracks in the 

U.S., returns to Ontario with his first Canadian 

acquisition. Stronach says his purchase of 

Flamboro “represents another important step in 

MEC’s program of expanding its North American 

racing operations,” and Juravinski says he thinks 

Magna will be able to fulfill his vision of making 

Flamboro a major tourist and family destination. 

“I have the vision, but I don’t have the energy,” 

says Juravinski, who says he is “in my 73d year.” 

He says he can see Magna adding a hotel complex 

and perhaps a spa at the 230-acre site he and 

his wife, who own Flamboro under their Flamboro 

Downs Holding Ltd., are selling. In addition to 

the property and the track, Magna will get its share 

of revenue from the 750 slot machines operated 

at Flamboro by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming 

corporation, along with seven off-track betting sites 

operated by Flamboro. Last year’s handle at the 

track was $140 million Canadian, with 260 programs 

year-round. The sale involves $21 million 

in cash and assumption of a $21 million mortgage. 

Flamboro’s record handle came on August 27, 

1995, when the track handled $1,033,538, and its 

attendance record of 8,282 was set on August 28, 

1988. It’s major race, the $600,000 Confederation 

Cup, attracts some of the sport’s best 3-yearold 

pacers. The half-mile track, which opened in 

1975, is located on Highway 5 in Dundas, 

Ontario, some 45 miles from Toronto. 


ARIZONA SLOTS TO VOTERS 

With the governor and the president of the state 

senate taking bitterly opposing views on the issue 

of gaming in Arizona, the state’s Indians have 

taken the matter in their own hands and are bypassing 

the politicians and going straight to the 

voting public. Gov. Jane Hull wanted gaming restricted 

to the state’s Indian casinos. Senate president 

Randall Gnant -- who campaigned on the platform 

of taking politics out of politics -- wanted the 

state’s racetracks to share in having slots, and 

blocked Hull’s bill. Now the Colorado River tribes 

in western Arizona have filed nearly 30 boxes of 

petitions, with 165,222 signatures, aiming to put 

the measure before voters in November. If 101,762 

of the signatures are validated by the secretary of 

state’s office, they will get their wish. 

YOUBET ON THE MOVE 

Youbet.com’s new CEO, David Marshall, is losing 

no time in moving his company forward with aggressive 

marketing. He announced a licensing deal 

with Winnercomm, which controls horse racing content 

on ESPN.com, that could put live odds and 

online audio and video streaming of selected races 

on that carrier as early as the end of this week, 

and also announced a co-marketing content agreement 

with the California Authority of Racing Fairs, 

better known as CARF. That group conducts racing 

meetings at county fairs at San Joaquin, 

Alameda, Solono, Sonoma, Humboldt and San 

Mateo, as well as the California State Fair and 

Fresno District Fair. Marshall said the California 

fair agreement will provide broad Youbet.com exposure 

on CARF tracks and on its simulcast signals, 

and he said the Winnercomm deal could generate 

7,000 to 9,000 unique visitors to Youbet.com’s 

Web site. “This is right in line with the new marketing 

philosophy we adopted six months ago of 

working with industry partners to attract new 

fans to the sport,” Marshall said.





HERVE FILION RETURNS 

The world’s leading race winner in horse racing of 

any breed -- Herve Filion -- returns from six and 

one-half years of exile next week, intent at 62 on 

reaching the 15,000-victory plateau. Filion, out of 

action in New York and New Jersey, is being 

granted a one-year conditional license in Pennsylvania, 

and will return to racing, probably at Pocono 

Downs. Filion was involved in a 1995 situation at 

Yonkers Raceway, where recorded telephone calls 

with an owner, Danny Kramer, were interpreted 

to attach him to illegal betting schemes there. 

Filion told Dave Little of the New York Daily News 

that “I have no guilt about the calls. The guy asked 

me about a couple of races and I ‘yessed’ him to 

death. I did not advise him about anything to do 

with betting on races.” Those charges were dismissed 

after five years of legal bickering, and after 

Filion pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor income 

tax charge. Regulators in New York and New Jersey 

then denied him a license on “character and 

general fitness” grounds. The New York Racing 

and Wagering Board denied him a license on Feb. 

2, 2001, and New Jersey also declined to license 

him. The New York board again denied him a license 

in late November, 2001, and Filion appealed 

and turned to Pennsylvania. Anton Leppler, executive 

director of the Pennsylvania Harness Racing 

Commission, told TIMES:in harness that “after 

careful inquiry and investigation, we could not 

find any reason not to grant him a license. We 

honor reciprocity, but when a case is under appeal, 

as it is New York now, we feel reciprocity does not 

apply.” Filion, elected to harness racing’s Hall of 

Fame in 1975, has won 14,783 races -- over 4,000 

more than any driver or jockey in horse racing -- 

and he was harness racing’s leading race-winning 

driver 15 years and Harness Tracks of 

America’s Driver of the Year 10 times. No 

other driver has won that honor more than 

three times. 


Filion’s appeal in New York will be heard July 17. 

Herve says he can’t wait to return to driving, and 

added that he thinks he has “three to five good 

years left.” No one who watched him and his phenomenal 

talents during his glory years would doubt 

it. 

COMING SOON: AN EPO TEST 

Reports have been spreading quietly through the 

scientific community in racing in recent weeks that 

a test was close at hand for the blood-enhancer 

erythropoietin, or EPO. They became public news 

today when Matt Hegarty wrote about them in 

Daily Racing Form. Hegarty reports that joint 

research by Dr. George Maylin at Cornell, Dr. Ken 

McKeever at Rutgers in New Jersey, and by Dr. 

Phil Lorimer of the New Jersey State Police laboratory, 

has resulted in detecting antibodies produced 

by a horse’s immune system in response to 

EPO administration. Hegarty reports that a second 

test, using transferin receptors that help transport 

minerals, also is in development. checking 

levels that rise and stay elevated for weeks after 

administration. If there are tremors in racing’s 

training community, regardless of breed, it is understandable, 

and it could herald the much discussed 

“more level playing field” for racing. In a 

related development at Belmont Park, the NYRA 

overnight sheet alerted horsemen to the fact that 

possession of blood-doping agents such as EPO, 

Procrit and Aranesp “is strictly forbidden,” since 

they have no legitimate value in racetrack practice. 

NYRA’s chief operating officer, Terry 

Meyocks, said regulators would continue conducting 

spot checks of trainers and veterinarians. He 

also said all horses on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes 

card would be required to be on the grounds at 

Belmont by 8 a.m. instead of noon. Both moves 

are encouraging signs of a new day dawning, and 

the introduction of the EPO test is awaited 

eagerly.





ONE DOWN IN INDIANA 

The Indiana House yesterday afternoon approved, 

by a narrow 51-47 vote, its complex budget bill 

that includes 700 slot-like pull-tab machines for 

tracks and OTBs, and sent it to the Senate, where 

it faces an uncertain fate. In a move that is hard 

to evaluate as to consequences, the chairman of 

the House Ways and Means committee, Democrat 

B. Patrick Bauer, chose senator Robert 

Meeks, rather than longtime Senate Finance chairman 

Larry Borst, to shepherd the bill through the 

Republican-controlled Senate. Borst, whose attitude 

toward the bill, at least in these quarters, is 

enigmatic, still will have an opportunity to fine tune 

the bill when his finance committee considers it. 

Asked why he chose Meeks rather than Borst -- 

who has been a key figure in all racing legislation 

in Indiana -- to handle the bill in the Senate, Bauer 

said, “We’re in deep, deep trouble, and we do have 

to act now.” If the big budget bill, designed to help 

Indiana out of a serious budget crisis, passes the 

Senate in the form approved by the House, Hoosier 

Park and Indianapolis Downs and off-track 

betting parlors in Indianapolis and Marion county 

would receive 700 pull-tab machines each. Indiana 

governor Frank O’Bannon termed yesterday’s 

House vote “a win for Hoosiers” and warned that 

if he doesn’t receive a bill to consider by the end 

of this month, he will call the legislature back for 

another 40-day special session until he gets one. 

NO GOODLATTE VOTE...AGAIN 

The expected House Judiciary committee vote on 

Virginia congressman Bob Goodlatte’s Internet 

gambling prohibition bill was postponed again yesterday, 

this time at the request of Goodlatte. He 

said consensus had been reached and, speaking 

of Indian opposition to the bill, said it was n o t 

designed to put all gambling on the same 

footing. 


RUNNERS AT FLAMBORO? 

The Hamilton, Ontario, Spectator, quoting Magna 

Entertainment’s vice president and chief financial 

officer Graham Orr, says runners might 

be added to the menu at the half-mile Ontario track 

MEC is buying from owner Charlie Juravinski for 

$47 million (U.S.). Orr told the newspaper’s Jennifer 

Chiu “There may be an opportunity to run 

standardbred and thoroughbred (meetings) in the 

future. We are not certain at this point.” Orr said 

it was too premature to say how Flamboro might 

be changed, which would seem a requisite to accommodate 

runners. 

BIG RACES THIS WEEKEND 

War Emblem and the Belmont hold center stage 

without reservation, but some major rich races are 

on tap in harness racing this weekend as well. At 

The Meadowlands, four $250,000 finals of the 

Classic Series for older horses and two $50,000 

New Jersey Sire Stakes for 3-year-old pacing colts 

anchor a rich million-dollar plus card. Camotion is 

favored in the Pacing Classic for older pacers; 

Casual Breeze is the favorite in the Classic Oaks 

for trotting mares; Plesac is a narrow top choice 

over Lyell Creek in the Trotting Classic; and 2001 

Horse of the Year Bunny Lake has been installed 

as morning line favorite for the Classic Distaff for 

pacers, despite a slow start this season. 

In Cleveland, Northfield Park’s Miller Lite Cleveland 

Classic has been split into two $111,100 divisions, 

with full fields of eight in each. Noble Cam 

is favored in the first, a narrow choice over Henry 

Clay, and Western Maverick is the 8-5 favorite in 

the second division. Attesting to his popularity at 

Northfield, champion driver Walter Case Jr. was 

named on four of eight horses in the first division 

before choosing Noble Cam. Purses total more 

than $420,000 for the 13-race card.





RACING MARKS TIED & BROKEN 

Plesac and Emma Hanover won the $250,000 

Classic Series Finals on Saturday night at the 

Meadowlands, with Plesac establishing a new 

North American race record, while Life Source, 

who equaled a North American race record, and 

Bunny Lake, also won in Classic Series action. 

Plesac covered 1 1/16th miles in 2:00, setting a 

North American record for the distance, with a onelength 

victory over Lyell Creek N in the $250,000 

Trotting Classic. It was another neck back to 

Magician in third. The Illinois horse of the year, 

named for Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dan Plesac, 

claimed the lead before the half and kept Magician 

in the pocket while Lyell Creek N was sent firstover. 

“I don’t know if he was better than last week, 

but I raced him a different trip--on top,” said Mike 

Lachance, who was also behind Plesac in a comefrom-behind 

win last week. “He was awesome...a 

pleasure to drive.” It was Plesac’s fourth win in 

10 starts this year. The 5-year-old son of Armbro 

Charger owned by Richard Balog of Saint Charles, 

Ill., has banked $1,735,531 lifetime. 

In the $250,000 Classic Oaks Final, Emma 

Hanover equaled Fern’s former North American 

record of 2:01.1 for the 1 1/16th mile distance, 

broken on Sunday by Plesac, winning by three 

quarters of a length over Dresden Dolly in a four 

mare dash to the wire. The Jimmy Takter-trained 

Emma Hanover, a 4-year-old Donerail mare now 

has one win, four seconds and two thirds in nine 

starts this year, and career earnings of $239,923. 

In the $250,000 Pacing Classic, Life Source found 

room in the stretch and caught 2-5 shot Camotion 

for a one-length victory in 1:57.1, matching the 

North American Race record for 1 1/16th miles 

set by Big Tom. LCB was third by one 

and a half lengths. Life Source, a 5-year- 


old gelded son of Life Sign, picked up his sixth win 

in 16 starts this year, pushing his career bankroll 

to $522,635. 

In the $250,000 Classic Distaff Final, 4-year-old 

Bunny Lake paced the 1 1/16th mile in a stakes 

and track record of 1:58, finishing three quarters 

of a length ahead of Milly Can Do It. Bunny Lake, 

who had won 19 of 21 starts last year and is the 

reigning Harness Horse of the Year, was slow to 

regain her form against a formidable division of 

older pacing mares in 2002. She had two seconds 

and two thirds in her first five starts of the year. 

Bunny Lake, who has earned $1,585,744 for W. 

Springtime Racing Stable and trainer-driver John 

Stark Jr., will be making her next start in this 

coming Friday night’s eliminations for the Lady 

Liberty at the Meadowlands. 

In racing news from Woodbine, Real Desire 

showed he is back in ideal form -- and in a 

breathtaking manner. In just the second start of 

his highly anticipated 4-year-old campaign, the 

multimillionaire pacer tied Woodbine’s all-age 

track record of 1:48.3 in Saturday evening’s 

$60,000 free for all event. Real Desire, the 2001 

Meadowlands Pace and Breeders Crown 

champion, now has lifetime earnings of $2,130,024. 

NO CROWN FOR WAR EMBLEM 

In New York, War Emblem, winner of this year’s 

Kentucky Derby and Preakness, failed in his bid 

to become thoroughbred racing’s 12th Triple 

Crown winner when he finished a well-beaten 

eighth in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. The race 

attracted a record crowd of more than 103,000. 

Conspicuous by his absence was War Emblem’s 

owner, Saudi Arabian Prince Ahmed bin Salman, 

who reportedly watched the race on cable 

television in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.





ADVERSE RULING FOR AQHA 

A Texas judge reaffirmed an earlier ruling that 

found one of the American Quarter Horse 

Association’s breeding rules violated Texas 

antitrust laws and hampered industry competition. 

Horse breeders sought to overturn the rule, which 

limits foal registration. After reviewing issues in 

the case, Judge Pat Pirtle said in a letter to 

attorneys that he will stick by his earlier pre-trial 

decision. “The rule is an unreasonable restraint 

of trade which violates the Texas Free Enterprise 

and Anti-Trust Act of 1983,” Pirtle said. A group 

of Texas horse breeders had sued the AQHA in 

June 2000 in an attempt to quash an association 

rule limiting the number of foals a breeder can 

register annually. Pirtle had sided with the breeders 

in his December ruling. An embryo produced by 

one mare is placed inside a surrogate mare through 

embryo transfer. That mare then produces a foal. 

Papers filed in the lawsuit had contended that 

several embryo-transferred foals, the offspring of 

AQHA-registered stallions and mares, are 

ineligible for registration because of the rule. 

Horse breeders had argued that numerous 

superiorly bred, embryo-transfer horses, the 

offspring of AQHA-registered stallions and mares, 

were ineligible for registration because of the rule. 

NEW ALBANY LAW WEB SITE 

Albany Law School’s racing and wagering law 

program has a new presence on the school’s Web 

site. The new Web page at http://www.als.edu/glc/ 

wagering provides information about charitable 

wagering, lottery issues, Indian gaming, 

commercial casinos and horse racing. It also 

features links to state and federal gambling 

legislation and court cases. In addition to the new 

Web page, a daily update on New York and 

national racing and wagering issues 

appears at http://www.geocities.com/ 

nywagering. The racing and wagering 


program grew out of a conference on racing and 

wagering law sponsored by Albany Law School’s 

Government Law Center. 

PUBLIC LIFE FOR USTA’S CRAMER 

The indefatigable Carol Cramer, who for many 

years has been an expert on stakes racing as 

editor of the USTA’s Stakes Guide, is now going 

to be an expert on politics. Cramer was recently 

appointed to the Bloomingburg, Ohio, Village 

Council by mayor Jim Babian to fill a vacant but 

unexpired term of office. Cramer has lived all her 

life in the Ohio town located south of Columbus, 

populated by 800 people and 400 horses -- most of 

them harness horses at Midland Acres. Cramer’s 

father, Clyde B. Cramer, was mayor of 

Bloomingburg in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 

LOOKING TO RE-ENTER RACING 

An experienced business executive and harness 

and thoroughbred racing executive who possesses 

a broad understanding of the various interest 

groups within the racing industry is seeking to reenter 

racing after several years pursuing ventures 

outside the sport. Those with an interest in such 

an individual can contact Stan Bergstein at HTA 

(520-529-2525) for additional resume and contact 

details. 

VARENNE TO BE SYNDICATED 

The world’s best trotter, Varenne, is going to be 

syndicated, but only for breeding purposes. Plans 

are to sell 70 shares priced at about $63,000 for 

lifetime breeding rights. Reports indicate that 40 

shares will be sold in Europe and 30 will be sold in 

the U.S. On the commercial market, frozen semen 

from Varenne will be sold for a fee of about 

$13,230. Italian sources say that Varenne will 

continue to race but will have his semen 

collected in Oct. and Nov.





AHC ADDRESSES IHA CHANGES 

Members of the American Horse Council’s Racing 

Advisory Committee on Tuesday voted to oppose 

the Pallone amendment to the Interstate 

Horseracing Act of 1978 (IHA). (See HTA 

Executive Newsletter of May 15, 2002.) The 

amendment would have required an additional 

approval (by the horsemen’s organization of the 

same breed as the simulcast in the receiving 

jurisdiction) for interstate simulcasting. Committee 

members agreed that any possible changes to the 

IHA should be discussed fully and openly by all 

segments of the racing industry before such 

changes are proposed to Congress. Since the 

Pallone legislation had not been discussed 

industry-wide, the committee voted to oppose the 

legislation. In addition, the committee agreed that 

issues not currently dealt with by the IHA might 

best be handled at the state level or contractually. 

AQHA SUIT SETTLED 

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) 

reached an out-of-court settlement Tuesday that 

will allow horse breeders to register embryo-transfer 

foals, according to the Associated Press. (For 

more on the case see the HTA Executive Newsletter 

of June 11, 2002.) Attorneys involved in the 

settlement said the AQHA agreed to amend its 

rules, and horse breeders agreed to drop millions 

of dollars in damage claims against the association. 

District Judge Pat Pirtle approved the deal 

that requires the AQHA to pay $550,000 in legal 

fees. In 2000, several horse breeders sued the 

AQHA, saying the association would not register 

numerous superiorly bred, embryo-transferred 

horses, a rule that seriously damaged the value of 

their horses. Under the AQHA’s embryo-tranfer 

rule, a mare could only produce one foal per 

year eligible for AQHA registration. By 

transferring embryos from one mare to a 

surrogate, a breeder can produce multiple 


foals per year, but only one foal was eligible for 

AQHA registration each year. Under the settlement, 

the AQHA agreed to change its rules effective 

immediately. The AQHA said any foals produced 

by the embryo-transfer technique will be eligible 

for registration if they meet other registration 

requirements. 

PRAIRIE WINS BIG TAX CASE 

A split Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday struck 

down a state law that taxes land-based casinos 

more heavily than floating riverboat gambling operations. 

The decision could punch an $8 million 

hole in an already strapped state budget. “The 

essence of the tax is that it treats racetrack slot 

machines differently than riverboat slot machines,” 

the court said. “Where the same activity is being 

taxed at significantly different rates, a mere difference 

in location is not sufficient to uphold the 

discriminatory tax.” Dissenters in the 4-3 decision 

argued that the legislature ought to be free to 

structure a tax system as it sees fit. Under state 

law, riverboat casinos initially paid a tax of 20 percent 

on receipts over $3 million, since raised to 22 

percent. Casinos located at racetracks are currently 

taxed at a 32 percent rate that is scheduled 

to increase to 36 percent. The court ordered that 

both forms of gambling be taxed at 22 percent. 

LIVERMAN TO CANADIAN HALL 

Prominent Canadian harness owner and breeder 

Irving Liverman has been elected to the Canadian 

Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Liverman, who will 

be inducted at a ceremony in Toronto on Aug. 29, 

is one of four additions on the harness racing side, 

along with horseman William (Bud) Fritz and horses 

Staying Together and Super Wave. Thoroughbred 

inductees include owner and breeder (and racetrack 

owner) Frank Stronach, trainer Mac Benson, 

jockey Ted Atkinson and racehorse Chief 

Bearhart.





TVG BUYS INTO YOUBET.COM 

Youbet.com, the online live event and wagering 

company, today announced that TVG, the subsidiary 

of Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. and 

the 24-hour interactive horse racing network available 

nationwide on cable and satellite systems, has 

exercised its first warrant to purchase 3,884,650 

shares at $.001 per share. The purchase represents 

approximately 16.6 percent of the number 

of Youbet.com common shares outstanding after 

giving effect to the exercise. Youbet.com entered 

into an agreement with TVG on May 18, 2001, 

pursuant to which Youbet.com licensed certain 

track content and intellectual property from TVG 

and agreed to pay fees to TVG based on the handle 

generated by Youbet.com from wagering activity. 

In addition to the first warrant, Youbet.com issued 

to TVG a second warrant to purchase up to 51 percent 

of the number of Youbet.com common shares 

outstanding on the date the warrant is exercised. 

TROUBLE FOR INDIANA BILL 

Republicans who control the Indiana Senate said 

Tuesday they won’t expand gambling to erase the 

state’s budget deficit, according to a story in the 

Indianapolis Star. A Republican lawmaker said relying 

on tax revenue from dockside gambling, a 

casino in southern Indiana or slotlike machines at 

racetracks would put the state’s finances permanently 

in the grip of gambling interests. Instead, 

GOP lawmakers will unveil a proposal that’s devoid 

of gambling offerings, a plan the Star notes is 

“virtually certain to offend the Democrat-controlled 

House.” 

CHANGE AT GREAT LAKES 

Magna Entertainment announced that Chris 

Dragone, formerly chief of staff at New 

Jersey’s Monmouth Park, has replaced 

Richard Wallington as general manager 

of Great Lakes Downs in Michigan. 


ACTION SLOW ON ’NET BILL 

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee 

resumed its mark-up of the Rep. Bob 

Goodlatte’s Internet gambling prohibition legislation 

today but recessed until next week without 

completing action. Among other issues the committee 

will take up next week is an amendment 

offered by Goodlatte that would permit interstate 

wagering on gambling “expressly authorized” by 

the states involved. 

A MARKETING FIX IN VEGAS? 

The integrity of the Nevada casino industry could 

be harmed by allegations that Venetian Hotel and 

Casino marketers rigged a promotional giveaway 

for an Asian high roller, according to a state gaming 

regulator. The question is how deeply could 

the episode cut into the state’s reputation for offering 

legitimate games of chance? “That’s central 

to Vegas. We might as well close all our shops 

down if people think the games are dishonest,” 

said University of Nevada, Las Vegas Professor 

Bill Thompson. At issue is an episode that appears 

to have resulted in a disgruntled high roller 

winning an invitation-only drawing for a Mercedes- 

Benz. The unidentified gambler had lost $5 million 

during a recent visit. The incident led to last 

week’s departure of four Venetian casino employees, 

including the property’s number two executive. 

Word of the investigation prompted University 

of Nevada, Reno Professor Bill Eadington to 

question why Venetian executives didn’t simply 

give a free car to the gambler. “If this [was] just a 

way to placate a gambler without defrauding anybody, 

it’s just very bad judgment,” Eadington said. 

“On the other hand if it were a broader based raffle 

marketed to more than one person then you have 

a parallel to game fixing and race fixing, and then 

it becomes much more serious. In Nevada, 

there is almost a paranoia about the integrity 

of the games.”






N.A. CUP ELIMS SATURDAY 

The best 3-year-old pacers on the continent will 

line up Saturday night at Woodbine in three eliminations 

to determine the field for the CN$1.5 million 

Pepsi North America Cup to be held on June 

22. The Pepsi North America Cup is the 

penultimate event of Woodbine’s annual Festival 

of Racing Week, which concludes with the historic 

running of the Queen’s Plate for thoroughbreds 

on Sunday, June 23. This year’s elims have attracted 

all of the major contenders for divisional 

honors, headed by Mach Three, Mcardle, Red 

River Hanover and Royal Mattjesty. Twenty-four 

pacers entered the three $35,000 eliminations. 

The top three in each plus a fourth-place horse, 

drawn by lot, will qualify for the 19th edition of the 

classic pace. 

OTB PROPOSAL FOR MICHIGAN? 

Are money woes tempting lawmakers in Michigan 

to consider legalizing off-track betting and 

gaming devices at racetracks? Perhaps, according 

to an article in today’s edition of the Detroit 

Free Press. The paper reports that Rep. Judith 

Scranton is fine-tuning bills that would allow offtrack 

betting as well as slot machines, keno and 

pokers games at the state’s seven racetracks. 

While Gov. John Engler remains opposed to slot 

machines at tracks, he is receptive to other proposals, 

a spokesman said. Scranton said her primary 

aim is to “grow horse racing in Michigan,” 

which has been hurt badly by casinos in Detroit 

and expanded Indian casinos elsewhere. 

SWEDES GO ONLINE 

According to Onlinecasinonews.com, the Swedish 

parliament has voted in favor of allowing Internet 

lotteries, bingo and casino games. The 

country’s horse racing organization AB 

Trav och Galopp and non-profit charities 

will be able to feature online gambling as well. 

MORE ON GOODLATTE... 

As reported yesterday, once again the House Judiciary 

Committee concluded a weekly markup 

without reaching a final vote on H.R. 3215, the bill 

addressing online gaming sponsored by Rep. Bob 

Goodlatte, but it did manage to vote on a contentious 

amendment opposed by Goodlatte that failed 

15-15. Despite the bill’s running saga and the close 

vote on the amendment, Goodlatte told reporters 

after the markup that he wasn’t about to give up 

after five years of work on the issue and he was 

“absolutely” sure the bill eventually would clear 

the committee. Thursday saw an introduction of a 

substitute bill by Goodlatte that assuaged some 

concerns of the gaming industry but didn’t seem 

to make an impact on some of the fierce opposition 

he faced in his own committee. Goodlatte’s 

substitute addressed concerns of ISPs by ensuring 

that they wouldn’t be deputized as law enforcement 

agents required to monitor Web sites for links 

to illegal gambling sites. Instead, he said it would 

permit state law enforcement officials, upon receipt 

of a court order, to have an ISP break such a 

link. Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida continued his 

crusade for the dog racing and jai alai industries 

in his district with an amendment that would permit 

online gambling for any activity legal in a single 

state. In what he called “an appeal for fairness 

and equity,” Wexler urged his colleagues to support 

his amendment and prevent “a boondoggle 

for certain industries that have cachet in Congress” 

-- by which it can safely be assumed he 

meant the horse racing industry. Goodlatte said 

Wexler “completely mischaracterized” the bill, and 

that any special treatment for horse racing came 

from other laws already passed in favor of horse 

racing, undoubtedly a reference to the Interstate 

Horseracing Act. The Wexler amendment failed 

15-15. It is unclear when the full committee will 

take up H.R. 3215 again.





CITIBANK 

TO BLOCK ’NET BETS 

Citibank, the nation’s largest credit card issuer, 

said Friday it has joined New York Attorney General 

Eliot Spitzer in signing an agreement to block 

Visa and Mastercard consumer credit transactions 

that are identified by those two companies as involving 

Internet gambling. “The steps required 

to block those transactions are not in place,” 

Citibank spokeswoman Maria Mandler said. 

Citibank said it wanted to “help alleviate concerns 

raised by the Attorney General about the impact 

gambling on credit may have on New York residents.” 

Spitzer said the agreement would reduce 

illegal, underage and potentially addictive Internet 

gambling. Blocking online gambling transactions 

will be applied to all states, not just in New York, 

Spitzer added. Other companies such as Bank of 

America, Chase Manhattan Bank and MBNA also 

started their gambling transactions, he said. As 

part of the agreement, Citibank will contribute 

$400,000 to one or more nonprofit organizations 

that provide gambling counseling and related services, 

Mendler said. Bank of America has been 

blocking authorizations that can be identified as 

Internet gambling since July 2001, said spokesman 

Brad Russel: “It’s strictly a liability and risk 

management issue. It’s too much of an exposure 

to the bank to allow” online gambling transactions. 

It is unclear at this time how Citibank’s decision 

might impact pari-mutuel account wagering operations 

located in the U.S. and offshore. 

BANKR 

ANKRUPT 

UPTCY FOR EMERALD? 

Officials in Rosemont, Illinois, on Thursday asked 

a federal judge to declare the troubled Emerald 

Casino bankrupt and set in motion a liquidation of 

Emerald’s assets, including its state gambling license. 

The winning bidder, village officials hope, 

would be allowed to run a casino, subject 

to Illinois Gaming Board approval, with 


proceeds from the bankruptcy sale going first to 

Rosemont – which built a parking garage for the 

casino – and four other creditors to which Emerald 

owes $46.7 million. The filing last week by of 

the “involuntary bankruptcy petition” with federal 

Judge Susan Pierson Sonderby stopped an administrative 

hearing called to decide if the Gaming 

Board was wrong to refuse to renew Emerald’s 

casino license in January 2001. Emerald has 20 

days to respond to the petition. Judge Sonderby 

could hold a hearing and rule on the petition in the 

next four to six weeks. 

DEAL ON TAXES IN IOWA? 

A? 

Iowa gambling industry leaders say they are willing 

to make a deal to settle the state’s racetrack 

and casino tax problem. “We want to be sensitive 

to the state community, so I don’t think anything 

is off the table,” Thomas Flynn, a lawyer for Prairie 

Meadows Racetrack and Casino told the Associated 

Press. A split Iowa Supreme Court on 

Wednesday struck down a state law that taxes landbased 

casinos like Prairie Meadows at a higher 

rate than riverboat gambling operations (see HTA 

Executive Newsletter of June 12). The change is 

expected to cost the state $38.7 million in reduced 

racetrack taxes for the fiscal year beginning July 

1. As it stands now, the state may be forced to 

refund nearly $110 million in excess taxes that 

racetrack casinos in Iowa had paid since 1997. 

Prairie Meadows and Bluffs Run Casino and 

Greyhound Park are expected to receive $49 million 

in repayment, while Dubuque Greyhound Park 

and Casino may receive about $11.5 million. Jerry 

Crawford, an attorney working for the Iowa Greyhound 

Association said it’s possible that the tracks 

and state will settle the issue before it ever reaches 

the district court. Prairie Meadows has paid the 

most taxes of the 13 racetracks, riverboats and 

casinos.





THE WORST FEARS REALIZED 

Disaster struck in Washington this morning when 

the House Judiciary Committee stripped horse 

racing’s exemption from the Goodlatte Internet 

prohibition bill and reported the measure out of 

committee, 15 to 12. As passed by the committee, 

the bill makes gambling on the Internet, including 

horse racing, illegal, but it carries an even 

greater potential danger. If it were to pass the 

House and Senate in its present form, and get 

signed into law, it would end telephone account wagering 

in the 13 states in which it now is legal. 

There has been a gnawing fear in these quarters 

for months that an exemption for horse racing could 

not withstand the pressures of opposition from both 

inside and outside the industry. It is no consolation 

that those fears turned out to be accurate, and 

no likelihood that the exemption can be restored. 

So it would seem that horse racing now must muster 

whatever strength it can to make certain that 

the Goodlatte Bill -- H.R. 3215 -- does not pass. 

NO REVIEW IN OFFSHORE CASE 

The United States Supreme Court yesterday refused 

to review the conviction of Jay Cohen, the 

New York operator of an Antigua offshore bookmaking 

operation. Although the operation -- World 

Sports Exchange -- advertised worldwide that all 

bets were to take place at its Internet server in 

Antigua, the U.S. government filed a criminal complaint. 

Cohen reported his income to the government, 

called his business “wagering” and paid 

taxes on it, and waived Antigua’s protection from 

extradition. He voluntarily returned to New York 

and was arrested and charged with conspiracy and 

illegal gambling. He was convicted and sentenced 

to 21 months in jail. After a federal appeals court 

upheld the conviction he asked the Supreme 

Court for review. Yesterday it rejected his 

petition, without comment. 


WAR EMBLEM IN COURT 

Not the horse, but the million dollar bonus that he 

won for romping in the Illinois and Kentucky Derbies. 

Sportsman’s Park in Cicero, Illinois, filed 

suit yesterday in federal court, asking that it not 

have to pay the bonus until Russell Reineman and 

Bob Baffert’s sheik settle who is entitled to what. 

Reineman sold 90% of War Emblem to Prince 

Ahmed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia for $900,000 

after War Emblem won the Illinois Derby at 

Sportsman’s. Inexplicably, neither of the big 

money men addressed the specific issue of how to 

split the million dollar bonus. Perhaps the idea of 

the colt winning the Kentucky Derby was so remote 

in their minds that neither thought it important. 

It is now, and Sportsman’s wants out of the 

middle. 

RICKMAN GETS MD OTB 

In another court matter, a judge in Dorchester 

county, Maryland, upheld a decision by the city 

zoning appeals board of Cambridge, MD, to allow 

William Rickman, owner of HTA member Ocean 

Downs and Delaware Park, to open a satellite simulcast 

facility in a shopping center he owns in 

Cambridge. Gambling opponents had been fighting 

the idea. 

KY, INDIANA STILL ON EDGE 

Budget stalemates in Kentucky and Indiana are 

threatening tracks in those states. In Kentucky, 

tax breaks for Churchill Downs and Keeneland that 

amount to $960,000 for the former and $372,000 

for the latter are endangered and will expire if a 

new state budget is not adopted by July 1, the end 

of Kentucky’s fiscal year. In Indiana, the political 

dogfight over new taxes roars on. The Senate 

stripped pull-tabs for tracks out of its bill, and it 

seems possible that the measure in that form 

might pass both houses without any conference 

committee action to alter the situation.





FILION BACK AT HARRINGTON 

Herve Filion, who has won more races than anyone 

in world racing, regardless of breed, returns 

to action this coming Sunday at HTA member 

Harrington Raceway. Filion, who has been left 

hanging in legal limbo for six and one-half years 

without a conviction in New York state for allegations 

arising from conversations with bookmaker 

Danny Kramer, has been licensed in Delaware and 

Pennsylvania, and returns Sunday with 9 drives 

as he sets out on a quest to reach 15,000 victories. 

His current total is 14,783, and Filion, now 62, says, 

“Even though I haven’t driven in a while, I’ve 

been working with horses right along. I’m in top 

physical condition and I’m ready to go.” Herve’s 

son Brandon, when informed that a Canadian journalist 

questioned Filion’s physical ability to compete 

at 62, said, “He knows how to race horses. 

That’s one thing he will take to his grave.” 

Bennett Liebman, the former New York racing 

commissioner and distinguished author of Harness 

Tracks of America’s 2001 “Law of Racetrack Exclusions,” 

who now is coordinator of the Albany 

Law School’s program on Racing and Wagering 

Law, recently wrote a lengthy report lamenting “the 

hole in the curtain of reciprocity” torn by the decision 

of Pennsylvania and Delaware commissions 

to license Filion in the manner they did, instead of 

following procedures that could have avoided that 

circumstance. Liebman’s lamentation is understandable 

legally, but the personal view of the editor 

is that Filion was the subject of equally damaging 

distortions of justice during his exile, and that 

he deserves a chance to return to the profession 

at which he was a master. The New York Racing 

and Wagering Board has steadfastly refused to 

grant that opportunity, citing “character and fitness 

issues,” a somewhat inconsistent 

stand in view of the board’s inaction, inability 

or unconcern about others charged 


with serious offenses inimicable to the best interests 

of racing who still are racing in the state. 

Although seasoned observers like editor Harold 

Howe of Standardbred Canada’s Trot magazine 

and publicity director John Pawlak of the United 

States Trotting Association have stated publicly 

that Filion has lost his reflexes and “has been away 

too long in a young guy’s game” the feeling here 

is that at 62 he still will drive circles around the 

caliber of competition he will be facing in his return. 

He may not be able to drive at his former 

lofty level against the stars of the Meadowlands 

(and even that is a questionable premise) but he is 

not driving against them as he returns to the sport 

he dominated for so long. 

One of the most difficult honors to win in harness 

racing is Harness Tracks of America’s Driver of 

the Year title. John Campbell, Mike Lachance and 

Walter Case Jr. each have won it three times; Dave 

Palone, Tony Morgan, Luc Ouellette, Bill 

O’Donnell and Ron Waples have won it twice. 

Herve Filion has won it 10 times, most recently in 

1989 when he was 49. He was the sport’s leading 

race-winning driver 15 times and runner-up on 

three other occasions. You can bet on the bobtailed 

nag. We’ll bet on Filion. Welcome back, 

Herve. 

DIVINE GUIDANCE FOR ESTOK 

HTA’s general counsel, Paul Estok, is driving to 

Toronto with this year’s Messenger Award for 

Jane Holmes and Caretaker of the Year award for 

Linda Coleman, both to be presented on North 

America Cup day Saturday. He stopped in Amarillo 

last night, and on the way to the exercise room 

was engulfed in a revival meeting of the Great 

Plains Pentacostal Ministries, urging him and 200 

faithful to “let Jesus in.” He left Amarill- 

Oh-My-God for Toronto this morning, driving 

the true path.





BORST BLOCKS INDIANA BILL 

As a Sunday night deadline approaches, the fate 

of pull-tab legislation for tracks in Indiana remains 

in serious doubt. A former friend of racing and 

one of Indiana’s most powerful legislators, Senate 

Finance chairman Larry Borst, says he will not 

accept proposals that expand gambling in the state, 

and that includes the slot-like pull-tabs for Hoosier 

Park and Indianapolis Downs. This stumbling 

block appears key to any settlement in the Republican 

controlled Senate and Democratic controlled 

House by Sunday night, the deadline for 

the special session to adjourn. Indiana’s governor, 

Frank O’Bannon, has not indicated whether 

he would veto a bill providing for the pull-tabs, but 

one senator, Robert Weeks, said he thought 

O’Bannon would let a bill with pull-tabs in it become 

law without his signature. Whether such a 

bill reaches O’Bannon’s desk is far from certain. 

BAD SLOT NEWS IN OHIO, TOO 

A special committee formed to study the impact of 

gambling in Ohio is about to throw cold water on 

the project. A draft report of the committee claims 

the costs of problem gambling if slots were introduced 

at Ohio tracks would outweigh the economic 

benefits to the state, and also says it believes an 

economic study on the issue done two years ago 

overstated the economic benefits. The eight-member 

committee is due to deliver the report to Gov. 

Bob Taft by June 30, and three members say they 

won’t agree to the committee recommendations. 

Senator Louis Blessing, a Cincinnati Republican 

and a prime backer of slots in Ohio, says the state 

is losing huge sums of money through Ohioans 

traveling to Indiana, West Virginia and other 

nearby states to gamble, leaving the problems but 

none of the potential benefits. As for economic 

benefits, Blessing says he doesn’t 

care if it’s $200 million or $500 

million...he’s for it. 


RACING CRISIS IN AUSTRALIA 

Thoroughbred racing in Australia could come to a 

halt on July 1 if no solution is found to the refusal 

of insurance companies to cover jockeys in that 

country. The situation has reached crisis proportions, 

with the spokesman for the Australian Jockeys 

Association saying, “If we don’t have a policy, 

there won’t be any racing on the first of July.” A 

spokesman for the Workers Union said talks with 

insurance companies during the past week indicated 

premiums could rise by 200%, if the companies 

were willing to offer any coverage at all. The 

jockeys had been covered for a total of $20 million, 

with each paying $460 a year for that coverage. 

They were told this year the premiums would 

be $1,000 to $1,500 a year, if available. There 

was a sell-off of shares in Australia’s listed betting 

organizations -- TAB, Tabcorp and TAB 

Queensland -- yesterday as investors braced for 

the fallout from the stalemate. The issue affects 

jockeys in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia 

and Western Australia. Coverage expires 

June 30 in all of those states, sites of the major 

thoroughbred racing in the country. 

NEW PICK 4 AT CHURCHILL 

Churchill Downs has announced a series of new 

Pick 4s, combining races at four of its far-flung 

tracks. With a $1 minimum and 19% takeout, the 

first three weekly rounds will include races from 

Churchill, Calder Race Course, Arlington Park and 

Hollywood Park. The fourth will combine races 

from Calder, Arlington, Hollywood and Ellis Park. 

EDGAR JOINS YOUBET BOARD 

Former Illinois governor Jim Edgar has joined the 

board of directors of Youbet.com. A longtime racing 

enthusiast, Edgar breeds both harness horses 

and thoroughbreds, and is a close personal friend 

of USTA director and breeder Dr. Ken Walker.





‘EXPERTS’ SAY H.R. 3215 DOA 

You can take it for consolation if you wish, or fidget 

nervously or fiddle while Rome burns, but highly 

placed sources in racing and interactive wagering 

are saying that H.R. 3215 has all the chances of a 

snowball in hell of passing as approved by the Judiciary 

committee. One source told Interactive 

Gaming News that with the racing and other exemptions 

stripped from the bill, he didn’t see how 

Goodlatte could bring the bill successfully to the 

House floor. “Certainly,” that source said, “given 

the time frame in Congress and all the other things 

they have to deal with, the prospects of getting it 

done are...dim.” Another ‘insider’ said that without 

the support of the American Gaming Association 

and the horse racing industry, “the bill has 

about a 10% chance of being put to a vote before 

the full House.” 

You can be comfortable with all of that if you wish, 

but this corner remains nervous. Perhaps we have 

less confidence in the wisdom of Congress than 

others, or less confidence in the ability of our industry 

to be effectively proactive rather than reactive, 

but a 10% chance of extinction, if that percentage 

is accurate, is not within our comfort level. 

As for Congressman Goodlatte, he either likes to 

whistle in the dark or is feigning confidence after 

Congressman Cannon of Utah submarined him and 

his bill. “We are pleased,” Goodlatte said, “to 

have reported such a strong bill out of the Judiciary 

Committee and look forward to working with 

the House leadership to bring this bill to the floor 

for a vote.” Maybe that’s just how they talk in 

Washington, but it sure does nothing to assuage 

our concerns. As a survivor of the after-midnight 

proceedings in New York in 1971 that gave us OTB, 

we have proceded in politics keeping our left up 

ever since. Call it cynicism or caution, we 

walk warily on this one. 


INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS 

Around the circuit.....PRAIRIE MEADOWS, in the 

wake of last week’s Iowa Supreme Court decision 

that leveled the tax playing field in Iowa between 

riverboats and casinos and lowered the track’s tax 

from 32% to 22% of gross revenues on slots, is 

reviving plans for a $25 million expansion. 

Bossman Bob Farinella says the expansion could 

include a multipurpose banquet hall and concert 

auditorium, a buffet area, restaurant and sports 

bar. Under the Supreme Court decision, Iowa 

could have to refund as much as $110 million that 

Iowa tracks have paid in taxes since 1997....... 

NORTHLANDS PARK in Edmonton has a wish 

list of its own. It is considering lengthening its 

track from its present 5/8ths of a mile to 6 1/2 furlongs 

and building a two-story expansion to house 

500-600 slots. GM Ken Knowles says there is 

speculation over a lot of things, “but nothing concrete 

at this point.”(No pun intended.).......West 

Virginia’s state tourism commission approved $2.5 

million in advertising matching grants this week, 

and in an enlightened acknowledgement of where 

the money came from, $1.26 million will go to 

MOUNTAINEER RACE TRACK AND GAM- 

ING RESORT and $909,895 to CHARLES TOWN 

RACES for major campaigns to promote the tracks 

as tourist destinations.......the DELAWARE 

COUNTY FAIR is considering adding as many 

as four beer gardens to its attractions this year, 

which should assure a full LITTLE BROWN JUG, 

the fair’s premier attraction......MAGNA ENTER- 

TAINMENT is unveiling the latest in voice recognition 

technology, allowing phone bettors to place 

their bets by speaking, without the need of a live 

operator. The system, called XpressBet Betty, has 

been tested for several months with 8,000 customers 

in Magna’s The Meadows telephone account 

network. It currently updates account information 

and soon will provide odds, results and 

other racing data.





SUPERSTARS ARE NEWS 

That is not a startling revelation, as Tiger Woods 

and Michael Jordan and the Williams Sisters have 

reaffirmed so conclusively, but it was there for all 

in harness racing to see in this morning’s New York 

Times. Herve Filion, one of the true superstars of 

the sport, returned to action at Harrington Raceway, 

and the Times played it big, with a four-column 

headline and strong story by Bill Finley and a 

three-column picture. Finley alluded to “numerous 

fixing scandals,” which is news here, but his 

story still was remarkable coverage for America’s 

foremost newspaper, which ignores the sport on a 

daily basis (not a line, for example, on Canada’s 

richest horse race, the $1.5 million North America 

Cup, won by 3-year-old pacer Red River Hanover 

Saturday night). But Filion returning is a remarkable 

story, in view of how the law and the New 

York Racing and Wagering Board have handled 

him over the last six plus years. Although cynics 

doubt his reflexes and skills, he smiled them off 

and quickly won three races, boosting his lifetime 

total to 14,786. He has only 214 to go to reach his 

goal of 15,000, and there is little doubt he will do 

it, jogging. There also is little doubt that he will 

keep on going from there. Perhaps the highest 

tribute paid Herve on his return, along with the 

Times feature, was a generous story on Blood- 

Horse Interactive, the Internet service of thoroughbred 

racing’s weekly Blood-Horse magazine. 

Herve Filion is back racing, contending that he did 

nothing wrong and would not hurt the sport that 

has been his life and livelihood. A crowd that 

Harrington general manager Jim Boese called “the 

biggest in the years I’ve been here” surged forward 

to acclaim Filion, and some 50 people 

crowded the winner’s circle to congratulate him after 

his first victory. Harrington’s $544,764 handle 

was the biggest Sunday in the track’s history, 

up $150,000 over last year without 

much help from simulcasting. 


NO JOY BACK HOME IN INDIANA 

If there was celebrating in Delaware, there was 

none in Indiana, where -- after a first vote in the 

House failed to pass a compromise budget bill without 

pull-tabs for tracks -- 9 legislators changed 

their votes, 12 Republicans joined 39 Democrats, 

and the required 51 votes were reached to send 

the bill to governor Frank O’Bannon, who said he 

would sign it immediately. So Hoosier Park and 

Indianapolis Downs were deprived of the slot-like 

machines, as Senator Larry Borst had promised 

they would be. Even worse, the legislators did pass 

permission for Indiana’s riverboats to remain open 

while docked, allowing customers to come and go 

as they wish without having to board for cruising. 

Increased taxes on the riverboat casinos, and on 

sales, cigarettes and gasoline, are expected to fill 

$600 million of Indiana’s budget deficit, but that 

still leaves a $400 million gap. Gov. O’Bannon 

called the bill, which passed 51-45 on the next to 

last day of his special session, “monumental.” It 

remains to be seen just how monumental it turns 

out to be. 

ROSEMONT BATTLES ON 

The Battle of Rosemont rages on. The northwest 

Chicago suburb announced over the weekend that 

it will sue to stop a proposal that the Illinois Gaming 

Board says it has worked out with the Emerald 

Casino and will unveil this Wednesday. The Chicago 

Sun-Times says the proposal calls for 

Emerald’s license to be auctioned off through a 

board-controlled process that could shift the casino 

out of Rosemont. The village’s mayor, Donald 

Stevens, has vowed that won’t happen, and it appears 

the village and other creditors will pull out 

all stops to see that it doesn’t. Rosemont’s attorney 

says he will subpoena all documents related 

to the proposed settlement. The gaming board’s 

administrator says despite that all signals are 

go.





MORE FROM INDIANA 

It didn’t take long for investors to boost the stocks 

of companies with Indiana riverboat casinos after 

the Hoosier legislature gave them the gift of 

dockside gambling, converting them into full blown 

free-standing casinos. Despite an increase in taxes 

that accompanied the measure, Boyd Gambling 

was up $1.25 to $13.85, Harrah’s shares rose 27 

cents to $46.54, Park Place was up 1 cent at 

$10.25, Argosy rose $1.45 to $27.75, and Trump 

Hotels and Casino Resorts shares rose by 4 cents 

to $2.25. Indiana’s riverboat casinos currently pay 

a flat 20% tax on all revenue. Under the new bill 

those with annual revenues of $50 million to $75 

million will pay 25%, those with revenues from $75 

million to $100 million will pay 30%, and on all 

revenue over $150 million the tax rate will be 35%. 

In those counties that do not allow dockside gaming, 

the tax will still go up, from 20% to 22.5%. 

The $3 a head admission tax remains, and Hoosier 

Park still will receive 65 cents from each admission, 

capped at 2002 numbers despite casino 

dockside gains. 

SLEEPLESS IN SARATOGA 

Skip Carlson, general manager of HTA’s Saratoga 

Equine Sports Center member, is staying up late 

at night these days, working with seven other New 

York tracks to try to get the hours for forthcoming 

slots broadened. The law that was passed, and is 

now being challenged in court, provides for operating 

hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through 

Thursday, and noon to midnight Friday and Saturday. 

The consortium of tracks want the hours extended 

from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., or preferably even 

3 a.m. Carlson says the hours from 10 until 2 a.m. 

“are very important hours. That would be great if 

it happens.” Barry Schwartz, chairman and 

CEO of the New York Racing Association, 

says “the most productive hours are after 

midnight.” 


AND IN THIS CORNER...... 

If you like heavyweight championship fights, forget 

about Lennox Lewis and the 6-foot-7 and 6- 

foot-8 Russian brothers who want to challenge him, 

or any of the other pugs waiting in line. A real 

world class championship is shaping up in Macau, 

where Steve Wynn signed a deal yesterday to build 

a hotel casino next door to one operated by the 

longtime ruler of Macau gambling, Stanley Ho. 

Wynn, in Macau, was modest and humble, saying 

all he could think of were “the challenges ahead” 

competing with Ho, who has had a stranglehold on 

gambling there for the last 40 years. Wynn called 

Ho “a very intelligent, canny businessman,” which 

is understatement on a grand scale. Ho’s flagship 

casino, the Lisboa, is modest by Las Vegas standards. 

We’re not sure what Wynn plans to build 

on the six lots that the government has granted 

him next door to the Lisboa, but we’re certain it 

won’t be modest or unpretentious. Wynn has been 

given a 20-year contract and must invest $497.8 

million within seven years and finish the first phase 

of construction by 2006. Winnings in his casino 

will be taxed at 35%, but an additional 4% for 

Macau charities and infrastructure, with a $3.7 million 

annual fee to government starting in June, 

2005, and unspecified taxes on each table game 

and slot machine. The Associated Press, interviewing 

Hong Kong gamblers enroute on the ferry from 

Hong Kong to Macau to gamble, quoted them as 

saying “the competition should make it more fun 

and at least things will be cheaper,” and “Stanley 

Ho won’t be able to have his own way all the time 

any more.” The annual Macau win is estimated 

at $2 billion, and a JP Morgan analyst said the 

enormous market “is a wonderful opportunity for 

a developer with Wynn’s experience, particularly 

with the Asian high-end market.” A third Macau 

license has been awarded to Galaxy Casino company, 

controlled by Venetian hotel owner 

Sheldon Adelson.





UPSAN DOWNS AT CHURCHILL 

Interesting developments at Churchill Downs. The 

city of Louisville’s board of aldermen have introduced 

a plan for the city to take title of Churchill 

for 30 years, then lease the track back to Churchill 

for $1 a year. The deal will remove Churchill from 

city, county and state property tax rolls, and 

Churchill in turn will make annual payments of 

some $250,000 a year to the Jefferson county 

board of education and hold Louisville harmless 

from any liability. That comes to some $7.5 million 

over the 30-year span, and will help Churchill 

finance phase 2 of its $130 million renovation program. 

Phase 2 will include 12 new corporate suites, 

a 1,700-seat satellite wagering facility, new track 

lighting for night racing, a new dining facility and 

turf club, new premium box seats, a new track 

entryway, a new press box, and a new sports bar 

and lounge. The lease-back arrangement is the 

second big score for Churchill this month. The aldermen 

earlier voted to make the track a special 

taxing district, with returns to Churchill of up to 

80% of new sales and occupational tax revenue 

generated by the track expansion. That break 

could return as much as $150,000 a year to 

Churchill. Less pleasing to Churchill was the news 

that two Louisville horse owners, Tim McCall and 

David Holloway, have announced plans to build a 

$20 million quarter horse track in southeastern 

Kentucky, not too far distant from Knoxville, Tennessee, 

to conduct three days of live quarter horse 

racing a year, and of course simulcasting year round 

for those Tennesseans deprived of gambling in 

their state. As preposterous as that may sound, it 

has caught the attention and indignation of Churchill 

Downs president Alex Waldrop, who noted that 

three Kentucky OTB facilities are near the proposed 

quarter horse track. “This would be a 

sucker punch to Kentucky racing,” 

Waldrop was quoted as saying about the 

proposed track. 


NYRA EMPLOYEES CHARGED 

New York Newsday reports this morning that 16 

employees of the New York Racing Association 

have pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns, 

and that federal prosecutors are investigating 

“what they believe has been mass tax evasion 

for more than two decades by employees.” The 

prosecution involves mutuel tellers at the track, 

and according to the report the thrust of the evasion 

scheme involved workers taking between 

$9,000 to $25,000 a year out of the track cash drawers 

for personal use, then having track officials 

give them statements saying they were short of 

the money at the end of the day. According to the 

newspaper, “tellers are responsible for making up 

missed amounts out of their own pockets, but under 

federal tax laws the amounts can be written 

off as unreimbursed business expenses.” The 

paper said that “sources familiar with the probe 

say that the amount of money involved may run 

up to as much as $20 million, and as many as 200 

employees of the tracks are believe to have been 

involved.” Newsday said the complex evasion 

scheme was described as a kind of illegal fringe 

benefit, and a source told the paper that it “was 

started by employees and officials in an attempt 

to buy labor peace during bitter management-employee 

strife in the 1970s.” NYRA’s response to 

the story is expected today. Tellers charged face 

up to 3 years in prison, according to Newsday. 

CAL INTERNET BILL FAILS 

A bill to ban Internet gambling in California failed 

for the third year in a row yesterday, when the 

measure died without a vote after no member of a 

Senate committee would second the motion to consider 

it. Indian interests have vigorously opposed 

the proposed measure. It may be dreaming, but it 

can be hoped the action is a precursor of similar 

action in the U.S. House and Senate.





AROUND THE CIRCUIT..... 

The New Jersey Racing Commission has moved 

to adopt regulations that would make possession 

or use of EPO a prohibited practice. The announcement 

of intentions states “No recognized analytical 

method has been developed to detect and confirm 

the administration of such substances, which 

are believed to endanger the health and welfare 

of the horse, the safety of the competitors and 

adversely affect the integrity of racing.” California 

has taken similar action to follow the lead of 

the Association of Racing Commissioners International, 

and Kentucky has announced it is considering 

similar action. The chairman of the New 

Jersey commission, John J. Tucker, said, “Until 

tests are developed to identify such harmful substances, 

all regulatory bodies should follow the lead 

of the RCI by adoption of similar regulations banning 

them from racing.” 

In Indiana, state casino regulators dropped the 

anvil on R. D. Hubbard, former chairman of 

Belterra Resort and Casino (and once of Hollywood 

Park). The state gaming commission fined 

Hubbard $740,000 over allegations that the casino 

flew in California prostitutes to entertain VIP 

guests at a weekend golf outing last year. Hubbard 

earlier was forced to sell his stock in Belterra and 

give up his Indiana casino license, and he and Pinnacle 

Entertainment CEO Paul Alanis resigned 

shortly after a lawsuit was filed by two former female 

employees who sued seeking punitive damages 

for emotional distress and lost and future 

wages. No penalty has been levied yet against 

the casino, but one is promised. 

In Maryland, an attorney for the Maryland Jockey 

Club told the House Ways and Means committee, 

“There is no agreement now,” in response 

to reports that Magna was buying 

Pimlico and Laurel. 


In Illinois, Gov. George Ryan’s line veto of the 

recapture provision that has compensated tracks 

substantially since 1995 will have an immediate 

effect on purses. Arlington Park has told its horsemen 

it will downsize average daily purses for its 

Festival of Racing from $260,000 a day to $240,000 

a day as a direct result of the veto. Recapture has 

been a stop loss provision guaranteeing tracks 

1994 pre-full card simulcasting figures. A total of 

$56 million has been disbursed since 1995, and Arlington 

was to have received another $3.7 million 

this year. Sportsman’s Park, which already has 

dispersed its purse money based on recapture expectations, 

was to have received $3.5 million, and 

HTA’s Hawthorne member, currently conducting 

harness racing, was in line for $2 million in recapture 

funds, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. 

In New Jersey, the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association 

continues its political warfare. First it 

aimed at changing the Internet Horseracing Act in 

Congress. Now its target is the state racing commission, 

and it found a New Jersey legislator who 

introduced a bill that would restructure the commission, 

with four of the nine members to be horsemen, 

and with the prohibition on commission members 

owning horses removed. Mike Farrell, writing 

in the Bergen Record, said, “The prospect of 

being legislated out of their current positions does 

not thrill the sitting commissioners.” One indication 

of the accuracy of that observation was the 

commissioners action, issued without comment, 

to approve only $133,000 of the horsemen’s association 

budget request, saying it would like more 

details on the remaining $427,000, which includes 

political donations and lobbying expenses. 

In New York, Newsday reports that the 16 NYRA 

employees who pleaded guilty to tax fraud are still 

working at the track.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor June 28, 2002 

INDY DOWNS INVESTIGATION 

Joe Gorajec, executive director of the Indiana 

Horse Racing Commission, has notified Indianapolis 

Downs, currently building a track near the capitol 

city, that it is under investigation and that he 

has recommended it be fined $1.2 million for nondisclosure 

of information that has “seriously tarnished 

the reputation and the image of the Commission.” 

The allegations concern seven findings of fact 

charging nondisclosure involving the role and actions 

of Larry Mohr, who the commission says 

acted as advisor and consultant for Indianapolis 

Downs during its license application hearings. The 

allegations contend Mohr had improper communications 

with commission members on at least five 

occasions during that period. The track contends 

Mohr’s services and those of DSB Associates, the 

firm with which he was affiliated, were “fully disclosed 

to the Commission in Indianapolis Downs’ 

February 2001 Shelby county permit application.” 

Gorajec calls that statement “an insult to the intelligence 

of the Commission, its staff, the horse 

racing community in Indiana and the general public,” 

and says “There is simply no reasonable way 

to arrive at the conclusion suggested by Indianapolis 

Downs when a fair and objective analysis 

is made of facts which have been long known to 

them but which have only recently been provided 

to the Commission.” 

Gorajec’s recommendation to the Commission 

calls for a $1 million fine for nondisclosures, and a 

$200,000 fine for “attempting to perpetrate a misrepresentation 

on the Commission.” His letter to 

Indianapolis Downs’ attorneys called the charges 

“a very serious offense,” and he closed his letter 

by saying, “When it comes to disclosing 

required information, you don’t play ‘hideand-seek’ 

with the Indiana Horse Racing 

Commission.” 

HOW ABOUT A BILLION? 

As expected, the Illinois Gaming Board unveiled 

a plan yesterday to hold an open, competitive auction 

of the state’s last gaming license, one that 

could bring a casino to the immediate Chicago area. 

The auction sale, regardless of what it brought, 

would compensate the investors in the embattled 

and stalemated Emerald Casino only what they had 

invested, and no more. The gaming board is expected 

to vote on the proposal next Monday. While 

new money would not enrich the original investors, 

the proposal calls for the successful buyer to pick 

up as much as $150 million in lawyers’ fees and 

other liabilities incurred by Emerald during the last 

three years of bitter litigation. That money includes 

a parking garage already built and a steel skeleton 

of the stalled casino in suburban Rosemont, 

which may or may not be the location of the casino, 

when it finally gets built. No commitment 

has been made on that, but the fact that the successful 

buyer would have to pay for the garage 

and existing steel structure, and has a favorable 

city management behind the idea, now makes it 

seem that Rosemont may wind up with the casino 

after all. Gaming board chief Philip Parenti thinks 

the bidding process will determine if the $669 million 

offered earlier by MGM/Mirage could be “the 

high water mark or whether it could be higher,” 

and the attorney for the board thinks the license 

might be worth a billion dollars. The managing 

director of J.P. Morgan in New York, Harry Curtis, 

disagrees strongly. He says, “if they think they’re 

going to get someone to pay a billion dollars in a 

state where the legislature is clearly anti-gaming, 

then they’re smoking something. For them to use 

the gaming industry as a whipping boy by taking 

their tax rate up 10% is going to scare any potential 

buyer from paying a premium for that license.” 

MGM/Mirage already dropped out of the bidding 

after the tax hike on riverboat casinos.





A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION 

Developments in California and Oklahoma in 

recent days illustrate the wide gap in the status 

of Internet betting. In Oklahoma, the attorney 

general announced that since anything not specifically 

permitted is automatically illegal, and 

that the state’s strict antigambling laws do not 

permit Internet or telephone betting, it is illegal 

to place or take a bet on horse racing by phone 

or Internet in the state. A similar result was 

reached in Nebraska last month when the state 

Supreme Court agreed with the attorney general 

on the same issue. 

In California, however, where Indian tribes now 

have huge influence through political contributions, 

not one legislator would second a motion 

to ban Internet wagering in the state senate, as 

reported here last week. The Los Angeles Times, 

commenting on this, said, “Alas, politicians are 

reluctant to seek any such limits on the tribes, 

which are among their top campaign contributors.” 

The issue is more than academic, for the bills now 

floating around in Washington present a real and 

present danger to racing. Most observers now 

doubt an Internet ban will pass, but the threat 

lies in the possibility of a compromise. Frank 

Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming 

Association which now opposes the Goodlatte bill 

after last week’s Chris Cannon amendment, 

thinks the House Republican leadership doesn’t 

want to have two Internet bills, and that there 

will be an attempt to come up with something 

acceptable to both Goodlatte and Jim Leach of 

Iowa, who wants to outlaw credit cards and bank 

instruments in connection with gaming. Rep. 

Mike Oxley of Ohio, chairman of the 

House Financial Services committee, 

appears to oppose the Leach bill, and has 

asked for time to debate it. 

July 1, 2002 

The 14 members of the House Gaming Caucus, 

meanwhile, are scheduled to meet during the 

coming fortnight to formulate their stand on 

Internet gambling. There is no way for racing 

to rest easy. 

NO BOYCOTT AT HOLLYWOOD 

A boycott of the entry box, threatened at Hollywood 

Park Saturday, was avoided yesterday following 

talks between track management and 

horsemen. The issue involves huge increases in 

workers compensation insurance rates. It is not 

clear what horsemen thought tracks could do to 

solve a national insurance crisis, and apparently 

that message got through and a race-less Wednesday 

was avoided. 

Other tracks lost cards, however. The Meadowlands 

had to cancel after three races in a furious 

thunderstorm last Thursday night, and Rosecroft 

Raceway in Maryland lost its Saturday program 

through a power outage and loss of its lighting 

system. CEO Tom Chuckas Jr. said he waited 

as long as he could before cancelling, but made 

the call in deference to guests, horsemen and employees 

after the local power company was unable 

to correct the underground problem in time 

for Saturday night’s card. 

BOB CAREY DIES AT 67 

Chicago racing lost one of its most popular figures 

Saturday night when Robert F. Carey Jr. 

died as a result of injuries suffered in a fall last 

November. Carey was assistant to his older 

brother Tom, president of Hawthorne. HTA 

sends its deepest sympathy to Tom, Tom III and 

the entire Carey family. 

WINDSOR NEEDS RACING SECY. 

Windsor Raceway is looking for a full-time 

racing secretary, preferably a Canadian citizen.





VERNON CLEAR FOR THE YEAR 

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board 

this morning cleared the way for Vernon Downs to 

celebrate its 50th anniversary Saturday, and go 

on beyond that to finish out its 2002 season running 

through Nov. 9 with live racing and simulcasting. 

The board granted a temporary license that 

permits Mid-State Raceway, Vernon’s parent, to 

honor the terms of its contract with Shawn Scott, 

lifting restrictions imposed on April 8. Those restrictions 

had prevented contact between Vernon 

and Scott. Under today’s action, the board requires 

the licensing of John Baldwin, an associate of 

Scott’s, and the creation of a segregated escrow 

account to ensure that purses are paid in light of 

Vernon’s projected $1.7 million deficit from racing 

operations. The board has been reviewing Scott’s 

status since a significant amount of financial influence 

over the operation and business practices of 

the track are being transferred to Scott and his 

associates, who loaned Vernon $8.5 million in April. 

Presuming all goes well, Scott will get to appoint 

half of Mid-State’s board of directors, giving him 

control of Vernon. Saturday’s anniversary celebration 

will be clouded a bit by a lawsuit filed yesterday 

in New York City on behalf of the Eric Cherry 

group that tried to buy Vernon for $9 million last 

year. The suit against the track and several major 

stockholders alleges fraud and breach of contract, 

the Syracuse Post-Standard reports. 

A CHANGE OF SCENERY 

Indiana Horse Racing Commission member Nick 

Stein, an attorney who was one of the commission 

members allegedly contacted by lobbyists for Indianapolis 

Downs during that track’s licensing hearings, 

has been moved from the racing commission 

to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute’s board 

at the request of Gov. Frank O’Bannon. 

Stein was formerly chairman of the racing 

commission. 


CIANCHETTES IN THE NEWS 

Ival (Bud) Cianchette is a well known figure in 

Maine harness racing, having been involved with 

the sport there for more than 40 years and having 

once served as chairman of the state’s harness 

racing commission. He also is a long time director 

of the United States Trotting Association. Currently 

he is in the news because his son Peter is 

the Republican candidate for governor of the state. 

Bud has paid $10,000 to sponsor races that are 

‘sold’ by the Maine Harness Racing Promotion 

Board, and he is running ads helping promote 13 

races that are part of three series at fairs and 

tracks across the state. His son’s opponents are 

screeching that Bud “is trying to buy the kid the 

governorship.” Bud says Peter “knew absolutely 

nothing about it,” and says his son’s candidacy was 

“absolutely not my motivation” when he agreed 

to sponsor the races. The board had voted 8-to-1 

to accept Bud’s sponsorship of the three racing 

series. The ads will not mention Peter Cianchette’s 

name or his candidacy, so date campaign finance 

laws do not apply, according to the executive director 

of the state’s Commission on Governmental 

Ethics and Election Practices. 

THAT EMERALD GLOW IS PEACE 

A year and a half of warfare in Chicago between 

the backers of the Emerald Casino and the Illinois 

Gaming board has ended, as far as the two combatants 

are concerned. The board voted to settle 

with the Emerald investors, allowing them to recoup 

their original investments but not make a 

profit, and try to sell their license to a new buyer. 

The board vote was 4-0, and the decision was immediately 

attacked by Donald Stephens, mayor of 

Rosemont, where the casino -- stalled for five 

years --is still nothing more than a steel skeleton. 

The board and shareholders may agree, but there 

is much more to come in this story, including 

high controversy.





PENNSYLVANIA KO’S EPO 

Pennsylvania is the latest state to drop the hammer 

on the possession or use of EPO. The thoroughbred 

commission has banned erythropoietin, 

darbepoietin, and perfluorocarbon emulsions that 

also can act as blood enhancers. While still awaiting 

completion of a test for those substances, the 

commission action puts the offenders on the side 

of illegality, and hopefully both thoroughbred and 

harness racing will be able to get rid of some of 

the most flagrant users. 

INDY DOWNS IN EVANSVILLE 

Indianapolis Downs got some good news for a 

change, when the Indiana Horse Racing Commission 

yesterday granted unanimous approval for its 

application for an OTB parlor in Evansville, the 

first license granted for southern Indiana. Indy 

GM Gil Short says the track plans to spend $1.2 

million to renovate a former food supermarket in 

a shopping center on Evansville’s east side, a location 

that met with hearty approval from commission 

executive director Joe Gorajec. The parlor 

will feature an upscale restaurant, bar, concessions 

and betting facilities for up to 400 people, 

and puts Indianapolis Downs in direct competition 

with Churchill Downs’ Ellis Park, on the Ohio river 

in Henderson, KY. Short says the site could be 

ready when the track opens, currently scheduled 

for December. 

NEW ILLINOIS BOARD BOSS 

Dennis Bookshester, a former chairman of famed 

Chicago retailer Carson Pirie Scott and more recently 

head man of Fruit of the Loom, has been 

named chairman of the Illinois Racing Board, succeeding 

Ralph Gonzalez. Gonzalez will remain on 

the board, but departing is Jim Kane, who 

chaired the 1995 task force on racing 

named by former governor Jim Edgar. 

Kane reportedly left at the request of current 

governor George Ryan. 


AROUND THE CIRCUIT..... 

Penn National Gaming has picked up another 587 

slot machines for its Charles Town Races operation, 

bringing the total at that track to 2,587. With 

state approval for 3,500 already granted, the track 

will add almost a thousand more at various intervals 

throughout 2003, and it has opened a 1,500- 

car parking facility at Charles Town.......Iowa’s 

attorney general has filed a 10-page petition seeking 

a reversal of the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision 

two weeks ago that Prairie Meadows Racetrack 

and Casino is entitled to a $49 million tax 

refund. The decision was based on the differential 

treatment of race tracks and riverboat casinos 

in the state. The court will decide in a month 

or two whether it will conduct a 

rehearing.............News Corp has declined to comment 

on whether it will seek a breakup of Gemstar- 

TV Guide and try for control of Gemstar’s prime 

asset, TV Guide magazine......the Bureau of Indian 

Affairs has granted recognition to the 

Paucatuck Eastern Pequots and the Eastern 

Pequots as a single tribe, opening the possibility 

of a third Indian casino in Connecticut, where the 

Pequots share a 225-acre reservation less than 10 

miles from Foxwoods Resort Casino, which is 

owned by the Mashantucket Pequots. The Eastern 

Pequots have a deal with Donald Trump, signed 

three years ago, for The Donald to develop the 

site if they build a casino.......Interactive Gaming 

News reports that CyberSource is rolling out a new 

program called eGaming Compliance Solution, 

which reportedly will provide age and residency 

verification, detect fraud, process electronic payments, 

and manage player acceptance based on 

specific jurisdictional rules and regulations. 

HAPPY HOLIDAY! 

In a burst of patriotic fervor, HTA’s staff will enjoy 

a holiday until next Monday, and the editor 

is off to Goshen. The Executive Newsletter 

will resume Monday.





HEARING FOR AZ GAMING CASE 

Attorneys for the State of Arizona and the racing 

industry are scheduled to meet in a San Francisco 

courtroom today to argue the future of casino-style 

gambling in Arizona. The hearing before the 9th 

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes a year after a 

federal judge drastically altered the Indian gaming 

landscape, and as three gaming campaigns 

sharpen their appeals to Arizona voters. “The 

shape of gaming in Arizona in years to come will 

be a consequence of...the initiatives and how this 

court question is resolved,” Scott Bales, who is 

arguing the case for the state, told The Arizona 

Republic. While it’s difficult to predict what the 

appeals court ruling will mean, a few things are 

clear. First, it’s too late for a ruling to derail the 

three gaming initiatives on the general election 

ballot. In addition, if the court reverses last July’s 

decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Broomfield 

before the Nov. 5 election, Gov. Jane Hull would 

have the authority to sign new gaming compacts 

with Arizona tribes, something she would likely 

jump at the chance to do. The Court has advised 

the parties that it can take three to 12 months for 

a ruling. “The probability is they won’t have a 

decision before the election,” said Neil Wake, an 

attorney for American Greyhound Racing Inc., 

owner of Phoenix Greyhound Park and one of the 

parties that sued the state. Both the tracks and 

the state appealed Broomfield’s ruling. The state 

is arguing that Broomfield was wrong to conclude 

that the governor doesn’t have the authority to 

negotiate gaming compacts. It also wants the court 

to overturn Broomfield’s decision that the state 

cannot allow slot machines at Indian casinos without 

permitting them elsewhere in the state. The 

state will also argue that the Arizona tribes are 

“indispensable parties” and were wrongly excluded 

from the racetracks’ original complaint, 

making the legal case moot. The 

tracks will argue against Broomfield’s rul- 


ing that Arizona’s gaming laws are legal under equal 

protection laws. 

SCIOTO O CHANGES SCHEDULE 

Effective this week, Scioto Downs has changed its 

racing schedule to five nights per week. The 

change means Scioto drops its Monday night cards 

in favor of a Tuesday through Saturday live racing 

schedule. 

MARSHALL HANNON DIES 

Marshall Hannon, father of HTA member Associates 

Racing Association’s executive Jim Hannon, 

passed away last night. HTA wishes to convey 

deep condolences to Jim and his family. Expressions 

of sympathy also can be sent to Jim Hannon 

at 21397 Chadwick Circle, Frankfort, IL 60423. 

NEW A.C. CASINO ON SCHEDULE 

Construction is on schedule for a summer 2003 

opening for The Borgata, a $1 billion casino entertainment 

resort in Atlantic City. The project, the 

first new hotel casino to be built in Atlantic City in 

13 years, was topped off in late June. The development 

is a joint venture of Boyd Gaming Corp. 

and MGM Mirage. When it opens, The Borgata 

will be the largest hotel in the market. The resort 

will feature 2,010 hotel rooms, a 120,000 square 

foot casino, 10 retail shops, 11 restaurants and a 

variety of entertainment venues. MGM Mirage 

plans to build its own hotel casino adjacent to The 

Borgata. That development is slated for completion 

in 2005. 

NEW CEO FOR WORLD GAMING 

The gaming software maker and interactive betting 

technology vendor World Gaming plc, formerly 

known as Starnet International, has a new CEO. 

Jim Mackay was appointed to the position after 

the resignation of Michael Aymong from the 

post.





VERNON GETS NEW CHIEF EXEC 

Andrew Goodell, a corporate lawyer and 

Chautauqua county executive from 1990 to 1997, 

is the new president and CEO of Vernon Downs. 

He is not a stranger to the track, having served as 

the New York Racing and Wagering Board’s compliance 

monitor four years ago, after the track had 

been cited by the board for 411 violations and fined 

$45,000. Goodell takes over for Justice M. 

Cheney, who will remain as a consultant, with a 

new board of directors in command at Mid-State 

Raceway, Vernon’s parent. In other changes David 

Jensen was named as chairman of the board and 

James R. Wise was named treasurer and CFO. 

Newcomers on the board include Jerry Mottern, 

Joan Parker, John Stone and Victoria Scott, the 

mother of Shawn Scott, the new majority shareholder 

of Mid-State. Former HTA executive assistant 

Jim Mango remains on the reconstituted 

board. 

Goodell told TIMES:in harness that the new 

group’s goals include marketing the track’s signal 

and account wagering -- which offers points for 

betting -- nationwide, and installing video slots. He 

feels Vernon’s seven-eighths mile track will give 

it a marketing advantage with horse players everywhere. 

Knowledgeable about the Vernon situation 

in relation to racing in New York state, 

Goodell brings valuable experience with the racing 

board to Vernon. 

MORE INTRIGUE IN KENTUCKY 

Although its current president and the former president 

of the national Horsemen’s Benevolent and 

Protective Association want a full inquiry, the board 

of directors of the Kentucky HBPA chapter have 

voted to end an inquiry into the participation of 

three of its officials, Don Sturgill, Rick 

Hiles and Marty Maline. in a private contract 

involving Indian simulcasting. 


INDY DOWNS FIGHTS BACK 

Indianapolis Downs, facing a $1.2 million fine recommendation 

from the executive director of the 

Indiana Horse Racing Commission, is challenging 

the charge, and two former members of the commission 

are joining the track in saying the charges 

are flawed and motivated by prejudice. In motions 

filed with the commission, Indianapolis Downs is 

seeking to have the charges dismissed and are 

asking sanctions against Joe Gorajec, the executive 

director, and asking that he be disqualified 

from any proceedings involving the track. Gorajec 

charged that after investigating he had determined 

that a lobbyist for the track had contacted commission 

members during the time Indy Downs’ application 

was being considered, and had “seriously 

tarnished” the commission’s reputation (HTA Executive 

Newsletter, June 28). In an affidavit filed 

yesterday, former commission chairman Nick Stein 

contends that Gorajec’s charges were “motivated 

by personal prejudice, bias, hostility and contempt 

toward Indianapolis Downs” and the track’s attorney 

said “ Indianapolis Downs has sadly concluded 

that Mr. Gorajec will strike again when we next 

appear on substantive matters before the commission.” 

Gorajec charged that paid lobbyist Larry 

Mohr had called former commissioner Janet 

Bozzelli several times during the Indy Downs application 

process, and had lunch with Stein and 

Bozelli during that time, without the commission’s 

knowledge. The commissioners acknowledged 

that Mohr joined them in an Indianapolis restaurant 

during that period, but contend the meeting 

was strictly by chance and “there was absolutely 

no discussion of Indianapolis Downs’ permit proceedings 

during the luncheon meeting.” 

FILION WINS AT POCONO 

Herve Filion, now driving at Pocono Downs, added 

victory 14,791 to his total in his first appearance 

there since 1995.





ADVISORY PANEL FOR M’LANDS 

A panel of nine legislators, mayors and union officials 

from Bergen county in New Jersey will be 

announced tomorrow, and they apparently will provide 

input on future plans for the New Jersey 

Sports and Exposition Authority. State legislators 

from the area so far have blocked funding of a 

proposed new $355 million sports arena in Newark, 

wanting first to know what plans are for the 

existing Continental Airlines arena adjacent to the 

Meadowlands. The committee, members of which 

have not yet been announced, will hear Monday 

from companies interested in NJSEA development, 

and preliminary proposals will be due in September. 

Finalists will be announced a month later, and 

the winning developer will be chosen a month after 

that, before the year is out. NJSEA CEO 

George Zoffinger said the fast track program was 

needed because “There are a lot of things we could 

put there, and we can’t sit back and do nothing.” 

BUMP IN ROAD AT CHURCHILL 

The happy arrangement between Churchill Downs 

and the city of Louisville (Executive Newsletter 

June 26) which would have the city take over title 

to the track and lease it back to Churchill for $1 a 

year, thus removing it from city, county and state 

property tax rolls, has encountered a bump in the 

road. The city’s board of aldermen wants Churchill 

to agree to a labor agreement that would standardize 

working conditions for all union workers employed 

in the track’s $100 million first phase renovation 

program. Not only did the aldermen make 

the demand, but they imposed a short time deadline 

on a Churchill response, saying they needed 

to know by noon Friday or the arrangement dies. 

The track had agreed on Monday of this week to 

pay “prevailing wages” but apparently that did 

not satisfy labor union reps, and the aldermen 

agreed. 


INDIANA BOATS RUSH TO DOCK 

It didn’t take long for the operators of Indiana’s 

riverboat casinos to take advantage of the new 

law passed last month, enabling them to stay 

docked and pay higher taxes for the privilege of 

letting customers come and go at their leisure. 

Officials of 7 of the state’s 10 riverboats told officials 

they would like to do so, and it appears likely 

they will be able to get underway as early as next 

month. The casinos must submit by Friday their 

plans for surveillance; ticketing and turnstile 

counts; security, with an emphasis on admission 

of people under 21; and estimates of new employees 

who will require licensing. Under the new 

graduated taxing arrangement, boats with revenues 

above $150 million will be taxed at a 35% 

rate, rather than the 20% now levied on all revenues. 

If boats continue cruising, the tax rate will 

be 22.5%. 

SCRAMBLED EGGS ON MENU 

A federal judge in Michigan has overturned an 

appeals court decision that would have required 

reopening of bidding and put existing Detroit casinos 

under a court-appointed conservator. The 

judge, Robert Holmes Bell, said there was no evidence 

that the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewas had been badly harmed by the 

Detroit licensing procedure, and that, “Simply put, 

the egg cannot be unscrambled at this late date.” 

Bell also said he could offer no compensation for 

the tribe. The Lac Veiux, however, do not plan to 

live on scrambled eggs. Their attorney said, “We 

are confident the Court of Appeals, on review, will 

see things differently.” 

PENN NATIONAL IN TALKS 

Hollywood Casino corporation may sell out to Penn 

National Gaming, according to Reuters. The news 

service says that a $280 million purchase price, 

plus assumption of $435 million in debt, could 

make it a $700+ million acquisition.





KEY REPUB. OPPOSES ’NET BILL 

An influential House Republican leader opposes 

the current form of H.R. 3215, the Combating Illegal 

Gambling Reform and Modernization Act, 

and will resist efforts to advance the legislation to 

the House floor this year, according to a report 

published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. House 

Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas does not favor 

Internet gambling, but is concerned that the 

prohibition proposed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R- 

VA) would diminish states’ rights, spokesman 

Jonathan Grella said. “As far as moving forward, 

Congressman DeLay wants to see all interested 

parties work together on a ban that would not infringe 

on states’ rights,” Grella said. With the bill 

now opposed by Congressional leaders like DeLay 

as well as by most gambling groups, the individual 

states and several credit card companies -- who 

feel the bill puts the onus of regulating the Internet 

on them -- the House leadership will be hesitant 

about bringing the legislation to the floor, several 

lobbyists working on Internet gaming predicted. 

Instead, legislation that came out of the Financial 

Services committee, co-sponsored by James Leach 

(R-IA) and Mike Oxley (R-OH) might have a better 

shot. While several lobbyists say prohibiting 

online gaming in the United States would only lead 

to the increased use of offshore gaming sites, the 

Leach-Oxley bill takes another approach by prohibiting 

credit cards and other financial institutions 

from collecting on those charges. And while some 

credit card companies have already instituted policies 

prohibiting online gambling with their cards, 

the Leach-Oxley bill would likely force others to 

follow suit. 

VICTORY TILLY COMING TO U.S. 

The connections of Swedish trotting champion Victory 

Tilly have accepted an invitation to 

compete in the $500,000 Nat Ray Trot on 

Aug. 3 at the Meadowlands. 


IOWA SUP. CT. SEEKS ADVICE 

The Iowa Supreme Court has asked racetrack 

operators to join the debate on its tax ruling last 

month favoring the racetracks. In a brief order, 

the court said interested parties have until July 24 

to answer the state’s claim that the ruling was 

flawed and should be reversed. Legal experts said 

the order was unusual and an indication that the 

justices, divided 4-3 on the tax ruling, were getting 

ready to take another look at both sides of 

the issue. In mid-June, the state high court struck 

down a state law that allowed racetrack slot machines 

to be taxed more than riverboat gambling 

revenues. The court’s majority said the situation 

was contrary to the equal protection clause and 

therefore unconstitutional. In a strongly worded 

petition filed on June 26, the Iowa attorney general, 

representing the state, said the court intruded 

on the authority of lawmakers, especially in the 

area of taxes. “Courts must not pass on the reasonableness 

of a tax by assessing its impact on a 

particular business,” the petition said. Historians 

note that the Iowa Supreme Court has reversed 

itself only twice in the past decade while writing 

about 2,000 opinions. The court is expected to consider 

the attorney general’s petition in August. 

TRUMP BUYS INTO VEGAS STRIP 

New York-New Jersey real estate developer and 

casino boss Donald Trump recently purchased a 

9.8 percent stake in the Riviera casino’s parent 

company, Riviera Holdings, in a deal he says was 

solely done for “investment purposes.” The purchase 

follows Trump’s announcement in April of 

plans to join with casino operator Phil Ruffin to 

build a $350 million, 60-story condominium just off 

the Strip, near Ruffin’s New Frontier casino and 

the Fashion Show Mall. For now, The Donald says 

he has no plans to purchase or jointly operate 

the 2,254-room Riviera after making the 

stock buy.





BIG M READY FOR PACE 

Mach Three, the Berry’s Creek winner and North 

America Cup runner up, has been installed as the 

8-5 morning line favorite from post one in the $1 

million Meadowlands Pace tomorrow night at the 

Meadowlands. The track’s signature event, and 

the richest of all races for pacers, the Meadowlands 

Pace tops a weekend of stakes action that 

also includes the $400,000 Stanley Dancer Trot 

and the $400,000 Del Miller Memorial tonight. 

The Pace is slated as the seventh race on 

Saturday’s card, with a post time of 9:59 p.m. The 

field for the 2002 Meadowlands Pace in post position 

order (with drivers’ names in parentheses) 

include: Mach Three (John Campbell); Three 

Olives (Dale Hiteman); Brad’s Gold (Ron Pierce); 

Mini Me (Dave Magee); Million Dollar Cam 

(David Miller); Royal Mattjesty (Luc Ouellette); 

Allamerican Ingot (Cat Manzi); McArdle (Mike 

Lachance); Pacific Titan (Eric Ledford); and Yankee 

Sensation (Ray Paver Jr.). 

MORE TROUBLE 

AT T KHBPA 

The president and attorney of the Kentucky 

Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association 

both resigned this week as a result of a continuing 

dispute over free-lance work by other association 

officers. Alex Harthill, the KHBPA president, 

said the KHBPA board should not have called 

off its investigation of Century Consultants, the 

consulting group formed by former KHBPA president 

Rick Hiles, current executive director Marty 

Maline and former counsel Don Sturgill. Harthill 

originally ordered the investigation to determine 

whether the consulting group had violated association 

rules when it received $125,000 in consulting 

fees from Choctaw Racing Services in Oklahoma. 

Harthill also disclosed that the KHBPA has 

so far refused to pay interim counsel Joseph 

Cohen, who was hired following 

Sturgill’s resignation, and that Cohen has 

also resigned. 


NY AG SUBPOENAS PAYP 

YPAL 

PayPal, the Internet payment processor purchased 

this week by eBay, has received a subpoena from 

the New York attorney general’s office asking for 

details of Internet gamblers using its system. After 

the announcement of the PayPal purchase, 

eBay said that it will close off PayPal’s relationship 

with Internet gaming firms. PayPal officials 

said the New York attorney general’s office asked 

for information about online gaming payments that 

occurred through its network and said that it would 

conduct investigations. 

BINGO! THE BRAIN BOOSTER 

The next time you’re tempted to make fun of the 

crowd of blue-haired old ladies feverishly marking 

their cards at the local church or bingo parlor, 

remember this. Playing bingo can keep the mind 

trim -- and the older you are the more agile you 

may be, researchers have found. Tests showed 

bingo players were faster and more accurate than 

non-bingo players in a range of tests measuring 

mental speed, memory and the ability to pick up 

information from the environment around them. 

Players have to be able to check numbers off 

quickly and need rapid hand-eye coordination. And 

unlike chess, bridge and backgammon, which need 

skills stored in the brain and remembered when 

needed, bingo requires speedy identification within 

time constraints. Julie Winstone, from the University 

of Southampton’s Centre for Visual Cognition, 

has been testing bingo players’ mental agility 

over the last year. Winstone’s research shows 

what has been suspected for some time, that longterm 

mental activity -- and particularly bingo -- 

could stave off the decline of cognitive abilities 

such as speed, accuracy and recognition of patterns. 

While Winstone tested old and young bingo 

players as well as people who did not play the 

game, older bingo players performed better 

at many of the required tasks.





MAGNA, DEFRANCIS IN PACT 

The long-discussed acquisition of the Maryland 

Jockey Club by Magna Entertainment has been 

completed, with Magna, Joe DeFrancis and his 

sister Karin DeFrancis today announcing an “alliance” 

under which they will share ownership of 

Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park. Joe 

DeFrancis will continue as president and CEO of 

the two tracks, with full authority and responsibility 

for operations subject to normal corporate oversight 

of their boards of directors. Joe and Karin 

will serve on those boards, with Karin continuing 

as executive vice president, working primarily on 

the Preakness, and Joe will be proposed for election 

to Magna Entertainment’s board of directors. 

Magna will purchase a 51% equity share and voting 

interest in the Maryland Jockey Club, and controlling 

shares in the rest of the convoluted ownership 

of Laurel and Pimlico. Those entities include 

the Laurel Racing Association Limited Partnership, 

of which Magna will buy 51% voting interest 

and 58% equity interest in the general partner and 

manager, and the entire limited partner interest of 

the Laurel Guida Group, involving former major 

harness owner Lou Guida. Magna’s acquisitions 

will give it a 79% economic interest in the LRALP, 

for an aggregate of some $50.6 million in cash, of 

which some $49 million will be paid to LUK Flats 

LLC, Martin Jacobs and the Laurel Guida Group 

to acquire the entire ownership interests presently 

held by them. In addition, LUK Flats LLC, Martin 

Jacobs, the Laurel Guida Group, the DeFrancis 

family and the Maryland Jockey Club have agreed 

to form a joint venture to pursue development of 

other business opportunities in Maryland, including 

the potential development and management of 

gaming ventures, if they become authorized by 

state law. Frank Stronach called the acquisition 

“an important milestone in our strategic 

program of growth.” 


SOLID NUMBERS WORLDWIDE 

The Meadowlands was the world capital of horse 

racing on Saturday, regardless of breed. With the 

$1 million Meadowlands Pace for 3-year-olds, won 

by the $2.2 million purchase Mach Three as the 

feature, the track had on-site attendance of 22,473, 

the nation’s largest, with its sister track Monmouth 

Park next with 12,522. The Meadowlands also 

had its highest handle of the season, $6,677,154. 

In Chicago, HTA member Suburban Downs at 

Hawthorne closed its first meeting in five years 

with a Saturday night card featuring $375,000 in 

purses, and up 55% in on-track handle over its 

previous harness meeting. 

And in Mikkeli, Finland, a crowd of 26,100 turned 

out to see the world’s greatest trotter, Varenne, 

win again in world record time, picking up another 

$50,000 as he set a new world mark of 151.3 for a 

mile on a five-eighths mile track. 

45-SECOND CYCLES WORK FINE 

A test conducted last week by the Thoroughbred 

Racing Associations in conjunction with the three 

major tote companies -- AmTote, Autotote and 

United Tote -- reportedly was a rousing success. 

The test, conducted at Delaware Park, involved 

45-second cycling of the tote board, rather than 

60-second cycling, and TRA executive vice president 

Chris Scherf says the new software worked 

well enough that Saratoga Race Course plans to 

use it when it opens July 24. It is hoped it will 

provide more accurate betting trends for patrons. 

SCOTT TO BUY BANGOR 

Bangor Raceway in Maine reportedly is being sold 

to Capital One LLC, the Las Vegas real estate 

company owned by Shawn Scott, now major 

owner of Vernon Downs.





THE KEY ISSUE STILL IN DOUBT 

Of all of the tracks that Frank Stronach’s Magna 

Entertainment has bought, none generated as much 

ink as yesterday’s acquisition of control of Pimlico 

and Laurel. Tens of thousands of words poured 

forth from Maryland, including the hugs and kisses 

between Joe and Karin DeFrancis and Magna officials 

who explained the extremely complex arrangement 

that will transfer control of the tracks 

to Magna without disturbing egos while still generously 

enlarging personal fortunes. 

While badly needed physical improvements were 

touched on, the most significant words of all came 

from the two political candidates who will determine 

the Maryland Jockey Club’s future. With 

Parris Glendening leaving the governor’s office 

next winter, intractable to the end on the issue of 

slots, the issue of what happens next hangs over 

Magna’s intentions to turn Pimlico and Laurel into 

“tourist destinations.” Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy 

Townsend, the Democratic candidate, has made it 

clear she plans to follow the Glendening line, and 

she says she is deeply opposed to slots at tracks. 

A spokesman said yesterday after announcement 

of the sale, “The lieutenant governor believes that 

the long-term future of the horse racing industry 

in Maryland should not be tied to slots, that there 

are other solutions. We believe that this deal 

(Magna’s purchase) makes it more feasible to find 

those other solutions.” Townsend’s Republican 

opponent, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., does favor slots 

at tracks, although it was unnerving to hear him 

talking about the state’s three thoroughbred tracks 

without mentioning Rosecroft Raceway. Hopefully 

he knows it is there. Ehrlich thinks “there’s a lot 

of momentum” for slots, and hopefully he will see 

that they arrive for all tracks if he wins. Jim 

McAlpine made Magna’s intentions clear. 

“We’re going to aggressively do whatever 


is necessary to make the business a success,” he 

said, and added that if slot machines are determined 

to be essential to the success of Laurel and 

Pimlico, Magna would seek them. 

One other voice was heard from in the press tumult 

following yesterday’s announcement. It was 

that of the Rev. Thomas A. Grey, the Illinois abolitionist 

who heads the National Coalition Against 

Gambling Expansion. Speaking of Magna boss 

Frank Stronach, Grey said, “He didn’t just wake 

up one day and say, ‘My mission in life is to save 

Pimlico and Laurel.’” The good reverend obviously 

sees those cherries and bars spinning in front 

of him, and the vision reaches all the way to Rockford, 

Illinois, and unnerves him in his lair. 

If Grey is worried, he has something much closer 

to home to concern him. Aldermen in Chicago’s 

northwest suburb of Des Plaines, most of whom 

who have opposed gambling since the town’s 

burghers voted it down eight years ago, voted yesterday 

to explore the idea of a casino in that town, 

quiet except for the roar of planes taking off and 

landing at nearby O’Hare airport. The aldermen 

met last week with “a very reputable and very 

large” casino investor group, according to the 

Chicago Tribune, and were obviously interested 

in what the group had to say. Among the things 

they said is that they could put up $350 million to 

win a license for Des Plaines, and that the city would 

take in $20 million a year in tax revenues if they 

were successful. One alderman said his colleagues 

still recognized past opposition to gambling, but 

the city’s current financial strain made it prudent 

to study the possibility of a casino. The Rev. Grey 

had something to say about this, too. “It’s sort of 

unbelievable,” he intoned. “This is a sign of how 

powerful the lure of casino money is to communities.” 

What else is new, Reverend?





AN ALL-NEW MEADOWLANDS? 

That was the headline in today’s Newark Star-Ledger, 

over a feature by staffer Sid Dorfman, commenting 

on remarks by New Jersey Sports and 

Exposition Authority CEO George Zoffinger. 

Dorfman said Zoffinger has noted Universal 

City in California, which calls itself .the nation’s 

premier entertainment center,. and a similar one 

in Orlando, and that he is intrigued with the possibility 

of replicating them on the 104 acres of prime 

land controlled by the NJSEA just eight miles from 

Times Square. Dorfman quotes Zoffinger as saying, 

“We should think big,” in connection with 

NJSEA redevelopment, and says his thoughts include 

“a movie studio and theaters, and restaurants 

at every level, and office buildings, bowling 

centers, retail stores, night clubs, beer gardens, 

and a few innovations of our own.” Dorfman also 

says Zoffinger may listen closely to the idea of an 

auto racetrack. If that is so, a trip to Chicago’s 

Sportsman’s Park might be in order, where a huge 

auto raceway, built at the expense of once highly 

successful horse racing, has proved the biggest 

white elephant in recent Chicago sports history, a 

total flop that leaves a 70,000 seat stadium sitting 

unused. Dorfman spared no venom in writing 

about a new arena in Newark for the Nets and 

Devils. He wrote, “We are now in a vacuum before 

the next political free-for-all breaks out over 

an arena in Newark. The last one started as insanity 

and then went downhill. If it had been filmed, 

it would have been X-rated. The futile effort in 

the legislature to barter an entire state budget for 

a sports arena in Newark was about as close as 

you get to political pornography. The only thing 

the state legislature lacked was a big comic finish, 

such as if the arena had passed and the budget 

failed.” Dorfman says Zoffinger feels every effort 

should be made to keep the Nets and 

Devils in New Jersey, and no good 

Jerseyan would argue with that. 


AN INTERESTING SIDELIGHT 

In the massive outpouring of coverage following 

Magna Entertainment’ $117 million acquisition — 

half in hard cash changing hands —of the rights 

and property of the Maryland Jockey Club, one 

interesting sidelight came to light. It was that Art 

Modell, owner of the Baltimore Ravens, had committed 

to contributing $40 million to a $100 million 

bid for Pimlico and Laurel from Churchill Downs. 

Modell told the Baltimore Sun that he had 

partnered with Churchill to bid on the MJC tracks, 

and that the deal fell through not just because of 

money but because of the reluctance of Joe 

DeFrancis and his sister Karin to give up an active 

role in management of the tracks. Under 

the deal with Magna, they remain as president and 

vice president of Pimlico and Laurel with fiveyear 

management contracts. The deal Churchill 

offered, Modell said, involved bringing in its own 

management team. 

GIVING UP THE RIVER 

In an interesting switch, the Casino Rock Island 

gambling riverboat has asked the Illinois Gaming 

Board for permission to leave the Mississippi river 

for an inland sight on a small lake next to a highway 

cloverleaf three miles from the river. The 

move was rejected by the legislature last spring, 

but according to the Chicago Tribune lawmakers 

friendly to the casino insert the same language 

in a 153-page budget implementation bill that also 

included the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library 

and Museum. Wave that flag and abandon 

ship! 

In another fascinating Illinois development, political 

friends of Gov. George Ryan have set up a 

private trust fund that can be tapped to pay his 

legal bills. A campaign fund of the governor is 

being legally challenged and $1 million of it was 

frozen by court order. The new fund is 

backed by a supporter whose son is an investor 

in the Emerald Casino project.





WEG AND THE BIG VALBOWSKI 

Vince McMahon has discovered Canada, and his 

World Wrestling Entertainment, once known as the 

World Wrestling Federation, is pushing hard to 

establish a major base there. Ten of wrestling’s 

superstars will congregate at Woodbine Racetrack 

this weekend, and will sign autographs and 

raise money for Variety, the Children’s Charity. 

The ten will meet and mingle with the crowd at the 

track’s main entrance, then repair to a fund-raising 

luncheon in Woodbine’s newest attraction, its 

eastside V.I.P. Tent, where the hulks will regale 

invited guests with stories of their conquests. In 

the second race, a seven furlong maiden allowance 

event for 3- and 4-year-olds, the horses will be renamed 

for the grapplers, but the betting will be 

real. At a drawing yesterday, the field was matched 

with the grapplers in a special draw presided over 

by WWE Superstar Trish Stratus, and going 

postward Saturday will be Stacy Keibler, Test, 

Christian, The Big Valbowski, Mark Henry, Randy 

Orton, Jazz, Rhyno, Scotty 2 Hotty and Spike 

Dudley. Woodbine and its co-sponsor of the tag 

team promotion, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming 

Corporation, hope to raise $175,000 for the kids’ 

charity. Vince McMahon hopes to strengthen 

WWE’s ties with Canadian federal and provincial 

governments in an effort to see if “taxes, synergies, 

government partnerships and advertising and 

tourism campaigns” can be merged for mutual benefit. 

A NEW STAR IN THE MAKING? 

A quarter of a century ago or so, a United States 

Trotting Association publicist wrote a story about 

an orgy of employees on the backstretch orchard 

of the Little Brown Jug, where revelry used to run 

rampant after the classic race for 3-year-old 

pacers. The story ran big in a Sunday 

edition of the Columbus Dispatch, and it 

got the publicist fired. 


He struggled to New York, found work with 

Newsweek, then People, then became editor of US, 

and now is executive editor of Sports Illustrated. 

Today comes word that the board members of the 

Delaware County Agricultural Society have approved 

liquor and beer sales, under strict supervision, 

for this year’s Jug and Jugette. We’ll be there, 

on the lookout for a new scribe who may write about 

events, get fired for doing it, and find that there is 

life after USTA. 

CAMPBELL REFLECTS ON 9,000 

Whether it happened Saturday night, as Standardbred 

Canada claims, or Tuesday night, as the 

Meadowlands claims, John Campbell now is past 

9,000 winning drives and counting. With some $206 

million in the till from horses he has driven, harness 

racing’s Mr. Everything says 9,000 is okay, 

but he doesn’t dwell on numbers. He was thrilled, 

however, that “the people out front and all the way 

back to the paddock were very enthusiastic in their 

congratulations. For a Tuesday night crowd, that’s 

more the hard-core fans and the gamblers, so I 

felt good about that.” Right now, however, 

Campbell says he doesn’t set goals or even think 

about career highlights. “I’m sure I will when I 

slow down and look back,” he said, “but right now 

I’m in the present tense and looking to the future.” 

COLONIAL GETS EXTRA DAYS 

The Virginia Racing Commission has given tentative 

approval to an expanded harness racing meet 

for Colonial Downs this fall. The track was scheduled 

to race 17 days, but when John Holland, who 

held a meeting at his Oak Ridge Estates last year, 

gave up the 14 days he was allocated this year, 

Colonial said it would pick some of them up and 

race 24 dates, Saturdays through Tuesdays, from 

Oct. 5 until Nov. 12. The commission voted unanimously 

to grant preliminary approval.





CAL TELEPHONE WAGERING 

Interesting advance deposit wagering figures from 

California. Through July 6, $66.3 million had been 

bet through ADW, representing 5.7% of total California 

wagering of $1.1 billion since January 25. 

California residents bet $28.2 million, or 42.66% 

of the ADW handle, through TVG; $21.2 million, 

or 32% of the total, through Magna 

Entertainment’s XpressBet; and $9.4 million, or 

14.2% of the total, through Youbet.com. Out of 

state residents bet $3.5 million, or 5.4% of the total, 

on TVG; $519,136, or 0.78% of the total, on 

XpressBet; and $3.3 million, or 4.96% of the total, 

on Youbet.com. Out-of-state betting was 

11.13% of ADW. 

IN CANADA, A PARADE OF $$$$ 

The eight years from 1992 to 2000 produced some 

remarkable numbers in Canadian gambling. A 

survey by Statistics Canada shows that the 

government’s revenue from gambling, which was 

$2.7 billion in 1992, had risen to $10.7 billion by 

the end of 2000, and presumably continues to rise 

with the addition of new venues. Of the $10.7 billion 

two years ago, $6 billion was profit, up more 

than three and one-half times over eight years 

earlier. Casinos accounted for 32% of the gambling 

revenue in 2000, lotteries 30%, VLTs 25%, 

and slots outside casinos 13%. The average gambling 

expenditure for every person 18 or older in 

Canada in 2000 was $424 (Cdn) For the purposes 

of the report, numbers from pari-mutuel wagering 

were tabulated separately. 

AN INVOLVED COMMISSIONER 

It’s refreshing when a racing commissioner gets 

involved with media in a positive way. It also can 

be productive. Ed Rogers is a proactive 

member of the Pennsylvania Harness 

Racing Commission. He struck up an acquaintance 

with Mary Klaus, a reporter for 


the Harrisburg Patriot-News, and invited her to a 

fair harness meeting at Gratz, PA. The result was 

a huge story with big color pictures, covering half 

a page on the front page of the B section of the 

July 15 Patriot-News, and another third of the back 

page of the section, with a large black and white 

photo, under a headline reading “Streaking to the 

finish line” and a subhead, “Gratz Fair harness 

event called slice of Americana.” Ironically, the 

headline at the top of the page, referring to a 

smaller story on mass baptism, appears at first 

glance to have a connection with the four-column 

color photo of a horse turning for home below. It 

reads, “Following Jesus’ example.” Good score, 

Commissioner Rogers, and thanks! 

THE WOLF WITH NINE LIVES 

That could only be one wolf: Frank Wolf, Republican 

of Virginia, who refuses to die despite defeat 

after defeat in Congress. His most recent resounding 

loss came Wednesday, when the House killed 

his latest fiasco, calling for a national commission 

to study Indian gaming, by a vote of 273-151. One 

Congresswoman, Shelley Berkley, a Nevada 

Democrat, said she voted against the bill because 

it came from Wolf, and that she is suspicious of 

any gambling related legislation he proposes. “He 

is looking for the worst aspects of gaming, and 

when the National Impact Study Commission report 

did not yield the results he wanted, he thought 

he would try a different approach and this is it,” 

Rep. Berkley said. 

Rep. J. D. Hayworth, an Arizona Republican, led 

the opposition to the Wolf measure, saying there 

already have been 73 federal studies of Indian 

gambling, including six requested by Wolf. 

YESTERDAY’S QUIZ ANSWER 

We did not intend it as a mystery quiz, but we made 

it one by omission. The writer who made the leap 

from USTA expatriate to executive editor 

of Sports Illustrated is Charlie Leehrsen. 

Sorry about that.





JUDGE APPOINTED IN INDIANA 

The Indiana Racing Commission appointed an 

administrative law judge to hear evidence in an 

investigation involving the state’s second parimutuel 

racetrack. Joe Gorajec, the commission’s 

executive director, issued reports on June 27 accusing 

officials of Indianapolis Downs with failing 

to disclose details about Larry Mohr, a paid lobbyist 

and consultant. The reports alleged Mohr 

made several phone calls to commission member 

Janet Bozzelli and met with her and Nicholas Stein, 

also a commissioner at the time, during a threeday 

period in May 2001 when the panel was considering 

Indianapolis Downs’ application. Gorajec 

has recommended that the track under construction 

southeast of Indianapolis in Shelby County 

be fined $1.2 million. Indianapolis Downs officials 

have maintained they met disclosure requirements 

and want the fine and the allegations behind it dismissed. 

If administrative law judge Bernard Pylitt 

accepts the case, he will hear evidence and make 

a recommendation to the commission on whether 

actions should be taken. Indianapolis Downs wants 

someone else appointed to hear the case because 

Pylitt played a part in the investigation as an administrative 

law judge. The track is also seeking 

sanctions against Gorajec and wants him disqualified 

from any proceedings involving the track. It 

has filed affidavits from two former commission 

members who said the investigation was flawed, 

in part because Gorajec was prejudiced against 

the track. The commission postponed consideration 

of the allegations against Gorajec until the law 

judge makes a recommendation on the other matters. 

Commission Chairman Richard Darko said 

he could not give a timeline for having the disciplinary 

matters resolved, but said it was important 

other regulatory proceedings continue. A commission 

attorney defended Gorajec’s actions 

as “fair and even-handed.” 


ISLE OF CAPRI TO SELL CASINO 

Isle of Capri Casinos, the Biloxi, Miss., riverboat 

casino operator and parent company of HTA member 

Pompano Park, has announced it will sell the 

Lady Luck casino in downtown Las Vegas to AMX 

Nevada for an undisclosed price. In a statement, 

Isle of Capri Chairman Bernard Goldstein said the 

Lady Luck Las Vegas never really fit into the 

company’s core business model. “This sale, if consummated, 

will allow the Isle of Capri Casinos to 

return its focus to what we know best, operating 

regional casinos outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic 

City.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

N.J. NEXT FOR MAGNA??? 

The Bergen Record reports that the Meadowlands 

Racetrack and Monmouth Park, the New Jersey 

Sports and Exposition Authority’s two racetracks, 

may be the next steps in a current buying spree by 

Frank Stronach’s Magna Entertainment 

Corporation. George Zoffinger, president of the 

Sports Authority, told the Record’s John Brennan, 

“If Magna would like to enter into discussions with 

regard to the racetracks, we would have an open 

ear at the appropriate time. Right now is not yet 

the appropriate time, because we are in the process 

of looking at the overall development of the 

Meadowlands.” 

SAUDI PRINCE DEAD AT 43 

Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, owner of 

2002 Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem and 

the powerful Thoroughbred Corp. racing stable 

died Monday of an apparent heart attack at age 

43. According to the Associated Press, Ahmed, a 

nephew of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and chairman 

of a Saudi publishing empire, died in the capital 

of Riyadh. Last year, Ahmed’s elder brother, 

Prince Fahd, died of a heart attack at age 46.





DIDGERIDOO IN BERGSTEIN PACE 

With HTA Executive Vice President Stan “Mr. 

Harness Racing” Bergstein in attendance, a sharplooking 

field of six 3-year-olds took up position 

behind the starting gate for the $26,900 Stan 

Bergstein Pace Final on Monday, July 22 at 

Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville, Mass. When 

the smoke cleared, Didgeridoo, owned by the Fox 

Ridge Stable, emerged triumphant in a dramatic 

three-horse driving finish over Cancun Hanover 

and Golden Boy in 1:54.4. “It was a very exciting 

race and competitive as could be,” said Bergstein, 

who was in the Plainridge winner’s circle to make 

the trophy presentation to winning driver Dave 

Ingraham and trainer Kelly Case. Prior to the 

race, Bergstein was on the receiving end of a 

winner’s circle presentation by the New England 

Harness Writers Association. 

NV. CASINOS TO OPPOSE RULE 

Nevada gambling regulators looking to modernize 

the state’s casino antimonopoly regulation are 

expected to hear numerous reasons tomorrow why 

the casino industry doesn’t support a draft proposal 

by Gaming Control Board member Scott 

Scherer submitted two months ago, according to 

the Las Vegas Review Journal. Scherer’s draft 

rule would toughen the existing regulation, which 

contains no “bright-line” level to which regulators 

could point in determining that a casino purchase 

or merger would give an operator an unfair competitive 

advantage. Scherer’s draft includes market-share 

thresholds. But regulators are likely to 

hear at a Las Vegas meeting that the state’s casino 

industry opposes the bright-line limits. Station 

Casinos’ CFO Glenn Christenson said Las 

Vegas consumers don’t need additional antitrust 

protection. “We’ve got 150,000 machines in 

Las Vegas,” Christenson said. “It’s not 

like the power company where consumers 

have only one source.” Scherer said he’s 


not aware of a single company that backs the 

bright-line limits in his first draft, but he’s not worried. 

The existing rules were created in the 1960s 

after the U.S. Department of Justice threatened 

to intervene to block Howard Hughes’ planned 

purchase of the Stardust on antitrust grounds after 

he had already bought the Desert Inn, Sands, 

Castaways, Silver Slipper and Frontier casinos on 

the Strip. A 1969 state law ratified the commission 

antitrust rules, but in 33 years they have never 

been used to block a purchase or merger. 

HBPA ISSUES REPORT 

A task force set up by the National Horsemen’s 

Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) 

found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by two 

Kentucky HBPA (KHBPA) officials who were 

involved with a consulting group while they held 

positions with the national association. But the 

HBPA’s Conflict of Interest Task Force did find 

evidence of a conflict on the part of the two, former 

KHBPA counsel Don Sturgill and former president 

Rick Hiles. The report also found that while 

KHBPA Executive Director Marty Maline, who 

also helped for the consulting group, “showed poor 

judgment” he did nothing to warrant any sort of 

criminal or civil liability. 

KY. WON’T GIVE UP ON SLOTS 

The racing industry is not giving up on its effort to 

bring VLTs to Kentucky racetracks, according to 

an article in the Kentucky Post. Convinced that 

the slots bill that died in the 2002 General Assembly 

is a good bill and that legislators will support it 

once they know more about it. “The issue is not 

dead,” Alex Waldrop, president of Churchill Downs 

told the Kentucky Post. “We are clearly looking 

to 2003 as a possible next step. We don’t have 

concrete plans yet. There’s lots of work that 

needs to be done between now and the next 

time the issue is taken up.”





BIG INTEREST IN M’LANDS SITE 

Nearly 70 developers interested in building at the 

Meadowlands sports complex have met with officials 

of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition 

Authority within the past two weeks, according to 

the Associated Press. Earlier this month, 43 firms 

sent representatives to a preliminary meeting with 

sports authority brass to ask questions about what 

the state wants to see built there. On Tuesday, 

another 25 attended a similar meeting. “This obviously 

indicates to us there’s a tremendous 

amount of interest in this request for proposals,” 

said NJSEA CEO George Zoffinger. 

SUIT AGAINST SLOTS IN NEB. 

A video slot machine proposal should be kept off 

the November ballot because of flaws in the way it 

was drafted, an anti-gambling group argues in a 

lawsuit. “This lawsuit will reveal just how insidious 

and self-serving this proposal is,” Pat Loontjer, 

executive director of Gambling With the Good Life, 

said Tuesday. Gaming proponents this month submitted 

nearly 180,000 petition signatures in support 

of a constitutional amendment to legalize 

video slot machines and other “player-activated 

electronic gambling devices.” But opponents say 

the petition violated a 1998 state law requiring that 

initiatives be limited to a single subject. The suit 

says the petition “amends or impacts at least seven 

existing provisions in five different sections of the 

Nebraska Constitution.” Among other things, the 

gambling proposal would create a state gambling 

commission with elected constitutional officers, 

provide for local gaming boards, prohibit the state 

from taxing the gambling proceeds and require 

local governments to use gambling funds to reduce 

property taxes. Opponents argue that all of those 

changes make the proposal more than just a 

“gambling amendment.” The suit raises 

several other challenges to the petition as 

well. 


STAR 

ART MAKING PLANS NOW! 

HTA Executive Vice President Stan Bergstein today 

completed his advance planning trip to the 

Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, 

Florida, and reports that attendees are in for a treat 

when HTA members convene at the beautiful 

beachfront facility. Bergstein also was able to secure 

the banquet facility at the Diplomat Country 

Club for the gala HTA Nova Awards Banquet on 

Friday, March 15. Those planning to attend the 

2003 HTA Annual Meeting should schedule arrival 

for Tuesday, March 12, 2003. 

HELP FOR HIALEAH? 

Dave Joseph of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel 

reports that the New York Racing Association 

(NYRA) and the New Jersey Thoroughbred 

Horsemen’s Association (NJTHA) have confirmed 

they have separately looked into the feasibility of 

running a winter meet at Hialeah Park, which has 

been dormant for some 14 months. “We’ve actually 

spoken to [Hialeah owner John Brunetti] a 

couple times about exploring the possibility of a 

winter circuit that would include horsemen from 

New Jersey, New York and Florida,” said Dennis 

Drazin, legal counsel for the NJTHA. NYRA’s 

Terry Meyocks acknowledged that there have 

“been conversations over the last year,” but said 

the talks have “never gotten that far.” Drazin told 

the Sun-Sentinel he envisioned a Saratoga-like 

meet for Hialeah. “We would run head-to-head 

with Gulfstream. Maybe we’d run on 

[Gulfstream’s] dark day...put together special programs 

with New Jersey-breds, New York-breds, 

grass races.” Meyocks was less optimistic. “We 

want to do what’s best for the horsemen but, really, 

we’ve never gotten that far with it. We’re not 

even to the stage of discussions. I just don’t think 

it could happen right now because we’ve got so 

much on our plate.”





DON MILLAR DEAD AT 89 

Don R. Millar, executive vice president of the 

United States Trotting Association during its period 

of explosive growth from 1948 until 1967, and 

vice president of giant Hanover Shoe Farm after 

that, died yesterday at his home in Columbus, 

Ohio, at 89. During his USTA tenure, early computerization 

and the Sires and Dams book were 

introduced and the first edition of the hugely successful 

Care and Training of the Trotter and Pacer 

was published. Millar was instrumental in introducing 

the Ohio Sires Stakes program and was an 

outstanding small breeder, with three 

Hambletonian winners to his credit, Timothy T in 

1970, Christopher T in 1974 and Steve Lobell in 

1976. HTA extends sympathy to his wife Varley 

and the Millar family. 

NEW POST FOR WALDROP 

In an effort to bring cohesion and coordination to 

the effort to oversee government relations for its 

far-flung empire, Churchill Downs is realigning its 

top management, and Alex Waldrop, track president 

since 1999 and its general manager as well, 

will take over as senior vice president for public 

affairs. Waldrop, 45, is an attorney who joined 

Churchill 10 years ago as general counsel, rose to 

president and GM, and led the campaign for slots 

at tracks in Kentucky last year, an effort he says 

is far from over and will require intensive lobbying 

in the next few years. Waldrop said, “Right 

now, the political stakes are high at both the state 

and federal level for this industry. Some of the 

greatest challenges we face deal with public policy 

issues, and in many respects the horse industry 

can’t grow without enabling legislation.” Churchill 

CEO Tom Meeker did not immediately appoint a 

new president, but announced that COO John 

Long will oversee day-to-day operation 

and Jim Gates, who has served as VP of 

administration, will be interim GM. 


BIG MONEY & HOPES AT BIG M 

Three Breeders Crown events, worth $1.85 million, 

are scheduled for decision Saturday at the 

Meadowlands, along with eliminations for next 

week’s Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks. 

The Breeders Crown events are the $1 million Trot 

for older horses, ninth race on the Meadowlands’ 

Saturday card; the $500,000 Pace, for older pacers, 

to be raced as the 11th race on the 14-race 

card; and the $350,000 Mare Pace, 13th race on 

the program. Fool’s Goal has been installed as 

the 9-to-5 favorite in the Trot, but he faces a severe 

test from the invading Swedish star Victory 

Tilly, a winner of $2.6 million, to be driven by 

Scandinavia’s most brilliant horseman, Stig 

Johansson. The pacing field is led by a powerful 

Brittany Farms entry of Real Desire and Capital 

Request, but the field includes 2000 Horse of the 

Year Gallo Blue Chip, hoping to raise his lifetime 

earnings above $4 million. In the mare pace, 2001 

Horse of the Year Bunny Lake is morning line favorite, 

but she faces an all-star field including Eternal 

Camnation and Frightening P, supplemented 

to the championship for $40,000, and the hard-hitting 

Molly Can Do It, who just might. 

TWO MORE WINNERS 

In the graphics department, not on the track. Recently 

arrived here, a dandy media guide and 

record book from Hoosier Park, attractively covered 

in green, purple and tan, spiral bound for easy 

reference, and containing full info on both harness 

and thoroughbred racing at the Indiana track. Also 

in recently, Ellen Taylor’s 2003 edition of the Harness 

Horse Youth Foundation’s Equine School and 

College Directory, compiled by Susan Lewis. This 

valuable book includes U.S. and Canadian schools, 

colleges and universities offering equine-related 

education, vet and farrier schools, scholarship 

sources and other related information. Good 

job!





BIG CHANGES FOR SARATOGA 

All plans have not been finalized, but HTA member 

Saratoga Equine Sports Center will be different 

in the near future. Perhaps very different. For 

one thing, the name of the track will change again. 

Once known as Saratoga Raceway, then as 

Saratoga Harness, and now as the Saratoga Equine 

Sports Center, the track will change its name once 

again. General manager Skip Carlson isn’t saying 

just what the new name will be, but it will not 

be the Equine Sports Center. It also will not be a 

half-mile track. Carlson says the idea of changing 

the size, after 61 years, is to make Saratoga the 

only five-eighths mile track in New York state, and 

he says that with that “the racing will be much 

more competitive” and eliminate the bias of halfmile 

track post positions. Saratoga also is contracting 

with a gaming company to manage its slots 

operations, and Carlson says the company -- unidentified 

but “an experienced player in the industry,” 

will bear the major portion of the $6 million 

cost to install the machines and their site at the 

track. 

CAPITAL OTB UPGRADING, TOO 

While Skip Carlson was outlining Saratoga’s plans 

to the board of the Capital District Regional OTB 

at the Gideon Putnam in Saratoga Springs, 

Capital’s CEO Tom Cholakis was announcing some 

major new plans of his own. He revealed that the 

HTA associate member is following Magna 

Entertainment’s lead in contracting with an Australian 

company, VeCommerce, to provide a voice 

recognition system for accepting bets. Magna has 

contracted with the Sydney-based company to install 

its system at Magna tracks, and Capital will 

begin negotiations to utilize the system -- which 

takes verbal bets -- including amount, type and 

number automatically -- to improve its 

wagering operations. Capital hopes to 

lease the system, with cost calculated as a 

percentage of volume of handle. 


DOVER, PENN NAT’L, FLYING 

The stock market may be careening crazily, but 

Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment and Penn 

National Gaming are not feeling the pressure. 

Dover reported record second quarter earnings 

yesterday, with gross revenues up to $56.2 million 

compared with $46.4 million a year ago. Penn 

National posted a 40% increase in net income for 

the second quarter, much of it the result of increased 

earnings at its West Virginia Charles Town 

Races gaming operation. Penn National now has 

almost 2,600 machines in operation there, with 

another 900 approved. Magna Entertainment, 

whose stock dropped to its yearly low of $4.46 

yesterday, down 30% in the turbulent market since 

Magna announced acquisition plans for Pimlico 

and Laurel, will announce second quarter results 

next Wednesday. 

CODEY NEW FREEHOLD GM 

Don Codey, who has served in various harness 

racing capacities at the Meadowlands and the New 

Jersey Racing Commission and has served as general 

manager of Rosecoft Raceway and Ocean 

Downs, and most recently as presiding judge at 

Freehold Raceway, was named this morning as the 

new general manager of Freehold. Rich Orbann, 

who has been handling those duties in addition to 

his role as president of Freehold and president of 

racing operations of Penn National Gaming, is 

turning over the GM duties to Codey and made 

the announcement today. Codey spent 15 years 

at the Meadowlands in various managerial and 

racing official capacities from 1976 to 1991, then 

served as assistant director of the New Jersey 

Racing Commission from 1991 to 1995. He was 

general manager at Rosecroft Raceway in 1995 

and 1996, and COO and general manager of Ocean 

Downs from 1997 to 2000. Rich Orbann said 

Codey’s credentials and enthusiasm made 

him a natural for his new post.





BATAVIA BACK AFTER 5 YEARS 

Batavia Downs returns from the dead tonight, back 

in action after five years of idleness, thanks to the 

vision and persistence of Marty Basinait, president 

and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track 

Betting. Basinait was determined to see Batavia 

back in business, and he spent several years of 

effort with the New York legislature, and with the 

support of his Western OTB board, in first acquiring 

the track and then clearing all the hurdles to 

reopening. His dream comes true with first post 

at 7:35 tonight, nine races on tap, admission free, 

and the track still under renovation and reconstruction. 

The grand opening will not be until Oct. 9, 

when construction should be completed after $8 

million of renovations following the $2.5 million 

purchase price. The town of Batavia has strongly 

supported the reopening, and Batavia’s director 

of community development, Edward Flynn, says 

everyone will be a winner. “The restaurants will 

benefit, the hotels, even some of the little things 

like laundry service will benefit. The people in 

the city are definitely excited.” Basinait is too. 

“This place was a gnat’s hair from being a Home 

Depot or a home development,” he said. “It would 

have been a shame for this to become some residential 

subdivision. There’s plenty of dirt around 

for development. There are not a lot of Batavia 

Downs.” The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 

noted, “This is not your father’s Batavia Downs. 

Or your grandfather’s.” And Basinait added, “It’s 

not 1947 anymore, it’s new. We’re still working, 

but our dust is our destiny. We’re trying to give 

this whole thing a different look.” Included in his 

plans is stringent observance of the rules. “I’ve 

already told our horsemen if they don’t play 

straight, they’ll be gone. This is a perception 

game. The people want a fair shake. My message 

to horsemen is race fair or pack your 

bags and your horses.” HTA welcomes 

back its longtime member. 


CHANGES IN CLASSIC SERIES 

The Classic Series, harness racing’s highly successful 

series for older horses, has announced 

changes for 2003 after a board of directors meeting 

last Friday. Dr. J. Glen Brown takes over as 

president from Paul Spears, who has stepped down 

after running the series from its inception, but will 

continue on the board as first vice president. The 

directors announced the $250,000 finals in 2003 

will be raced at Dover Downs, with the entire series 

conducted during the fall months to accommodate 

Dover’s racing schedule. Each of the three 

preliminary legs will be raced at one mile, with the 

finals contested over the classic mile and a quarter 

distance. Tad Stockman, director of racing at 

the Meadowlands, becomes second vice president, 

and breeders George Segal and Tom Crouch retain 

their positions as treasurer and secretary. 

Canada’s Forest City Yearling Sale joins the 

Classic’s sponsors, and sales manager Brian 

Webster will join the Classic board. 

NETTIE’S TOUGH, 100 TIMES 

There were major developments on the racing front 

over the weekend, but none more satisfying than 

the victory of New Zealand-bred pacer Lady Netty 

N. at Pompano Park. When she made a threewide 

move on the final turn and rushed to victory 

in a 1:56.3 mile, it marked her fifth victory of the 

year.....but the 100th of her career. Iron tough and 

now 14 and in her final year of competition, she 

has won $245,411 after 11 seasons of racing. She 

is owned by Rosie Huff of Deerfield Beach, 

Florida, and trained by her husband, Jake. 

PRECIOUS IS PERFECT 

Largely overlooked this year, although she has 

never been beaten in 16 starts, Precious Delight 

zoomed to the top of pacing filly standings last Friday 

when she handed Worldly Beauty her second 

loss in 13 career starts. She now has 

won $725,000.





BATAVIA BACK, WITH PEOPLE 

Batavia Downs reopened last night after four 

years, nine months and eleven days of darkness, 

and harness fans of western New York showed their 

happiness by turning out en masse. A crowd estimated 

at 5,000 was on hand for the return of harness 

racing to a community that was one of the 

first in America to welcome the sport in its modern 

guise 62 years ago, but has been without it since 

the plant was shuttered almost five years ago. The 

reopening was a revelation and a reward and vindication 

for Marty Basinait, president of Western 

Regional OTB and of the new track, which is owned 

by that New York off-track betting corporation. “A 

lot of people have said this day would never come,” 

Basinait said last night. “I’m pleased. I’m excited.” 

The track’s renovation is only 75% complete, 

but Basinait said, “We’d like to have a 

couple more months, but unfortunately we signed 

up for these dates. It’s not the best, but it’s not 

too bad.” Horsemen were high in praise of the rebuilt 

racing strip, and Bruce Tubin, president of 

the Western New York Harness Horsemen’s Association, 

said, “We’re thrilled to be back at 

Batavia Downs. When finished this will be one of 

the nicest tracks in the industry.” 

MERGER IN CHICAGO 

In an historic merger between the only back-toback 

racetracks in America, Hawthorne Race 

Course and Sportsman’s Park have reached an 

agreement to merge business operations and race 

exclusively at Hawthorne. The agreement ends 

70 years of horse racing at Sportsman’s, and the 

track, which converted to auto racing three years 

ago by adding 70,000 seats, will be put up for sale. 

The sale is not part of the merger deal, 

which provides for Sportsman’s leasing from 

Hawthorne for its horse racing dates and 

splitting profits equally after the lease 

payments, according to Daily Racing 

Form. 


INDIANS WIN BIG ON COAST 

A U.S. federal judge ruled yesterday that 

California’s agreements with Indian tribes are legal, 

a decision hailed by both the governor of California 

and the leader of the state’s Indian tribes. 

Gov. Gray Davis called the 97-page decision “a 

victory for California voters who overwhelmingly 

passed Proposition 1A” and said the decision protects 

more than 200,000 jobs in the casino industry 

in the state. Indian leaders were jubilant, and 

gambling expert and law professor I. Nelson Rose 

of Whittier Law School said, “This year will be the 

year that California gambling will be bigger than 

the Las Vegas Strip.” In his decision, federal judge 

David F. Levi wrote, “Where the political branches 

and the people of California have adopted a policy 

that does not violate either federal law or the U.S. 

Constitution, that policy is entitled to prevail.” Levi 

rejected the contention of four Bay area card rooms 

challenging California’s granting of casino games 

on Indian reservations while barring them on nontribal 

lands, and the immediate result will be transformation 

of a card club in San Pablo, formerly 

owned by Ladbroke gaming, into a full casino by 

the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians. The fuller implications 

deeply affect California and Nevada 

gambling. 

HUGE FINES IN INDIANA 

The price of hookers has gone up. The Indiana 

Gaming Commission has fined Pinnacle Entertainment 

$2.25 million and former Pinnacle chairman 

R. D. Hubbard $750,000 in the wake of a golf tournament 

last year in which eight ladies of leisure 

reportedly were imported from Las Vegas to entertain 

VIP guests. 

BIG NEW MAGNA INVESTOR 

David A. Rocker, a New York investment executive, 

has bought 2.3 million shares, or 5.03%, of 

Magna Entertainment class A common 

stock.






COHEN REACHES END OF LINE 

SPORT LOSES TWO VETERANS 

Jay Cohen, convicted of violating the Interstate Death has claimed two veteran participants in harness 

racing. Dick Sharbaugh, executive secretary 

Wire Act by operating an offshore gambling site 

called World Sports Exchange in Antigua and of the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission 

Barbuda in the Caribbean, appears headed for jail. from 1986 to 1999, died at 72. He served under 

Cohen reached the end of the line when the United four commission chairman, Jesse Crabbs, Jim 

States Supreme Court declined to review his conviction, 

leaving him to face 21 months in prison, nois, Arthur Galt Jr. former president of Maywood 

Eckenrode Jr., Rod Piatt and Roy Wilt. In Illi- 

two years of supervised release, and a $5,000 fine. Park and the son of the developer of Florida’s 

Cohen had fought a long, hard and costly legal famed Galt Ocean Mile, died at 90. 

battle, and the government of Antigua and Barbuda 

had filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court 

HAMBO IN DAIL 

AILY RACING FORM 

to review the case. The Cohen case, and recent 

decisions by Citibank and Visa to crack down on 

gambling transactions, are the latest developments 

in Internet wagering. On the brighter side, columnist 

Andy Beyer checked in today with a glowing 

report on the improvement of Youbet.com, giving 

it high marks for new technology that has greatly 

transformed the quality of the product. 

RACING CRISIS IN OKLAHOMA 

Racetracks in Oklahoma have fallen on hard 

times, and state officials and track managers say 

that unless something is done to make the tracks 

more competitive with Indian gaming, the future 

is bleak. In five years handle at Oklahoma’s three 

tracks -- Remington Park, Fair Meadows and Blue 

Ribbon Downs -- has fallen from $302 million to 

$175 million. A fourth track, Will Rogers Downs, 

that had declared bankruptcy 11 years ago, reopened 

in 1998, but simulcasting ended there last 

year. Although a recent law change expanded incoming 

signals from six to as many as a track can 

handle, the state senator who introduced that legislation 

said he didn’t think the change would be 

enough to enable Remington or Blue Ribbon 

Downs to make money. He said that if the 

three tracks close, the state will lose its 

third largest industry. 

The east coast and Canadian editions of Daily 

Racing Form will carry the entire 15-race Meadowlands 

Hambletonian Day program, including 

past performances and handicapping information, 

this Saturday. Meadowlands’ general manager 

Chris McErlean, announcing the cooperative venture, 

noted that full fields will be the order of the 

day Saturday, and said he thought there would be 

special interest in the product on the part of thoroughbred 

handicappers. In addition to the $1 million 

Hambletonian, the card also features the 

$500,000 Hambletonian Oaks for 3-year-old trotting 

fillies; the $500,000 Nat Ray for older trotters; 

the $400,000 Mistletoe Shalee for 3-yearold 

pacing fillies; the $400,000 U.S. Pacing Championship 

for older pacers; and the $300,000 Oliver 

Wendell Holmes for 3-year-old pacing colts and 

geldings. 

ONLY IN THE NATION OF TEXAS 

Texas, as those who travel there know, is a country 

unto itself, in size, manners, mores and more. 

Where else, for example, could you find a racetrack 

promotion called “Don’t Pee Like a Racehorse.” 

That was the Sam Houston Race Track 

feature on July 20, when the last one still holding 

his or her bladder while drinking three bottles 

of water every hour and holding one hand 

on a giveaway truck got the truck. It was a 

pickup, naturally.





INTERESTING DECISION IN PA 

In a court decision of particular interest to track 

managements, a Pennsylvania appeals court has 

upheld the five-year suspension of a jockey who 

was acquitted by a jury of fixing races at Penn 

National Race Course. The jockey, Felix E. 

Pinero, had been found innocent in a jury trial, 

but the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission 

suspended him anyway, and three Commonwealth 

Court judges yesterday upheld that 

penalty, saying the suspension was supported 

with sufficient evidence. Four other jockeys were 

sentenced earlier for their roles in the bad race, 

with their sentences ranging from probation to 

six months in prison. Two horse owners also were 

convicted in the case. 

SACCO BACK, AND LOCKED UP 

Already a winner with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 

refusal to review the Jay Cohen offshore gaming 

case, federal authorities have arrested another 

offshore operator, Ronald Sacco, and put him under 

lock and key after he apparently encountered 

visa problems in Nicaragua. Sacco was in the 

news eight years ago when he was sent to prison 

for four years for involvement with a Dominican-based 

gambling ring. The Justice Department 

at the time said he ran the largest bookmaking 

operation in the Dominican Republic, 

and after he went on CBS and discussed the case 

he was thrown out of that country. Gambling 

authority I. Nelson Rose, speaking of the case, 

said, “He had the guts to go on 60 Minutes to 

basically thumb his nose at the FBI and say, basically, 

‘You can’t do anything about it.’” 

They’ve done something about it now. Sacco also 

was involved in an important case in 1974 as a 

defendant in a case in which the Ninth Circuit 

Court of Appeals handed down an en banc 

decision upholding federal anti-gambling 

laws as a proper exercise of Congress’s powers 

under the Commerce Clause. 

August 1, 2002 

DATE BATTLES IN CHI...AGAIN 

No kidding! Those friendly folks in Chicago racing 

are at it again, or more accurately, at one 

another’s throats. Date applications for 2003 

were filed yesterday with the Illinois Racing 

Board, and someone is going to be disappointed. 

On the harness front, Balmoral has asked for 205 

dates during the entire year, racing Sundays, 

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and splitting 

the year with its sister track Maywood Park, 

which would race Mondays, Wednesdays and 

Fridays for 157 days. Hawthorne, which returned 

to the racing calendar this year in successful 

fashion, is asking for 107 harness dates 

from June 13 to September 27. 

The thoroughbred picture is just as scrambled. 

Sportsman’s Park wants to race January 1 to 

June 8 at Hawthorne; Hawthorne is asking for 

dates from May 5 thru June 8 and Oct. 1 thru 

Dec. 31; Balmoral wants to return with runners 

March 1 to May 10; and Arlington has applied 

for May 5 to October 7. The racing board will 

hold hearings Sept. 19 and then set the schedule 

for next year. 

2001 WORST NYRA YEAR EVER 

The Schenectady Daily Gazette in New York, obtaining 

figures from the New York State Racing 

and Wagering Board under the Freedom of Information 

Law, announced today that the New 

York Racing Association had lost $11.3 million 

last year, the largest deficit in NYRA’s history. 

NYRA reported, however, that the first six 

months of 2002 produced an increase of $3.4 

million in gross revenue, which -- combined with 

$800,000 in lower expenses -- puts the association 

$3.5 million under budget. Closure due to 

the 9/11 disaster and legal fees of $3.2 million, 

much of them in an unsuccessful attempt 

to buy New York City OTB, contributed 

to the heavy NYRA losses last year.





YOUTH LEAGUE KIDS AT HAMBO 

Five of the outstanding students at this year’s 

HTA/Harness Racing Youth Foundation Youth 

League Camps get their rewards tomorrow: a 

chance to participate in a ‘championship’ race before 

30,000 or more at the Meadowlands. The 

five standouts, selected by HHYF director Ellen 

Taylor on the basis of intensity of effort and willingness 

to learn, will take to the track at 11 a.m., 

paired with five of the top drivers in the world. The 

five campers -- all between 11 and 13 years old -- 

and their co-pilots behind the HHYF’s trotting ponies, 

supplied by 1987 Hambletonian winner and 

Youth League supporter Mal Burroughs, are: 

Emily Vincent of Harrington, Delaware, from the 

Harrington Raceway camp, will be driving with 

Stephane Bouchard. Ellen Taylor says, “Her bubbling, 

outgoing personality is easy to like, but her 

serious efforts to learn about a new discipline were 

the deciding factor in her selection as the 

Harrington representative.” 

Daniel Stephenson of Pendleton, Indiana, from the 

Hoosier Park camp, driving with John Campbell. 

Daniel has attended county fair harness racing with 

his grandparents and his intensity and work ethic 

earned him the trip. 

Cassandra Chornoboy of Rockwood, Ontario, 

from the Mohawk/Woodbine camp, paired with 

Daniel Dube. Cassandra had never seen a horse 

race until attending camp, but she showed a deep 

understanding with her essay that gained her entrance 

by realizing that a lot of people besides drivers 

are involved in making the sport work. 

Lily Wood of Wayne, Pennsylvania, from The 

Downs at Pocono camp, driving with Ron Pierce. 

Lily’s great-grandfather owned harness 

horses, but she has only photos to remind 

her of family involvement in the sport. 


Lily has been riding horses for four years and recently 

got her first horse, and wrote that she 

“couldn’t even imagine how much different, exciting 

and thrilling it would be to have a partnership 

with a horse while driving behind it.” She can now. 

Dustin Parella of Lexington, Ohio, from The 

Meadows camp, who will share his two-seat jog 

cart with Luc Ouellette. Dustin’s father was a 

former trainer and driver and is thinking of reentering 

the sport. As for Dustin, he plans to be 

racing by 18 and also plans to win the Little 

Brown Jug. 

Ms. Taylor, who conducts all of the camps and 

does an incredible job teaching the kids the fundamentals 

of harness racing, says, “These are 

dynamite kids. They will charm everybody.” 

Speaking of dynamite, Ellen Taylor is the dynamic 

lady of each summer, and provides a huge 

service to the sport. This year she taught 60 kids, 

12 at each venue, and sent them home filled with 

harness racing lore and knowledge. While Ellen 

is the force driving the camps, others need to be 

recognized. Besides Mal Burroughs, who came 

up with the original idea, owner Craig Lipka, a 

partner in the outstanding 3-year-old pacing filly 

Worldly Beauty, has guaranteed $5,000 a year 

for 10 years to the camps in memory of three 

friends who perished in the World Trade Center 

disaster. Martin Scharf, owner of 2000 Horse 

of the Year Gallo Blue Chip, has been a contributor. 

The Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen provided 

new helmets and vests this year. The 

Ontario Harness Horsemen ingeniously solved 

the insurance problem by making their camp 

kids members of OHHA; and all of the sponsoring 

tracks extended cordial hospitality and exceptional 

cooperation. We thank them all, and the 

Meadowlands for capping the season with 

the special performance on Hambletonian 

Day.





FIRE DISASTER AT WOODBINE 

The greatest fear in racing -- fire -- struck Woodbine 

in Toronto early Sunday morning, with estimates 

of up to 32 thoroughbreds lost in the blaze. 

The count was uncertain, since some horses were 

turned loose from the 126 stalls in barns 7 and 7A 

that were destroyed at the track and others were 

taken to veterinary centers for treatment. One 

groom, 38-year-old Ernest Tambwe from Zaire, the 

father of five children, was hospitalized for smoke 

inhalation after being credited with saving 56 

horses. He lost $600 and a cell phone from his 

pocket during the 20 minutes he spent freeing 

horses after calling 911, and was most concerned 

in his hospital bed about buying school clothes and 

supplies that he had promised his children Sunday 

morning. Woodbine, which cancelled Sunday 

afternoon’s card, lost major revenue in addition to 

the two barns, but spokesman John Siscos said, 

“The last thing on our minds was the bottom line 

and how much money we’d be losing.” The loss to 

owners and trainers of the dead horses is incalculable. 

One trainer, Steve Owens, lost his entire 

14-horse stable, including the 4-year-old Highland 

Legacy, a $400,000 winner and Canada’s juvenile 

colt of the year two years ago, and Legal Heir, a 

$191,814 winner that won the last race on Saturday 

night’s card, missing the track record by a fifth 

of a second. As usual, a number of horses that 

had been released ran back into what they perceived 

as the security of their stalls and perished. 

Woodbine president David Willmot, a major owner 

himself, praised track security personnel and 

horsemen, saying, “It’s unbelievable how many 

horses were saved, thanks to the people of the 

backstretch, the security people, the fire department 

and the police department.” The only previous 

fatal stable area fire at Woodbine, on July 10, 

1990, ironically also occurred in barn 7A. 

Racing resumed today, a holiday in Canada. 


HUGE LOTO SUIT IN QUEBEC 

A city lawyer who is a recovering gambling addict 

is filing a $700 million class action lawsuit in Quebec 

Superior Court against Loto-Quebec, the provincial 

lottery. Jean Brochu plans to claim damages 

and interest of $578.7 million, or $4,863 for 

each of the 119,000 claimants in the suit. Brochu 

also is seeking $119 million in exemplary damages, 

or $1,000 per compulsive gambler, and says that 

sum could be placed in a trust for a foundation that 

would subsidize research, prevention and treatment 

of gamblers addicted to using video lottery 

terminals. Brochu is a former municipal lawyer 

who defrauded his professional association of some 

$50,000 to feed his gambling habit, according to 

the Toronto Star. Loto-Quebec’s attorney said the 

lawsuit “will be vigorously contested.” 

RAZE PIMLICO: STRONACH 

Frank Stronach, chairman of Magna Entertainment, 

is quoted in today’s Baltimore Sun as saying 

Pimlico Race Course, about to become part of 

his racing empire, “needs to be torn down and totally 

rebuilt from scratch.” Stronach said he would 

like to see the track torn down after next year’s 

Preakness and have the Triple Crown classic raced 

at its sister track Laurel in 2004 while Pimlico is 

completely rebuilt. Stronach’s purchase of 51% 

controlling interest in Pimlico and Laurel is pending 

approval of the Maryland Racing Commission. 

NEW TEST IDEAS DOWN UNDER 

With support of the Australian Trainers Association, 

New South Wales’ thoroughbred racing board 

is about to introduce off-competition testing between 

races. “It is the performance-enhancing 

drugs, such as EPO, that is the thrust of testing 

out-of-competition,” chief steward Ray Murrihy 

announced. Vets and owners also have approved 

the move.





TODD ROBERTS STEPS UP 

The “Send” button had hardly been pushed on 

yesterday’s Executive Newsletter when the phone 

rang, with Todd Roberts of Roberts Communications 

Network on the line. He had read the account 

of 38-year old caretaker Ernest Rambwe 

from Zaire, who was hospitalized for smoke inhalation 

after being credited with saving 50 or more 

horses from the stable fire at Woodbine in Toronto 

early Sunday morning. Rambwe also lost $600 in 

the blaze, which he had intended to spend buying 

clothing and school supplies for his five children 

later Sunday morning. Roberts, touched by 

Rambwe’s plight, called to ask about contributing 

$1,000 to ease Rambwe’s situation. We had Woodbine 

officials contact him, since relief fund plans 

had not been finalized. They have been now. A 

Barn 7 Recovery Fund has been established, c/o 

HBPA of Ontario, Scotia Bank, 135 Queens Plate 

Drive, Etobicoke, Ontario M9W 6V1. The account 

number is 96032 00562 19, manager Michael 

Grimwood. Both the Ontario HBPA and Woodbine 

Entertainment have seeded the relief fund with 

$10,000 contributions. Thirty-two horses perished 

in the fire, and more have been humanely destroyed 

by veterinarians after suffering major 

smoke inhalation damage to their lungs and severe 

burns to their bodies. Several trainers lost 

their entire stables, or a majority of them, in the 

blaze. 

MORE SLOT TALK IN KEN- 

TUCKY 

Kentucky’s Lexington Herald-Leader fueled more 

talk about slots at tracks today, quoting governor 

Paul Patton as saying, “Kentucky should consider 

expanded gambling at racetracks if its revenue 

picture does not improve.” He said that if tax 

revenues are not adequate to fund a spending 

plan he introduced last month, “I would 

think we would have to look seriously at the 

subject of expanded gambling.” 


SIMO CONFERENCE SET 

It hardly seems like nine years have passed, but 

the tenth annual TRA-HTA-AQHRTA-AGTOA Simulcast 

Conference is scheduled for September 

23-25 at the Sheraton Bal Harbour in Bal Harbour, 

Florida. When the first conference was held at 

the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport in 1993, simulcasting 

was in its infancy. Now it accounts for more than 

80% of turnover. Brochures are in the mail, and 

tracks should plan now to have representatives at 

the conference, which draws more than 400 annually. 

The registration fee, due before Sept. 13 for 

employees of the sponsoring organizations, is $95, 

and for others $325. The hotel room rate is $135 

single or double, plus 12.36% tax, and the hotel 

deadline for reservations is August 30. A number 

of sponsored social events are scheduled. The tentative 

agenda calls for a meeting of pari-mutuel 

regulators and the RCI tote standards committee 

to meet Sunday afternoon, Sept. 22; Simulcasting 

101 and a tentative 2020 committee meeting Monday 

morning, Sept. 23; opening conference sessions 

from 1:30 to 4:30 Monday afternoon, followed 

by a reception hosted by California race 

tracks and fairs. On Tuesday the conference will 

run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a reception following 

hosted by Churchill Downs Simulcast Network, 

Calder Race Course, Stevenson & Associates, 

Derby Lane Greyhound, and CORT furniture. 

Wednesday the concluding general session will run 

from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Entries for the annual 

award for best simulcast production are due by 

August 30. Six copies in VHS format should be 

sent to Simulcast Award Entries, TRA, 420 Fair 

Hill Drive, Suite 1, Elkton, MD 21921-2573, and 

registration for the conference should be made to 

the same address. Send inquiries to Tony DeMarco 

at the TRA office. Hotel reservations should be 

made directly with the hotel, 9701 Collins Ave., 

Bal Harbour, 305-865-7511, and specify 

Simulcasting.





FILION, CASE MEET AT N’FIELD 

The two leading race winners in North American 

harness racing will meet in head-to-head competition 

at Northfield Park Friday and Saturday nights, 

August 30-31. In an aptly named promotion called 

Battle of the Best, Herve Filion, winner of 14,800 

races, and Walter Case, winner of 10,505, will drive 

against each other in 24 regularly scheduled 

Northfield races, with points awarded to those two 

on the basis of order of finish for $1,000 and $500 

prizes. Other drivers in the series will receive $200 

for each win. An autograph session with Filion and 

Case will be held both nights from 6 to 6:30 p.m., 

with the $2 for one or $3 for both going to the New 

Vocations charity. Patrons also will be asked to 

pick the winner of the competition and his point 

total in a $1,000 winner-take-all, free-to-enter contest. 

Northfield has prepared a “Tale of the Tape” 

comparative fact sheet, showing Filion with 

$85,200,209 won by his mounts to $41,656,374 by 

Case’s; Case’s .399 career in-the-money batting 

average against Filion’s .313; and the age differential, 

Case’s 41 against Filion’s 62, among other 

facts. 

A TRIUMPH FOR LIEBMAN 

Bennett Liebman, now on the faculty of Albany 

Law School, scored a ten-strike with this year’s 

Saratoga Institute on Racing and Wagering Law 

sponsored by the school at the Gideon Putnam 

hotel in Saratoga Springs. Not only did he put together 

an all-star cast, but the Institute generated 

significant news coverage. Among the interesting 

developments were Jim McAlpine’s announcement 

that Magna Entertainment “was not going 

away” in its quest for New York City OTB; that 

organization’s president, Ray Casey, saying New 

York City “would take a breather” on selling 

NYCOTB, and that he would continue pushing 

for night thoroughbred signals; Saratoga 

Raceway’s Jim Featherstonehaugh calling 


slots at tracks an issue of “the merits of necessity”; 

and New York Racing and Wagering Board 

chairman Mike Hoblock announcing that his board 

is developing a position on erythropoieten (EPO) 

and on shock wave therapy, a growing issue in thoroughbred 

racing. Paul Estok, general counsel and 

secretary of HTA, also was a speaker at the Institute. 

McAlpine, talking about Magna, which currently 

owns 14 tracks and 26 OTBs, either wholly or in 

partnerships that are pending, said, “A lot of 

people think we operate on a whim,” but added 

that the company “has a good business plan” aimed 

at growing the business and making profits. “The 

business,” he said, “like all others, depends on 

customers. That’s what we’re all about. The key 

to us is total customer service. Horse racing is 

the heart.” 

MORE ON THE WOODBINE FIRE 

According to a spokesman for the Ontario division 

of HBPA, a $500,000 insurance policy could 

be split among those who suffered losses in the 

Sunday morning barn fire that killed 31 horses. 

The spokesman, Leslie Smith, said the policy would 

be paid in a lump sum and then divided by the association 

among the victims of the fire. He said 

HBPA was meeting with the insurers today, but 

the feeling was that equal shares would be the ultimate 

dispersal of the funds. The HBPA is providing 

clothing and hotel housing for ten backstretch 

workers affected by the blaze, and funding 

up to $1,500 to cover veterinarian bills for those 

with horses that were injured but survived. The 

fire still is under investigation by the Ontario fire 

marshal’s office. At one point 30 fire trucks were 

on hand battling the fire, and horses galloped loose 

down highway 27 after being liberated from their 

burning stalls.





TRACK CASINOS WIN IN IOWA 

The Iowa Supreme Court yesterday announced 

that it will not review its June ruling that the state’s 

racetrack casinos are unjustly taxed in relation to 

the state’s riverboats. That ruling found that the 

Iowa legislature had illegally provided for higher 

taxes at the track casinos than at the riverboats, 

which have been paying 20% of gross revenues to 

the state. The track casinos have been paying 

32%, with a 2% increase a year to top out at 36% 

in 2004. The June high court 4-3 decision turned 

back the state attorney general’s argument that 

the differential fell within the authority of the legislature, 

saying such taxation was arbitrary and 

discriminatory. The state petitioned for another 

hearing, but the court now has rejected that request 

and remanded the matter to the trial court, 

with a Polk county judge to decide how much the 

state owes the tracks. Track operators think the 

number could be as much as $100 million, with an 

additional $10 million in interest. HTA member 

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino alone 

thinks it is entitled to $54 million, but called that 

figure negotiable, given the state’s $217 million 

budget deficit. The state treasurer has proposed 

offering tax credits over time rather than a cash 

refund. Iowa’s governor, Tom Vilsack, up for reelection, 

thinks the legislature should consider 

raising taxes equally among all casinos in order to 

restore $39 million in annual gaming revenue lost 

through the Supreme Court decision. State officials 

have estimated that a uniform 24.5% tax rate 

would keep revenue steady, according to the Des 

Moines Register, but the legislature is likely to 

consider establishing a new statewide casino tax 

during its next session, which convenes in January. 

In another Iowa development, the Register 

reports that a telephone poll of 3,635 people 

found that 38.3% -- or almost 4 out of 10 -- 

Iowans said they had gambled in the last 12 

months. 


PENN NATIONAL EXPANDS 

Penn National Gaming has expanded again, announcing 

a $780 million buyout of Hollywood Casino 

corporation, which owns gaming properties in 

Aurora, Illinois; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Tunica, 

Mississippi. The first includes the Chicago 

market, the second serves Dallas, Texas, and the 

third draws from the Memphis market. Penn National 

CEO Peter Carlino calls the acquisition, 

which involves $347.5 million in stock (at a 20% 

premium over closing price yesterday) and assumption 

of $569 million in debt and $136 million 

in cash and cash equivalents “a significant growth 

and expansion opportunity for Penn National that 

is attractive both strategically and financially.” 

Carlino says he expects the Aurora operation will 

contribute 30% of Penn National sales, compared 

to 23% of its business currently supplied by its 

Charles Town Races operation in West Virginia. 

That track was involved in a settlement announced 

yesterday in which Penn National and the West 

Virginia Department of Environmental Protection 

agreed the track will discontinue its present sewage 

treatment system and connect with the city of 

Ransom’s system, build a manure storage area and 

horse washing stalls, and pave and curb a stable 

area within the next 90 days. 

WOODBINE DEVELOPMENTS 

The Woodbine fire of last Sunday morning continues 

to generate major news in Toronto. The 

Ontario Harness Horse Association has voted to 

donate $10,000 to the Barn 7 Recovery Fund, and 

Woodbine says its is reevaluating its safety procedures, 

including the issue of sprinklers, which 

the burned barns did not have, as “good, prudent 

business practice.” The cause of the fire still has 

not been determined, and Woodbine and a sprinkler 

system supplier differed over the issue of 

whether sprinklers could have prevented 

the devastation.






TIME TO BID ON CHI CASINO Illinois attorney general Jim Ryan, who had threatened 

to block the settlement, relented, saying his 

Now’s your chance if you would like to bid on having 

a casino in the immediate Chicago suburbs. 

office’s aggressive stand had resulted in a much 

stronger deal for the state. “It is not a perfect 

Or perhaps even closer. The Illinois Gaming Board 

agreement,” he said, “but it is one that could be in 

yesterday revealed that it is close to finalizing a 

the state’s best interest, provided its terms are 

deal under which the father and son team of Donald 

adhered to and aggressive oversight is in place.” 

and Kevin Flynn, lead investors in the ill-starred 

Among the terms is that the Flynns will have to 

Emerald Casino in suburban Rosemont, will be 

spend an estimated $7 million to tear down the 

barred from all future involvement in Illinois casino 

gambling, and the license of the last casino in 

steel skeleton of the Emerald in Rosemont that 

was erected before the Gaming Board put a halt 

Illinois will be put up for competitive bidding. 

to all operations. 

The administrator of the Gaming Board, Philip 

Parenti, made his feelings crystal clear on the 

Flynns, whom he accused of “egregious conduct” 

and lying in their dealings with his board. “We 

wanted the Flynns out of Illinois in every respect,” 

he said. They may be out of Illinois, but without 

any formal finding of wrongdoing they can pursue 

gaming interests elsewhere, including neighboring 

Indiana where Kevin Flynn’s firm Fleet Street Inc. 

is paid $500,000 a year by Blue Chip Casino, according 

to the Chicago Tribune, to block a planned 

Indian casino from being built just across the Indiana 

state line with Michigan. If the tribe does not 

open its planned casino by June, 2004, Fleet Street 

stands to reap a $5 million bonus. That deal, which 

had been a secret when Boyd Gaming bought Blue 

Chip from a Flynn controlled company in 1999, resulted 

in a $1 million fine for the casino, and was 

used by Illinois in its push to oust the Flynns from 

Emerald. They’re out now, but other shareholders 

still have to approve the settlement, which will 

return $63 million (but no profit) to original investors, 

more than a million to the Gaming Board for 

legal fees and expenses, and the remaining proceeds 

from sale of the license to the state of Illinois 

for the loss of hundreds of millions in revenues 

during the years of litigation over 

Emerald. 

Although all conditions have not been made public, 

bidders for the vacated Emerald license will be 

judged not on money alone, but on economic benefit 

to surrounding communities, commitments to 

charitable giving, affirmative action plans and offers 

to fund programs for compulsive gamblers. 

BIG AND BUSY WEEK IN RACING 

Starting with the opening of the summer/fall meeting 

at Freehold Raceway this afternoon, under the 

guidance of new general manager Don Codey, a 

busy weekend of harness racing is on tap. Codey 

is adding a Pick-4 and Pick-7, both with carryovers, 

to the betting mix, along with superfectas in the 

fifth and last race of each day’s card. The meet 

runs through the end of the year. 

Elsewhere, the $150,000 Adioo Volo for 3-yearold 

filly pacers and the $450,000 Adios for 3-yearold 

pacing colts are on the card at The Meadows 

tonight and tomorrow; a $1,573,200 program, led 

by the $500,000 Hoosier Cup with McArdle and a 

$100,000 pace for older horses, is on tap at Hoosier 

Park tomorrow night, making it the richest 

night of horse racing in Indiana; Northfield Park 

features its $150,000 Battle of Lake Erie Saturday 

night with Peruvian Hanover and Gallo Blue 

Chip as favorites; and Varenne meets Scarlet 

Knight in the mile and a sixteenth Jubilee 

Trophy Trot in Stockholm.





HTA ART CATALOG ONLINE 

HTA’s 2002 art catalogue -- the 25th anniversary 

edition -- now is online on our Web site, 

www.harnesstracks.com. One hundred and twenty 

works of art have been accepted for show and sale 

this year, with a new category -- Treasures of the 

Past -- offering 28 pre-owned paintings, including 

8 by the late Philip Berkeley, one of the most popular 

artists ever to participate in the HTA competition. 

The catalogue will be bound into 15,000 copies 

of the September issue of Hoof Beats magazine, 

and the work will be displayed in the Red 

Mile grandstand from Monday, September 23 

through Saturday, September 28, Kentucky Futurity 

Day. All 120 works of art will be sold the following 

morning, Sunday, September 29, at auction 

in the Tattersalls Sales Arena adjacent to the Red 

Mile. Advance bidding will be accepted at the HTA 

office, 4640 E. Sunrise Drive, Tucson, Arizona, 

85718, by phone, fax or e-mail, and telephone bidding 

will be available on sale day starting at 8:15 

a.m. All net proceeds from the sale go to the HTA 

College Scholarship Fund for children of participants 

in the sport, or participants themselves. 

TOM SHEHAN DIES AT 91 

Tom Shehan, who covered racing and other major 

sports in this country and abroad for 75 years, died 

Friday in a nursing home in Scarborough, Maine. 

He was 91, and had fought cancer through 12 surgeries 

over the past decade. Shehan possessed 

one of the most remarkable memories in sports, 

and the mention of a name --in racing, golf, boxing, 

baseball or football -- would unleash a treasure 

trove of stories and anecdotes. He never 

played golf, but ghost wrote Ben Hogan’s Power 

Golf, and other works on Byron Nelson and 

Sam Snead. Shehan had been a track manager, 

state steward, presiding judge, and 

publicity man par excellence. 


His managerial work covered six tracks in harness, 

thoroughbred and greyhound racing, and he 

also served, during his long career, as executive 

secretary of both Harness Horsemen International 

and the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. 

Editor of that association’s Horseman’s 

Journal for 15 years, he took the magazine’s circulation 

from 650 to 18,000. An aggressive battler 

for horsemen’s causes, he once was barred 

from Hollywood Park for leading a strike for higher 

purses. He was inducted into the Writers Corner 

of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen in 

1987, was honored by HTA a year later, and was 

profiled in Hoof Beats magazine last March. HTA 

sends its deepest condolences to his widow, Peggy. 

NEW PENNSYLVANIA TRACK? 

A company headed by former Pocono Downs president 

and HTA director Joe Lashinger Jr. says it is 

committed to building a harness track along the 

Delaware river in Chester, Pennsylvania, just south 

of Philadelphia. Lashinger says his firm, Chester 

Downs and Marina LLC, will redevelop the former 

site of the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock company 

with a track, marina, restaurant and amphitheater, 

and will apply to the Pennsylvania Harness 

Racing Commission for a license this month. 

Pending approval, Lashinger says construction 

could start as early as next spring, with simulcasting 

starting next fall and live racing beginning on 

Memorial Day, 2004. Lashinger, 49, was vice 

president and general counsel of Penn National 

Gaming until his resignation a few months ago, and 

was a Pennsylvania state legislator from the late 

1970s until 1990. His partners are Kevin Flynn, 

head of a Philadelphia construction company that 

will help build the facility, and George Miller, a 

New Jersey gambling authority who wrote the gambling 

law curriculum at Widener University Law 

School.





FEDS WANT INPUT...SORT OF 

The Internal Revenue Service, “as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and respondent 

burden,” is soliciting comments concerning Form 

W2-G, Certain Gambling Winnings. Before you 

get your hopes too high, IRS is not considering 

“reducing paperwork” or doing away with W2-G. 

According to the American Horse Council, IRS is 

not asking if the withholding tax is a good idea, 

only on how the form that currently is used might 

be improved. If you have any thoughts on this, by 

all means fire them off immediately to Glenn 

Kirkland, Internal Revenue Service, Room 6411, 

1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 

20224. Glenn needs them on or before August 19 

--next Monday -- which doesn’t give you much 

time. The original request appeared in the Federal 

Register of June 18, but was just discovered 

by the AHC. Sorry about that. Better late than 

never. 

NO NY FOR FILION UNTIL 2004 

Speaking of unawareness, we were unaware of the 

following development until we found it buried in 

USTA fines and suspensions. The item is reported 

in full from the New York State Racing and Wagering 

Board, dated July 16, 2002: “Having withdrawn 

his appeal of the refusal of the NYSR&W 

Board to issue him a 2001 license, the Board hereby 

rescinds its refusal to issue a license. Herve Filion 

agrees that he shall not reapply, prior to the year 

2004, for a license. This stipulation shall not constitute 

any evidence that in the future he may or 

may not be issued a license by the NYSR&W 

Board.” Herve, meanwhile, prepares for his 24- 

race showdown against Walter Case at Northfield 

Park in Ohio, that event set for August 30-31. The 

promotion, titled Battle of the Best, matches the 

two leading race winners in North American 

harness racing, with more than 25,000 wins 

between them. Filion has 14,800 and Case 

has 10,505. 


TRUMP SUING? YOU’RE JOKING 

Not The Donald. Surely you jest. And certainly 

not the same Donald who not too many years ago 

said Indian casino claims were phony. Now he 

wants to be a blood brother, and said if he isn’t 

included he’ll tie up the whole deal in Connecticut 

in court for years. The issue is an internal battle 

between the Eastern Pequot tribe and a rival faction, 

the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots. The two 

were federally recognized as one tribe to negotiate 

for a gaming compact in Connecticut, but two 

outside developers -- Trump and one David A. 

Rosow -- entered the act. Trump has a seven-year 

contract with the Paucatuck Easterns, and Rosow 

is allied with the Eastern tribe, the far larger of 

the two with some 1,000 members. With federal 

recognition as one tribe, they have to form one 

tribal government and decide who they want to finance 

their casino, which will be the third in Connecticut 

behind the huge Foxwoods and Mohegan 

Sun. Trump says that if the Easterns try to pick 

Rostow over him, “nobody will get anything”. He 

says he has spent a lot of money and time and 

effort and “we’ve been loyal to the tribe. All of a 

sudden, when they’re merged, the larger tribe 

seemingly wants to take it themselves. That will 

end up in a very large, huge litigation. It will be 

sad for everybody.” Ugh! White man speak with 

forked tongue. 

MOM DOESN’T LIKE VARENNE 

In Italy, everyone likes the world’s best trotter, 

Varenne. He is the kind of real national hero that 

Laura Hillenbrand tried to make out of Seabiscuit 

in her semi-fictional book. There is one Italian 

mother, however, who demurs. After her husband 

raced to the records office of their small town while 

mom was still in the hospital and named their newborn 

son Varenne Giampalo, for the horse and its 

driver, the mother went to court and said 

she wanted the kid to be named Christian. 

A decision is pending.





9-11 OR 7-11? 

Nevada casino gambling suffered a 4% drop in 

the past fiscal year, the worst decline in 17 years 

of record keeping for the 343 casinos operating in 

the Silver State. Concerned industry leaders 

turned to academe, naturally, for an explanation, 

and Keith Schwer, a professor of economics at the 

University of Nevada Las Vegas, told them the 

decline was the result of a worldwide economic 

slowdown and the post September 11 travel decline, 

combined with the fact that no new flavor of 

the month was available, inasmuch as no new 

megaresort opened in Las Vegas in the last year, 

although at least one was torn down. 

Since the welfare of Nevada is tied closely to its 

casinos, there was a drop in state gambling taxes 

as well, the state getting $554.6 million during the 

fiscal year, down $10.4 million from the $565 million 

of a year earlier. Since the state had estimated 

that tax collections would be up 5.9% during 

the period and had budgeted accordingly, it was 

left with a $40 million shortfall. Professor Schwer 

pointed out that was the danger in states that rely 

on cyclical revenue sources such as gambling and 

sales taxes. While 9-11 can be blamed for much 

of Nevada’s --and the nation’s -- woes, it is now 11 

months since that disaster, and the latest figures 

from Vegas show the drop is continuing. June gambling 

revenues were down 8%, with Vegas strip 

casinos reporting a 13.9% decline in winnings. 

Some might read these figures as a trend in gambling, 

rather than the result of 9-11, but others 

pointed out that a $22.6 million Megabucks jackpot 

won by a Bally’s slot player, combined with a 

huge drop in baccarat win from $204 million to 

$80.3 million, created the June losses. Whatever 

the cause, there is more bad news for the casinos. 

Nevada regulators are considering new 

online metering systems for better control 

of slots, which if mandated will cost them a 

bundle. 


OKIE TRACKS WANT SLOTS 

Oklahoma’s racetracks, hard hit by competition 

from Indian gaming, say they can’t make it without 

some type of gaming, and are hoping the legislature 

may give them some. Only three horse 

tracks -- Remington Park, Fair Meadows and Blue 

Ribbon Downs -- have applied for licenses this 

year, and Fair Meadows general manager Ron 

Shotts says he doesn’t see any way to make it without 

slots. Will Rogers Downs in Claremore apparently 

doesn’t plan to race in 2003. Shotts says 

giving three tracks slots wouldn’t amount to much 

of a proliferation of gambling, given the amount of 

tribal gaming now going on. 

YOUBET NOW A SMALLCAP 

It is still UBET on the ticker symbol, but 

Youbet.com has had its stock listing moved from 

the Nasdaq National Market to the Nasdaq 

SmallCap Market as of last Friday. The move 

came after Youbet’s stock price did not stay above 

$1 for 10 consecutive trading days, a requirement 

for Nasdaq big board listing. The company viewed 

the change with hope, saying it believed the transfer 

affords it additional time to operate as a 

Nasdaq-traded company and maintain liquidity for 

shareholders. 

MAGNANIMOUS DOINGS 

Magna Entertainment president Jim McAlpine is 

accumulating huge mileage points these days, flying 

coast-to-coast reporting on Magna’s racing 

plans. He told folks in Albany, NY, that there still 

is a possibility that Magna might develop the 800 

acres of land it quietly acquired two years ago in 

the town of Porter in Niagara county, NY, although 

it is “not a high priority.” On the west coast, he 

told residents of Dixon, where Magna also owns 

land, “No way did we buy the land just for the real 

estate.” And in Texas, the racing commission 

is reviewing plans for Magna to operate 

Lone Star Park while the city retains 

ownership of the property.





EPO BAN LIKELY ON COAST 

The California Horse Racing Board meets next 

Wednesday, and it appears certain, given staff approval 

and no adverse comments, that it will formalize 

making the possession or use of erythropoietin 

and darbepoietin a prohibited veterinary 

practice in the state. The ban falls under interesting 

language, noting that the two are in a category 

“for which a recognized analytical method has not 

been developed to detect and confirm its administration; 

or the use of which may endanger the 

health and welfare of the horse, or the safety of 

the rider or driver.” It has been the editor’s position 

that until “a recognized analytical method” 

has been developed, which appears to be close at 

hand, the happy face that has been put on drug 

testing results in this country is largely meaningless 

at worst, and misleading at best. California is 

to be congratulated, along with other states and 

organizations that are invoking prohibited practice 

status for EPO and its related derivatives. 

MIXED SIGNALS AT YOUBET 

Youbet.com posted healthy figures for its second 

quarter, with betting handle up 39% from $28.4 

million in 2001 to a record $39.6 million this year, 

and increasing monthly. In the six weeks since 

June 30, handle averaged $3.6 million a week, up 

from $3.1 million a year ago. The company’s net 

loss dropped, down 21% to $2.58 million from $3.25 

million a year ago. In its Form 10-QSB filing with 

the Securities and Exchange Commission, however, 

Youbet reported that it will require additional capital 

to fund its future cash requirements on a timely 

basis. Youbet noted that it has “suffered significant 

recurring operating losses and needs to raise 

additional funds to accomplish its objectives. 

These matters raise substantial doubt about 

the Company’s ability to continue as a going 

concern” and restructuring may be 

needed. 


ROSECROFT “NOT FOR SALE” 

That was the word from Sharon Roberts, executive 

vice president of the Cloverleaf Standardbred 

Owners Association, which owns the HTA track, 

following a general membership meeting to discuss 

two unsolicited bids from suitors. One was 

from Greenwood Racing, which owns Philadelphia 

Park and is in partnership with Penn National 

Raceway in operation of Freehold Raceway, and 

the other was from Centaur, which owns a sizeable 

interest in Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana. 

Ms. Roberts said the two companies presented 

their proposals to Cloverleaf’s members, but 

“there was no vote, just a chance for the membership 

to have something to chew on.” 

THE BUSINESS BEAT 

With Bank of America and other banking firms 

using statement stuffers to let customers know 

they can’t use their credit cards for transactions 

like Internet gambling, online services are resorting 

to new technology. Ladbrokes, for instance, 

has signed an agreement with Earthport, a payment 

infrastructure company, to provide an e-wallet 

service to players. The device will enable customers 

to gamble online even when they are from 

countries where there is a reluctance to use credit 

cards for Internet purchases, according to Interactive 

Gaming News........Siemens of Germany is 

partnering with a new German software company 

called Scaraboo to provide betting on sports events 

after they have begun. Frank Shoop, chairman of 

the Kentucky Racing Commission, said the idea 

is worthy of discussion. “If someone wants to bet 

on a horse race after it’s begun, then let them bet,” 

Shoop says......Del Mar president Joe Harper and 

MGM Grand/Mirage chairman J. Terrence Lanni 

have resigned from the board of directors of Magna 

Entertainment, citing time constraints involving 

their own businesses.






THE CASINO BOYS AT WORK 

Just a few weeks after the Illinois state legislature 

increased taxes on casinos to help the state’s 

budget shortfall, power brokers for major casinos 

have met privately with Gov. George Ryan, urging 

him to rescind the increase. The Chicago Tribune 

reported on the casino interests’ internal 

confidential memo, dated July 26, which contains 

a 15-point plan “to prod lawmakers to roll back 

the tax increase by next summer and remove a 

limit on the number of slot machines and table 

games that casinos can operate.” The meeting 

with the governor, according to a spokeswoman 

for Argosy Gaming, which operates casinos in Joliet 

and Alton in Illinois, was between Ryan and Argosy 

chairman William Cellini, whom the Tribune 

identified as “a Republican powerbroker.” A 

spokesman for the governor said Ryan is willing 

“to take a look” at a rollback, contingent on opening 

the state’s 10th and final casino, a replacement 

for the ill-fated Rosemont Emerald operation now 

doomed by action of the Illinois Gaming Board. 

Once the Tribune’s Douglas Holt broke the story, 

casino interests claimed there was nothing secretive 

or nefarious about the internal memo. Jan 

Jones, a former Las Vegas mayor who is senior 

vice president for government relations and communications 

for Harrah’s, said, “We believe the 

tax is a punitive tax. It’s not good for business, 

not good for the industry and it’s not good for Illinois.” 

The memo, besides indicating that the current 

governor’s support was key to their effort, 

also urged support for Democratic gubernatorial 

candidate Rod Blagojevich, who is expected to win 

over Republican Jim Ryan in November. Democrats 

also are expected to take control of the Senate, 

and retain their majority in the House, in the 

coming election. A spokesman for Blagojevich, 

however, said he does not support the casinos’ 

agenda and would not support or promote 

a casino tax rollback. 

TRIPLE CROWN TROT WINNER? 

There has not been a winner of trotting’s Triple 

Crown since 1972, when Super Bowl turned the 

trick for Stanley Dancer, but the owners of the 

winner of this year’s Hambletonian, Chip Chip 

Hooray, hope to end the 30-year drought. They 

are sending their small but fast colt to Yonkers 

Raceway for Saturday night’s $56,000 eliminations 

for the $338,000 Yonkers Trot, second leg of the 

Crown, which will be raced a week from Saturday 

night. If Eric Ledford can guide the Chuck 

Sylvester-trained 3-year-old to victory, only the 

Kentucky Futurity, to be raced at the Red Mile in 

Lexington Saturday, September 28, will stand in 

his way to a Triple Crown sweep. 

Another trotting sweep seems more assured. 

Varenne, now 13 for 13 for the year, starts next in 

the Coupe de Monde at Vincennes in Paris a week 

from tomorrow, the fourth leg of the European 

World Cup Series. A victory there would send him 

to Montreal for the final start of his career in the 

$500,000 Trot Mondial at Hippodrome de Montreal 

Saturday, September 28, the same day as the Kentucky 

Futurity for 3-year-olds in Lexington. There 

has been some talk of a world record attempt by 

Varenne at a mile at Lexington, but nothing more 

than talk at the moment. He missed a chance at 

that record by skipping the Breeders Crown at the 

Meadowlands to pursue the $1 million bonus in 

the World Cup, and in his absence the Swedish 

star Victory Tilly set a new world mark of 1:50.4. 

Money outranks time these days in harness racing, 

as it should, and Varenne has been a collection 

machine in asserting his world domination. 

MAINE CHANGES STRATEGY 

Harness racing interests in Maine have abandoned 

efforts for track slots by referendum, and instead 

will seek to obtain them through 

legislative action.





HTA, TRA WILL MEET JOINTLY 

In a racing industry first, Harness Tracks of 

America and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations 

will hold their annual meetings jointly next 

March. The two racetrack trade associations have 

announced that their 74 member organizations will 

hold joint general sessions Thursday and Friday, 

March 13 and 14, 2003, at the Westin Diplomat 

Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida. The TRA 

board of directors will meet on Wednesday afternoon, 

March 12, and the HTA’s board the following 

afternoon, but all delegates will convene jointly 

for morning sessions on Thursday and Friday. 

During the past year, the two associations have 

worked cooperatively and shared information for 

the benefit of both memberships, and the 2003 joint 

meeting represents a giant step forward in harness-thoroughbred 

cooperation. Chris McErlean, 

general manager of The Meadowlands, current 

president of HTA and an alternate director of 

TRA, said the meeting represents a recognition 

of the mutual problems of track management in 

both breeds. Stan Bergstein and Chris Scherf, executive 

vice presidents of HTA and TRA, will 

jointly develop agendas for the general sessions, 

with industry leaders and authorities in and out of 

racing as speakers, and subjects of common concern 

to all track owners and operators. 

NEW VOICE ON MEDICATION 

At racing industry meetings during the past year, 

Gary Biszantz, prominent owner and chairman of 

the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, 

has spoken forcefully and consistently on the 

issue of medication that has plagued the industry. 

Yesterday, at the Jockey Club Round Table Conference 

on Matters Pertaining to Racing in 

Saratoga Springs, NY, he captured the spotlight, 

and the loudest and longest applause, 

when he told assembled racing leaders that 

the sport needed less medication. 


Biszantz pulled no punches in his presentation, 

saying, “I personally believe that we were led 

astray years ago by some, just some, in the racing 

industry that led us to believe that increased medication 

use would increase field sizes, would allow 

us to race longer, that they would make more starts 

per year. The facts today clearly show that the 

reverse is true for every promise.” Biszantz called 

the widespread use of therapeutics “well intentioned 

but misdirected” and said some of the blame 

lay with veterinarians, noting that “the dollars 

speak so loud” and that all owners and trainers 

rely too much on vets to get their horses to the 

next race. “The permissive and injudicious use of 

medication,” Biszantz said, “may get a horse to 

the next race with less pain, but the long-term results 

are disastrous for the horse.” He told the 

racing leaders that “We can’t just know what’s 

right. We need to do what’s right.” The fact that 

Biszantz chose to make his remarks at the prestigious 

conference and was greeted with loud applause 

is significant and a hopeful sign. Earlier this 

year, when prominent thoroughbred racing figures 

like Alice Chandler and Seth Hancock made similar 

remarks, they were greeted with relative silence, 

and Hancock was criticized in the racing 

press for shipping his horses out of Kentucky, in 

large part in protest to the state’s permissive medication 

rules. 

GETTING NASTY IN INDIANA 

The language is getting stronger in Hoosierland, 

where the racing commission and Indianapolis 

Downs are at odds over alleged dealings with a 

former chairman of the commission. An attorney 

for the commission filed a motion saying, “Indianapolis 

Downs insists on operating by its own rules 

and in its own sleazy way that does not pass the 

smell test.” An Indianapolis Downs attorney responded, 

“This document would be more 

fitting to be found in a supermarket 

checkout stand than in any court or administrative 

agency.”





MIXED NEWS FROM INDIANA 

There is good news and bad from Hoosierland. The 

good news came from Hoosier Park, where sale of 

the track’s racing signals increased by 43.7% at 

the meeting concluded last week, up to $367,529 

nightly. On-track handle also was up, by 8.4%, 

and average daily attendance increased by 6.7%. 

In Indianapolis, however, the bitter feud between 

the state’s racing commission and new track entrant 

Indianapolis Downs -- due to open in three 

months -- continued. The track filed a lawsuit in 

Marion county Superior Court asking to have the 

executive director of the commission, Joe Gorajec, 

barred from future participation in the investigation 

of Indianapolis Downs, and asking the court 

to halt the investigation of its relationships with 

regulators and lobbyists. The Downs claims 

Gorajec overstepped his authority by appointing 

an administrative law judge for the purpose of issuing 

a secret subpoena to obtain the phone 

records of lobbyist and consultant Larry Mohr, 

who Gorajec says met with two commissioners 

while the commission was considering the Indianapolis 

Downs application. The records were used 

as the basis of a $1.2 million fine against the track 

proposed by Gorajec. The lawsuit now filed claims 

Gorajec “exceeded the proper limits of his jurisdiction, 

power and authority under the law and has 

acted and continued to act in disregard of the minimal 

due-process rights which Indianapolis Downs 

must be afforded.” A hearing on the track request 

will be held Thursday. The chairman of the commission, 

Richard Darko, said he has not studied 

the track’s lawsuit, but expressed full confidence 

and support of his executive director. “If Indianapolis 

Downs is asking that Joe Gorajec be limited 

in his responsibilities to the commission,” he 

said, “the commission will strongly oppose 

that request.” 


ESTOK TO TEACH AT U OF A 

HTA’s general counsel and secretary, Paul Estok, 

will take on additional duties this fall. He will teach 

a law course three hours a week on the Legal Environment 

of Business at the University of Arizona. 

Estok is a graduate of both the university’s 

Race Track Industry Program and its law school. 

The course, offered during the fall semester, will 

cover the necessary foundations and a working 

knowledge of the legal system, regulatory law, employment 

law, consumer law and international law. 

Estok also is the proud owner of a fine new home, 

and will move in this weekend, after his HTA/RTIP 

colleagues finish painting the interior in bright new 

hues for their lawyer. 

USTA ABANDONS YEAR BOOK 

After 117 years, a revered tradition in harness 

racing has fallen victim to technology and the 

times. The United States Trotting Association has 

announced that it is discontinuing production of the 

annual Year Book, which contains results of all 

harness races in the U.S. The book has been an 

annual publication since John Wallace published 

the first volume in 1885. That edition, Volume 1 

of Wallace’s Year Book, now is a rare collector’s 

item. USTA published the book in Hoof Beats 

magazine from 1933 until 1938, and has issued it 

in bound book form annually since that time. It 

now will be made available through other means, 

and delivered in a more timely and cost-effective 

manner through USTA’s Internet-based services, 

primarily PATHWAY. John Pawlak, publicity/public 

relations director of USTA, said that controlling 

costs while maintaining a high level of service 

to members left USTA with the option of substantially 

raising the price of the book or making its 

information available electronically. Given the success 

and efficiency of USTA’s online services, 

the move seems a very good idea.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor August 21, 2002 

LATEST ROUNDS IN INDIANA Indianpolis Downs planned to race harness only, 

They haven’t used bikini-clad lovelies to carry the but the commission, at its latest meeting, said it 

round signs as yet, but the heavyweight battle between 

the Indiana Racing Commission and under- 

or turf, in 2003 and 30 days in 2004. The issue is 

could race a 20-day thoroughbred meeting, on dirt 

construction Indianapolis Downs took another bizarre 

turn when someone broke into the Downs Downs would forfeit one-half of its thoroughbred 

important, since without runners Indianapolis 

offices early yesterday morning and stole hard simulcasting revenues to Hoosier Park. Both 

drives from three corporate computers. Gil Short, tracks must race a total of 120 days to qualify for 

the track’s general manager, called the burglary simulcasting. 

. 

“strictly a fact-finding mission,” and the sheriff’s 

department of Shelby county, where the track is NYC OTB TO CARRY RED MILE 

located and is just three months from completion, New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation has 

is investigating, along with the Indiana State Police. 

The Downs filed a lawsuit Monday asking a Circuit meeting at the historic Red Mile in Lex- 

announced that it will carry this year’s fall Grand 

superior court to halt the commission’s investigation 

of alleged improper contacts between the of the meeting on Labor Day, and will include all 

ington. The telecasts will begin with the opening 

former chairman of the commission and a second sessions with the possible exception of daytime 

commissioner with track lobbyists while Indianapolis 

Downs’ date application was being considered. card on Saturday, Sept. 28. Under New York law, 

racing, which would include the Kentucky Futurity 

The track lawyer who filed the suit, Robert W. daytime signals have to be approved by the New 

Hammerle, said yesterday that “I feel like I’m York Racing Association, and the Red Mile hopes 

representing the Democratic Party during to receive approval from NYRA. The NYCOTB 

Watergate,” and added that he will be “fascinated coverage is the latest in its cooperative new simulcasting 

approach under president Ray Casey, 

to see just how, when and where this stuff surfaces.” 

The burglars did not take the computers which includes carrying racing from Del Mar and 

themselves, but simply unhooked the hard drives the Breeders’ Cup in addition to the Red Mile simulcasts. 

and ransacked file cabinets containing GM Short’s 

personal notes. Hammerle said he was not accusing 

anyone, “just raising extremely grave concerns. 

They have got everything that was on the When racing jobs pay $100,000 a year, politicians 

NEW APPOINTEE, OLD STORY 

hard drives, every bit of information concerning are drawn to them like flies, and governors are 

the records of Indianapolis Downs. There is not a not averse to disbursing them as rewards for political 

service. The latest award is in Illinois, where 

blasted thing there that is of concern from a legal 

standpoint...but it was confidential information, outgoing Gov. George Ryan reportedly has given 

personal information to Indianapolis Downs.” The his blessing to the appointment of state senator 

track is alleging that commission executive Joe Walter Dudycz as the new executive director of 

Gorajec is biased and has exceeded his authority. the Illinois Racing Board for a three-year term. A 

Gorajec has recommended that Indy Downs be spokesman for the governor said that lack of racing 

experience is not a concern, since Dudycz, a 

fined $1.2 million for failing to disclose what 

he considers improprieties during the application 

process. 

of the legislative process, the budget pro- 

former Chicago detective, has a knowledge 

cess, and “maybe not horse racing but 

certainly horse trading.”


THIS OUTFIT LOVES MAGNA 

Magna Entertainment has been taking some media 

hits lately, but there also are signs that some 

people with money think highly of the organization. 

On August 13 Fair Enterprises, a company 

based in the Channel Islands that is controlled by 

Bergenie Anstalt, an associate of Frank 

Stronach’s, announced that it had purchased 

304,000 shares of Class A Subordinate Voting 

Stock of Magna Entertainment. Three days later 

Fair Enterprises was back in the market and acquired 

an additional 945,000 shares. With that purchase, 

Fair Enterprises now owns 2,831,000 shares 

of Magna, or 5.8% of the company’s class A voting 

stock. Fair Enterprises says it acquired the 

shares for investment purposes, and says it may 

purchase additional shares in the future. Mr. 

Stronach reportedly shares in the direction of Fair 

Enterprises’ shares, which would mean he has control 

over, or exercises direction over, more than 9 

million shares, or some 18.5% of Magna 

Entertainment’s Class A Subordinate voting stock. 

MILLS STILL HOT FOR NJ SITE 

The Mills Corporation, one of the nation’s largest 

developers of shopping malls, still is hot to trot 

with development plans for the Continental Arena 

site at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, 

and auto racing interests still are fascinated 

with the idea of a huge track there less than ten 

miles from Manhattan. Those are two prospects 

who seem certain to be considered September 16, 

the deadline for proposal submissions that NJSEA 

president and CEO George Zoffinger has to consider. 

Zoffinger told the Bergen Record’s John 

Brennan that he still doesn’t have a firm sense of 

what he will find when the deadline arrives, but 

that “we’re doing everything we can to get them 

to submit things that are very creative.” 

More than 150 requests for proposals were 

sent out on June 30. 





The requests were sent nationally and internationally, 

regarding development of 104 of the 

Authority’s 700 acres. Zoffinger says that if 10 

responses are received by the deadline, he would 

be happy. “Of course,” he says, “it also depends 

on what is in them. If we get one that’s really good, 

that might seem like enough.” Whatever he gets, 

oral presentations will follow in early October, with 

two or three finalists hopefully selected to submit 

more detailed proposals by October 30, and a winner 

to be announced December 30. 

MGM LIKES CHICAGO, AGAIN 

Earlier this summer, when the Illinois legislature 

raised casino taxes, MGM Mirage pulled out of 

the chase for the license of the ill-fated Emerald 

Casino. Whether it now believes that the tax will 

be rolled back, or whether it simply recognizes the 

huge potential of the Chicago market, high taxes 

or not, the company now is back looking for a 

location, perhaps in the near-O’Hare field suburb 

of Des Plaines. MGM Mirage’s Chicago counsel, 

Lawrence Suffredin, says the company now 

“is interested and willing to go forward.” Another 

suitor, developer Neil Bluhm, also hopes to land 

Des Plaines as a site, but Suffredin says MGM 

Mirage does not plan to join forces with him in 

any casino bid. 

LINCOLN SAYS IT’S US OR THEM 

Dan Bucci, general manager of Lincoln Park in 

Rhode Island, told the state’s Sherlock Commission 

on Gambling that if a Narragansett Indian 

casino is built in the middle of the state, as proposed, 

“it would shutter both Lincoln Park and the 

Newport Grand Jai Alai. It would decimate us. 

People would go by us like a freight train by a 

hobo.” The Sherlock Commission is a subcommittee 

of the House Finance Committee. 

Bucci said the state would be better off 

giving the tracks more slot machines.





PARK PLACE WINS, BIG 

It still is a few years away, but an Indian casino in 

the Catskills seems a good bet today after a federal 

judge yesterday dismissed a $1.8 billion lawsuit 

that an outfit called Catskill Development had 

brought against Park Place Entertainment. The 

Catskill group, which had hoped to work with the 

St. Regis Mohawks on a casino at Monticello 

Raceway, had claimed Park Place enticed the 

Mohawks to renege on that deal and locate at 

Kutshers Sports Academy instead, and had improperly 

interfered with its business. Ironically, 

one of Monticello’s founders was the late Milton 

Kutsher, whose family hotel has been a Catskill 

landmark for years. In dismissing the suit, U.S. 

District Judge Colleen McMahon said the Catskill 

Development group had not proved its claims and 

contentions, and granted summary judgment to 

dismiss all remaining claims. Park Place executive 

vice president and chief legal officer Kim 

Sinatra said the company was “delighted by the 

decision, which vindicates in unambiguous terms 

the position that Park Place had taken from the 

beginning: our dealings with the Saint Regis 

Mohawk Tribe were fair, proper and above board.” 

Park Place, which owns, manages or has an interest 

in 28 gaming properties operating under the 

Caesars, Bally’s, Flamingo, Grand Casinos, Hilton 

and Paris brand names, controls some 28,000 hotel 

rooms and has 55,000 employees worldwide. 

The company says it will build a world-class casino 

resort at Kutshers, but does not plan to begin 

construction until next year, after New York 

courts have ruled on a pending suit challenging 

the constitutionality of casino gambling in the state. 

Joseph Bernstein, an investor in Catskill Development, 

said that he plans to appeal the ruling on 

behalf of the company. Residents in the area hope 

the proposed casino can revive the area’s 

depressed and highly depressing economy. 


LICENSING DELAYS IN NM 

In another development issue, the New Mexico 

Racing Commission announced that it is not yet 

ready to act on separate applications from R. D. 

Hubbard and Shawn Scott to build a new horse 

racing track in the city of Hobbs. Commission 

chairman Greg Drake said the commission could 

not make “a good rounded decision that would be 

best for racing in New Mexico at this time,” and 

said it would continue investigating circumstances 

of Hubbard’s huge fine and loss of license in Indiana 

and Scott’s legal battles in Louisiana. Hubbard 

was forced to resign as head of Pinnacle Entertainment 

and was fined $740,000 after it was alleged 

that prostitutes were imported to entertain 

VIP guests at Pinnacle’s Belterra Casino and Resort 

property in Indiana and Scott -- who recently 

became involved in majority ownership at Vernon 

Downs in New York and Bangor Raceway in Maine 

-- is involved in a contract dispute over a bonus 

issue in his purchase of Delta Downs, which he 

bought for $10 million and sold for $110 million or 

so two years later. 

CHANSKY OUT FOR GOOD IN NJ 

The New Jersey State Racing Commission, acting 

following the recommendation of the state’s 

Office of Administrative Law, has permanently 

revoked the license of trainer Richard Chansky, 

suspended a year and a half ago on charges of 

possession and use of illegal substances. The ruling, 

effective next month, precludes any opportunity 

to ever re-apply. 

BIG RACES THIS WEEKEND 

Major racing on tap tomorrow night. At Yonkers, 

the second leg of the Triple Crown of trotting, the 

Yonkers Trot. At Balmoral in Chicago, Kadabra 

and Andover Hall in the American-National and 

Cameron Hall in the filly division. At Freehold, 

Cane Pace elims, and at Woodbine 

the Fan Hanover and elims for the Metro 

and Canadian Pacing Derby.





SPORTSMAN’S FOR SALE 

It’s now official. Sportsman’s Park, a fixture on 

the Chicago racing scene for more than 70 years, 

is being offered for sale as “an 80-acre redevelopment 

opportunity.” The real estate firm of Cushman 

& Wakefield have sent out flyers announcing that 

it has been retained to dispose of the track, which 

is located 8.5 miles from Chicago’s downtown Loop, 

2.5 miles north of Midway airport, and just a quarter 

of a mile from a major artery interchange of I- 

55 and Cicero Avenue. The flyer suggests that 

the property can be used for retail, office/industrial, 

hospitality, entertainment or healthcare development, 

located as it is with a population of 

889,000 within a five-mile radius. The track was 

redesigned for auto racing a few years ago at staggering 

cost, with 70,000 seats, but the experiment 

was a failure and it appears that an era has ended 

at the Chicago racing landmark. 

NOVEL APPROACH AT RACEWAY 

Match races and head-to-head competition are not 

new, but innovation always is possible, even when 

the idea is borrowed. Raceway Park in Toledo, 

Ohio, did just that, borrowing Northfield Park’s 

Walter Case vs. Herve Filion championship driver 

format and then embellishing it with a creative twist 

of its own. The two drivers, most successful in 

North America in victories with more than 25,000 

winning drives and 13 Harness Tracks of America 

Driver of the Year awards between them, will meet 

at Northfield Park in Cleveland next Friday and 

Saturday night and then move to Toledo for the 

Raceway feature Sunday, September 1. At Raceway, 

instead of racing for points based on finishing 

order, they will be given points based on the cumulative 

mutuel payoff of their winning drives. A $3, 

2.80, 2.40 mutuel would earn 8.2 points, for 

example, and a $10.60 show price in the 

same race would earn 10.6 points. Racing director 

Scott Eggers’ idea. 


VOTERS’ CALL AT PRAIRIE 

Voters in Polk county, Iowa, the home of Prairie 

Meadows Racetrack and Casino, will have the fate 

of the operation in their hands come November. 

A referendum will ask them to vote slot gambling 

at the racino up or down. If they approve -- and 

polls indicate they will -- prosperity will continue 

at Prairie. If they were to vote down slots, racing 

would die with them. Slots provide between $140 

and $150 million a year in profit on more than $2 

billion wagered on 1,500 machines. Horse racing 

at Prairie operates at a loss, and will be subsidized 

this year by $13 to $14 million from slot revenue. 

INTANGIBLES JUST THAT 

A state appeals board in Nevada has turned down 

a casino’s argument that its property taxes should 

be reduced 30% because of the value of the 

casino’s “intangible assets.” The Four Queens 

casino argued that the experience of its management 

and its name recognition among customers 

were part of those intangibles, but the appeals 

board said no dice. The board did accept a more 

tangible argument on appraisal, however, and lowered 

the county assessor’s $45.9 million appraisal 

of the 33-year-old property by $400,000. 

NEW FORUM AT SYMPOSIUM 

If you’re planning on attending the University of 

Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program annual 

symposium in Tucson in December -- and we hope 

you are -- you might want to arrive a day early. 

The RTIP has announcd that GEM Communications 

will hold a one-day Racing and Gaming Summit 

on Tuesday, Dec. 10, a day before the Symposium 

gets underway. The gaming and wagering 

mix will be discussed in five seminars. Summit 

registration will be $295, or $595 for the 

Summit and Symposium combined, a 

$100 discount.






THE DONALD AND THE BIG M 

We’re not sure what an “interactive racing park” 

is, but that’s what the Associated Press says 

Donald Trump wants to build at the Meadowlands 

Sports Complex. We presume it may be carnival 

rides under a new-era name, but the AP says Trump 

also is working with International Speedway Corporation, 

the development arm of NASCAR, to 

build a speedway on the Sports Complex grounds. 

The “interactive park” would be NASCAR’s version 

of Disneyland, according to the story, which 

also said International Speedway’s plans for an 

auto track around the Meadowlands has been on 

hold because the company and the state of New 

Jersey have been unable to agree on who would 

foot the bill for the $400 million project. Enter 

The Donald. 

BALMORAL NIPS A PLOT 

Balmoral Park, south of Chicago, has held up on 

posting final results of last Saturday’s $50,000 

handicapping contest in the belief that the winner 

and fourth place finisher may have tried to rig the 

contest. Track president John Johnston says, “A 

couple of people who were in previous contests 

thought they could beat the system with fancy paperwork.” 

According to the Chicago Tribune, the 

plotters entered bets on color-coded sheets of paper 

that were numbered for each player. If a 

player’s win or exacta bet was successful, the dollar 

value was converted to points for the standings, 

with a top prize of $15,000. Fourth place was 

worth $1,500. Johnston says the suspected cheaters 

picked up their entry packets at 6 p.m., left 

the track to make photocopies, and then returned 

to the track. While the contest was in progress, it 

was discovered that there were more ballots used 

on a race than there were contestants. Johnston 

said the cheaters apparently assumed track 

officials would not look at the losing bets, 

and said charges will be brought if evidence 

warrants. 

MORE INSURANCE WOES 

HTA has received reports of member track’s starters 

having difficulty obtaining liability insurance 

coverage for their mobile starting gates. If your 

starter has the problem, or if he has successfully 

obtained coverage, please let the HTA office know 

at once. 

In another insurance development, the Blood- 

Horse reports that a new captive insurance program, 

similar to HTA’s long-standing company, 

hopefully will ease the serious workers’ compensation 

insurance woes in California racing. Trainers 

there have seen huge premium increases in 

state coverage, and a new program has been put 

together that may provide an alternative. It was 

hoped the program might be available Sept. 1, but 

Ed Halpern, the executive director of the California 

Thoroughbred Trainers said “factors within the 

insurance industry changed that,” and said the 

group now was not sure when it would have a deal. 

In an understatement, Halpern said the success 

of the program is dependent on “banding an industry 

together that doesn’t usually band together.” 

The insurance man trying to put the program 

into effect said, “We’re using the power of 

the group policing itself for the good of everybody. 

It’s a lot like driver’s insurance. You keep a clean 

record and your rates will drop. The guys with 

bad records, it’s like any other business. Eventually, 

they won’t be able to stay in business because 

it will be too expensive for them. Their owners 

will go elsewhere.” 

The example is fine, except it doesn’t always work 

quite that way. In the case of harness racing starters, 

their loss experience is exemplary, with very 

few incidents or problems. Still, some are receiving 

non-renewals and are unable to find coverage. 

HTA is working on the problem, 

and we will appreciate input.






CASE WINS 9 AT NORTHFIELD 

Walter Case Jr., warming up for his Battle of the 

Best against Herve Filion at Northfield Park Friday 

and Saturday nights, won nine races Monday 

night at Northfield, the fourth time he has accomplished 

that remarkable feat, and only one short 

of his record ten victories on one card at the same 

track on May 26 three years ago. Case now has 

won 10,586 races, and Filion 14,813. Case has 

been red hot, winning 27 races since last Friday, 

22 of them at Northfield and a five-victory night at 

Raceway Park in Toledo. Case and Filion also 

have dominated HTA’s Driver of the Year honor, 

Filion winning it 10 times and Case 3 times, accounting 

for 38% of the sport’s most prestigious 

driving award since its inception in 1968. 

A WINNER BEFORE IT STARTS 

The Harness Tracks of America equine art auction 

is still a month away, but one of the top artists 

in the competition -- David Pavlak of Ohio -- is a 

winner already. Pavlak, who had four paintings 

accepted for this year’s show and sale, has been 

commissioned by the Red Mile to do an oil painting 

of this year’s winner of the historic Kentucky 

Futurity. Pavlak, a former trainer and breeder, 

has been one of the most popular artists in HTA’s 

annual competition. 

MIXED SIGNALS IN VEGAS 

With everything now measured from 9-11 , the big 

boys of Las Vegas are giving mixed reviews on 

recovery. MGM Mirage, bouncing back strongly, 

says it will move ahead with its planned $375 million, 

925-room tower expansion of the Bellagio, 

with construction to start in mid-2003 and completion 

scheduled for December, 2004. Mandalay 

Bay, however, says it is holding up on its construction 

of a new Strip megaresort, citing a 3.9% 

decline in second quarter earnings and blaming 

it in part on a summer room-rate war in 

Las Vegas. 

JACKSON NEXT TO CHAIR RCI 

William E. Jackson, a member of the Illinois Racing 

Board and current secretary-treasurer of Racing 

Commissioners International, has been named 

to fill the role of chairman of the association next 

April. Basil Plasteras of New Jersey, who died 

August 1, had been chair-elect of the organization, 

and Jackson was named to replace him yesterday 

at the RCI’s summer board meeting. Frank 

Zanzucci, executive director of the New Jersey 

racing commission, was elected to replace Jackson 

as secretary-treasurer. 

DEATHS IN THE RACING FAMILY 

Doris Scherf, mother of Thoroughbred Racing 

Associations executive vice president Chris 

Scherf, passed away Monday. A funeral mass will 

be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. at St. Mark’s Roman 

Catholic Church in Catonsville, MD. 

In Florida, Michael J. Perry Jr., a harness owner 

for 20 years and past president of the Florida chapter 

of U.S. Harness Writers, died at 63. A former 

basketball coach, he coached the Swedish national 

team to the Olympics in 1980 and recruited 7’4” 

Rik Smits from the Netherlands for Marist College. 

Smits later played for the Indiana Pacers in 

the NBA. 

HTA extends its sympathy to Chris and to Mike’s 

family. 

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT IN OHIO 

Remember when the lottery was a pocket change 

investment? It isn’t any longer. The Ohio Lottery, 

in the true spirit of the high religious holidays, 

has decided to roll out a new game in October 

called ‘Tis a Winning Season. Prizes will range 

from a guaranteed minimum of $5 to a 1-in- 

66,667 chance of winning one of 15 top 

prizes of $20,000. Tickets will cost $20. 

Merry Christmas!





EPO TEST READY SOON IN NY 

Daily Racing Form reports today that a test for 

erythropoietin, or EPO, long sought and desperately 

needed by the racing industry, has been developed 

and will be implemented soon in New York 

state. The tests will begin, according to Matt 

Hegarty’s story, as soon as the board can formulate 

a policy of controlling them. They will be unique 

in that they will not be race day tests, but will be 

administered prior to race day, which is when EPO 

reportedly is administered. Hegarty reported that 

New York racing board members met with Dr. 

George Maylin, who has been working with other 

scientists on the tests, to discuss the plan, but no 

details were given on details of the discussion or 

the tests themselves. The tests could be a major 

breakthrough in detection of EPO and its derivatives 

and subsequent penalties against trainers 

using the substances. 

MORE RESEARCH NEWS IN KY 

While scientists were at work in New York and 

elsewhere on EPO, others were gathering in Kentucky 

for a two-day workshop on mare reproductive 

loss syndrome, or MRLS, which hit that state 

with disastrous results last year. Although no solutions 

or easy fixes emerged from the conference, 

it was felt that the two days of discussions set the 

stage and direction of future work and sound scientific 

approaches to MRLS. 

HARRAH’S BUYING LA DOWNS 

Harrah’s Entertainment has announced that it has 

signed a letter of intent to acquire 95% of Louisiana 

Downs in Bossier City, LA. The casino company 

said it will spend $157 million to buy the plant, 

make improvements, and install slot machines. 

Harrah’s already owns a riverboat casino in 

Shreveport, eight miles from the race track, 

and the company says the new acquisition 

represents its “further commitment to the market.” 


WAR EMBLEM AS SAUDI PR 

In a major front page story, today’s New York Times 

reports that Saudi Arabia, concerned about its 

image and increased editorial comment on its relations 

with the United States and the war on terrorism, 

is spending millions on PR and is considering 

giving War Emblem, winner of the Kentucky 

Derby and Preakness and Saudi-owned, to the 

families of victims of the World Trade Center towers, 

destroyed by terrorists that included 15 Saudi 

nationals. War Emblem was purchased just weeks 

before this year’s Kentucky Derby from Chicago 

industrialist Russell Reineman by Prince Ahmed 

bin Salman, a member of the Saudi royal family 

who died of a reported heart attack in July. 

The Times itemized much of the more than $5 million 

that has been spent by the Saudis since September 

11 to repair their image, including payments 

to some of the nation’s most influential PR 

firms. One of them, Quorvis Communications, 

which is retained by the Saudis for $200,000 a 

month, produced an ad showing the U.S. and Saudi 

flags being raised together. 

The story appeared just one day after Times columnist 

Maureen Dowd wrote that vice president 

Dick Cheney had finally convinced her that we 

should go to war.....but against Saudi Arabia, not 

Iraq. Dowd was not the only influential columnist 

who has weighed in against the Saudis in recent 

weeks and months. After War Emblem had won 

the first two legs of the Triple Crown, columnist 

Jimmy Breslin wrote a strong piece urging Prince 

bin Salman not to attend the Belmont Stakes. The 

prince did not, citing business conflicts. The Saudis 

are spending the PR money representing themselves 

as U.S. allies of 60 years standing. Columnists, 

cartoonists and others are depicting 

them not as allies, but as valued suppliers 

of oil.





DETROIT TRACK FOR MAGNA 

Magna Entertainment has announced lavish plans 

for a world class dual racing facility on a 220-acre 

site in the Detroit suburb of Romulus, close to Metropolitan 

Airport, and hopes to have the facility 

ready for racing in 2004. Jim McAlpine, Magna 

president and CEO, said, “We have always viewed 

Michigan as an important market for horse racing 

and the Detroit metroplex as the ideal location for 

the development of a modern racetrack facility. 

Architectural drawings of the proposed plant bring 

Colonial Downs in Virginia quickly to mind, with 

the same stately facade, and a Churchillian twist 

with not two but three spires atop the building. 

Michigan racing commissioner Annette Bacola said 

the new track could be a “huge boost to Michigan 

racing,” and said she would set up an internal review 

committee to study the project, hopefully by 

next week. Magna’s plans call for a mile and an 

eighth dirt track for thoroughbreds, with a mile turf 

track and 7/8ths mile harness track inside. 

In other Magna news, head man Frank Stronach 

was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall 

of Fame last night, along with harness owner Irving 

Liverman and harness trainer-driver Bud Fritz. 

And in California Jack Liebau, head of Magna’s 

California racing operations, said he expects 

Magna’s lease on Bay Meadows to be renewed 

or extended. The lease expires Dec. 31, but 

Liebau says he is optimistic. 

JUSTICE FIRM ON ’NET BAN 

The Department of Justice has reaffirmed its intractable 

stand in opposition of Internet gambling. 

Michael Chertoff, assistant attorney general, 

wrote a letter last week to Nevada regulators 

in which he made clear that the Bush administration 

has no intention of relaxing Internet 

casino gaming bans. 


“As set forth in prior congressional testimony,” 

Chertoff wrote, “the Department of Justice believes 

that federal law prohibits gambling over the 

Internet, including casino-style gambling.” 

BIG WEEKEND OF RACING 

Major classics on a wide geographic front will provide 

top flight racing this Labor Day weekend. At 

Woodbine in Toronto, the C$1.1 million Metro Pace 

and the C$845,000 Canadian Pacing Derby feature 

another standout Woodbine Entertainment 

card. Real Desire, arguably the best pacer in the 

world at the moment, takes on Four Starzz Shark, 

Camotion, Life Source, Armbro Proposal and six 

others in the Pacing Derby, and a victory would 

send his earnings close to the $3 million mark. The 

Metro is a different matter, with no 2-year-old 

having yet established himself as the star of the 

season. Lasting Luck, undefeated in three starts 

for owner Jeffrey Snyder of New York, looks formidable, 

but Gone West, Bradley Hall and Keystone 

Rodeo will be trying to give Bob McIntosh, 

Canada’s seven-time leading trainer, his first 

Metro victory. Articulator, which had won his first 

four starts, was beaten by Lasting Luck last week, 

but still is a major factor. Ten go postward. In 

DuQuoin in far southern Illinois, an all-star field 

of 3-year-old trotting colts is poised for action Saturday 

afternoon. Kadabra, Illinois-bred and not 

eligible for the Hambletonian but winner of last 

week’s American-National; Andover Hall, topranked 

in this year’s Experimental Handicap; and 

Chip Chip Hooray, winner of the Hambletonian but 

fourth in last week’s Yonkers Trot in New York, all 

are entered. At Balmoral Park, the $225,000 

American-National open pace is on tap. At Freehold, 

the $369,188 Cane Pace will be raced on Labor 

Day Monday. At Hippodrome de Montreal, 

finals of the rich Coupe de l’Avenir and Coupe 

des Eleveurs series highlight Sunday’s 

card.





A CASE OF TOO MUCH 

Herve Filion did well over the weekend in his 

double donnybrook against Walter Case at 

Northfield Park and Raceway Park, but not well 

enough in his return to Ohio racing. Filion 

started strong Friday night in the two-night competition 

at Northfield, winning three races, finishing 

second three times and third four times to 

take a 114-to-108 point lead over Case, who won 

four races on the card but had only two seconds 

in his other 10 drives. Then Case got serious on 

Saturday, winning three more races, finishing 

second three times and adding one third while 

Filion was shut out. Case, a Northfield regular, 

and Filion, in town for the special event, were 

assigned their mounts by Northfield racing secretary 

Gregg Keidel. The pair moved on to Raceway 

Park in Toledo Sunday night, and Case completed 

the blowout, winning seven races. Filion 

didn’t win, but finished in the money in 11 of the 

13 races in which he and Case drove. Both drivers 

were gracious, signing autographs and exchanging 

mutual compliments. Filion said he appreciated 

everyone’s hospitality and Case said, 

“Herve is great for the sport and I am very happy 

he is racing in Ohio. He is a true gentleman.” 

Filion, back in action this summer after six and 

a half years of enforced absence in New York, 

now has won 14,817 races and is determined to 

reach the 15,000 plateau. Case has won 10,603 

races and at 41 is 21 years younger than Filion, 

who had his first 100-win season the year after 

Case was born. Filion has won HTA’s Driver of 

the Year honor 10 times, Case 3 times. 

SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA WINS TWO 

On successive days, a federal judge and the International 

Trade Commission last week 

ruled that Scientific-Atlanta’s Explorer 

cable TV set-top boxes did not infringe 

on patents held by Gemstar-TV Guide International, 

the parent of TVG. 

September 3, 2002 

It was a good week for Scientific-Atlanta, which 

also announced that its Latin American subsidiary 

had been chosen to supply instant ticket 

games in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico. 

WHEN IS A WIN NOT A WIN? 

We’re not exactly sure legally, but this might be 

a case. A Cook county judge has ruled that a 

1999 law that allows a defunct casino company 

to keep its license and relocate was not special 

legislation, which is barred by the Illinois constitution. 

The ruling was a win for the suburb of 

Rosemont, which had hoped to be home for the 

defunct Emerald casino, which had begun relocating 

in Rosemont. The effect of the judge’s 

ruling, if any, is unclear, since the Illinois Gaming 

Board has ruled the company unfit to hold a 

license and is moving to put the license up for 

bids. Rosemont has filed suit to stop the bidding. 

GET THIS GUY’S STOCK PICKS 

Thank God there’s one financial planner out 

there who knows what he’s doing. Stephen Smith 

is a financial adviser in Ottawa, who in his spare 

time trains and grooms his own 2-horse stable. 

He advised his father, brother and a friend to 

join him and buy a $19,000 trotting colt two years 

ago, and yesterday the colt, Thechiefofmontana, 

won the $300,000 final of the Coupe de Eleveurs 

for 3-year-olds at Hippodrome de Montreal. 

That boosted his earnings to over $250,000. “The 

horse is an investment for me. I don’t do it just 

for my health,” Smith said following the victory. 

And all this time we thought that was the motivation 

of financial advisers recently. For their 

health, not necessarily that of their clients. 

HTA ART CATALOGS OUT 

The 20-page HTA art catalog for 2002 will be 

mailed to directors this week. It also is online 

at www.harnesstracks.com and 15,000 will 

be mailed as a pullout section in the September 

issue of Hoof Beats.





WHICH EDITION DO YOU READ? 

What happens with the pending construction of an 

Indian casino in Niagara Falls, NY, is not an academic 

issue for HTA’s member Buffalo Raceway. 

If Buffalo CEO Dennis Lang and president Bill 

Richardson get confused reading their local newspaper, 

the Buffalo News, concerning what is or 

what is not happening with the Seneca Indians, it 

is understandable. The Seneca Nation signed a 

compact with New York governor George E. 

Pataki August 18, and declared its intention of 

opening a casino in Niagara Falls by Jan. 1. 

Today’s City and Region section of the News says 

they could begin construction at the Niagara Falls 

Convention and Civic Center as early as Tuesday, 

provided they can take possession of the building 

by then. The compact provided for a takeover 

within 30 days. The city doesn’t know if it can get 

the building vacated by then, or if the Senecas have 

to complete any environmental reviews on the 

property before turning it into a casino. But that 

is only half of the story. In the same section of 

today’s News, the paper’s Washington correspondent 

reports that a strongly anti-gambling western 

New York Congressman, Rep. John J. LaFalce, 

has written to Interior Secretary Gale Norton saying 

that a federal court decision this year renders 

them ineligible to build in Niagara Falls. LaFalce, 

a lawyer, contends that when U.S. Judge Richard 

J. Arcara ruled earlier this year that Niagara Falls 

is not part of the Senecas’ aboriginal land, it precluded 

them being approved for a casino by the 

Interior Department. The federal court ruling declared 

that “The Seneca Nation’s ancestral lands 

were located in the Genesee Valley, not in the 

Niagara region,” and LaFalce says that decision 

rules out the Senecas right to a Niagara Falls casino. 

“The arguments are so tenuous”, he says, 

“that Secretary Norton would jeopardize 

her credibility if she did that. A lawsuit 

would be filed immediately.” 


OH, AND BY THE WAY..... 

In case Secretary Norton doesn’t agree with Congressman 

LaFalce and approves the Seneca casino, 

Niagara county has told Gov. George Pataki 

that it expects to be reimbursed for the 50 acres 

of downtown Niagara Falls that the compact gives 

to the Senecas. Not for the land, but for the taxes 

it will lose, since the properties currently there 

generate about $70,000 a year in property taxes, 

and the Senecas would be exempt from those 

taxes. A spokeswoman for Pataki says he would 

consider the request, but that the county will benefit 

far more from economic development related 

to the casino. Niagara county’s legislature chairman, 

Bradley E. Erck, sees it differently. “It’s 

kind of stupid,” he says, “that the city of Niagara 

Falls is going to reap millions, the state of New 

York tens of millions, the Senecas billions, and the 

county gets nothing.” 

INDIANS AHEAD IN AZ, TOO 

Voters in Arizona will be asked to choose this coming 

November whether they want to expand Indian 

gaming on 17 reservations and keep gambling 

there, or instead give gaming to the state’s race 

tracks. A poll of 602 registered voters by the Arizona 

Republic shows the Indian measure, proposition 

202, leading the track measure, proposition 

201, 35% to 10%, but 52% of those polled said 

they don’t know how they’ll vote. 

EXPERIENCED CFO AVAILABLE 

An experienced CFO/controller with major racetrack 

experience and credentials is available and 

looking to relocate. Contact HTA if you would like 

to see his resume. 

IZZO TO SOBA OF NJ 

Mike Izzo, executive director of Harness Horsemen 

International for 13 years, is leaving to become 

executive administrator of the Standardbred 

Breeders and Owners of New Jersey.





OHIO CANDIDATE BACKS SLOTS 

Tim Hagan, the Democratic candidate for governor 

in Ohio, has endorsed electronic slots at the 

state’s racetracks. Hagan, who estimates he will 

inherit a $2.68 billion budget deficit if he is elected, 

says he thinks slots at tracks would raise $500 

million a year. “I cannot offer a vision for this 

state’s future without dealing with the mess I will 

inherit from Bob Taft,” Hagan said, and added that 

he will not back a tax increase unless the state’s 

legislators refuse to support his budget plan, including 

track slots. Taft opposes the idea. Hagan 

currently is trailing Taft in polls by 8 percentage 

points. Hagan agrees that Ohio money is being 

bet elsewhere in slots, primarily in neighboring West 

Virginia and Indiana, and he says, “Anyone in this 

state who has any understanding of it knows what’s 

going on.” 

HERE COME THE BOYS AGAIN 

Congress is back, and so are Bob Goodlatte and 

Jim Leach and their buddies wanting to stifle 

Internet gambling. They apparently are joining 

forces, having drafted a letter to Majority leader 

Dick Armey saying they have a new mutually 

agreeable bill that “represents a carefully crafted, 

narrow approach to the problem.” House Financial 

Services chairman Michael Oxley of Ohio also 

signed the letter, which says their proposal “is 

simple. It would prohibit the use of a financial instrument 

-- a credit card, check or alternative payment 

system -- in unlawful Internet gambling transactions. 

It would require a determination by bank 

regulators or a court order that the transaction is 

unlawful and would prohibit the bank or credit card 

company from processing the transaction.” Perhaps 

the most ominous aspect of the letter is that 

it also was signed by Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, 

perhaps the most vocal -- and up 

until now the most futile -- opponent of 

gambling in the U.S. Congress. 


One influential Congressman, W. J. (Billy) Tauzin 

of Louisiana, called the new compromise “satisfying.” 

He said any bill can be improved, and he 

thinks the authors of the new measure “are moving 

in the right direction.” Should the bill pass the 

House, it still would face action in the Senate. 

COUNT TOTE MANAGERS IN 

The upcoming 10th annual International Simulcast 

Conference, jointly sponsored by TRA, HTA, and 

the American Quarter Horse Race Track Association 

in conjunction with the American Greyhound 

Track Operators Association, will feature 

special sessions for mutuel managers to discuss 

and devise solutions for tote-related issues. There 

will be two scheduled breakout sessions during the 

conference reserved for mutuel managers, and 

they also will be invited to discussions of the RCI 

Tote Standards Committee on Sunday, Sept. 22. 

The Conference itself starts Monday afternoon, 

Sept. 23 and ends Wednesday noon, the 25th. Account 

wagering, international betting, post time coordination, 

inter-departmental cooperation and 

communication, marketing to simulcast patrons 

through OTB outlets and the quality of telecasts 

also are on the Conference agenda. Registration 

deadline is Friday, Sept. 13, with the registration 

fee for HTA members $95, but the hotel group rate 

of $135, single or double, plus tax, at the Bal 

Harbour Sheraton in Bal Harbour, Florida, closes 

tomorrow. Visit www.tra-online.com or call Tony 

DeMarco at TRA, 410-392-9200, for further details 

on registration. The Bal Harbour Sheraton 

number for hotel reservations is 305-865-7511. 

FILION LIKED OHIO WELCOME 

Herve Filion, warmly welcomed at Northfield Park 

last weekend, returns to the track Saturday for 12 

more drives.





STRONACH VISITS THE POST 

The number one newsmaker in American racing 

showed up at the Washington Post yesterday for 

lunch with editors and writers, and Frank Stronach 

did not disappoint them. Racing writer Andy Beyer 

and news staffers Matthew Mosk and John 

Scheinman gave slightly different views of 

Stronach’s visit, but both reported on his enthusiastic 

plans for Pimlico, which he says he will transform 

into a gleaming jewel of racing by 2005. 

Stronach said he will support both the Democratic 

and Republican candidates for governor of Maryland, 

one of whom, Democrat Kathleen Kennedy 

Townsend, opposes slots at tracks, and the other, 

Republican Robert Ehrlich, supports the idea. 

Stronach said, “We do not take political sides; 

we’re there to run a business.” He also repeated 

his view that “Slots are not the answer,” adding, 

“Would we take slots for now? Of course we would. 

But we have to be careful. We are not casino operators.” 

Discussing press skepticism at his plans 

as opposed to action to date, he recounted his success 

story as a 22-year-old immigrant in taking 

Magna International from a small machine shop 

in Toronto to a worldwide megacompany, and said 

no one in the world could say that he didn’t live up 

to his word, clearly implying he would with his racing 

empire as well. Concerning forlorn Pimlico, 

Stronach told the Post’s editors and writers, “We 

can’t easily fix what was neglected for 80 years.” 

But he said he would do it. 

While Stronach’s Post discussion concerned his 

Pimlico plans, neither Beyer nor the news side 

writers mentioned Stronach’s latest incursion, into 

Michigan, where not one but two Stronachs are 

planning tracks. Father Frank has unveiled plans 

for a huge $400 million supertrack at Romulus, 

near Detroit’s Metropolitan airport, and 

son Andy hopes to build a more modest 

undertaking near Lansing. 


TIOGA AGAIN? ANOTHER TRY 

TrackPower, Inc., out of the news in recent months, 

returned yesterday with another press release, this 

one saying it had entered into a contract for the 

lease and option to purchase Tioga Downs, an 

abandoned quarter horse track near Binghamton, 

NY. TrackPower chairman and CEO John 

Simmonds said he plans a harness operation at 

the five-eighths mile track, which has been used 

for concerts and political gatherings since shuttering 

as a racetrack. Simmonds says he hopes to 

submit a license application to the New York State 

Racing and Wagering board immediately for a 2003 

license, and will undertake renovation of the property 

at once. He called Tioga’s demographics “excellent,” 

saying nearly half a million people lived 

within 30 miles in the tri-city area of Binghampton, 

Corning and Elmira, and that Syracuse, NY, and 

Scranton, PA, also are within his target area, which 

he said includes 2 million people within 100 miles. 

The track seats 3,100, has 14 barns and an auction 

facility, and can accommodate 600 horses. 

ON THE PROMOTIONAL FRONT 

Belmont Park, opening today, is starting an online 

contest asking fans to pick one horse to show each 

day of the 33-day meeting. It will cost $10 to play, 

with the money returned in prizes. Contestants 

will move to the next day’s program if they pick a 

successful show horse, and the ultimate winner will 

get 40% of the accumulated prize money, with the 

other 60% shared among the next nine finishers. 

In Las Vegas, meanwhile, Bally Gaming got initial 

approval for a slot machine called Cash for Life, 

which will link slots from a number of Nevada casinos 

and reward jackpot winners with $1,000 or 

more a week for the rest of their lives. A company 

spokesperson calls the idea “a life-changing 

event.”





TENNIS PROS TO TEST FOR EPO 

The Association of Tennis Professionals has voted 

to begin testing its players for erothropoiten -- EPO 

-- as soon as the World Anti-Doping Agency decides 

whether urine testing alone or urine and blood 

are preferable. The ATP board of three playing 

professionals and three tournament representatives 

met during the U.S. Open last week and indicated 

they planned to approve the measure after 

some wording in the proposal was clarified. Some 

pros have been concerned about players who 

emerged from gruelling five-set matches fresh and 

invigorated, and the association has agreed to attempt 

to find out if EPO is involved. 

“DOWN A TRAIL TO FAILURE” 

Ogden Mills Phipps, chairman of the Jockey Club 

and a longtime foe of permissive medication, spoke 

out on the subject last Friday as he received the 

Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Industry Service 

Award in Versailles, KY. Phipps said racing 

“is going down a trail that leads to failure” with its 

current liberal medication rules, and he called for 

a ban on Salix (Lasix) for 2-year-olds. The current 

use of the diuretic for 2-year-olds is a travesty 

and a scandal. Supposedly for bleeders, entire 

fields of the best juveniles in the sport have 

gone to the post in thoroughbred racing’s major 

test, the Breeders Cup, without protest or action 

from any of the sport’s major groups. Harness 

racing’s Hambletonian Society has banned both 

Lasix and butazolidin in its premier race, the 

Hambletonian, by rule and edict. Phipps, talking 

about the fragmented nature of American racing, 

said the various groups reminded him “of 12 male 

dogs meeting for the first time, all kicking dirt to 

establish their territory. Why can’t they understand 

that we can achieve more by working together 

than separately?” Nice idea, and 

it goes for all breeds working together, not 

just runners. 


NTRA OFFERS 9/11 SERVICE 

On the subject of all-breed cooperation, the National 

Thoroughbred Racing Association, in conjunction 

with Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, is offering 

a 9/11 memorial satellite feed this Wednesday 

afternoon from 4:10 to 4:20. The feed will 

include a flag ceremony, moment of silence, playing 

of the national anthem, and a video tribute to 

the World Trade Center disaster. Decodes are 

needed, and the NTRA is proposing that there be 

no racing or related activity during the 10-minute 

ceremony. Sportscaster Dick Enberg, fresh from 

the U.S. Open tennis tournament, will host the presentation. 

For further information contact Keith 

Chamblin at kchamblin@ntra.com or the NTRA 

at 859-245-6872, fax 859-245-6868, or NTRA 

Communications at 212-907-9280, fax 212-907- 

9281. 

ANOTHER SIDE OF THE COIN 

There has been a rush of USTA bashing in the 

wake of a frenzied debate on how many foals to 

allow to be registered in a year from embryo transplants. 

The arguments have largely been onesided, 

and a rebuttal now has been issued by attorney 

Joe Faraldo, vice chairman of the USTA 

board, joined by president Corwin Nixon and chairman 

Tony Abbatiello. At the heart of the problem 

is a lawsuit that was brought against the American 

Quarter Horse Association, which was settled for 

half a million dollars. Faraldo’s long response outlines 

the legal position, and the likelihood of a 

USTA loss in litigation. It is discussed in this 

week’s HTA Track Topics. 

In that regard, Track Topics henceforth will be 

available only in the Members section of our HTA 

Web site, www. harness-tracks.com or by e-mail 

to the HTA executive list, as usual. If track personnel 

do not have, or have misplaced, their 

member’s username or password, contact 

Sable Downs at HTA.





MINOR LEAGUES IN MAJOR SITE 

Take me out to the ball game.....at the Meadowlands. 

That’s the cry of political leaders in northern 

New Jersey, who want to bring minor league 

baseball -- and not automobile racing -- to the 

Meadowlands Sports Complex. The nice thing 

about it is that both the Republican incumbent as 

Bergen County executive, William (Pat) Schuber, 

and this year’s Democratic candidates for the post, 

think it’s a good idea. One, Dennis McNerney, 

announced he was in favor of it, and no sooner had 

done so when Schuber said he had been working 

on the deal for the last several weeks with a central 

New Jersey automobile dealer who is gung ho 

to go. More important by far, the Sports and Exposition 

Authority boss, George Zoffinger, reportedly 

thinks it is “a great idea” and says he is excited 

by the prospect. State senator Henry 

McNamara, who is running against McNerney this 

fall, had the politician’s perfect answer to the proposal: 

“I’m not against it as long as we’re not 

paying for it.” McNerney had a few words about 

NASCAR at the Meadowlands, too. “The last 

thing Bergen County needs is a NASCAR racetrack 

with all the traffic, noise and pollution that 

comes with it. NASCAR does not work for the 

citizens of Bergen County.” 

BAD NEWS FOR BUFFALO 

Mickey Brown, the casino planner who was responsible 

for the development of Foxwoods in 

Connecticut and now is working with the Seneca 

Indian Nation, says construction will start next 

Monday on a $100 million gambling casino at the 

Niagara Falls, NY, convention center, just a month 

after Gov. George Pataki signed a compact that 

allows the Senecas to build there and in Buffalo. 

Brown says plans call for 2,600 slot machines and 

80 gaming tables, accommodating some 

4,000 gamblers. He hopes to be operating 

by New Year’s Eve. 


NOT IN NEBRASKA, YOU DON’T 

Proponents of slots at bars and restaurants across 

Nebraska were looking forward to a November 

referendum, thinking they had enough strength to 

get the matter passed. Until yesterday, when a 

county judge issued a 20-page injunction prohibiting 

the secretary of state from putting the question 

on the Nov. 5 ballot. The head of the Nebraska 

Cooperative Government Commission that 

had organized a successful petition drive called the 

decision “a blow to the people of this state, trying 

to take away their right to vote on this.” John 

Gale, Nebraska’s secretary of state, said he would 

take the matter to a higher court, but that the time 

frame was so short he couldn’t see a ruling in time 

to get the matter back on the ballot. He did not 

rule it out, however, saying, “This has been an 

unusual case, one that has taken a lot of twists 

and turns.” 

SPEAKING OF TWISTS & TURNS 

An interesting case has surfaced in Evansville, 

Indiana, where a gambler is suing Aztar corporation, 

operator of the Tropicana in that city. Gamblers 

sue gaming operators frequently, but this one 

is unique. Aztar previously had barred him from 

its riverboat, then lured him back, according to the 

plaintiff, who says he became addicted and lost 

everything he had. Aztar has filed for summary 

judgment, but the Rev. Tom Grey, always looking 

for cannon fodder, says the case is the kind of 

“black eye” that some governors and attorneys 

general are likely to jump on in an election year. 

You can be sure the good reverend will make certain 

they know of it, chapter and verse. 

BANKRUPTCY FOR EMERALD 

A federal judge in Chicago has ordered the Emerald 

Casino to file for bankruptcy today. The town 

of Rosemont thinks it gives them more time to 

fight for the casino many think they have 

lost.





INDY DOWNS LOSES A ROUND 

A Superior Court judge in Indianapolis has dismissed 

a lawsuit by Indianapolis Downs, which 

sought to block disciplinary proceedings currently 

before an administrative law judge and bar Indiana 

racing commission executive director, Joe 

Gorajec, from taking any further action in the 

matter. The track said Gorajec had overstepped 

his legal authority by appointing the administrative 

law judge and subpoenaing track phone 

records, but Judge Moberly dismissed the suit for 

lack of jurisdiction. She said the track had to exhaust 

all administrative remedies before going to 

court. A commission attorney said the decision 

means that the commission is the proper forum to 

address the issues. Indianapolis Downs’ attorney 

Robert Hammerle said the track would appeal the 

decision. 

JOINT MODEL RULES CLOSER 

The recent approval by the board of the Association 

of Racing Commissioners International to 

move forward jointly with the North American Pari- 

Mutuel Regulators Association on packaging a 

first-ever set of model pari-mutuel racing and wagering 

rules is good news for the sport. The effort 

to assemble one set of rules has one more hurdle 

to clear, when NAPRA’s board addresses the issue 

at its upcoming board meeting September 29 

in Las Vegas. 

KEENELAND SALES SLIDE 

Yearling prices at the huge Keeneland September 

sale fell for the second day yesterday. After declining 

33% from last year’s opening day on Monday, 

yesterday’s second session produced another 

34% drop. Yesterday’s average price was down 

28.5%, the median was down 5.4%, but 

30% of the horses offered did not sell. The 

sales director said, “We had 10 glorious 

years....This is just an era of readjustment.” 


GEORGE WOULDN’T DO THAT 

The outgoing governor of Illinois, George Ryan, 

got a little testy with reporters this week when it 

was suggested he had replaced a former federal 

prosecutor on the Illinois Gaming Board with 

Mayor Daley’s chief fundraiser in the black community 

in order to keep the disputed Emerald Casino 

riverboat casino license in suburban 

Rosemont. Gregory Jones, the ousted commissioner, 

was regarded as the chief opponent of the 

Emerald/Rosemont arrangement. His replacement, 

developer Elzie Higginbottom, has been 

close to city hall in Chicago for nine years. When 

a reporter asked Ryan if he had named her as a 

“final favor” to Rosemont mayor Donald Stephens, 

Ryan replied brusquely, “Oh, get out of here...I 

have never interfered with the board and what their 

liberations were on that. I’ve stayed away. 

Nobody’s ramming anything through anyplace. If 

it goes to Rosemont, it goes there. But it won’t be 

because I’ve packed the board. I don’t care where 

it goes. It can come to your home as far as I’m 

concerned.” 

GOOD MONTH FOR YOUBET.COM 

The month of August was the best ever for 

Youbet.com, the California online racing company. 

Youbet handled a record $16.7 million, and its 

ExpressCash deposits, with no fees to the customer, 

exceeded credit card deposits for the first 

time. CEO David Marshall said membership increased 

with handle. 

BRIDGEBUILDING HO 

Stanley Ho, who has become one of the world’s 

richest men as boss of gambling on Macau, now 

says he will build a bridge between Hong Kong 

and mainland China to protect his business. He 

says he will pay the cost himself -- $15 billion 

Hong Kong dollars. Of course that’s only 

$1.9 billion U.S., but a bridge is a bridge, 

especially when you need one.





50-50, AND NO ONE IS HAPPY 

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission put on 

Solomonic robes yesterday, and decided to divide 

the baby in half for 2003. The baby in this case is 

the $11.2 million subsidy that Indiana tracks receive 

from riverboat casino admissions, and the 

commission -- facing two tracks for the first time - 

- voted 3-2 to divide the money equally between 

established Hoosier Park and newcomer Indianapolis 

Downs, scheduled to open in December. 

The determination was for the 2003 season only. 

After that, the subsidy dollars will be prorated 

based on handle at the two tracks. Yesterday’s 

decision left no one happy. 

Rick Moore, president and general manager of 

Hoosier, said the 50-50 split would cost Hoosier 

some $5 million in revenue next year. “I’m very 

disappointed,” Moore said.. “Everyone seems to 

embrace the spirit of competition until it comes to 

Indianapolis Downs, and then they want to protect 

them.” Moore said that without a handle-based 

system, the incentive is not there to provide the 

best product. 

Indianapolis Downs wasn’t satisfied either. Their 

attorney said the track favors competition, but that 

the commission has prohibited them from opening 

an OTB in Marion county, which includes Indianapolis, 

until they race thoroughbreds and the legislature 

approves some form of alternative gaming 

at tracks. “Without an OTB in Indianapolis,” 

track attorney Doug Brown said, “how can we compete 

with Hoosier Park?” Hoosier does have an 

Indianapolis OTB location. Another Indianapolis 

Downs attorney, Mary Schmid, said the track 

wanted the commission to take into account that it 

was a start-up operation that needed the subsidy. 

Among horsemen at the hearing, harness 

representatives favored the 50-50 allocation, 

thoroughbred horsemen the handle 

formula. 


PA, KY, EDGE CLOSER TO SLOTS 

If bets are to be laid on who is next on the slots 

parade, try Pennsylvania and Kentucky. In 

Pennsylvania, where both candidates for governor 

have indicated favoring slots at tracks, the 

public has added its voice. In a poll conducted 

for Opinion Research for IssuesPA, a project of 

the Pennsylvania Economy League, interviewers 

from the Millersville University Center for Opinion 

Research spoke to 833 randomly selected 

Pennsylvanians by phone between Aug. 2 and 

Sept. 8, and 63% said they support the idea of 

slot machines at the state’s racetracks. The Pennsylvania 

State Horse Racing Commission, meanwhile, 

will consider a new track license at is meeting 

a week from today. The MTR Gaming 

Group, parent of Mountaineer Park in West Virginia, 

has 135 acres of land in Erie in far northwestern 

Pennsylvania and wants to build a track 

called Presque Isle Downs there. MTR says it 

will build a state-of-the-art facility with dirt and 

turf courses and entertainment areas. It did not 

mention slots, but they have turned Mountaineer 

into a highly successful operation and presumably 

MTR officials read polls and political 

winds in the Keystone state as well as Pennsylvanians. 

In Kentucky, Gov. Paul Patton, anticipating a 

revenue shortfall, told reporters, “If that is the 

case, there are two choices: cut expenditures or 

raise revenue. If raising revenue, there may very 

well be two choices: one would be to increase 

taxes, the other would be expanded gambling. 

Of those two, I think that expanded gambling 

would be preferable.” 

SLIDE CONTINUES IN KY 

The Keeneland September yearling sale continued 

its decline Wednesday, with gross down 

by 27%, close to the three-day drop of 

26.4%.





LAME DUCK SQUAWKS LOUD 

George Ryan is leaving the governor’s office in 

Illinois this year, but he is making sure his pals 

are taken care of before that time. Earlier this 

summer he named Dennis Bookshester, who has 

no previous racing experience of any kind, as the 

new chairman of the Illinois Racing Board, demoting 

the senior member of that board, Ralph 

Gonzalez, who had 18 years of service. Then he 

did not reappoint James Kane, who had chaired 

former governor Jim Edgar’s Task Force on Racing. 

After that, he picked Walter Dudycz, a state 

senator and former cop without any racing experience, 

to run the board on a day-to-day basis as 

executive director. Yesterday he continued the 

purge, canning the well-regarded Lorna Propes, a 

member of the board for 13 years, whom he had 

reappointed in June, and replacing her with his 

downstate deputy chief of staff, Robert Winchester. 

Now, firmly politicized, the board will tackle 

the tricky and complex issue of allocating Illinois 

racing dates for 2003. 

NO RESPITE IN INDIANA 

You may have thought the Superior court dismissal 

of Indianapolis Downs’ suit to disqualify racing 

commission executive director Joe Gorajec ended 

that matter, but you were wrong. Another suit was 

filed by the track yesterday, seeking the same remedy, 

contending an administrative law judge was 

“a secret appointment” and since his appointment 

was illegal, the work that he did was immaterial. 

The Indianapolis Downs lawyer, Robert 

Hammerle, says the Indiana Open Door Law requires 

public notification and a hearing when such 

appointments are made. Robin Babbitt, an attorney 

for the racing commission, said that the attorney 

general’s public access counselor had already 

heard the complaint and dismissed it, and 

that unless something was different, the 

A-G’s office already said the suit had no 

merit. 


FIRST BIG M PROPOSAL 

The deadline for proposals for development of new 

venues at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition 

Authority isn’t until Tuesday, but the giant Virginiabased 

mall developer Mills already has pitched in 

with a joint venture deal. Mills has joined with 

Mack-Cali Realty of Cranford, NJ, proposing to 

give the state a 600-acre track it owns in nearby 

Carlstadt in return for developing the Continental 

Airlines Arena site if plans for a new arena in downtown 

Newark go forward. Mills has been trying to 

develop the Carlstadt site for 13 years, over local 

opposition. Donald Trump is expected to be one 

of the candidates for development by the Tuesday 

deadline, and Hartz Mountain Industries, based 

in nearby Secaucus, said yesterday that it has a 

“work in progress” that will be introduced by the 

deadline. NJSEA boss George Zoffinger said the 

interest shown confirms his view that the Meadowlands 

site can be “an economic engine for 

Bergen county.” An eight-person panel of authority 

board members and employees will screen the 

applications and a winner hopefully will be announced 

by the end of the year. 

MUSICAL CHAIRS AT YOUBET 

There is a new CEO at Youbet.com. Again. Charles 

Champion, a former newspaper executive who 

joined the company last April as COO, now is the 

chief executive officer, succeeding David 

Marshall, the co-founder of the company who will 

remain a member of the executive committee. 

Marshall replaced Robert Fell in the CEO’s chair 

last March when he came up with $750,000 in financing. 

MGM NOW BLOOD BROTHER 

MGM Mirage has signed an agreement to help 

the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians 

build a casino in downtown Palm Springs, 

California.





HERE ARE HTA SCHOLARS 

Six outstanding students, all from harness racing 

families, have been awarded Harness Tracks of 

America’s $7,500 scholarships for the 2002-3 

school year. 

Judging was done by HTA’s 12-man Scholarship 

Committee chaired by W. E. (Hap) Hansen of Dover 

Downs. The winners are: 

ANN MARISA KROKEN, 26, of Lisbon Falls, 

Maine, a straight “A” Dean’s List student at the 

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary 

Medicine. Ms. Kroken’s mother, Donna, is an 

administrative assistant with the Masonite corporation. 

Her father, Bill Whitcher, who died in April 

of 2001, was a small breeder in Maine who raised 

Ann Marisa “to love harness racing as a passion, 

not just for the profit.” She inherited two horses 

at her father’s death and has raced them in Maine. 

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Ms. Kroken 

plans to specialize in the diagnosis and treatment 

of equine lameness. 

GRANT DOUGLASS LANTERMAN, 21, of 

Morrisville, NY, studying computer science at 

Union College in Schenectady, NY. Mr. 

Lanterman’s mother, Teresa Lanterman, is a community 

educator in the Cornell Cooperative Extension 

of Madison, county, NY. His father, Larry 

Lanterman, was in charge of the SUNY Morrisville 

Equine Racing Program until his death in 1999. 

Grant may teach or use his scientific background 

following graduation. 

MATTHEW MICHAEL McCANN, 18, of Garden 

City, Michigan, a freshman at Eastern Michigan 

university, comes from a family deep in harness 

racing. His father, James, and mother 

Patricia operate a small stable, and his aunt 

and uncle, Joanne and Thom Young, work 

at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall 

of Fame in Goshen, NY. His cousin, M. Kelly 

Young, works for Horseman and Fair World. 


An uncle, Jerry Sowash, and another aunt and 

uncle, Jeanne and Robert Black, are Indiana harness 

racing veterans. An exceptional student, 

Matthew won excellence awards in Japanese , 

calculus and chemistry at Garden City high school, 

and is majoring in elementary education, with a 

minor in Japanese. 

JESSICA ANN SCHROEDER, 18, of Waukesha, 

Wisconsin, a freshman majoring in agricultural 

journalism at the University of Wisconsin. Her 

mother, Susan Schroeder, is a horse trainer who 

has worked extensively with the Harness Horse 

Youth Foundation in presentation of the annual 

Harness Racing Youth League camps, and her father 

Richard is a professional over-the-road truck 

driver. She is from a three-generation harness 

family – her grandfather John Schroeder is a western 

New York horseman - and Jessica hopes to 

promote the sport through her writing. 

AMY BETH TODD, 22, of Lebanon, PA, graduated 

from Penn State in May, 2002, and now is 

studying veterinary medicine at Cornell university. 

Her stepfather, Arthur Giambrone, is a well-known 

trainer, and her mother Mona also owns and cares 

for the family horses. Amy – a two-time HTA scholarship 

winner – has been working with harness 

horses since she was 10. 

GABRIEL JOSEPH WAND, 21, of Shullsburg, 

Wisconsin, a junior at the University of Wisconsin 

- Platteville, is majoring in business management 

and human resources. His father, Robert Wand, 

has been an owner-trainer for more than 35 years, 

and his mother Mary Lou is a restaurant manager. 

Gabriel has a distinguished list of scholastic accomplishments, 

and at 19 became the youngest 

person ever elected to the Wisconsin Harness 

Horse Association board of directors. He is editor 

of Wisconsin Harness News, writes a column 

for the Illinois Standardbred and Mid- 

America Harness News and worked at the 

Youth League Camp at Hoosier Park.


Paul J. Estok, Editor 

ROSECROFT HORSEMEN T0 MEET 

Harness horsemen have been called to a meeting 

Wednesday at Rosecroft Raceway to consider bids 

from potential buyers for the Prince George’s 

County racetrack, according to a report published 

in the Baltimore Sun. The Cloverleaf Standardbred 

Owners Association (CSOA), which owns the 

track, has called its members -- who include trainers, 

breeders and horse owners -- to a meeting at 

1 p.m. tomorrow “to review and comment on the 

possible sale of Rosecroft Raceway,” according 

to a notice circulated to CSOA members. The 

meeting notice says that Rosecroft’s CEO Tom 

Chuckas and potential buyers “will make a presentation, 

explain the components of the sale and 

answer questions from the general membership.” 

The notice specifically notes, however, that the 

meeting is solely informational. A similar meeting 

was held in August. At that meeting, the CSOA 

discussed offers from two entities, Greenwood 

Racing, the parent company of Philadelphia Park, 

and Centaur Racing, Churchill Downs’ partner in 

Hoosier Park in Indiana. 

MONTICELLO FOR SALE??? 

Reports indicate the once-mighty Monticello 

Raceway in Sullivan County outside New York City 

is for sale. “We are in the process of hiring an 

investment banker to sell the entire raceway for 

the best possible price,” said Joe Bernstein of 

Catskill Development, which owns the track. 

CIBC, a New York investment firm, visited the harness 

track last week “to look around,” said one of 

its officials as he walked the Monticello plant. 

Bernstein wouldn’t say how much Catskill wants, 

only that there will soon be a “sealed bidding process.” 

Track President Cliff Ehrlich confirmed a 

sale was a possibility, and that the track 

had already received “lots of interest” 

from developers, another track, Indian 

tribes and Las Vegas gambling companies. 




“But I don’t want to limit ourselves to a sale,” 

Ehrlich said. “We’re looking at all options to maximize 

the value of our property, from a joint venture 

to a sale.” Still, the track is on the block. 

CONN. SEEKS BAN ON CASINOS 

The State of Connecticut realized $369 million in 

tax revenue from casino gambling last year, but 

the message from the state’s most powerful elected 

officials has suddenly changed; as far as casino 

gaming in Connecticut is concerned, officials are 

now saying that enough is enough. The state’s 

governor and two United States senators took a 

definitive stand, opposing any more casinos in the 

state. Last week, Sen. Christopher Dodd and Sen. 

Joseph Lieberman, both Democrats, proposed 

federal legislation to impose a one-year 

moratorium on the federal Bureau of Indian 

Affairs’ process for official recognition of Indian 

tribes. On Thursday last week, Connecticut Gov. 

John Rowland said that he supported the 

moratorium and that any more casinos would 

adversely affect many Connecticut residents. “The 

governor just doesn’t think we need any more 

gambling in Connecticut,” Rowland spokesman 

Chris Cooper said. “It’s really become a quality 

of life issue.” The two Indian casinos currently in 

operation, Foxwoods, owned by the Mashantucket 

Pequots, and the Mohegan Sun, have paid $2.2 

billion in state taxes since their compacts became 

effective. No other industry in Connecticut, 

including insurance and defense contracting, pays 

more taxes. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs 

currently has more than 200 applications for 

recognition from Indian tribes in 37 states, including 

nine in Connecticut. Many municipal leaders in 

Connecticut near land that could become federal 

Indian reservation support a moratorium on the 

recognition process, which they see as 

tantamount to a federal casino-licensing 

program.




Paul Joseph Estok, Editor 

ONTARIO ACTS ON ROBINSON 

Bill Robinson, the leading money-winning trainer 

in Canada this year, has been fined Cdn$50,000 

and suspended 10 months by the Ontario Racing 

Commission (ORC). The ruling came down last 

week following a rehearing by the racing commission 

on a February 2000 incident at Woodbine 

Racetrack. At that time, Robinson was held responsible 

for the horse Artistic racing on and testing 

positive for the prohibited substance 

Propanolamine, a Class III drug. Following a hearing 

the ORC imposed a full suspension of two years 

and a fine of $25,000. Robinson had the issue of 

the penalty judicially reviewed by the courts, which 

subsequently quashed the penalty. The matter was 

remitted to the ORC for a rehearing on the issue 

of the penalty. The ORC, upon rehearing, ruled 

that they had “exercised our discretion and considered 

Robinson’s overall record of drug offenses. 

Having regard to all of the circumstances, we have 

concluded that the public interest is duly served in 

this case by a penalty of a 10 months full suspension 

and a fine of Cdn$50,000. In serving his suspension, 

Robinson will be credited with the time 

already served.” Counsel for the parties will meet 

to determine when the suspension will begin. 

NY COURT TO HEAR CASINO SUIT 

A New York judge on Tuesday ordered the state to 

explain why he shouldn’t stop it from transferring 

the Niagara Falls Convention Center to the Seneca 

Indian Nation for use as a casino. At the same 

time, State Supreme Court Judge Joseph Teresi 

refused to block the transfer. The hearing on the 

matter is scheduled for Oct. 4. The latest ruling 

comes in the battle between gambling foes and the 

state’s Indian tribes. Suzanne Morris, New 

York Gov. George Pataki’s spokeswoman 

on gaming issues, said Pataki is confident 

state lawyers will convince Teresi not to block 

the project. 


ISLE TO BUY TWO NEV. CASINOS 

Isle of Capri Casinos, owner of HTA member 

Pompano Park, announced plans Monday to buy 

two bankrupt Nevada casinos for $30 million in 

cash. The State Line Silver Smith Casino Resorts, 

family owned resorts in Wendover, Nev., on the 

Utah-Nevada border, have 750 hotel rooms, 1,600 

slot machines and a sports book. Wendover is 

about 120 miles west of Salt Lake City, putting 

the property in line with Isle’s niche of operating 

regional casinos outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic 

City. The casinos are owned by the descendants 

of William Smith, who opened the State Line in 

1933, two years after gambling was legalized in 

Nevada. State Line Silver Smith completed a $50 

million renovation in 1998, which doubled the size 

of the facility. The cost of the renovations, coupled 

with the post-Sept. 11 decline in business, forced 

the casinos to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 

protection in January. If approved, the State Line 

Silver Smith would keep Isle of Capri operating in 

Nevada. In July, the company announced plans to 

sell the Lady Luck Casino Hotel in downtown Las 

Vegas. 

MOUTHWASH IN KENTUCKY? 

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that the 

Kentucky Racing Commission has begun investigating 

the appropriateness of the use of herbal 

mouthwashes on horses within four hours of a race. 

The investigation was sparked by a recent incident 

at Turfway Park in which a horse in a stakes 

race was scratched after a groom gave the horse 

a squirt of a substance used to clear out the horse’s 

mouth and throat two hours before a race. Dr. 

Rick Sams of Ohio State, who along with Dr. Tom 

Tobin of Kentucky has been asked to come up with 

a recommendation for the racing commission, said 

that as long as the mouthwash includes no 

banned substances, the practice is permitted 

in Ohio. He knew of no state that bans 

the practice.





CLOVERLEAF VOTES TO SELL 

The board of directors of the Cloverleaf Standardbred 

Owners Association (CSOA), owner of HTA 

member Rosecroft Raceway, voted yesterday to 

sell the Maryland racetrack after listening to presentations 

from three prospective buyers. The 

only question remaining is which of the three suitors 

will get to buy the track. On that issue, the 

board gave itself until Oct. 17 to decide among the 

three potential buyers -- or anyone else who steps 

forward with the highest bid, Tom Chuckas, 

Rosecroft’s COO told the Baltimore Sun. 

Chuckas said the three current bids belong to 

Magna Entertainment Corp., which recently signed 

a deal to buy a majority interest in the Maryland 

Jockey Club properties, Centaur Racing, Churchill 

Downs’ partner in Hoosier Park, and Greenwood 

Racing, the parent company of Philadelphia Park. 

Chuckas reported that the offers for the Prince 

George’s County racetrack varied greatly, with 

Centaur offering $47 million, Greenwood $49 million 

and Magna $68 million. Jim McAlpine, Magna 

Entertainment president, made the presentation 

to the CSOA board. Chuckas said that CSOA 

members seemed to agree that new owners with 

money and political clout would benefit Rosecroft 

and Maryland’s racing industry in general. 

’NET GAMING BILL “UNLIKELY” 

The effort to set a vote this month in the U.S. House 

of Representatives on an Internet gambling ban 

appears to have failed, and Congress is likely to 

adjourn this year without passing any restrictions 

on wagering online, sources told the Las Vegas 

Review Journal yesterday. Rep. Jim Leach was 

optimistic that a vote would be called after he met 

last week with Rep. Mike Oxley, the 

chairman of the House Financial Services 

Committee, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte in 

an office provided by House Majority 

Leader Dick Armey. But Armey spokesman 


Richard Diamond said Wednesday a vote will not 

occur this month, and the House is scheduled to 

adjourn in the next few weeks. “The leadership is 

going to discuss this issue next week, but it will 

not be scheduled for a vote next week,” Diamond 

said. The problem is reported to be that the GOP 

leadership is divided on the issue of Internet gambling. 

Another possible problem is that the ban 

may be too controversial to be called to the floor 

under the House’s conventional procedure. “It 

would be subject to amendments, and there are so 

many interest groups involved that if one side gets 

an amendment, the other side is going to demand 

an amendment,” one congressional aide said. Instead, 

Leach and others had hoped to advance the 

bill to the House floor under an expedited procedure 

which would limit debate but would require a 

two-thirds majority to pass. Now that prospect 

appears dim. 

EMERALD ACCEPTS BANKRUPTCY 

Emerald Casino, once considered a sure thing as 

a money-producing machine, announced in court 

that it will not appeal a judge’s Sept. 6 ruling that 

it is bankrupt. Instead, it will submit to a Chapter 

11 reorganization to be overseen by the federal 

judge. Representatives of the village of Rosemont, 

Illinois, the main force pushing the casino company 

into bankruptcy, called the decision by Emerald 

not to appeal a positive step in Rosemont’s ongoing 

battle to keep the Emerald Casino gaming license 

in town. Rosemont claims it is owed at least $45 

million for a parking garage it built. The town wants 

the bankruptcy court to force Emerald to sell its 

gaming license in the hope that not only will the 

village recoup the money it spent but that whoever 

buys the license will open a casino in the Chicago 

suburb. Emerald, however, struck a deal with 

the Illinois Gaming Board to let it sell the 

license and put a casino in whichever 

community the gaming board chooses.





RECORD TIME WINS JUG 

Million Dollar Cam and driver Luc Ouellette led 

gate to wire in the $618,625 Little Brown Jug for 

3-year-old pacers in a track, stakes and world 

record time of 1:50.2 before more than 50,000 fans 

yesterday afternoon at the Delaware County 

(Ohio) Fairgrounds. The race, a test of speed and 

endurance, calls for a horse to win two heats in 

one day and Million Dollar Cam, owned by Jeffrey 

Snyder of New York City and trained by Bill 

Robinson of Hagersville, Ontario, did just that. In 

the first heat, Million Dollar Cam, driven in that 

race by John Campbell, made quick work of the 

field, winning in 1:51.4. With that win, Million 

Dollar Cam advanced to the second heat, along 

with second and third place finishers Three Olives 

and Western Resolve. The winners of the other 

first heat divisions were Mach Three, driven by 

John Campbell, and Allamerican Ingot, driven by 

David Miller. Campbell opted to drive Mach Three 

in the second heat, leaving the drive on Million 

Dollar Cam in the final to Luc Ouellette. In the 

second and final heat, Ouellette opted to go 

straight to the lead from the gate. Million Dollar 

Cam hit the first quarter mark in :25.4, with 

Campbell and Mach Three at their wheel in second 

place. Campbell and Mach Three stalked 

Million Dollar Cam through the :53.1 half and the 

1:21.3 three quarters time with Allamerican Ingot 

and Miller sitting along the rail in third. At the top 

of the stretch, Ouellette had Million Dollar Cam 

on top by a length and a quarter and Mach Three 

had faded to ninth, leaving the chase to Life Is A 

Cabaret, driven by George Brennan. Life Is A 

Cabaret made up little ground by held on to finish 

second by a length, followed by Western resolve 

and driver Ron Pierce in third. “This is fantastic,” 

said winning owner Snyder, who also 

owned the sire of Million Dollar Cam, 

Cam’s Card Shark, who was scratched 

lame moments before the 1994 Jug. “It 

brings back memories of Cam’s Card Shark 


when he races here. I guess this is sweet justice. 

This has to be of the most exciting days of my life, 

getting the world record and all. I’m going to fill 

the jug up with red wine and not stop ’til we finish 

it all.” 

AZ GOV. WINS GAMING RULING 

A federal appeals court Thursday upset the waters 

of Arizona’s Indian gaming debate by overturning 

a ruling that led to three competing gambling 

measures on the November ballot. The ruling 

by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 

case brought by racetrack owners means that Gov. 

Jane Hull has the authority to sign gaming compacts 

with Arizona’s tribes that determine the future 

of tribal gaming in the state. But she’s blocked 

from doing so until the racetracks have exhausted 

their legal appeals. All of which means that the 

Nov. 5 election still will set the tone, at least in the 

short run, on Arizona state gambling policy. voters 

are being asked to choose among three measures, 

two of which would continue casino-style 

gaming on reservations and a third that would permit 

racetracks to operate slot machines as well. 

With the election so close, it appears there isn’t 

time for the legal appeals to run their course to 

pre-empt the election. Add that another federal 

appeals court on Thursday examined a similar 

gaming issue and reached a different conclusion 

and the issue of how much leeway governors have 

to negotiate gaming compacts likely will land before 

the United States Supreme Court. Naturally, 

the Hull administration hailed the ruling, while 

Arizona racetrack representatives vowed to appeal. 

In the 2-1 decision, the Appeals Court in 

San Francisco said the racetracks were wrong to 

bring a lawsuit over Indian gaming compacts without 

involving the tribes. The court found that the 

tribes are “indispensable parties” to debates over 

their gaming future and dismissed the tracks’ 

suit “because the tribes enjoy sovereign immunity 

from suit and have not consented to 

be sued.”





MORE ON ROSECROFT 

More details on the offers for Rosecroft Raceway 

have surfaced. Tom Winebrenner, president 

of the board of directors of the Cloverleaf Standardbred 

Owners Association, which owns the track 

and last week announced it would choose one of 

three bidders by Oct. 17, told the Baltimore Sun 

that the $68 million offer by Magna Entertainment 

included $12 million for the track itself, plus capital 

improvements, backstretch upgrades and guaranteed 

purses for 10 years. Magna guaranteed 

purses of $80,000 a day for six years and $55,000 

a day for four years after that, with a kicker if the 

track gets slot machines. The offers of $49 million 

by Greenwood Racing, the parent of Philadelphia 

Park, and $47 million by Centaur Racing, part 

owner of Hoosier Park, also included guaranteed 

purses as part of their packages. Lou Ulman, chairman 

of the Maryland Racing Commission, told the 

Sun that if Magna is chosen as the successful buyer 

and winds up owning Rosecroft and Maryland’s 

two thoroughbred tracks -- Pimlico and Laurel -- 

“it could be very positive or very negative,” and 

that the commission would have to evaluate that 

situation. 

CAN TRACK SLOTS HURT A.C.? 

A question that no one thought would ever be asked 

is now on the table in New Jersey. It is if slots at 

the state’s race tracks would seriously impact the 

goose that lays golden eggs in Atlantic City. At 

least one legislator thinks not, and stood up and 

said so at a meeting of the Assembly Tourism and 

Gaming Committee. “In my opinion,” said Assemblyman 

John S. Wisniewski, a Middlesex Democrat, 

“you’re never going to hurt casinos by putting 

slots at tracks.” He noted that slots in Delaware 

have not kept people from there from 

going to Atlantic City, and thoroughbred 

lobbyist Barbara DeMarco Reich told the 

committee that Jersey tracks must have that 

help to meet out-of-state competition. 


The committee was told that track attendance in 

New Jersey has dropped 30% in the last five years, 

and handle has plummeted 35% in that time. Green 

space -- acreage devoted to horses -- declined from 

120,000 acres 15 years ago to 80,000 in the decade 

following. 

No casino representatives attended the hearing, 

but you can be sure they were burning up the phone 

lines, and that they will fight the idea every step of 

the way. The very fact that the issue is being discussed, 

however, has to be a positive sign. 

BIG PLANS FOR THE COMPLEX 

“Ambitious” is perhaps the best description of the 

plans for the Meadowlands Sports Complex that 

were submitted by six developers last week, and 

which will be considered by the Sports Authority 

between now and the end of the year, when the 

winner hopefully will be announced. One observer, 

the Bergen county executive, called them “Grandiose 

and comprehensive.” They included: 

An $815 million proposal by a partnership of Hartz 

Mountain Industries and Forest City Ratner for 

an Expo Park that would include a convention center, 

offices, hotels, and indoor Formula One-style 

racing center and an extreme sports center. 

Two motor racing themes, one a $451 million hotel 

and office complex around a 1.35 mile oval with a 

100,000 seat grandstand, and another a $1.5 billion 

plan for a Garden State International Speedway, 

with stores, entertainment and a rejuvenated 

Meadowlands Race Track. 

MeadowFest, a $41.5 million shopping and interactive 

entertainment center, and Arena Place, a 

$989 million urban village. And at $1.2 billion, 

Xanadu, with indoor surfing and skiing, a 

children’s recreational village, and a luxury 

spa. The old block will never look the same.





THE GAO SPEAKS UP 

Another voice has been heard from on the Internet 

gaming issue, this time in Washington where the 

General Accounting Office said that ambiguities 

contained in the Wire Act could legally hamper the 

applicability of the act to Internet gambling. That 

probably is not what congressmen Michael Oxley 

of Ohio, John LaFalce of New York and Spencer 

Bachus of Alabama were looking for when they 

asked the GAO to prepare an interim statement 

for a report, due in November, that they had requested. 

According to Interactive Gaming News, 

the GAO did not report any firm conclusion about 

the legality of Internet betting, but did note that 

“certain ambiguities” may limit its applicability, 

one example being whether its provisions apply to 

all types of betting or are limited to sporting events 

and contests. The Department of Justice, of 

course, takes the view that the Wire Act is not 

limited, but the GAO points out that case law is 

conflicting on the issue. In another view of the 

issue, Frank Fahrenkopf, spokesmen for the 

nation’s casinos, continues to walk a tightrope, or 

continues to try to stand on both sides of the issue. 

The former Republican party chairman 

blamed Bill Clinton for the present problems of 

the Internet issue, charging in a recent speech that 

the Department of Justice was simply echoing the 

arguments of the Clinton administration, even 

though it presumably has the full backing of the 

present administration to do what it pleases. 

Fahrenkopf wants it both ways, saying the recent 

letter from assistant U.S. Attorney General 

Michael Chertoff declaring that Internet gambling 

is illegal “was meaningless,” but at the same time 

saying his American Gaming Association still opposes 

it. Some of his biggest members still want 

it, however, so Fearless Frank has to stride like a 

colossus on both sides of the issue, the 

Janus of Internet gambling. He called the 

assistant attorney general’s letter “a minority 

view,” saying courts will decide the issue. 


CONNECTICUT GETS QUASHED 

As reported here yesterday, the state of Connecticut 

has been seeking to have a federal moratorium 

declared on recognition of Indian tribes, in 

an effort to slow down the spread of Indian gaming. 

Its Democratic senator Christopher Dodd 

tried yesterday, introducing the moratorium bill and 

saying on the floor that the tribal recognition process 

was broken and needed to be fixed, adding 

that “I don’t know anyone who really disagrees 

with that.” Shortly after, he discovered that 80 of 

his colleagues apparently disagreed, as they voted, 

80 to 15, to reject Dodd’s amendment. The Las 

Vegas Review-Journal attributed the defeat to the 

growing influence of tribal gambling advocates on 

Capitol Hill, noting that in July, the House voted 

273-151 to deny the creation of a federal commission 

to study whether organized crime has infiltrated 

Indian gaming. Senator Dodd was joined in 

his amendment push by fellow Democrat Joseph 

Lieberman, opposing the efforts of the Eastern 

Pequot tribe to build still another major casino in 

Connecticut, joining the Mashantucket Pequot’s 

Foxwoods Resort and the Mohegan Sun. Their 

quest was quashed by another Democrat, Senator 

Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, chairman of the Senate 

Indian Affairs Committee, who led the opposition 

and noted that the Eastern Pequots had sought 

tribal recognition 24 years ago, long before Indian 

gaming was ever dreamed of as an issue. Inouye 

disputed the idea that most Indian tribes are seeking 

recognition for gambling purposes, pointing out 

that the largest Indian tribe in North America, the 

Navajos, will not permit gambling on their lands. 

CASE IN HOT WATER...AGAIN 

Walter Case, who failed to show up for 36 drives 

at the Delaware County Fair, has been barred from 

that track and fined $1,800. Little Brown Jug boss 

Tom Thomson acknowledged Case’s huge 

talent, but asked, “What good is it? He’s 

got to get his life together.”





10 HOURS AND A YEAR’S DATES 

After 10 hours of deliberation, Illinois’ newly reconstituted 

racing board issued 2003 racing dates 

yesterday, largely the work of the former chairman 

Ralph Gonzalez, who was deposed from that 

position by outgoing governor George Ryan but 

proved a voice of reason in solving the thorny problems 

of a balanced racing schedule. The vote on 

the schedule was 8-3, and one of the dissenters 

was the non-racing man Ryan appointed as new 

chairman, Dennis Bookshester. Considered a Dick 

Duchossois friend going in, he made his commission 

public debut by complaining about Arlington 

Park’s date assignment, concluding that “I guess 

this industry is not run like a business.” The racing 

board gave the newly constituted Hawthorne 

Limited Liability Corporation, which is the National 

Jockey Club racing at Hawthorne, a March 1 - 

May 8 meeting after the NJC president, Charles 

Bidwell III, convinced the board that he and his 

sister had financial resources to carry the meeting 

despite the huge debt they incurred with the 

disastrous auto racing venture that resulted in the 

closing of Sportsman’s Park. So the runners will 

move next door to Hawthorne, which also got 49 

harness racing dates from May 13 thru June 30. 

Hawthorne will return to its own traditional fall 

thoroughbred meeting, and the track’s director of 

operations, Tom Carey III, said he planned to 

present the Hawthorne Gold Cup as a prep for the 

Breeders Cup Classic and build on the major status 

of the late spring-early summer harness meet 

at Hawthorne. 

Here is the full harness racing schedule: 

Balmoral Park -- Jan. 1 -May 12, July 1-Dec. 31 

racing Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. 

Maywood Park -- Jan. 1-May 12, July 1- 

Dec. 31, racing Mondays, Wednesdays, 

Fridays. 

Hawthorne -- May 13-June 30. 


Thoroughbred schedule: 

National Jockey Club at Hawthorne -- 

March 1-May 8. 

Arlington Park -- May 9 - Sept. 27. 

Hawthorne -- Sept. 28-Dec. 31. 

Fairmount Park -- April 4 - Oct. 8. 

Despite chairman Bookshester’s complaints, from 

a racing point of view it would seem the board did 

a fair and equitable job in resolving the contentious 

issue of dates in Illinois, and its members 

and former chairman Gonzalez are to be commended. 

BIG PROBLEM, FEW ANSWERS 

Attendees at the 10th annual International Simulcast 

Conference that winds up today in Bal 

Harbour, FL, tackled the vexing problem of coordinating 

post times for simulcasting yesterday, but 

came up with few answers. Perhaps the most intriguing 

was that of Todd Bowker, general manager 

of America TAB, who suggested the appointment 

of a national “air traffic controller” to oversee 

all post times and suggest changes as each 

racing day progresses to prevent overlaps. Earlier 

in the conference, which is co-sponsored by 

the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, Harness 

Tracks of America and the American Quarter 

Horse Association, Chris Scherf of TRA asked if 

the next pot of gold for racing -- account wagering 

-- could turn out to be a crock. “No one foresaw 

that simulcast wagering would grow to make up 

85% of our business,” Scherf said, and then asked, 

“If that could sneak up on us, what else could.” 

He noted that account wagering is widely offered 

by offshore operators who give back little or nothing 

to racing, but still rob customers through rebates. 

Scherf said access to pools and control of 

the product was critical. Consultant Dick Powell 

noted that bettors will play where they get 

the best deals, and said every large bettor 

has been approached by some rebater.





DISMAL FAILURES, NEW TRIES 

Two racetracks have died horrible deaths in Erie, 

Pennsylvania, but that doesn’t daunt Ted Arneault, 

who hears clanging slot machines in the distance. 

Arneault is the president and CEO of MTR Gaming, 

which operates Mountaineer Park in Chester, 

West Virginia, where slots have made the track 

successful and Arneault rich. He goes before the 

Pennsylvania Horseracing Commission today to 

ask for a license for something called Presque Isle 

Downs, which he wants to build on 130 acres of 

farmland on Interstate 90 in Summit, just south of 

Erie in extreme northwest Pennsylvania. Arneault 

says, with a straight face, that he still will build the 

$56 million thoroughbred track and entertainment 

center even if slots are not legalized in Pennsylvania, 

which would be an audacious move in view of 

the fact that the bones of not one but two tracks 

lie buried nearby, unable to survive even in the 

prosperous 1980s. Arneault’s pitch to the commission 

will be opposed today by Pennsylvania’s 

four existing tracks -- thoroughbred venues Penn 

National and Philadelphia Park, and The Meadows 

and Pocono Downs, the state’s two harness 

tracks. Penn National has an OTB in Erie, and all 

four tracks will argue today that they are having a 

tough time without the competition of a fifth. 

Erie is not the only graveyard being disturbed. In 

Ocala, Florida, there are still standing concrete 

columns and steel rods for a grandstand never 

built, that also died in the 1980s and there is talk 

there of still another Magna Entertainment venture. 

Magna’s Frank Stronach owns nearly 5,000 

acres in Marion county, including his Adena Springs 

South farm, and recently bought another 600 acres 

along I-75, where he is talking about building a 

track and entertainment complex. The mayor of 

Ocala, a town of 50,000, says, “I think it’s 

going to happen this time,” but Michael 

Tew, a Bear Stearns gaming analyst, says 

he thinks it is highly unlikely. Stay tuned. 


LEACH BILL NEARS VOTE 

Racing intelligence in Washington is about as good 

as U.S. intelligence was on Sept. 10, 2001, or the 

day before the U.S.S. Cole was blown apart. A 

week or so ago the word was that it was unlikely 

that there would be any Internet wagering legislation 

in the remaining days of the current Congressional 

session. But it now appears that come Tuesday, 

the House of Representatives will vote on the 

Leach bill, H.R. 556, under suspension of the rules, 

which means there will be no amendments permitted, 

debate is limited to 40 minutes, and a twothirds 

vote will be required for passage. The bill’s 

official title is the Unlawful Internet Gambling 

Funding Prohibition Act, and it prohibits credit on 

Internet betting. Because it exempts “any lawful 

transaction with a business licensed or authorized 

by a state” -- thanks in large measure to the work 

of the American Horse Council -- racing feels it is 

secure on the issue, but it remains to be seen how 

credit issuers interpret the legislation if it passes 

the House and then survives a Senate vote, which 

is questionable. Discover Financial Services, for 

example, which is owned by Morgan Stanley, says 

its policy is that it “won’t sign on any merchants 

that knowingly offer Internet gambling, and if we 

find out that a current merchant offers Internet 

gambling, we’ll terminate the relationship.” This 

language reminds the editor of successful HTA/ 

TRA campaigning years ago with the National 

Association of Broadcasters on its radio and television 

codes, to ensure that the same freedom of 

commercials existed as state lotteries were 

granted. The codes were changed, but individual 

stations still reserved the right to judge the advertising 

copy. Let’s hope the “lawful transaction with 

a business licensed or authorized by a state” language 

holds up against arbitrary individual credit 

agency action if Internet racing activity takes off, 

and becomes the tool of the future that some 

hope for and expect, particularly in relation 

to the foreign betting market that has huge 

potential..





TWO DOWN, BUT ERIE GETS OK 

The Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission, 

ignoring the dead bodies of two former racetracks 

buried in remote Erie, Pennsylvania, approved 

plans for still another yesterday. This one, 

to be called Presque Isle Downs, is on the drawing 

boards at a $56 million price tag for 2004 completion, 

but no one -- except perhaps Pennsylvania’s 

commissioners, and that is doubtful -- thinks it will 

be built unless Pennsylvania approves slots at 

tracks next year. The commission, however, voted 

unanimously to approve the plans submitted by 

Ted Arneault, president and CEO of MTR Gaming, 

which runs a little slots-fueled gold mine called 

Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. That track 

has been sucking money out of western Pennsylvania 

for several years now, and the Pennsylvania 

commission apparently felt it would rather have 

the dollars bet at home. Pennsylvania’s four existing 

tracks opposed the approval, but the argument 

that Presque Isle will help far northwestern 

Pennsylvania prevailed. One state legislator who 

supported the idea said people who now go to 

Niagara Falls or Michigan or West Virginia to 

gamble now will go to Erie instead, and Arneault 

thinks he will draw from Cleveland, Buffalo and 

Pittsburgh. He also says he will go forward with 

or without slots, but only the tooth fairy believes 

that, since both Commodore Downs, which died in 

1982, and Erie Downs, which lasted from 1986 to 

1987, both are buried in Erie. One of the nonbelievers 

said yesterday, “Two racetracks have 

already failed there, there’s nobody there, and for 

some 30-odd years in the state the racing industry 

has been struggling to exist.” But unlike Kentucky, 

where a proposed new track in the remote 

reaches of the state got short shrift from the state 

racing commission earlier this week, Pennsylvania 

sees gold and said yes. Another track 

hopeful is on the boards in Pennsylvania 

in depressed Chester, but at least that one 

has millions of people within a stone’s throw 

in Philadelphia. 


AN IMPOSSIBLE DOUBLE? 

Mal Burroughs, one of only two amateur drivers 

to win the Hambletonian, tries to put himself alone 

at the summit tomorrow when he drives Malabar 

Motion in the historic $404,000 Kentucky Futurity 

at the Red Mile in Lexington. No amateur 

ever has won both races, and the odds say that 

Burroughs won’t either, but the irrepressible New 

Jersey contractor will give it a try. His mount, 

Malabar Motion, is 20-1 on the morning line. Chip 

Chip Hooray, the diminutive Hambletonian winner 

this year, is favored in the race, with Like A 

Prayer, a bridesmaid all season in the major classics 

for 3-year-olds, will try to win one for a change. 

Eric Ledford, who drove Chip Chip Hooray to victory 

in the Hambletonian, will be up again, and Ron 

Pierce will drive Like A Prayer. Andover Hall, last 

year’s 2-year-old champion but a hard-luck horse 

this year, will try to make amends before the home 

crowd with outstanding Canadian trotting driver 

Trevor Ritchie at the controls. 

VARENNE GOES FOR MILLION 

The world’s greatest trotter, Varenne of Italy, tries 

for a million-dollar bonus tomorrow at Hippodrome 

de Montreal when he makes the final start of his 

career in the C$500,000 Trot Mondial. Barring 

the way in the mile and 3/8ths test is the best U.S. 

trotter this season, Fool’s Goal, winner of the 

Breeders Crown and Maple Leaf Trot, and 

Canada’s best, McCooeye, winner of 24 straight 

in Montreal, but Varenne is expected to complete 

the Grand Slam of trotting, having won the previous 

four legs in Europe, and get his $1 million bonus. 

CAPITAL OTB DOWN TO THREE 

There was no shortage of candidates -- 122 applied 

-- but the field was narrowed to 3 this week 

in the chase for retiring Tom Cholakis’ job 

as head of Capital District OTB in New 

York. The finalists’ names were not released.





ANOTHER BIG ART AUCTION 

HTA’s silver anniversary art auction, held yesterday 

in the Tattersalls Sales Arena in Lexington, 

KY, was another resounding success. One hundred 

thirty-six works of equine art were sold for 

$135,675, an average of $997.61, and a remarkable 

oil painting by HTA’s premier artist, Zenon 

Aniszewski of Poland, topped the sale at $10,000. 

The very large painting, titled The Sleigh, showed 

four charging horses pulling a sleigh through the 

snow, and it went to D. Post of Holland, after spirited 

bidding. Aniszewski’s striking race action 

watercolors continued to dominate the HTA auction, 

with seven of them all bringing more than 

$1,000, and a striking large oil, called “The Bend,” 

bringing $4,000. The painting voted best of show 

(Aniszewski’s “The Sleigh” was a late arrival and 

not eligible for judging) was “A New Morning, A 

Fresh Start,” an oil of a stable area scene painted 

by Alyson Champ of Montreal. It received a $500 

prize and was sold for $900. In the sculpture category, 

a large bronze of a trotter titled “Daddy’s 

Best,” done by Catherine Wagner of Michigan, won 

the $500 first prize, but by far the most popular 

sculptures with the large crowd were three remarkable 

woodcarvings of horses and drivers by John 

Kittelson of Wyoming. One called “Gray Trotter” 

brought $7,500, another titled “Bay Trotter” was 

sold for $5,000, and a third, “Sagebrush Sawbone,” 

a doctor on his rounds in his one horse shay pulled 

by a handsome chestnut trotter, went for $4,500. 

All net proceeds go to the HTA Scholarship Fund, 

but as usual HTA track participation was virtually 

non-existent. Joe Costa of The Red Mile purchased 

two handsome paintings, Red Mile racing 

secretary Connie Hochstetler bought two, including 

the prize winning bronze, and general counsel 

Paul Estok of HTA bought three. Chris 

McErlean of the Meadowlands was underbidder 

on a number of Aniszewskis, 

and the Big M donated a handsome 

Hambletonian poster signed by all living win- 


ning drivers of the race. That item sold for $600. 

Owner Jim Barry of Denver added 11 pieces to 

his collection, and breeder Joe Thompson of 

Winbak Farm bought eight. A full list of buyers 

and prices will appear on the HTA Web site. 

NO WAR DECLARATION YET 

Italy had not declared war on Canada at last report, 

but the possibility arose Saturday after Italy’s 

athletic hero, the all-conquering trotter Varenne, 

was defeated in the C$500,000 Trot Mondial at 

Hippodrome de Montreal. The super trotter was 

overhauled by Fan Idole of France after being pressured 

heavily by Fool’s Goal of the United States, 

and to add insult to injury Varenne was disqualified 

from second and placed tenth and last for trotting 

inside of the pylons in the mile and threeeighths 

race. After winning all four legs of the European 

Grand Circuit, Varenne stood to earn a $1 

million bonus if he had won the Trot Mondial. The 

race was the final start of his brilliant career, in 

which he won more than $5 million. 

THE ENEMY IN CLEAR SIGHT 

Michigan racing is girding for an all-out effort to 

get slots at the state’s seven tracks, but Detroit’s 

three casino powerhouses are mustering all their 

clout to prevent that from happening. They are 

crying that racing can spend money in the legislature 

in Lansing and they can’t, and are worried 

that 8,400 slots and table games would ruin their 

business. At least one legislator finds the casino 

objections objectionable. Rep. Judith Scranton, 

who is leaving the legislature, said, “The horse 

people have been around generations. These casinos 

have been here three years.” She said the 

casinos knew they faced prohibitions on campaign 

contributions when they were making plans to move 

to Detroit. “They want to whine now?” she asked. 

Magna Entertainment, fighting back against 

the casinos, has hired a two-term House 

Republican leader to lead the track battle.





CHESTER NOW A GARDEN SPOT 

Those who have visited Chester, Pennsylvania, 

may not consider it the garden spot of the east, 

but the grimy shipyard town suddenly has blossomed 

into a destination point for racing interests. 

Joe Lashinger Jr., former president of The 

Downs at Pocono, has an application for a harness 

track pending before the Pennsylvania Harness 

Racing Commission, and now Philadelphia 

Park has filed an application for a thoroughbred 

track there, to be called Seaport Park. Hal 

Handel, Philadelphia Park’s CEO, told the Philadelphia 

Inquirer that plans call for the track to 

be build along the Delaware River, on the site of 

a former power plant, and that the Philadelphia 

track architectural firm of Ewing-Cole associates 

was doing the design work. Handel said plans 

call for a five-eighths mile track with a six furlong 

chute, and there also would be hotel and 

convention facilities. Chester is part of the Philadelphia 

metropolis, and is connected to the city 

by two superhighways, I-95 and I-476. 

GRANITE OR SANDSTONE? 

Dennis Drazin, currently lead counsel for the 

New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association 

and reported to be the next chairman of the 

New Jersey Racing Commission, perhaps as early 

as this week, says thoroughbred dates at 

Monmouth Park are “etched in stone” through 

a three-year deal signed earlier this year with the 

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. 

Others involved in the New Jersey picture are 

not so sure. Hal Handel of Pennwood Racing, 

which operates Freehold Raceway, calls the date 

situation “fluid,” and tracks have until the 15th 

of this month to file their applications. Handel says 

“we want to work with all the other parties, 

but we’re also looking at protecting our 

own interests. One of the major issues is 

the number of racing days at Monmouth 

Park. 

October 1, 2002 

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority 

agreed earlier this year to race 92 days at 

Monmouth, but Bruce Garland, the Authority’s 

senior executive VP for racing, noted that the 

Monmouth meeting was hard hit by the economy 

and weather, and he doesn’t want to see that 

magnified by a longer meeting. The crux of the 

issue is whether thoroughbred horsemen want 

to race more days for less daily purse money, or 

fewer days for higher purses. Garland says there 

is not enough purse money in the state to run 

141 quality thoroughbred days at Monmouth and 

the Meadowlands, but says the Authority will 

stand up to the agreement it signed with the thoroughbred 

horsemen. Drazin, profiled in the 

Asbury Park Press this week as “The Most Powerful 

Man in Jersey Racing,” would like to run 

all thoroughbred dates at Monmouth Park, keeping 

summer purses high and then running a 

Meadowlands-at-Monmouth meeting with reduced 

purses. As it now stands the runners are 

scheduled to begin racing at Monmouth April 

26. Senator Richard Codey, another racing 

power in New Jersey, says “We have to find every 

possible way to boost purses, whether it’s slots 

or VLTs.” There is another controversial racing 

issue in the state, and both the racing commission 

and some members of the Thoroughbred 

Horsemen’s Associations are concerned about it. 

The racing commission says the association is 

spending more than allowed for political contributions. 

The horsemen, led by Drazin, who is 

politically well-placed in the state, feel they don’t 

need commission approval. The association is 

funded by 2.9% of purse money, and also gets 

interest from a horsemen’s bookkeeper account. 

The commission and Drazin disagree on permission 

being needed to use those funds, and some 

horsemen are concerned about serious depletions 

of the account, with salaries of both the executive 

director and horsemen’s bookkeeper 

having been doubled and the fund 

having lost $600,000.





NO ‘NET CREDIT SAILS THRU 

H.R. 556, the bill that bans credit on illegal Internet 

wagering, passed the House on a voice vote yesterday 

under suspension of the rules. Officially 

known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding 

Prohibition Act, the measure has no companion 

legislation in the Senate, and faces impending 

adjournment of Congress. As passed, the bill prohibits 

the placing, reception or transmission of a 

bet or wager “by any means which involves the 

use, at least in part, of the Internet where such bet 

or wager is unlawful under any applicable Federal 

or State law in the State in which the bet or wager 

is initiated, received, or otherwise made.” The 

bill contains an exemption for “any lawful transaction 

with a business licensed or authorized by 

the state,” which would seem to exclude 

horseracing from its provisions. If you feel comfortable 

for the moment with this, relax and enjoy. 

But keep your left up. 

DRAZIN NOT IN....NOT YET 

Thoroughbred horsemen in New Jersey, who had 

hoped to see their legal counsel Dick Drazin as 

chairman of the New Jersey Racing Commission 

after a Senate vote yesterday, will have to wait for 

another day. The Senate rejected S1038, which 

would have put two thoroughbred horsemen and 

two harness horsemen on the nine-member board, 

by one vote, 20-10. Twenty-one votes were necessary 

for passage. Gov. James McGreevey, who 

had been counted on to support the measure, was 

occupied elsewhere, awkwardly standing by as a 

tearful Robert Toricelli pulled out of the New Jersey 

Senate race as a result of indiscretions that 

brought him rebuke in the Senate during the summer. 

State senator Richard Codey, the leading 

New Jersey legislator on racing matters, is a 

vigorous opponent of the bill, feeling that 

it is a conflict of interest for horsemen to 

write the rules under which they must race. 


MGM ON LINE IN ISLE OF MAN 

While Frank Fahrenkopf walks a tightrope looking 

both ways in Janus-like fashion on the issue of 

Internet betting as head of the American Gaming 

Association, one of his biggest members has 

charged ahead, inaugurating online gambling this 

week from the Isle of Man. MGM Mirage announced 

it was operational yesterday with 

www.playmgnmirage.com and expects to be fully 

launched by the middle of the month, and will be 

taking bets from the United Kingdom, Ireland, 

South Africa and other countries. The U.S. is not 

one of them, but Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Online 

president who spoke at the HTA-USTA Harness 

Racing Congress at the Mirage last spring, says 

this is “the real thing, real Las Vegas games.” He 

said that fact would be the differentiator between 

other products out there and what MGM Mirage 

will be offering. Hornbuckle said the company was 

in the Isle of Man “to protect the company and 

the credibility of the MGM brand.” He said the 

company had a weighted and layered system that 

queries data service providers and databases and 

funnels problem answers toward manual verification, 

and that MGM Mirage was taking the position 

that “you’re guilty until proven innocent” on 

proving legal status to gamble on their system. The 

system, viewed but not yet approved by Nevada 

regulators -- although Frank Fahrenkopf mistakenly 

said it was -- offers bettors the equivalent of 

a slot player’s card, with play points tabulated toward 

redemption for credits including trips to the 

company’s Las Vegas resorts. Hornbuckle told 

the Las Vegas Review Journal that MGM Mirage 

hopes to be able to market the site to 100 million 

potential users in countries where it is legal to take 

such bets, but that it is far too early to project how 

much revenue the site will generate, how much market 

share it will capture or when it will begin turning 

a profit.





ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BILL 

With election day approaching, one can expect 

almost anything to be thrown into the legislative 

hopper, and sure enough, another Internet prohibition 

bill has surfaced in the U.S. Senate. This 

one comes from that hotbed of gaming, South 

Dakota, and was introduced by Senator Tim 

Johnson. As it is written, it would preclude racing 

doing everything it now does on the Internet, 

no exceptions, no exemptions for the Interstate 

Horse Racing Act or state law. Johnson says he 

is concerned about kids gambling, and what he 

proposes to do is amend the Wire Act of 1961 to 

make it specifically outlaw all Internet gambling. 

Bills like these may be nuisance items, but they 

are dangerous on their face, and one more concern 

for the industry. 


EARLIER DATES AT PLAINRIDGE 

At least that’s the plan submitted to the Massachusetts 

Racing Commission by Plainridge Racecourse, 

which proposed to race from March to 

December in 2003. “We’re hoping to stretch our 

season to accommodate horsemen who faithfully 

support our racing,” general manager Steve 

O’Toole says, noting that while the track opted 

for a traditional mid-April to early November 

meeting it was acting on the wishes and representations 

made by Mike Perpall and Jim Hardy, 

representatives for the Harness Horsemen’s Association 

of New England. The Plainridge application 

now calls for racing to start on March 

31 and extend to Dec. 2, with live racing Mondays, 

Tuesdays and Saturdays and simulcasting 

seven days a week. 

MORE ON CHESTER PLANS 

Philadelphia Park has announced more details 

of its proposed thoroughbred track in Chester, 

PA, hard by a proposed harness track that also 

is on the drawing boards. Greenwood Racing, 

parent of Philadelphia Park, plans a 1,100-seat 

Imax theater, a 500-room hotel, three to five restaurants, 

and a concert and sports event amphitheater 

in addition to a five-eighths mile track. 

That’s a lot of building on a 90-acre site, but 

that’s what Philly Park told the Philadelphia Inquirer 

it is planning. Both the Philadelphia Park 

plan and the harness racing project backed by 

former Penn National and Pocono Downs executive 

Joe Lashinger Jr. hinge on the approval of 

slots at tracks in Pennsylvania. Hal Handel, 

Philadelphia Park CEO, acknowledged that, saying, 

“obviously combining racing and gaming has 

a much better chance of being profitable,” and 

he said that if slots are not approved “it would b e 

difficult” to build the proposed track and 

entertainment center and make money on 

it. The project’s cost has been estimated at 

from $125 to $150 million. 

NAME SURFACES AT CAPITAL 

Although it has been announced that the race for 

a successor to president Tom Cholakis of HTA’s 

associate member Capital District OTB in New 

York has been narrowed to three candidates, no 

names had surfaced until now. The Schenectady 

Gazette now reports that one of the three finalists 

is Michael Connery, the Capital OTB representative 

from Essex county, who is a present 

member of the district’s board of directors. The 

newspaper says it is uncertain when the board 

will vote on a successor for Cholakis, but that it 

could do so as early as next month’s board meeting. 

CAL EXOTICS STILL POPULAR 

California’s Oak Tree thoroughbred meeting, 

which got underway yesterday at Santa Anita, 

features Pick Six and Pick Four wagering....with 

good cause. The association’s Pick Six last year 

averaged a $61,135 payoff over 32 days, with 

five payoffs over $100,000 and one paying 

$289,591. The track’s Pick Four also was 

attractive, averaging $3,423 a day.





JON KYL RESURFACES 

You remember Jon Kyl, Arizona’s junior senator. 

He made big news four years ago with the 

Internet gambling ban that passed the Senate but 

died without a House vote. He surfaces from time 

to time when television cameras are around, and 

he is back now with a vengeance, vowing to attach 

Internet gambling prohibition to legislation 

currently in the Senate, and to get a vote before 

the current session ends. After the House passed 

the Leach bill on credit prohibitions by voice vote 

under suspension of the rules Tuesday, Kyl 

stepped back into the picture. “We were waiting 

for the House to act in order for the Senate to 

go,” a Kyl spokesman said, adding that Kyl had 

not decided whether to use the Leach bill or a 

Senate prohibition introduced by Tim Johnson 

of South Dakota as his platform. The spokesman 

said Kyl is leaning toward the Leach bill. A 

Johnson spokesman said Johnson prefers his bill 

that would amend the Wire Act, but is willing to 

work with Kyl. Nevada, meanwhile, is heard 

from in the form of Senator Harry Reid, who 

faces differing views from his Las Vegas constituents 

but has decided that “Internet gambling is 

uncontrollable and very bad for the country.” 

Reid is the Senate majority whip, and as such 

has a strong voice in which legislation comes to a 

vote in that chamber. He has said that although 

he supports a prohibition of Internet gaming, he 

doubts the Senate will vote on a ban this year. 

Kyl, however, seems determined to push a vote 

through in the next week or two. If he succeeds 

and George Bush signs the legislation, Internet 

gaming in the United States could be illegal by 

the end of the year. Racing has taken the view 

that it is insulated by the federal Horseracing Act 

of 1978 and protective language in the Leach legislation. 

Those who think Internet wagering 

is an important part of racing’s future 

have new cause for concern with Kyl ‘s return 

to the Internet scene. 


SLOTS EDGE CLOSER IN PA 

With three track applications now on the table, 

legislators beginning to talk openly about slots, 

and both candidates for governor advocating 

slots at tracks, the odds for that development in 

Pennsylvania drop each day. The Philadelphia 

Inquirer has concluded that “the combination of 

a budget crunch from the state’s slowing 

economy and the search for new funding sources 

for school financing may well prove to be irresistible 

to the state legislature.” The paper quoted 

the state’s House minority leader, Democrat H. 

William DeWeese, as saying, “We are now once 

again facing substantial revenue challenges in the 

state. They were daunting in June, and my guess 

is that in the next budget they will be staggering. 

Only the most myopic of people will not see the 

need for at least a modest expansion of gambling 

in Pennsylvania. I believe there is substantial 

agreement and momentum for slots at tracks.” 

ONE FOR DICK FRANCIS 

The English sure know how to instill mystery into 

racing. The latest fillip involves Jeremy Phipps, 

the director of security of Britain’s Jockey Club, 

who reportedly will be featured on Sunday 

night’s edition of Panorama, which is investigating 

racing in the British Isles. Phipps’ tenure 

may be brief, because while having a private dinner 

with his predecessor, Roger Buffham, he reportedly 

made disparaging remarks about the 

Jockey Club and some of its officials. Buffham 

was fired as director of security for the Jockey 

Club last year after an investigation involving 

gross misconduct, but, as it turns out, he now is 

a paid informer for Panorama and was wired for 

sound, recording Phipps’ conversation. The 

Jockey Club is mightily offended that Panorama 

would stoop to such low tactics, but its executive 

director says Phipps has his “unqualified 

support.” At least until the Panorama 

show Sunday night.





POLL IN PA. SAYS GAMING OKAY 

According to a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 

“a majority of Pennsylvania voters are open 

to the expansion of gambling in at least some form 

to provide more revenue for state programs.” Both 

candidates for governor, Republican Mike Fisher 

and Democrat Ed Rendell, have called for the legalization 

of gaming machines at racetracks, and 

a majority of those surveyed in the latest “Pennsylvania 

Poll” supported that position. As to other 

forms of gaming, a bare majority supported the 

expansion of gaming in forms such as riverboat 

casinos or statewide video keno. In each case, 

men favored gambling more than women, and 

Democrats more than Republicans. The Pennsylvania 

Poll was conducted for the Post-Gazette and 

the Philadelphia Inquirer by Mason-Dixon Polling 

and Research. It is based on interviews with 

registered voters who said they were likely to vote 

in the November election. 

GREENWOOD AND ROSECROFT? 

HTA member Rosecroft Raceway might be sold 

to Greenwood Racing, the Pennsylvania company 

that owns Philadelphia Park and is a partner in the 

ownership of Freehold Raceway, despite a more 

substantial offer from Magna Entertainment. The 

Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association 

(CSOA) board of directors will vote on the bids 

Oct. 17. The winning bidder must receive at least 

two-thirds of the votes of the 17-member board 

and the Maryland Racing Commission must also 

approve the deal. Although non-disclosure agreements 

prevent details from being made public, the 

Washington Post reports that Magna’s offer includes 

$12 million up front and that Greenwood’s 

bid has a $10 million cash component. The Post 

quotes an unidentified CSOA board member 

as saying, “Magna offered more 

money, but you have to look at everything.” 

According to the article, Magna’s bid 

to buy Rosecroft may be hampered by its re- 


lationship with the Maryland Jockey Club, owner 

of Pimlico and Laurel and a longtime adversary of 

the state’s harness racing interests. “I personally 

would like to deal with Greenwood,” said CSOA 

board member Jackie Roe, who said relations with 

the thoroughbred industry embitter her. “When 

you try to run somebody else into the ground, you’ll 

have their animosity. None of the horsemen on 

the backstretch want to go with Magna. None of 

them.” It is believed that while Greenwood has 

stronger support than Magna, it does not yet have 

enough votes on the CSOA board to carry the 

day. Rosecroft management has told horsemen 

that if the track is not sold, race days and purses 

will be cut. 

MOHAWK TO WOODBINE SHIFT 

Beginning today, live harness racing action moves 

from Mohawk to Woodbine for the track’s 10-day 

Breeders Crown Championship Meet. The meet 

continues through Saturday, Oct. 19, the night of 

the CN $5 million (est.) Breeders Crown. Racing 

will be conducted at Woodbine on Mondays, 

Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays with 

a 7:40 p.m. post time. The Breeders Crown 

eliminations for the continent’s 2- and 3-year-old 

pacers and trotters will take place on Thursday, 

Oct. 10 and Saturday, Oct. 12. The eight divisional 

championships will be held on Saturday, Oct. 19 

and will have a special 7:15 p.m. post time. Harness 

racing action returns to Mohawk on Monday, Oct. 

21 and runs through Tuesday, Dec. 3. 

A CASINO FOR CHICAGO? 

Only three months after declaring that casino 

gambling is “not the right thing” for Chicago, 

Mayor Richard Daley might be ready to roll the 

dice after all. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that 

the mayor is seriously reconsidering his 

position in an effort to solve the city’s budget 

crisis.




Paul Joseph Estok, Editor October 8, 2002 

MICHIGAN TRACK REJECTED administrative judge. Indianapolis Downs is scheduled 

to open for business in December. 

Ingham County, Michigan, rejected the plans of 

EQTAH, the company controlled by Andy Stronach 

In other business, the commission approved a general 

plan for dividing live harness dates next year 

(son of Magna Entertainment Chairman Frank 

Stronach), for a racetrack and entertainment center 

at the county fairgrounds in the city of Mason. 

between Indianapolis Downs and Hoosier Park. 

The plan calls for 150 days of harness racing, to 

The Lansing State Journal reports that officials 

be offered in the late winter and early spring at 

from Ingham County, the fairgrounds and city met 

Hoosier and during the summer and fall at Indianapolis 

Downs. There also will be 100 days of thor- 

with EQTAH, which had proposed building a racetrack, 

simulcast facility, sports bar, theme restaurants 

and arcade. “We’re not interested,” county 

oughbred and quarter horse racing, with a spring 

meet at Indianapolis Downs and fall meet at Hoosier 

Park. 

commissioner Mary Stid said after the meeting. 

“We don’t have the space for something like this, 

and then there’s the moral issue.” EQTAH proposed 

the Mason site as an alternative to its original 

plan for a track in Wheatfield Township. While 

the Wheatfield proposal is still pending, a citizen’s 

group has already opposed the plan with a campaign 

that includes yard signs, t-shirts, letters and 

e-mails. 

INDIANA DISPUTE CONTINUES 

The Indiana Racing Commission on Monday voted 

4-1 to expand its investigation into Indianapolis 

Downs and its contacts with consultants and commission 

members. “If there are things that need 

investigating further, we should investigate it,” said 

Commissioner Pete Beck. Joe Gorajec, the 

commission’s executive director, already has recommended 

that the track be fined $1.2 million for 

failure to disclose its relations with Larry Mohr, a 

paid consultant and lobbyist. The track has said it 

met all reporting requirements, and has filed affidavits 

from two former commissioners accusing 

Gorajec of being biased against the track, according 

to the Associated Press. The dispute between 

the track and commission was pending be-fore 

Administrative Law Judge Bernard Pylitt, 

but the commission voted Monday to remove 

him from the case and appoint a new 

CORRUPTION DISPUTED IN G.B. 

Great Britain’s thoroughbred horse racing industry 

defended itself Monday against allegations of 

widespread corruption detailed in a BBC television 

documentary. The British sports minister, Richard 

Caborn, also gave his “full support.” In the 

“Panorama” program aired in England Sunday 

night, the former head of security for the Jockey 

Club, Roger Buffham, said “a whole generation of 

National Hunt (steeplechase) jockeys had close 

links to organized crime.” Buffham, who worked 

with the Jockey Club for nine years before being 

fired last year for misconduct, was the key witness 

interviewed in the “The Corruption of Racing” 

documentary. Jockey Club spokesman Jahn 

Maxse said Monday that Buffham has an “ax to 

grind.... We are a very active regulator and when 

there is evidence we will bring charges against 

those who have corrupted the sport. While there 

is betting there will be those seeking unfair 

advantage and I wouldn’t want to claim racing is 

crime-free. Racing on the whole is a clean sport.” 

Caborn said he would meet with the Jockey Club 

to see if any further anti-corruption safeguards 

were needed. The program detailed alleged links 

between organized crime and top jockeys, 

as well as other allegedly corrupt practices.





GEMSTAR CEO QUITS 

BATAVIA GRAND RE-OPENING!!! 

In a long-expected shake-up, Gemstar-TV Guide The grand re-opening of HTA member Batavia 

International Inc. founder and chief Henry Yuen Downs happens tonight as Western Regional Offresigned 

Tuesday, leaving with a $22 million payout 

and handing potentially lucrative intellectual a cocktail reception for 400 guests, including HTA 

Track Betting Corporation (WROTB) officials host 

property rights to the maker of TV show guides. Executive Vice President Stan Bergstein. In addition 

to fine dining, the new clubhouse also offers 

Yuen was immediately replaced by Gemstar’s 

Chief Operating Officer Jeff Shell, who was brought state-of-the-art computerized table-side betting. 

to the troubled company, which is the parent company 

of the TVG Network, by Rupert Murdoch’s High School Band, under the direction of Don 

On hand for tonight’s festivities will be the Attica 

News Corp. Ltd., a 42-percent Gemstar owner, as Rogers, and Justine Bateman will sing the National 

Anthem. Live music and other entertain- 

the company’s difficulties mounted over the last 

year. According to a statement by Gemstar, Yuen ment will continue throughout the week. Post time 

remains as Gemstar chairman, but only in a nonexecutive 

capacity. In addition, Yuen’s longtime 

is 7:35. 

friend and colleague, Chief Financial Officer Elsie PA. POL WANTS SLOTS ACTION 

Leung, resigned and will be replaced by News A Democratic state legislator yesterday urged the 

Corp. finance executive Paul Haggerty, who will Pennsylvania House to move forward with a 

be acting CFO while Gemstar looks for a permanent 

replacement. Leung received a $7 million machines at the Keystone State’s four horse racing 

proposal he introduced a year ago to legalize slot 

severance payment and like Yuen will remain a tracks. Rep. Thomas Petrone’s bill has seen no 

board member, Gemstar said. The moves had been movement since it was assigned to the House 

anticipated after Gemstar suffered a string of legal 

setbacks in recent months concerning patents racetracks to apply for slot machine licenses if 

Finance Committee. The bill would allow 

for television program guides. In addition, voters in the counties where they are located 

Gemstar revealed in August that it would reverse support legalization in a referendum. “The modest 

$20 million in 2001 sales and review its accounting 

procedures. Later that month, Gemstar’s top help turn things around for the industry, the Lottery 

expansion of gaming my legislation proposes would 

officers failed to certify recent financial reports Fund and the economy,” said Petrone. But Steve 

for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader 

and Nasdaq notified the company it was considering 

delisting Gemstar shares from its stock mar- 

expect to consider any proposals to expand gaming 

John M. Perzel, said legislative leaders do not 

ket system. Gemstar shares began 2002 at around until after the Nov. 5 election. The legislative 

$28 but have lost more than 90 percent of their session ends Nov. 30. 

value. On Tuesday, they ended the trading day at 

STRONACH BUYS MORE MAGNA 

$2.59 per share. Yuen will continue working with 

Magna Entertainment Chairman Frank Stronach 

Gemstar’s program guides and technologies, and 

bought 1,852,450 shares of stock in the company 

he agreed to assign the company all intellectual 

property for company businesses 

at prices between $3.40 and $4.92 in August and 

early September, to hold a total of 3,434,050 

he has developed or will develop. 

shares in the racetrack and real estate 

conglomerate.





CANTERBURY WANTS A CASINO 

Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., on Wednesday 

announced that it plans to seek state approval 

to add casino gaming to its product mix. The 

Canterbury Park Holding Corporation, which owns 

the facility, said it wants to build a 100,000 square 

foot hotel and slot machine parlor next to the current 

grandstand. But according to the Minneapolis 

Star Tribune, opposition from the bar industry, 

other casinos and legislators concerned about gambling 

expansion in the state could make the plan 

for Canterbury difficult to achieve. “They’re going 

to have an uphill battle,” said state Sen. John 

Marty. Canterbury’s plans also call for adding a 

horse arena and agricultural exposition building 

on the track’s 367 acres. The estimated $50 million 

cost of the projects would be financed by Canterbury 

Park Holding, said CEO Randy Sampson. 

Canterbury officials estimate that putting 1,750 

machines at the track would provide at least $55 

million in taxes in the first year and mean 1,000 

full- and part-time jobs. The sweeping venture 

would require legislation or a public vote on a constitutional 

amendment to permit casino gaming. 

Sampson said Canterbury hopes to get a bill introduced 

in the 2003 legislative session or to put the 

issue on the ballot in 2004. Marty said many legislators 

have opposed expanding gambling for several 

years. “As one who would like to see us cut 

back on gambling, I wouldn’t be enthusiastic about 

this. I would think other legislators would have 

similar concerns.” John McCarthy, executive director 

of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, 

said his organization opposes any gambling 

expansion in Minnesota. “My sense is that this 

will help the private industry folks that own the 

park far more than it will the state,” McCarthy 

said. One legislator who voiced support for 

the proposal said, “With the state facing 

a budget shortfall, creative ideas like these 

are needed.” 

SATURDAY’S FAMILY DAY AT PRAIRIE 

This Saturday’s Family Day festivities at Prairie 

Meadows take a spirited, educational look at 

Iowa’s long tradition of harness racing. The Oct. 

12 celebration, co-sponsored by HTA member Prairie 

Meadows and the Iowa Harness Horsemen’s 

Association (IHHA), is free to the public and is 

designed to highlight the bond between families 

and horses. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. patrons can 

have their photos taken with Blackie, a life-sized 

model of a harness horse. “Family Day gives young 

people an opportunity to associate with horses,” 

said Judy Roland, a Family Day committee member. 

Racing begins Saturday at 4:30 p.m., day four 

of Prairie’s 20-day harness racing season, which 

runs through November 9. 

WYNN PITCHING STOCK 

Las Vegas Strip and Atlantic City developer Steve 

Wynn began pitching stock in Wynn Resorts 

Monday after the U.S. Securities and Exchange 

Commission (SEC) granted the company 

permission. Wynn Resorts expects to begin 

construction later this month on his $1.85 billion 

Le Reve megaresort, the company noted in a 

Monday SEC filing. Wynn waited for several 

months for the SEC to approve the company’s 

application to sell stock to the public. Now that 

the IPO has received tentative approval, the 

company expects to raise about $450 million 

through the sale of almost 20.5 million shares at 

about $22 each. For now, Wynn is able to pitch his 

stock to institutional investors, but pundits believe 

the SEC will grant final approval of the IPO in about 

two weeks, and public trading of the stock would 

begin then once an initial price is set. Money 

raised by the IPO would be augmented by a $340 

million second mortgage on Le Reve’s Desert Inn 

site. The company also plans to borrow $1 

billion from a consortium investment banks.





CHARLES DAY DEAD AT 73 

Charles E. Day, one of New England’s best known 

harness racing figures, died Wednesday, a day after 

his car rolled over in a one-car accident in 

Monmouth, Maine. Day, 73, was the former CEO 

of Lewiston Raceway, a major owner in an earlier 

day in harness racing, and a highly successful entrepreneur 

who founded and operated a wide variety 

of companies up and down the east coast. His 

best known horses were the half-mile track world 

champion and sire Falcon Seelster, and two million-dollar 

winners, the pacers Incredible Finale 

and Pacific, which Day co-owned with George 

Steinbrenner. Funeral services were held today 

at the Temple Sholom Synagogue in Auburn, 

Maine. 

NTRA, CUP FLEX MUSCLES 

When you’ve got it, flaunt it, and the powerful partnership 

of Breeders’ Cup Ltd. and the National 

Thoroughbred Racing Association is making sure 

its monies go to racetracks that belong to NTRA. 

John Harrell, writing in the Louisville Courier- 

Journal, says Breeders’ Cup is threatening to withdraw 

the very substantial financial support it provides 

to tracks to enhance their stakes programs 

unless they join or rejoin the NTRA. Harrell 

quoted Charles J. Cella, president of Oaklawn 

Park in Hot Springs, AR, as saying he plans to 

rejoin after two years of non-membership because 

he is being pressured by the Breeders’ Cup-NTRA 

membership requirement. Tampa Bay Downs, 

whose horsemen do not belong to NTRA, also announced 

it was rejoining, but GM Peter Berube, 

in announcing the decision to recommit, declined 

to comment when asked if the Breeders’ Cup had 

discussed withdrawing its funds from his Breeders’ 

Cup special stakes, a race that receives 

$35,000 in Cup money. A Breeders’ Cup 

spokesman said it made no sense for the 

Cup to fund stakes at non-member tracks. 


NEW HIPPODROME HIERARCHY 

Jean-Pierre Lareau has left Hippodrome de 

Montreal as general manager and reportedly may 

take up a new career as an agent representing 

major league hockey players. The new top executives 

representing SONACC at the Montreal track 

are Denis Gauthier, president chairman of the 

board; Constant Bergeron, president; and 

Stephane Bibeau, executive vice president and 

CEO. Yvon Giguere, who has served as the track’s 

alternate director on the HTA board, remains as 

simulcast and data system manager for SONACC 

and its subsidiary companies. 

DON’T MESS WITH THIS DRAW 

When post positions are drawn for Woodbine 

Entertainment’s $7 million Breeders Crown events 

next Tuesday, owners and trainers better take what 

they get without moaning or complaining. The special 

guest drawmaster will be Lennox Lewis, undisputed 

heavyweight champion of the world. 

Lewis, raised in nearby Kitchener, Ontario, but now 

living in England, has recorded 31 knockouts 

among his 40 boxing victories, and gained innumerable 

new fans last June 8 by disposing of Mike 

Tyson by knockout in eight rounds. We suggest if 

you draw the outside in any of the Crowns, just 

walk away quietly and tell the wife life’s terrible. 

HIGH STAKES IN WASHINGTON 

The state of Washington, faced with a $2 billion 

budget shortfall, is considering breaking the Indian 

monopoly on slots in the state and opening 

the gates to 37,000 machines in bars, card rooms, 

restaurants, bingo halls and racetracks. Indian 

tribes naturally are fighting the proposal vigorously, 

but one Seattle legislator said he thought a 

lot of legislators “will be holding their nose with 

one hand while they push the yes button with 

the other.”




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor October14, 2002 

WISCONSIN DOGS BARKING Charles Town purses, which averaged between 

Not only barking, but barking loudly, trying to take $30,000 and $40,000 a day pre-slots, now average 

their case against Indian gambling directly to the between $130,000 and $140,000 a day. Some 5,500 

Wisconsin Supreme Court. Lawyers for Dairyland of the track’s 25,000 Saturday attendees are racing 

fans, and 2,000 of the 12,500 on weekdays. 

Greyhound Park asked the state’s highest court 

last Friday to take the case, which seeks to stop Washington Post columnist Andy Beyer, commenting 

on the devastating effect West Virginia racing 

the governor from renewing tribal gaming compacts. 

The track scored an appeals court victory with slots has had on Maryland’s non-slots racing, 

last month when that tribunal overturned a county noted that purses for last Saturday night’s eight 

court judge’s dismissal of the suite and sent it back West Virginia Breeders’ Classics totaled $850,000, 

to the trial court, but Dairyland says it doesn’t have and $5,000 claimers raced for a $14,700 purse last 

enough time to litigate the dispute before gambling week. 

agreements come up for renewal in mid-February, 

2003, and it wants the Supreme Court to accept 

the case and cut short the appeals process. As 

matters now stand, if Wisconsin’s governor does 

not give a notice of non-renewal by the mid-February 

date, the compact automatically renews for 

another five years. 

REALITY IN WEST VIRGINIA 

If there are doubters out there who still question 

what slots can do for racetracks, today’s lesson is 

West Virginia, or more specifically Charles Town 

Races in that state. The track draws 25,000 on 

Saturdays, approximately half of that on weekdays, 

and most of them are not West Virginians. 

Charles Town says 36% come from Virginia, 34% 

from Maryland, 17% from Pennsylvania, 6% from 

the Washington DC area, and the remaining 7% 

from West Virginia. Gross revenues last year were 

$7.8 million from racing, $81.3 million from slots. 

Each of the track’s 2,567 slots averages $267 a 

day, and Charles Town is just one of four state 

tracks with slot machines. Overall, West Virginia 

tracks and horsemen shared $344 million last year, 

58% of the state total, with $256 million going to 

the tracks and $74 million to purses. Another 

$14 million went to track improvements. 

Maryland’s problems are not limited to West Virginia 

purses. A Post story this morning says that 

1.2 million Marylanders visit Delaware casinos 

each year, and that to protect that advantage Delaware 

is considering professional sports betting to 

its wagering menu. State representative Bill 

Oberle, who has spoken at HTA meetings and was 

instrumental in getting slot legislation introduced 

in Delaware, is supporting the idea, saying, “Once 

you’re in the gaming business, quite honestly, you 

have competition to think about.” 

ALL STOCKS ARE NOT DOWN 

Perhaps the least likely source to tout Las Vegas 

stock -- Fortune magazine -- gave the gambling 

stocks a thumbs up this month, noting that while 

the S&P has plummeted 27% this year, Mandalay 

stock is up 63%, Harrah’s is up 29%, and MGM 

Mirage is up 28%. Fortune says the reason for 

the hot streak is simple: business is booming. 

BROWN WINS 3-WAY RACE 

Breeder Martha Brown of Walnut Hall Stud is returning 

to the USTA board of directors. Mrs. 

Brown defeated incumbent Brooks Wells and fellow 

breeder Alan J. Leavitt in the District 6 elections 

in Lexington, KY.





A TRACK MAGNA ISN’T BUYING 

Now this is news! Racing writer Ed Gray reports 

in the Boston Herald on a track that Magna Entertainment 

is not buying, or even leasing. Gray 

writes in today’s editions that talks have broken 

off between Magna and Suffolk Downs, and that 

Magna has notified Suffolk president John Hall 

that it is withdrawing from discussions. The official 

announcement came from Suffolk COO Bob 

O’Malley, who was not directly involved in the long 

and difficult negotiations that covered a two-year 

span. Magna boss Frank Stronach had indicated 

interest in completing the deal after his Macho 

Uno won the Massachusetts Handicap on June 1, 

but Suffolk chairwoman Patricia Moseley, among 

others, opposed the lease, which would have given 

Magna an XpressBet outlet in the northeast. 

A DISSENTER IN DETROIT 

Michigan racing faces an uphill battle as it is for 

slots, and the cause was not helped yesterday when 

one of the state’s major harness tracks, Hazel 

Park, announced that it opposes a set of state bills 

proposing slots at tracks because they are linked 

to off-track betting and account wagering, which 

Hazel does not want. Dan Adkins, vice president 

of Hazel Park track operations, said the track opposes 

OTB and telephone betting because it feels 

they would further diminish on-track attendance. 

“We have no interest in either,” Adkins says. “The 

ability of people to wager from home is what the 

state wants. We feel we’re better off having more 

gaming at the track.” Hazel, like other Michigan 

tracks, has been impacted heavily by casinos in 

Detroit, and the decision to oppose bills that propose 

VLTs, card rooms, OTB and account wagering 

seems a clear blow to pending legislation that 

one sponsor says already “will be a struggle t o 

get out of the House and a struggle to get 

into the Senate.” 


Michigan’s budget, like that of many if not most 

states, is in serious trouble, and to complicate the 

issue 56 House members, 27 senators and a new 

governor are up for election next month. Hazel 

Park’s Adkins thinks the track is doing “OK” as it 

is, but live and simulcast handle declined $5.2 million 

in the past year and little has been done to 

renovate or update the physical plant. 

ANDOVER HALL INJURED 

Andover Hall, harness racing’s undisputed king 

of 2-year-old trotters last year when he won 8 of 9 

races, but star-crossed in 2002, has suffered another 

setback, this one ending his 2002 season. 

The handsome big colt, preparing for Saturday’s 

$542,500 Breeders Crown trot for 3-year-olds, 

jumped a fence, or at least cleared part of it, and 

ran down one of Toronto’s busiest highways, route 

401, before being corralled. He suffered cuts to 

his front legs and a more serious injury to his right 

hind leg, and trainer Bob Stewart says there is no 

chance he will race again this year. The colt, owned 

by Erkki Laakkonen of Georgetown, Ontario, has 

won $875,047, including the $550,000 World Trotting 

Derby in Du-Quoin, Illinois, August 31. Owner 

Laakkonen and trainer Stewart have some consolation, 

since their 3-year-old trotting filly Cameron 

Hall is the morning line favorite for the $542,500 

Breeders Crown for that division Saturday. 

ANOTHER YEARLING SALE UP 

Despite declines in the major thoroughbred yearling 

sales this year, the upwards trend of standardbred 

prices continues. After healthy increases at 

the Tattersalls and Kentucky Standardbred sales 

in Lexington, KY, the Chesapeake Yearling Sale 

at Rosecroft Raceway sponsored by the Maryland 

Standardbred Breeders Assn. posted a 69.7% 

increase over 2001 average price and was up 

23% over its previous record average price 

year in 2000.





ROSEMONT BACK IN PICTURE 

If municipal awards for persistence are handed out, 

the donors should consider Donald E. Stephens, 

the combative mayor of Chicago’s northwest suburb 

of Rosemont. Crushed when the Emerald casino 

project went up in legal smoke, he announced 

Rosemont would not engage in a court auction for 

the 10th and final gambling license in Illinois. Now 

that he has thought about it for a while, he is back 

in the fray, announcing, “We’re not going to walk 

away.” Stephens told the Chicago Sun-Times that 

Rosemont will compete full speed ahead for the 

casino, and indeed he has some compelling arguments 

that may make big gambling companies give 

his town serious thought. For one thing, Rosemont 

already built a $45 million parking garage for the 

casino, and has another $35 million or so invested 

in the foundation and steel skeleton of the doomed 

Emerald itself. “Why would the new owners want 

to walk away from $70 million to $80 million and 

put the thing in Calumet City or Summit (two other 

Chicago suburbs?” he asked, and on the face of it 

the question appears valid. One answer might be 

provided if Richard Daley II, mayor of Chicago, 

stops musing about the idea of allowing the casino 

in Chicago itself and decides to go for it. As for 

Stephens, he told the Sun-Times that although he 

thinks the proposed settlement arrangement under 

which Emerald’s management will name a sales 

agent to oversee the bidding and submit a bankruptcy 

reorganization plan is illegal, he says he 

will go along with the court’s orders as long as 

Rosemont is reimbursed for the parking garage 

and other potential revenues it could have received 

if the Emerald deal had gone through. The next 

chapter in the drama comes Oct. 31, when the 

bankruptcy matter comes up in court. The final 

word rests with the state Gaming Board, which 

must approve the winning bidder and location. 


ADW NUMBERS IN CALIFORNIA 

Advance Deposit Wagering, as California calls its 

telephone betting, now has eight months of experience 

behind it, and enough of a pattern has been 

established to get an idea of what’s what and who’s 

who. Total ADW wagering in the first eight months 

was $121.4 million, or 6.8% of the $1.78 billion 

total betting ontrack, offtrack and by ADW. TVG 

leads the parade among the three suppliers, averaging 

$2,079,279 a week in bets. Youbet has 

climbed to second place, averaging $1,238,106, 

and Magna’s Xpressbet is handling $256,773 a 

week. 

BAD NEWS FOR AZ TRACKS 

With a critical election on slots at tracks coming 

up next month, Arizona’s racetracks suffered a 

damaging blow this morning when the Arizona 

Republic in Phoenix, the state’s biggest newspaper 

with a circulation of almost 500,000 daily, 

printed a major story on the use of live rabbits as 

lures in training racing greyhounds. The paper 

said state regulators had banned greyhound owner 

and breeder Gregory Wood after finding at least 

180 rabbits in his kennels in Maricopa. The story, 

following an earlier incident in which criminal 

charges were filed against a Prescott-area man for 

dumping dead racehorses in the Prescott National 

Forest, is certain to set back the campaign of tracks 

for Proposition 201, which would give Arizona 

tracks slots along with the state’s numerous Indian 

tribes. The chairman of the Arizona Greyhound 

Protection Alliance, Stephanie Nichols- 

Young, was quick to take advantage of the story. 

She told the Republic, “We formed our political 

committee because we felt a cruel industry 

shouldn’t be rewarded with slot machines.” A 

spokeswoman for the Arizona Racetrack Alliance, 

trailing in polls, tried for damage control by announcing 

that Wood was “barred and banned 

forever” from racing at Phoenix Greyhound 

Park.





ROSECROFT DECISION TODAY 

The stockholders of the Cloverleaf Standardbred 

Owners’ Association, owners of Rosecroft Raceway, 

meet at 2 p.m. today at the track to determine 

the winner in the three-way competition to 

buy the track. Magna Entertainment, Greenwood 

Racing and Centaur, Inc. have made bids, and the 

horsemen who constitute Cloverleaf will select 

their preferred buyer this afternoon. The sale will 

usher in a new era for Rosecroft, which since its 

purchase by Cloverleaf has been the nation’s only 

major track owned by horsemen. Cloverleaf members 

were urged to attend today’s session by president 

Tom Winebrenner, who told them “the meeting 

will profoundly affect your future in harness 

racing.” 

NJSEA CHANGES BID RULES 

With only a week remaining before six developers 

are due to make presentations to the New Jersey 

Sports and Exposition Authority, they have 

been told there are new guidelines on what portions 

of the Sports Complex they can develop. 

NJSEA CEO George Zoffinger told the six in a 

letter delivered yesterday that they could propose 

construction only on the site of the present Continental 

Airlines Arena and its parking lot, and not 

touch the area that lies to the west across route 

120, which acts as a dividing line between the arena 

and the Meadowlands Racetrack and Giants Stadium. 

According to the Newark Star-Ledger, the 

change will require four of the six developers to 

redraw their proposals for family entertainment 

complexes submitted last month. At least one of 

the planners, the partnership of Hartz Mountain 

Industries and Forest City Ratner, had included 

an ornate bridge across route 120 connecting a 

convention center and 4 million square feet o f 

office space, movie theaters, restaurants, 

retail shops and an extreme sports arena. 

Those plans obviously will have to be scaled 

back. 


Zoffinger told the Star-Ledger that the changes 

became necessary when executives of the Giants 

and Jets told him they would not approve any development 

that interfered with their rights to 24,400 

surface parking spaces for cars and buses around 

Giants stadium. 

SPRINKLERS AT THE MEADOWS 

The Meadows dedicated a new concrete block barn 

yesterday, replacing the one in which a fire killed 

28 horses on July 6, 2001, and announced that it 

and all other barns on the backstretch will be 

equipped with sprinklers. The new barn was built 

with them installed, and vice president Mike 

Jeannot says the track plans to install sprinklers 

in 11 other barns over the next several months, 

and the remaining half of the track’s barns next 

year. In a survey of 17 tracks by the Pittsburgh 

Post-Gazette, 10 said they had sprinkler systems, 

2 said they did not, and 5 did not return the 

newspaper’s telephone calls. Great public relations. 

The Meadows had to install new water and 

sewage lines to reach its new 38-stall barn, which 

was built for a total cost, including the new lines, 

of $382,000. A state representative who also is 

the assistant fire chief of nearby Canonsburg, along 

with the fire chief who was the first firefighter on 

the scene last year, and the president of the Meadows 

Standardbred Owners Association all joined 

Jeannot in yesterday’s dedication ceremony. 

MGM MIRAGE SHIFTS FOCUS 

MGM Mirage announced yesterday that it is abandoning 

its plan to build a $1.5 billion megaresort in 

Atlantic City, and will use the cash instead for other 

development opportunities in the northeast and in 

Great Britain. The company still has a half billion 

dollar investment in the Borgata, currently under 

construction in Atlantic City, so it hardly is abandoning 

the resort.





ROSECROFT SOLD TO CENTAUR 

It took 10 1/2 hours and 10 ballots to do it, but the 

stockholders of Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., owners 

of Rosecroft Raceway, voted at 12:35 this 

morning to sell the track to Centaur Inc. The Indiana-based 

company is part owner of Hoosier 

Park in Indiana, and earlier this week bought 

Harveys Wagon Wheel Hotel and Casino in Central 

City, Colorado, from Harrah’s Entertainment. 

The company also has an interest in an Indian casino 

near Palm Springs, California. Its president, 

Jeff Smith, formerly with Churchill Downs, is a 

member of Harness Tracks of America’s board and 

executive committee. 

When Cloverleaf voted to sell the track last month, 

it narrowed the choices to Centaur, Greenwood 

Racing and Magna Entertainment, and stipulated 

that a two-thirds vote of the board -- or 12 votes - 

- would be needed to win the competition. At 

yesterday’s marathon meeting, which was recessed 

after four hours to give its horsemen members time 

to race on Rosecroft’s live card last night and then 

resumed following the racing card, neither Magna 

nor Greenwood could muster the necessary 12 

votes. In a compromise hammered out after nine 

tries, the board voted 13-4 to sell to Centaur for 

$55.4 million, of which $10 million was for the track 

and $45.4 million was for guaranteed purses for 

the next 10 years. Under Centaur’s offer and with 

the racing commission’s approval, Rosecroft will 

race 160 days a year for purses of some $62,000 a 

night, as opposed to the current nightly purse average 

of roughly $47,000. Tom Chuckas Jr., who 

ran the track for Cloverleaf and was lauded by 

management for the job he has done, also was instrumental 

in handling negotiations for the sale, 

and said after the smoke had cleared, “Compromise 

was the operative word here. 

Centaur stepped up and provided the 

horsemen with the concessions 


that they wanted to get the deal done. It is as 

simple as that.” 

Jeff Smith, speaking for Centaur, said, “We are 

very excited about the future of Rosecroft. We 

are looking forward to working with the horsemen 

to build business at Rosecroft and grow harness 

racing in Maryland.” That remark reflected concerns 

of Cloverleaf’s leaders about Magna, which 

had submitted by far the largest bid, $13 million 

more than Centaur’ final package. Tom Keyser 

of the Baltimore Sun, who sat through the entire 

open meeting, reported this morning that 

“Magna’s relationship with the Maryland Jockey 

Club pulled it down.” Magna has agreed to become 

majority owners in the MJC’s Pimlico and 

Laurel tracks, and several board members told 

Keyser they did not want to be part of a company 

with Joe DeFrancis, who has had a rocky relationship 

with harness racing interests in Maryland. 

Cloverleaf bought Rosecroft from Colt Enterprises 

seven years ago for $12 million. Today’s 

sale, when closed, will bring to an end the only 

horsemen-owned racetrack in the country. In another 

Magna development, also involving compromise, 

the company and the Oklahoma Racing Commission 

reached accord that avoids Magna’s 

threat to shut down Remington Park. The compromise 

provides for a 20-day Remington meeting 

for quarter horses, appaloosas and paints from 

August 7 to Sept. 1, followed by a 50-day thoroughbred 

meeting from Sept. 5 to Nov. 30. 

OXLEY, KYL PUSH ’NET BAN 

Congressman Michael Oxley of Ohio, chairman 

of the House Financial Services Committee, and 

Arizona’s senator Jon Kyl are working furiously 

to get the Senate to consider the House-passed 

ban on credit for online wagers. Kyl has worked 

out an Indian exemption and thinks he can get 

approval in a lame duck session if not by 

the end of this session.





BIG M SAYS IT NEEDS VLTS 

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority chairman 

George Zoffinger told a committee of the New 

Jersey Assembly Friday that the Meadowlands will 

face a “catastrophic” financial crisis if it does not 

receive help in the form of VLTs or slot machines. 

Zoffinger told the legislators that “without some 

source of purse money -- increased purse money - 

- New York having slot machines...would be catastrophic 

for us.” Two legislators who attended the 

meeting have introduced legislation that would 

provide for slots at the tracks, but the New Jersey 

casino industry, which does not want slots outside 

of Atlantic City, is certain to oppose the move 

strenuously. 

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, vice president Mike 

Jeannot of Magna Entertainment’s Meadows operation, 

a member of HTA’s executive committee, 

predicted that the state legislature will consider 

six slots-at-tracks bills currently pending next 

spring, and that if one of the bills passes The Meadows 

could have slots in operation within six months 

after passage. Jeannot told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 

that a survey of the Wheeling Downs 

parking lot in West Virginia showed that 50% of 

the vehicles had Pennsylvania license plates, 35% 

were from Ohio, and only 15% had West Virginia 

plates. 

Despite general optimism and support of both gubernatorial 

candidates in Pennsylvania, anti-gambling 

forces are mobilizing in the Pittsburgh area, 

in Erie, in the Poconos and elsewhere, partly under 

the aegis of a group called No Dice and a statewide 

umbrella organization called Pennsylvanians 

Against Gambling Expansion. Jeannot points out 

that slots for Pennsylvania tracks is not an issue 

of expansion of gambling, but rather an 

effort to keep gambling money in the 

state. He suggests the rallying cry should 

be, “Bring Our Taxes Home!” 


CONGRESS QUITS, NETLESS 

Congress adjourned last Thursday, and the Senate 

left without taking any action on H.R. 556, the 

Internet Credit Prohibition Act that would make it 

illegal to use any bank instrument for Internet 

betting. That means no action until Nov. 22 at the 

earliest, when a “lame duck” session is scheduled 

and it could be brought up again, presumably by 

Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona. The American Horse 

Council, however, reports that it is not even clear 

at this time whether the full Congress will return 

after the elections, although there is a possibility 

there could be a pro forma session at which a Continuing 

Resolution will be passed by unanimous 

consent to fund the government at present levels 

until the next Congress convenes in January. If 

no action is taken until then, any Internet gambling 

bill that was considered in the session just 

ended will have to go through the subcommittee 

and committee voting process again. Interactive 

Gaming News reports that should Sen. Jean 

Carnahan of Missouri lose her seat to Republican 

Jim Talent, the Senate likely would fall under Republican 

leadership, which the newsletter says is 

not expected to have much impact on the future of 

Internet gambling. In the House, should the Democrats 

gain control, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts 

would be chairman of the Financial Services 

committee and John Conyers of Michigan 

would be chairman of the Judiciary committee. 

Should that happen, it would be unlikely, the newsletter 

says, for any Internet wagering prohibition 

to pass, since both men oppose such legislation. 

NO INDIAN ACCORD IN BUFFALO 

While the Seneca Nation moves forward with its 

plans for a Niagara Falls casino, two other area 

tribes -- the Tonawanda Band of Senecas and the 

Tuscarora Nation -- have asked the federal government 

to stop them. An Interior Department 

decision is due Thursday.





IT ISN’T INDY DOWNS ANYMORE 

Indianapolis Downs is no more. It’s still there, 

nearing completion, but TIMES:in harness reports 

the track has quietly changed its name, even before 

it opens in December. It is now Indiana 

Downs, still with a December 6 opening date for 

harness racing and a brand new, compact and colorful 

little plant. The December opening will get 

them underway, racing Thursday through Monday 

with a 6:30 post time, and they will race until Dec. 

30, then close for simulcasting only until April, when 

the grand opening will take place, starting with a 

50-day thoroughbred meeting that will be followed 

by a 110-night harness racing meeting. TIMES 

says Indiana Downs and Hoosier Park are negotiating, 

under broad racing commission guidelines, 

to work out as harmonious dates as possible to 

minimize overlap. 

FLAMBORO, STEP BY STEP 

Magna Entertainment moved closer to finalizing 

its acquisition of Flamboro Downs in Ontario this 

week, with an unusual mid-step involving Andrew 

Gaughan, a former executive at Woodbine Entertainment 

who now works for Magna. The shares 

of Flamboro Downs Holding Ltd. were purchased 

by Ontario Racing Inc., a former subsidiary of 

Magna now wholly owned by Gaughan. A Magna 

release said “Mr. Gaughan has entered into an 

agreement to transfer the shares of Ontario Racing 

Inc. to MEC five days after MEC receives all 

necessary regulatory approvals for its acquisition 

of Flamboro Downs. Those approvals are expected 

within the next 90 days.” The Hamilton Spectator 

reported that although it was unable to reach 

anyone at Magna for comment, sources said the 

transfer could be a timing issue for tax purposes. 

Magna announced in June that it was buying 

Flamboro from owner Charles 

Juravinski’s Flamboro Holdings for $72 

million. The track has 750 slot machines. 


OHIO SLOTS? NIXON NEUTRAL 

Slot machines at tracks are not an election item in 

Ohio and the issue does not appear on any ballot, 

but at least one Buckeye politician is so sure that 

slots are coming that he has called a meeting of 

the Lebanon City Council to discuss how to stop 

them. Warren county commissioner C. Micheal 

Kilburn says he thinks he knows what the legislature 

is planning after the Nov. 5 election, and he 

wants the city of Lebanon “to know what potentially 

may be going on.” The speculation amused 

USTA president and Lebanon Raceway owner 

Corwin Nixon, a former Warren county commissioner 

himself, who said he plans on remaining 

neutral. He also said, however, that slots “would 

triple my business here at the track, no doubt about 

it. It’ll save the horsemen, the track, everybody.” 

Nixon, a conservative Republican and longtime 

legislative leader in Ohio, opposed the idea of legalizing 

casinos in Ohio six years ago, but he now 

says, “Times are changing, and I don’t think 

people feel the same as in the past about gambling 

here.” Nixon and Kilburn are political allies 

and friends, but Nixon made it clear that while 

neutral, he will not support those who oppose slots. 

A public meeting has been called by the Lebanon 

city council and county commissioners for Thursday 

afternoon to discuss the issue. 

GOOD JOB AT BATAVIA 

If the recent grand opening of Batavia Downs under 

its new ownership of Western Regional Off- 

Track Betting is any indication, the track is in good 

hands. The celebratory party was handled in first 

class style, and included distribution of a newly 

revised history of Batavia Downs. The 126-page 

book, written by former Batavia publicist William 

F. Brown Jr., was an update of an earlier edition, 

but was titled The New Batavia Downs and included 

a full update of events of the last four 

years leading to Western OTB’s acquisition.





BANGOR WANTS IN ON SLOTS 

If anyone wondered why mystery man Shawn Scott 

and his Las Vegas-based Capitol One LLC invested 

in little Bangor Raceway in Maine recently, 

they can stop wondering. A group led by the track 

plans to petition for a statewide referendum on slots 

at tracks in November, 2003. Although the question 

supposedly would allow slots at Bangor and 

at Scarborough Downs, a lawyer for Scarborough 

says the proposal does not please his client, contending 

it is written to benefit only Bangor Raceway. 

The Bangor proposal calls for Bass Park in 

Bangor to be renovated and a percentage of revenues 

to go to helping senior citizens pay for prescription 

drugs and help Maine students to attend 

college. Maine voters also will be asked, however, 

to legalize casino gambling for the 

Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Nation Indian 

tribes by building a $650 million casino in southern 

Maine. The state expects to get $100 million 

in revenue from that project, and as framed those 

payments to the state would be nullified if Maine 

authorizes slots at any location other than the tribal 

casino. A leader of an anti-gambling group, Casinos 

No!, says the organization will oppose both 

proposals, saying that more than one casino would 

mean the state would get nothing “except crime, 

corruption and congestion.” Proponents of the idea 

say slots at tracks would be well-regulated and a 

natural step in adding another form of gaming 

where gambling already is legal. The Bangor application 

for a citizens’ referendum has been submitted 

to Maine’s secretary of state for review. 

Ten percent of Maine citizens who vote in the gubernatorial 

election next month would be needed 

for the referendum to be granted, and while that 

number obviously is not known at present it is believed 

more than 50,000 signatures would be 

needed. A similar referendum to allow 

VLTs at Scarborough Downs failed by a 

3-2 ratio two years ago. 


REMEMBER THIS STATEMENT 

When Atlantic City casinos start snarling and fighting 

about the possibility of slots at the Meadowlands, 

and shout that the competition would seriously 

injure them, remember this statement by 

Gary Loveman, the president of Harrah’s: “I don’t 

think even gaming in Philadelphia would pose a 

long-term substantial threat to the invested capital 

in Atlantic City.” Loveman was speaking on a 

conference call reporting record earnings in the 

third quarter at Harrah’s two Atlantic City casinos, 

and he predicted that gambling expansion in 

Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York wouldn’t 

harm the future of Harrah’s casinos in Atlantic City. 

He conceded legalized gaming was coming to those 

states, calling it “almost a sure bet,” but he said 

the Northeast has too few gambling outlets to meet 

demand. That’s good news. The Meadowlands 

would be a great place to help meet that demand. 

And although Philadelphia is in Pennsylvania and 

not New Jersey, Philadelphia is half the distance 

from Atlantic City than the Meadowlands, and is 

connected directly to the shore resort by the Atlantic 

City Expressway. 

MICHIGAN AND ITS KIDS 

When Internet gaming is discussed, opponents 

begin screaming about how the children of the land 

will be protected. We hope they’ll be as equally 

concerned about the state of Michigan’s decision 

to allow instant lottery ticket vending machines in 

up to 500 locations around the state. Tickets will 

cost between $1 and $20, and prizes will vary from 

$1 to $1 million. The state’s acting lottery commissioner 

says the new machines will come 

equipped with a shutoff switch that a store clerk 

can activate if a minor messes with the machine. 

Sure. That’s precisely why cigarette vending machines 

were outlawed, and one expert, Charles 

Clotfelder of Duke University, says he 

doesn’t know how Michigan can monitor 

vending machines.



SLOT MAKERS CHOSEN IN NY 

Nevada-based slot machine makers International 

Game Technology and Alliance Gaming Corp.’s 

Bally Gaming and Systems unit were among four 

companies chosen by the New York Lottery to provide 

about 14,000 video lottery terminals to eight 

racetracks in the Empire State, if racetracks and 

government officials can come to an agreement 

on revenue sharing that makes installation and 

operation of the machines financially feasible for 

the state’s ailing racetracks. The other companies, 

Sierra Design Group and Spielo USA Inc., 

are privately held. Each company will provide 

roughly the same number of machines each, according 

to Lottery spokesperson Carolyn 

Haperman. The state, which only received the four 

bids, awarded them based on cost as well as a technical 

analysis. It is now negotiating separate contracts 

with the four companies that will be reviewed 

by the state controller and the state attorney 

general’s office for a projected introduction by the 

end of the second quarter of next year. 

17 SET TO GO IN MESSENGER 

Seventeen colts are entered for Saturday’s 

$434,350 Messenger Stakes at the Meadows 

Racetrack in Meadow Lands, Pennsylvania. The 

47th edition of the pacing classic will be raced in 

two eliminations, races eight and nine, with the top 

four finishers from each race advancing to the final, 

which will go as race 12, with an approximate 

post time of 10:36 p.m. (EDT). The first elimination 

will feature Coors Delvin Miller Adios and 

Little Brown Jug winner Million Dollar Cam, with 

John Campbell to drive for owner Jeffrey Snyder 

of New York City. Allamerican Ingot, third in last 

Saturday’s Breeders Crown, has been listed as the 

2-1 morning line favorite in the ninth race and second 

elimination in spite of drawing the 

outside post. Leading Canadian trainer 

Bill Robinson, who trains five of the 




Messenger’s 17 entrants, had also planned to enter 

Meadowlands Pace winner Mach Three but 

the colt came down with colic after his fourth place 

finish in the Breeders Crown. Robinson’s other 

sophomore big gun, Art Major, is skipping the 

Messenger after winning the Breeders Crown. Art 

Major won the first leg of the Pacing Triple Crown, 

the Cane Pace, in early September. 

JOCKEY CLUB’S STAHL RETIRING 

Hans Stahl, the president and chief operating 

officer of the Jockey Club, will retire at the end of 

the year and be succeeded by Alan Marzelli, 

according to a release issued by the Jockey Club, 

the thoroughbred industry breed registry. 

Marzelli, a CPA, joined the Jockey Club in 1983 

as controller. He has served as the Jockey Club’s 

chief financial officer since 1986. In addition to 

his Jockey Club duties, Marzelli also serves as 

chairman of Equibase and two Jockey Club 

subsidiaries, InCompass and The Jockey Club 

Technology Services, Inc. Marzelli will assume 

his new duties as president and COO on Jan. 1. 

RECORDS REVENUE FOR PENN 

Penn National Gaming, Inc. (PENN), owner of HTA 

member The Downs at Pocono and partner in Freehold 

Raceway, yesterday reported record third 

quarter results for the period ending Sept. 30. 

Revenues for the quarter rose 21 percent to $175.4 

million, compared to $145.0 million in the third 

quarter of 2001. In addition, third quarter EBITDA 

(earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and 

amortization), rose 18.2 percent to $38.1 million, 

from $32.2 million in the third quarter of 2001. 

Commenting on the results, Peter Carlino, CEO 

of Penn National, said, “Overall, these trends and 

record operating results validate our long-term 

growth strategy of expanding our gaming property 

portfolio.”





SLOTS OPPOSITION FROM A.C. 

It’s always something.... First, it was casino taxes 

and Internet gambling. Now it’s the possibility of 

slot machines at the Meadowlands Racetrack 

causing Atlantic City casino officials and politicians 

to rally in defense of their monopoly on machines. 

“We’re stating our opposition that this is not in 

the best interest of Atlantic City or New Jersey,” 

said Timothy Wilmott, president of the Casino 

Association of New Jersey. “Slot machines at 

tracks don’t create jobs or the type of development 

that supports an economy. It puts at risk the $350 

million that the state gets from the industry in the 

Casino Revenue Fund. 

Senators Joseph Suliga and Richard Codey, who 

introduced the Meadowlands Gaming Control Act 

on Sept. 30, said they proposed the bill allowing 

3,000 slot machines at the Big M in order to aid 

the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority 

(NJSEA). The bill could be enacted only after a 

referendum to change the state’s constitution. Bills 

in the New Jersey Assembly and Senate would put 

such an amendment on the ballot at an unspecified 

date. 

The slot machine legislation, Senate Bill 1907, 

would allow the Meadowlands Racetrack to 

operate machines from eight in the morning until 

midnight any day the track has live or simulcast 

racing. The slots would not be subject to the eight 

percent state casino tax or the 1.25 percent Casino 

Reinvestment Development Authority tax. The 

Division of Gaming would be responsible for all 

regulation, including the functions typically handled 

by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. 

“I am adamantly opposed to it,” Atlantic City-area 

Sen. William Gormley said of the bills. 

“We do want to see the tracks viable, but 

not at the expense of Atlantic City.” Suliga 

countered that Meadowlands slots would 


actually help Atlantic City by forcing casinos to 

become more responsive to patrons. “The 

problem I have with Atlantic City is it is such a 

monopoly,” Suliga said. “Older people are treated 

like herded cattle.... This bill encourages 

competition and it solves a major economic 

problem for the State of New Jersey. Suliga noted 

he expects the Economic Growth, Agriculture and 

Tourism Committee of the state senate to hear the 

bill next month. 

Assemblymen Albio Sires and Joseph Roberts 

sponsored the Assembly bill to put the issue to a 

statewide vote. Roberts noted that racetrack slots 

are legal in three nearby states and are being 

discussed in two others. “We have a real obligation 

in New Jersey to preserve the casino industry,” 

Roberts said. “On the other hand, we need to do 

something to keep the horse racing industry alive.” 

CLOSED-LOOP LICENSE IN NEV. 

The Nevada Gaming Commission agreed Thursday 

to grant a limited license to a company that 

has developed a closed-loop system for betting on 

horse races. The 18-month license was granted to 

Virtigame Corp. after Bruce Merati, who heads 

the San Diego-based technology company, said he 

hopes to have signed deals for the system with 

several Nevada casino race books by early next 

year. Under Virtigame’s closed-loop system, bettors 

can use personal computers or PCs in casinos 

to place bets on races at tracks around the country, 

rather than standing in line to place bets with 

tellers. Bettors also would have a preapproved 

credit line for what Merati termed a “cashless” 

system that uses a network but is not linked in 

any way to the Internet. Commissioners asked 

about possible Internet links, but Merati said the 

company only wanted a closed-loop system 

because it can be better protected and controlled.





HEARING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

The Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission 

holds a hearing tomorrow on the application of 

Chester Downs and Marina for a harness license 

in the depressed city of Chester, just south of Philadelphia. 

Joe Lashinger Jr., former president of The 

Downs at Pocono, seeks a license for a new track 

there. In addition, although not on tomorrow’s 

agenda and not yet received by the commission, 

are reported applications to be filed from two other 

suitors for licenses, one from W-B Downs, an affiliate 

of Penn National, owner of The Downs at 

Pocono, to race at Pocono; and a third, somewhat 

bizarre, from a newcomer to the sport who owns a 

farm track just seven and one-half miles from The 

Meadows near Washington, PA. The applications 

are pending as elections near which could bring 

slots to Pennsylvania tracks, since both gubernatorial 

candidates are on record as favoring that 

development and Pennsylvania racing faces increased 

competition from expanded slot action at 

tracks in West Virginia, the possibility of sports 

betting in Delaware, and less likely but possible, 

slots at tracks in Maryland. 

MORE SLOT RUMORS IN OHIO 

When politicians report hearing persistent rumors 

about politics, laymen might be inclined to give 

credence to the reports. This newsletter reported 

last week on developments in Lebanon, Ohio, 

where a county commissioner reported the likelihood 

of a slots bill after next month’s elections 

and the city council was to meet to discuss rumors 

of slots for its hometown racetrack, Lebanon Raceway. 

Now comes another commissioner who reports, 

“We’re hearing bits and pieces that there is 

legislation in draft format and that by the first of 

the year there will be legislation either buried in 

the budget bill or on its own, but the specifics 

are unknown.” One report said the 

city and county each would receive $1 million 

under the proposal. 


CUP ASKS CATSKILL INQUIRY 

The Breeders’ Cup and NTRA have asked the 

New York State Racing and Wagering Board to 

investigate unusual circumstances involving winning 

Pick Six wagers on Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup 

made at Catskill Region OTB. The request was 

made this morning by a letter from NTRA commissioner 

Tim Smith and Breeders’ Cup president 

D.G. Van Clief to New York commission chairman 

Mike Hoblock. There were only six winning tickets 

on the Pick Six, and all six were sold at Catskill 

to the same person, giving the winner a return of 

$2,570,352 for an $1,148 investment, according to 

Thoroughbred Times. The Catskill bettor selected 

a single winner in the first four races, then used all 

runners in the last two legs. The Breeders’ Cup 

and Arlington Park, concerned about electronic 

manipulation of wagering data, are withholding 

payment to Catskill OTB pending the results of 

the investigation they have requested. 

SLOTS NEAR FRASER DOWNS? 

The mayor of Surrey, British Columbia, has reversed 

his field and now says the town is interested 

in slots, three years after running them out 

of town. A rival candidate says the city council 

held secret discussions on a casino site on the 

Cloverdale Fairgrounds, near the Fraser Downs 

harness track, and Fraser general manager Chuck 

Keeling says a casino could work there if its operations 

were integrated with racing. The casino 

that the mayor, Doug McCallum, ran out of town 

had been contributing $500,000 to Surrey’s treasury. 

PROMOTIONS AT MEADOWS 

General manager Drew Shubeck of The Meadows 

has promoted John Marshall to assistant GM- 

OTB Operations; Kevin Decker to assistant GM- 

On-Track Operations; and Tracy Bittner to assistant 

GM-Marketing/Player Rewards.





WE ALL LEARN A BIG LESSON 

Well, the NTRA and Breeders’ Cup and all the 

rest of us in racing now have learned how to get 

national publicity. Have one guy win over $4 million, 

alone among tens of thousands of horse players, 

and with a hint of scandal that he may have 

done it illegally, and the press will beat a path to 

our doors. A lot of people are falling all over themselves 

trying to put a positive spin on this thing, 

but bottom line it doesn’t look good. Don Groth of 

Catskill OTB, where the bets were made, may be 

the only man in racing who thinks this was simply 

solid handicapping, and his quote may go down in 

history. “I know why you’re suspicious,” he said, 

“but that’s not my job.” Groth said he was “familiar 

enough with the customer that I believe this is 

legitimate,” a strange statement inasmuch as “the 

customer,” identified by some sources as a 29- 

year-old self-employed computer service worker 

from Baltimore named Derrick Davis, said he made 

his first wagers with Catskill on Breeders’ Cup day. 

Other than Groth’s, the reactions hardly could be 

termed positive for racing, regardless of spin. Here 

are some sample headlines: 

“Breeders Cup Pick Six Probed” -- Los Angeles 

Times 

“Unlikely windfall draws investigation: fluke or 

scheme?” -- Miami Herald 

“Good Pick-Six Bets, or Too Good to be True?” 

--New York Times 

“Probe $2.5M ‘Hit’ on Breeders’ Cup Pick 6” -- 

New York Post 

“Betting coup investigated” -- Chicago 

Tribune 


“Breeders’ Cup Pick Six May Have Been Fix Six” 

--Washington Post 

“Cup’s winning Pick 6 tickets cause suspicion, investigation” 

-- Louisville Courier-Journal 

“Suspicious bet under scrutiny” -- Daily Racing 

Form 

Groth said “there is nothing to indicate that this 

was anything but a very good day for our customer.” 

Perhaps. But one man who should know, 

professional gambler David Cuscuna, told Daily 

Racing Form, “The whole idea of this, of a guy 

that puts down a $12 multiple, 1 by 1 by 1 by 1 by 

all by all bet, that has the first four winners, which 

includes a $28 horse and a $54 horse -- good lord, 

it’s not even a point of discussion. This is not a 

real bet.” 

We’ll see. It may not have been a real bet, but it 

was real coverage. Not the kind racing needs or 

wants, but saturation bombing of a magnitude not 

seen since the early days of our escapade in Afghanistan. 

Paul Berube, president of TRPB and 

SIS, said, “It is unfortunate these things get out 

before all the facts are known, and I would assume 

that there is a fair amount that we don’t know right 

now.” 

Two other interesting notes on the now infamous 

Pick Six. A tote malfunction at Keeneland resulted 

in refunds totaling some $76,000 after United Tote 

was unable to transmit the bet information to Arlington, 

and Arlington decided that the bets would 

not be allowed in their pool. According to Daily 

Racing Form, the Kentucky Racing Commission 

and Keeneland then decided to refund the wagers. 

The Form also reported that the Cup Pick Six 

handle was 5% lower than last year, and that 

Pick Six betting on the Cup has declined for 

four straight years.





AND THE MELODY LINGERS ON 

As the Pick Six feeding frenzy in the press continues, 

with each story questioning the integrity of 

the pari-mutuel system as currently deployed, a 

larger question arises: is the Pick Six, on whatever 

scale, worth this kind of press coverage? 

Matt Hegarty, writing in today’s Daily Racing 

Form under a headline reading “Pick six: A 

hacker’s paradise?” begins: “If someone wanted 

to manipulate the parimutuel pools in Thoroughbred 

racing, the bet of choice would be the pick six 

and it would be structured just like the Breeder’ 

Cup ticket now under investigation by the New 

York State Racing and Wagering Board, racing and 

wagering experts said Tuesday.” 

Reports here indicate that Derrick Davis, the 29- 

year-old who made the winning bets that have triggered 

an avalanche of negative coverage, is not 

merely some unknown computer repairman from 

Baltimore who now desperately seeks anonymity, 

but rather a bettor known in much wider circles 

than Catskill OTB, where he showed up suddenly 

on Breeders’ Cup Day, fully certified by Catskill 

president Don Groth as a trusted customer. The 

questions raised about the vulnerability of racing’s 

computer systems remain, including Chris Scherf’s 

germane reminder to Bill Finley of the New York 

Times that if hackers can break into the Pentagon’s 

computer system racing presumably is not impenetrable. 

The press, meanwhile, has treated the 

matter with varying degrees of skepticism. Two 

of the more caustic commentators have been Jim 

O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times and Jim 

Handleman of the Asbury Park (NJ) Press. Their 

comments are discussed in detail in this week’s 

HTA Track Topics, but the headlines on their stories 

are enough to give you the flavor of their writing. 

O’Donnell’s Chicago story was headlined, 

“Probe could end faith in simulcasting.” 


Handleman’s lengthy column, in today’s paper, was 

titled, “Another nail in racing’s coffin.” His column 

was a bitter indictment of racing’s attitude 

not only toward computer security, but about the 

use of illegal medications that move horses up dramatically 

and about banished trainers who show 

up at off-track training centers and farms, known 

to those around them but unreported. It is a powerful 

piece, and contrasts sharply with the innocent 

protestations of leading trainers and others 

who either say they know of no such doings, or 

else blame them on professional envy. 

IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 

In Indiana, where Indiana Downs is nearing 

completion, that track and Hoosier Park, which 

opposed its construction, now are battling over 

whether the new track can open an OTB facility to 

compete with Hoosier’s OTB site in Indianapolis. 

The racing commission has scheduled a public 

hearing on the subject. 

In Great Britain, the digital broadcaster 

Attheraces said it was “thrilled” with its six-hour 

coverage of the Breeders’ Cup, watched by up to 

151,000 viewers, and called it “the perfect platform 

from which to launch our American racing 

service,” which could happen as early as tomorrow, 

depending on final tests. Britain’s Channel 4 

said its late night Breeders’ Cup highlights show 

drew 500,000 viewers. 

In New Jersey, a bill that would add horsemen and 

horsewomen to the New Jersey Racing Commission 

sailed through the Assembly, 71-4, and now 

goes to the Senate, where it faces a test. 

In Pennsylvania, the harness racing commission 

held a daylong hearing on the Chester Downs harness 

track application, with a decision three 

to six months away.





GEORGE WANTS INTERNET BAN 

In case you wondered where the White House 

stands on Internet betting, you now know. The 

White House is urging Senate majority leader Tom 

Daschle to schedule a vote before the end of the 

year on H.R. 556, the Unlawful Internet Gambling 

Funding Prohibition Act, which precludes the use 

of bank instruments to fund betting on the 

Internet. Daschle’s office responded that demands 

for legislation make action difficult in a short 

time frame like the upcoming lame-duck session 

of Congress. Perhaps more important, a spokeswoman 

for Democratic senator Harry Reid of 

Nevada, who as Senate majority whip schedules 

consideration of legislation by the full Senate, says 

it is “highly unlikely” the bill will be considered in 

the lame duck session. Perhaps the most significant 

statement of all is that of Las Vegas gaming 

lawyer Tony Cabot, who says, “When you force 

legitimate businesses to the sidelines, it opens the 

world to people who operate in gray or black areas. 

The online gaming industry would be better 

off regulated than being banned. The longer the 

U.S. stalls on the issue of legislating or regulating 

online gaming, the longer the industry will grow in 

gray areas of shadowy activity.” As if to underscore 

that remark, Interactive Gaming News reports 

that the government of Antigua and Barbuda, 

worried about offshore gambling sites that have 

migrated to Curacao, Costa Rica and the United 

Kingdom, is about to abolish the 3% tax on 

Internet gaming companies based there. 

A HUGE ISSUE IN ARIZONA 

It may not be a major story nationally, but the 

three-way fight over slots in Arizona has broken 

the state’s campaign fundraising record and is leading 

the nation in money raised for ballot issues. 

Through Oct. 21, $106 million has 

been raised nationally for 62 ballot propositions. 


More than a third of that total -- $37.3 million -- 

has been raised for three measures on the ballot 

dealing with gaming. This is more than has been 

raised in California for seven ballot items there. 

Leading the Arizona charge is a 17-tribe Indian 

coalition that has spent $20.9 million, most of it 

from sponsoring tribes, for Proposition 202, which 

would retain the status quo for compacts that give 

the tribes a monopoly on casino gaming in the state. 

A second proposition supported by Arizona’s Colorado 

River Indian tribes has raised $10 million, 

and a track coalition, seeking slots at Arizona 

tracks, has spent $6.4 million. If none of the three 

propositions musters 50% plus one vote next Tuesday, 

the issue could go back to the newly elected 

governor and legislature, and currently Proposition 

202, the front-runner, has 45% support in polls, 

with 14% undecided. 

AROUND THE CIRCUIT.... 

Quebec racetracks will get another $5.9 million in 

purse subsidies from the provincial government 

to pay purses through December, but the 

province’s finance minister says that’s it. 

SONACC, which runs racing in Quebec, saw its 

purse pool run dry last week, saying it had not received 

the $1.4 million due from the government 

last month.....Rockingham Park in New Hampshire 

says it is studying plans to close the track in two 

years and develop its 170 acres for other use. If 

VLTs are legalized, the track would reconsider, and 

if a contract with HBPA is not worked out, harness 

racing could return to the Rock.....Shawn Scott has 

been turned down by the New Mexico Racing 

Commission in his bid to open a track in the southeastern 

part of the state. R. D. Hubbard and Ken 

Newton remain in consideration.....Joe Lashinger 

Jr. and his associates have signed a lease-purchase 

agreement with the Delaware County Redevelopment 

Authority for 61 acres for their proposed 

Chester Downs harness track.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor November 1, 2002 

A STORY GONE, A STORY HERE Now we find out. 

The Breeders’ Cup now is last Saturday’s news, 

but the Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick Six is still very 

much with us, on page one of this morning’s New 

York Times and in newspapers everywhere else in 

North America. Secure computer tote systems, it 

turns out, are only as secure as the people operating 

them. Scientific Games, parent of Autotote, 

announced yesterday it had fired ‘a rogue software 

engineer,’ and shortly after that it was reported 

that the rogue, identified by other sources 

as Chris Harm, 29, who worked in Autotote’s 

offices in Newark, Delaware, reportedly had gone 

to Drexel University in Philadelphia with Derrick 

Davis, also 29, the $3 million Pick Six winner who 

had claimed he was an innocent victim who had 

just gotten incredibly lucky. Lorne Weil, chairman/CEO 

of Scientific Games, said that the “rogue 

software engineer” possessed the password to get 

into Autotote’s data system and presumably could 

A “Wagering Technology working group” was immediately 

announced by the NTRA, with an oversight 

committee led by old familiar industry faces. 

“Industry initiatives” and task forces can, of 

course, ultimately announce the upgrades in technology 

that Lorne Weil says now are available and 

should have been in place all along. Alan Marzelli, 

president-elect of the Jockey Club, thinks throwing 

money at the problem is the answer, saying 

the tote companies are undercapitalized and that 

centralization and upgrading of tote software platforms 

is a legitimate goal, according to Tom 

LaMarra of Blood-Horse. LaMarra reminded 

readers that Mark Elliott of IBM Global Services, 

addressing the issue of technology two 

years ago, said, “I don’t want to be overly abusive, 

but as an industry, you are as far behind in 

the use of technology to improve your business 

have altered the winning ticket after the first as any I’ve ever seen.” Taking action obviously 

four races of the Ultra Pick Six had been run. 

The revelation brought a torrent of pious pronouncements 

and quick egg-wiping off faces that 

had rushed to defend the winning bet as handicapping 

skill and luck. Donald Groth, president 

is needed and should be applauded. What- 

ever steps are now taken, and whatever money 

spent, needs to be tempered with one question that 

looms over all technology: How to address human 

frailty and dishonesty. 

of Catskill OTB where the bet was made, first 

NJ COMMISSION BILL PASSES 

was quoted as vouching for the character of the 

Assuming governor McGreevey signs the bill that 

bettor, although the bet was the first he had 

passed both houses yesterday on a vote of 24-7, 

made through Catskill. Groth, who originally had 

New Jersey will be getting a new racing commission 

that will include two thoroughbred horsemen 

issued the non-sequiter of “I know why you’re suspicious, 

but that’s not my job,” came up with another 

beauty yesterday, saying, “This is a big left 

and two harness horsemen. The bill had received 

a second reading in the Senate on concurrence 

turn in the story, I’m afraid. I’m still in shock. It’s 

Monday and passed yesterday and now goes to 

always regrettable when humans act like the textbooks 

say they should.” Scientific Games’ Weil 

the governor’s desk. The bill requires that 4 of 

the 9 members of the racing commission be owners 

or trainers of thoroughbred or standardbred 

said, “The industry is going to organize a task force 

and look into how to prevent this from happening 

horses, and stipulates they cannot hold a license 

again. Not immediately transferring data 

to race in New Jersey. Nothing precludes them 

and letting it sit in limbo was an accident 

from racing in any other state, however. 

waiting to happen.” 

Each commissioner will hold office for six 

years.





PRESS PROVIDES THE ANSWER 

The coast-to-coast firestorm over the Breeders’ 

Cup Ultra Pick Six continued to rage over the 

weekend, unabated, with huge press coverage 

despite no significant new developments. NTRA 

commissioner Tim Smith said Friday his organization 

doesn’t know what damage to racing’s 

integrity may have been done, but columnists and 

racing writers think they know, and are nearly 

unanimous in writing that racing has been grievously 

wounded. If bettors’ confidence hasn’t 

been shaken, a doubtful premise, the writers’ certainly 

has. Eclipse award winner Maryjean Wall 

answered Smith’s question by writing, “It’s clear 

from the buzz last week that until betting equipment 

is overhauled, players aren’t going to bet 

with any confidence that the product is secure.” 

Steven Crist said in his Daily Racing Form column 

Saturday that “the story is only going to get 

worse,” and Andy Beyer, also on Saturday, said 

“horseplayers worried about the 

implications....were surely amazed by the comments 

of Lorne Weil, chairman of the company 

where the alleged fraud was perpetrated, ‘that the 

matter had been resolved before any damage has 

been done.’” Beyer was unhappy that “although 

callers were invited to ask questions (in Weil’s 

press conference) the only ones the chairman took 

came from Wall Street analysts who lobbed him 

softballs.” He said it was no wonder those analysts 

“have credibility problems these days.” The 

few developments that did arise in recent days were 

AmTote president John Corckran Jr.’s statement 

that “an incident such as the one involving the 

Breeders’ Cup Pick Six could not happen within 

the AmTote system;” an order by the Illinois Racing 

Board to Arlington to withhold payment on the 

winning tickets, which Arlington already was doing; 

the announcement of a joint tightening 

of security by Magna Entertainment, 

Churchill Downs and NYRA; and the revelation 

that the first to sound the alarm ap- 

November 4, 2002 

parently was not the Breeders’ Cup or NTRA, as 

first indicated, but Jim Gallagher and Bill Nader 

of NYRA, who -- according to Mike Kane of the 

Schenectady Gazette newspapers -- alerted the 

New York Racing and Wagering Board after they 

arrived for work at Aqueduct on Sunday morning 

after the Cup at Arlington and found the 

Catskill lone winner “unusual.” They also contacted 

Gil Carmichael, director of mutuels at 

Arlington Park, and Ken Kirchner, who handles 

mutuels for the Breeders’ Cup. 

THE DONALD CROWS AGAIN 

Last week’s decision by New York state supreme 

court justice Joseph Teresi denying motions by 

the state to dismiss lawsuits challenging slots at 

tracks and Indian gaming has been hailed as a 

victory by -- who else? -- Donald Trump. The 

Donald told The Press of Atlantic City, “We’re 

very happy with it. It looks to me like it’s heading 

for a big trial, and based on that I think we 

have a very good chance of winning.” Trump 

denied that he was funding the lawsuit, but told 

the newspaper he “is involved in the fight.” 

HUBBY FIRED, SHE FIRES BACK 

Never underestimate the fury of a woman 

scorned, or one whose husband gets canned. A 

woman named Criste Scarnati, whose husband 

was removed as racing secretary at Prairie Meadows 

and later fired as pari-mutuel director, has 

co-published a pamphlet containing bitter attacks 

against the Iowa racetrack. The attack 

comes on the eve of an election referendum on 

whether to continue gaming at the track’s casino. 

Mrs. Scarnati denies connections between the 

pamphlet and her husband’s firing, saying she 

wrote it not for the man she loves but “to provide 

education and positive growth for a state I 

love.” She says it is a coincidence that it 

comes out just before the election.





E-DAY FOR RACING, SLOTS 

Voters in eight states make decisions on gaming 

today, either directly or indirectly, and most of them 

affect racing. Three of the most interesting involve 

gubernatorial races -- in Maryland, Pennsylvania 

and Ohio -- and a fourth, in Arizona, could 

affect not only the governor’s race but also produce 

a nightmare if none of three gambling propositions 

receives a majority, as some expect. 

In Pennsylvania and Ohio the outcome seems assured. 

Both of Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial candidates, 

Democrat Ed Rendell and Republican 

Mike Fisher, favor slots at tracks, so that development 

seems likely even though there is some 

substantial legislative opposition. 

In Ohio, Republican Bob Taft is expected to score 

a clear victory over Democrat Timothy Hagan, and 

Taft’s resolute opposition to slots at tracks is not 

likely to change. Whether there is enough legislative 

strength to pass such a bill and override a 

Taft veto seems highly unlikely, although it is being 

predicted in some quarters because of Ohio’s 

budget crisis and school funding needs. 

Maryland is a different story. There is a tight race 

for governor there, between Kathleen Kennedy 

Townsend, the Democratic candidate who lends the 

magic Kennedy name to the race, and Robert 

Ehrlich Jr., a Republican who favors slots at 

tracks. Mrs. Townsend does not, and the winner 

could determine the future welfare of Rosecroft 

Raceway under new owner Centaur, and of Ocean 

Downs and Pimlico and Laurel as well. 

Even Tom Grey, the Illinois crusader against gambling, 

acknowledges that if any state elects a governor 

who wants gambling, “It’s going to 

be pretty hard to stop it.” 


Arizona is a totally different case, and a real Wild 

West battle was raging not only in the months leading 

to the election but on election morn today. 

If the fight were just between Proposition 202, 

backed by 17 Indian tribes, and Proposition 201, 

backed by Arizona’s horse and dog tracks that want 

slots, it is likely 202 would emerge a clear winner. 

But the issue is clouded by a third proposition -- 

200 -- which is supported by Indians in the western 

part of the state, and which could split the vote 

enough so that none of the three bills muster the 

needed 50% plus one vote to carry. While more 

than one theoretically could pass, the more likely 

scenario is that none of the three muster the needed 

majority, in which case a new governor and legislature, 

and possibly the courts, would have to determine 

if the Indians retain their gambling monopoly 

in Arizona, or if horse and dog tracks share 

the privilege. 

Elsewhere Tennessee, which along with Utah and 

Hawaii is the only state without any form of legalized 

gambling, votes on a lottery today. And in 

Iowa, 11 counties vote on whether they want to 

continue gambling or end it. Iowa has an eightyear 

sunset review, and American Gaming Association 

president Frank Fahrenkopf says the decisions 

in that state are “where the rubber meets 

the road.” 

Some familiar names in gambling legislation are 

up for election today. Robert Goodlatte of Virginia 

and Michael Oxley of Ohio, both Republicans, 

are expected to win. John Conyers and 

Barney Frank, both Democrats and both opponents 

of Internet prohibitions, are sure winners, Frank 

running unopposed. Republican Mike Castle of 

Delaware, who also opposes the Leach bill, is considered 

a shoo-in in Delaware. Leach himself 

may not survive in Iowa.





THE PEOPLE SPEAK LOUDLY 

Somewhere today, the Rev. Tom Gray, America’s 

most vocal critic of gambling, is turning white, 

blanching with the results of nationwide votes in 

which the people made it clear they like gambling 

and are prepared to support more. 

In Iowa, a testing ground where American Gaming 

Association president Frank Fahrenkopf said 

“the rubber hits the road,” all 11 counties that had 

to vote on continuing casino gambling for another 

eight years gave their blessings by wide margins. 

In Maryland, the pro-slots-at-tracks candidate 

Robert Ehrlich Jr. was elected governor, defeating 

slots opponent Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. 

In Tennessee, voters approved a state lottery. If 

the legislature follows the voters wishes, it will 

leave Utah and Hawaii as the only states without 

legal gambling. 

In North Dakota, a proposal to join a multistate 

lottery won by an overwhelming majority 

In Arizona, proposition 202, which expands Indian 

gaming, is winning by a narrow margin, but proposition 

201, which would have given the state’s horse 

and dog tracks the same privilege, went down to 

defeat. Voters approved the continuation of the 

state lottery for another 10 years, but the 

governor’s race was still too close to call at press 

time. Almost $40 million was spent on the casino 

gaming battle, and there were some humorous 

overtones. The tracks were sued by the makers 

of Energizer Bunny batteries, which claimed trademark 

and copyright infringement after the tracks 

used the Bunny in advertising, and the tracks were 

threatening to sue Maricopa county after their 

pitchman, Joe Arizona, was cited on Halloween for 

impersonating a state policeman. Across 

the country, a number of towns voted 

against casinos in their borders. 


DEATH STALKS SULKY SPORT 

Three prominent figures in harness racing died in 

recent days. 

Most shocking was the death at 38 of Brian Pinske, 

whose body was found by his parents in his hotel 

room in Harrisburg, PA, where he was attending 

the weeklong Standardbred Horse Sale. An autopsy 

was ordered by the Dauphin county 

coroner’s office, but results were not yet available. 

Pinske was one of the most successful trainer-drivers 

on the formidable Chicago circuit, and was 

having his most successful season, his $2.6 million 

in stable earnings ranking him sixth nationally 

among all trainers this year. A graduate of 

Mankato State college, his powerful stable had 

won 127 races this year, led by the topnotch 2- 

year-old pacer Yankee Cruiser, a winner of 9 races 

and $342,994. Pinski is survived by his wife 

Brandy; a 3-year-old daughter, McKenna; his 

parents Tim and Marlys, of Plato, Minnesota; and 

a brother, Karl. Brian’s father and grandfather 

both were harness horse trainers. 

Leon Machiz, who campaigned such standouts as 

the $1 million North America Cup winner Arizona 

Jack, the Kentucky Futurity runner-up TV Yankee 

and the champion 2-year-old pacer of 1999, 

Tyberwood, died of cancer this week at 78. He 

was the former CEO and chairman of Avnet, one 

of the world’s foremost distributors of electronic 

components, and a civic leader in the New York 

area. He is survived by his wife Loraine; son Gary, 

a well known trainer; another son, Marc; and a 

daughter, Linda. 

Bernard Mann, former owner and president of the 

New Jersey Nets of the NBA and a longtime owner 

whose Escort won the first Meadowlands Pace in 

1977 and whose Goalie Jeff and Clover Hanover 

also were major stakes winners, died at 73.





THE STORY THAT WON’T QUIT 

Thirty-five more pages of copy, representing a 

full spectrum ranging from the Albany Times- 

Union to the Baltimore Sun to the Grand Forks, 

North Dakota Herald to the Louisville Courier- 

Journal and Los Angeles Journal to the New York 

Times, New York Post and Newsday, to the Washington 

Post were waiting on the desk this morning, 

all telling of the involvement of a third Tau 

Kappa Epsilon fraternity brother from Drexel university 

in the Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick Six scandal. 

Other than the introduction of the name of 

29-year-old Glen DeSilva, a frat brother of previously 

identified Derek Davis and Chris Harm, 

there was little to add to the story, except that 

DeSilva apparently was one of the bettors at 

Catskill OTB that led Don Groth to his initial endorsement 

of the Pick Six winner as simply a lucky 

guy he could vouch for. Although Groth did not 

identify DeSilva, others did, and said he had made 

frequent wagers at Catskill before the Pick Six 

story broke. No one has been charged as yet, but 

when they are that event will insure continuation 

of the story in all its glory, or gory. 

There was another interesting unrelated development, 

however, that cast an even longer shadow 

on computer hacking or manipulating or whatever 

you choose to call it. G-Tech Holdings Corporation, 

the world’s largest operator of national and 

state lotteries, which MSNBC News says operates 

computerized management systems to track 

and authorize payments of 94% of U.S. scratch 

lottery tickets and 71% of those sold worldwide, 

has warned governments that it is recalling hundreds 

of thousands of tickets in Taiwan after making 

discoveries that led it to believe the bar code 

used on the ticket has been cracked by outsiders. 

Government lotteries sold $27.5 billion 

(that’s with a B) scratch tickets around the 

world in the year ending June 30, 2001, 

latest numbers available. 


MSNBC said a Gtech scanner reads a unique bar 

code on each ticket and transmits it to a central 

computer for authorization to make a payout. In 

theory, it says, “a crooked distributor who knew 

the code numbers that authorized payouts could 

scan a sheet of tickets, pick out the winners and 

buy and cash them himself.” Gtech’s Taiwin tickets 

are printed by Pollard Banknote Ltd. of 

Winnipeg, Manitoba. Gordon Pollard, the 

company’s co-CEO, told MSNBC the recall was 

not due any printing mistakes in printing, but declined 

further comment. 

STILL COUNTING IN ARIZONA 

We’re a little slow in the great Southwest, so we 

can’t tell you for certain that Proposition 202, which 

strengthens the Indian hold on gaming in the state, 

has passed. It was leading 51.6% to -48.4% as of 

this morning, with 150,000 absentee ballots still to 

be counted. There was no question, however, what 

voters thought of letting Turf Paradise and Rillito 

Park and the dog tracks of Arizona in on the action. 

They lambasted that proposal by a vote of 

774,315 to 194,942, indicating that either the 

tracks did a lousy job promoting the proposition 

or the people of the state simply think the Indians 

deserve a chance to better themselves and the 

tracks have enough already. 

Prairie Meadows in Iowa, on the contrary, breezed 

home an easy winner, as predicted, getting a solid 

mandate to operate its racino for another eight 

years. One breeder who spent $600,000 on improvements 

of their equine station told Blood- 

Horse “the track was too good of a thing for Iowa 

to lose. I can’t imagine taking something away 

that’s done this much good.” Her fellow voters 

agreed heartily with that view, and gambling won 

easily in all 11 Iowa counties where it currently is 

legal and where voters indicated clearly that 

they wanted it to remain.





DREXEL BOYS: MORE THAN 3? 

As the Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick Six investigation 

widens and federal investigators become involved 

in the scam, HTA sources report that Derrick 

Davis, Chris Harn and Glen DaSilva may not be 

the only Drexel fraternity brothers involved in the 

matter. Thoroughbred Times reports that the investigation 

now has been turned over to the office 

of the United States Attorney General, and in another 

development reported by Daily Racing 

Form, it turns out that Glen DaSilva, one of the 

three former Drexel Tau Kappa Epsilon members 

under investigation, also won -- through another 

Catskill OTB bet -- $1,851.20 on a Pick Four at 

Balmoral Park Oct. 3, and $115,408 on a Pick Six 

at Belmont Park two days later. In the Balmoral 

bet, DaSilva allegedly used single picks on the first 

two legs and all-all on the final two. At Belmont 

DaSilva had eight winning tickets, each worth 

$13,070, and 96 consolation tickets, each worth 

$113. No charges have been filed as yet, but the 

three fraternity brothers have been evasive in coming 

forward to discuss their bets, letting their attorneys 

say simply that they have done nothing 

wrong. The New York Post staked out Chris Harn’s 

home, which they characterized as “spacious,” and 

a photographer followed him to a local unemployment 

office, where the paper reported he spent 90 

minutes, “apparently filing for unemployment benefits.” 

The Post ran the first picture of Harn to 

appear since the scandal broke, and said Harn is 

married “with a toddler and a large mortgage,” 

and said he was unshaven and looked tired and 

dejected. When Harn was asked about his relationship 

with Derrick Davis, who placed the Cup 

Pick Six bets, he said, “I have no comment to make 

to the press. Get off my property.” For guys who 

have nothing to hide, the Drexel Three are following 

a course that can only lead the press 

to more aggressive pursuit, and more coverage 

is assured. 


NTRA TAKES NEW STEPS 

Responding forcefully to the Pick Six situation, the 

National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced 

three steps today “to improve electronic 

wagering security and increase customer confidence.” 

Through its recently formed Wagering 

Technology Working Group, NTRA announced: 

1) Within 21 days, each tote company involved with 

any NTRA-affiliated licensed racetrack of off-track 

wagering entity shall have commenced installation 

of the necessary software (with completed installation 

within 30 days) to scan all wagering pools in 

connection with multi-race wagers after each race 

or ‘leg’ of such multi-race wager; 

2) Each account wagering operator authorized to 

conduct wagering by any NTRA-affiliated race 

track also shall have installed the necessary software 

to record account wagers via telephone (e.g., 

interactive voice response or touch tone) made 

through its system; 

3) As an interim security measure, any winning 

simulcast wager involving multiple-leg bets will be 

reviewed by the relevant racing organizations. Any 

wager deemed irregular or otherwise questionable 

will be thoroughly reviewed with supporting details 

provided by the tote company or companies involved 

to the management of the host track. 

10-YEAR ALBERTA EXTENSION 

Horse Racing Alberta, the governing body of racing 

in that province, has offered a 10-year license 

extension to HTA member Northlands Park. At 

the same time, HRA said it was not prepared to 

offer a long term racetrack license for the Calgary 

market at this time, citing an inability to meet standards.





PICK SIX TRIO TO SURRENDER 

According to this morning’s New York Daily News, 

the Drexel Boys, the trio of former Drexel university 

fraternity brothers suspected of nearly pulling 

off horse racing’s biggest scam, will turn themselves 

in at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning at the Southern 

District U.S. attorney’s office in White Plains, 

NY. Still professing innocence through their attorneys, 

the three reportedly will be charged with wire 

fraud conspiracy for a scheme which could have 

netted $3 million. 

NASTINESS IN NEW JERSEY 

Open warfare has broken out between the New 

Jersey Racing Commission, as it now exists, and 

the state’s Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. 

Frank Zanzuccki, executive director of the commission, 

has charged in a nine-page memorandum 

that the horsemen’s association has mismanaged 

hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees and 

political contributions, and has asked the state attorney 

general to investigate the charges. He also 

suggested the leadership of the organization should 

be ousted. Included in the memo was the allegation 

that Dennis Drazin, the ambitious lawyer who 

claims Gov. James E. McGreevey has agreed to 

name him chairman of the new racing commission 

recently approved by legislation, received 

$645,000 in legal fees as lawyer, strategist and loud 

spokesman for the thoroughbred horsemen, of 

which he is one. Zanzuccki said in his memo that 

the thoroughbred association improperly spent 

nearly $800,000 more than allowed from its 

Bookkeeper’s Interest Fund on legal fees and political 

contributions, and urged the commission to 

take over management of the $1.2 million fund. 

At least some thoroughbred horsemen share 

Zanzucci’s concerns. One of them, veteran trainer 

Robert Durso, said rank-and-file members 

have grown frustrated with the way the organization 

is run. 


While that battle was underway, the New Jersey 

Senate Economic Growth, Agriculture and Tourism 

Committee announced it would meet next 

Monday to consider two Democratic-sponsored 

bills that would authorize slots for the Meadowlands 

racetrack. 

CLOSE THE WINDOWS EARLY? 

That was Churchill Downs’ answer last week to 

tampering with pools, and it will go into effect this 

Wednesday at Churchill, Hollywood Park, Calder 

in Florida and Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana. 

Tom Meeker, Churchill’s CEO, announced that tote 

terminals will be locked between a minute and a 

half and two minutes before off time, saying he 

was less concerned about the cost of closing the 

windows early than of the loss of consumer confidence. 

How widespread the solution will be 

adopted remains to be seen. Nick Nicholson, president 

of Keeneland, said his guess was that by next 

April every track in the country would be doing it. 

But in Louisiana, Fair Grounds president Bryan 

Krantz, who also is president of the Thoroughbred 

Racing Associations, said he thought an early cutoff 

of betting would aggravate bettors. “You lock 

wagering two or three minutes out, that’s really 

going to start being a problem for the players,” he 

said. Thoroughbred Times quoted Jack Liebau, 

director of west coast racing for Magna and president 

of Golden Gate Fields, as saying his track 

would not change existing policy pending a review 

by the California Horse Racing Board. And in 

Ohio, former HTA president and Northfield Park 

general manager Tom Aldrich told the Cleveland 

Plain Dealer’s Bob Roberts that he was not prepared 

to follow Churchill’s lead. Up the street, 

from Northfield, Thistledown general manager Bill 

Murphy said he would wait for word from headquarters, 

meaning Jim McAlpine, president of 

Magna Entertainment, which owns Thistledown.





BIG CHANGES AT NORTHLANDS 

One day after Horse Racing Alberta offered 

Northlands Park a 10-year license, the HTA track 

in Edmonton, Alberta announced plans to spend 

$40 million on expansion of the racing operation 

that would make Northlands “the finest racing facility 

in Canada west of Woodbine in Toronto.” On 

the drawing board is extension of the present fiveeighths 

mile track to six and one half furlongs, or 

just less than seven-eighths of a mile, for thoroughbred 

racing, with a new five-eighths mile harness 

track built inside of the running track. In addition, 

a new paddock and walking ring would be constructed, 

and the Northlands infield might be redesigned 

for jumping and dressage shows. 

Northlands president Eric Young said funding for 

the project would come from slot machine revenue. 

The track currently has 500 slots, with 52% of the 

revenue going to Horse Racing Alberta, the provincial 

governing body, and that group will have to 

approve allocation of funds for the rebuilding 

project. Since the plans were included in 

Northlands’ license application which resulted in 

the 10-year license grant, and HRA chairman Dr. 

David Reid, a thoroughbred owner, seemed enthusiastic 

about the project, that possibility seems 

assured. Northlands’ board of directors and city 

council also must approve the project, but president 

Young seems confident of a green light from 

both. Northlands may stop live racing next September 

for the track reconstruction program and 

rearrange its 2004 schedule, which by contract includes 

68 days of thoroughbred racing and a 53- 

day spring harness meeting. 

NEW WEB SITE AT WOODBINE 

Woodbine Entertainment Group, which operates 

Woodbine in Toronto and Mohawk Raceway in 

Campbellville, Ontario, has launched an 

ambitious new Web site that fans can customize. 


The site will offer real-time entries, results and 

charts from more than 75 North American tracks, 

along with live racing video and audio feeds, schedules 

and programs, and is designed to be the ultimate 

word in racing Web sites. Called 

“myWEG.com,” it is called “a breakthrough in the 

way we can deliver up-to-the-minute information 

to our core audience” by Shelley Clifford, 

Woodbine’s Web Manager. Clifford says the level 

of customization available, coupled with the 

breadth and depth of the racing stats fans can access, 

is unprecedented. The site was designed by 

iLeo, a Leo Burnett company in Toronto, and developed 

by White Label Technologies. 

DREXEL BOYS IN COURT TODAY 

Chris Harn, Derrick Davis and Glen DaSilva -- 

the ex-Drexel university fraternity brothers involved 

in the national Pick Six scandal -- turned 

themselves in to the FBI in White Plains, NY, this 

morning, and were scheduled to appear this afternoon 

in federal district court to hear the 

government’s criminal complaint against them on 

wire fraud conspiracy charges. 

MARYLAND, MY MARYLAND 

HometownAnnapolis.com reports that 

Maryland’s governor-elect Robert Ehrlich will 

meet with legislators this week to discuss the future 

of slot machines at state tracks. State senate 

president Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Democrat, 

criticized Ehrlich’s proposal before the election, 

but now says, “I’m for slot machines at race tracks, 

but it needs to be done the Maryland way, which is 

the correct way.” He indicates that way is that 

they be placed at tracks only, and nowhere else, 

and an Ehrlich spokeswoman says the new governor 

agrees with that plan. Whether the legislature 

will approve, or send the matter to a referendum, 

could determine whether the idea materializes 

in 2003 or 2004.





COCAINE, SOUND BITES & ALL MASS, OHIO UP FOR SLOTS? 

The three Drexel Boys showed up in court yesterday 

on their Pick Six charges, two of them testing tured most attention as next in line for slots at 

Although Pennsylvania and Maryland have cap- 

positive for cocaine, and the press was on hand, tracks, it appears there is a good chance Massachusetts 

and Ohio may join them early next year. 

en masse, to cover the story. The U.S. Attorney 

for the Southern District of New York did not disappoint 

the newsmen, providing solid sound bites paved the way with statements in recent days. 

Two key officials in the Bay State seemingly have 

worthy of the occasion. Asked if he felt the scam House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, an opponent 

was worthy of a Hollywood movie, he replied, “It’s of new forms of legalized gaming in the past, now 

already been made, but with much better-looking says he is willing to consider any idea that would 

people,” referring to Robert Redford and Paul generate money for the state. And the next Senate 

president, Democrat Robert E. Travaglini, who 

Newman in the 1973 production “The Sting.” The 

federal attorney, James B. Comey, also told the has two tracks —Suffolk Downs and Wonderland 

press, “These suspects bet that law enforcement — in his district, says he supports slots at all four 

could not catch them. But that’s a bet they could tracks in the state as a way of preserving jobs. 

not fix.” Today’s coverage of the surrender of the 

three weighed in at HTA at 1.3 pounds on the Press 

Richter Scale, complete with pictures of the three 

in handcuffs. 

HTA has posted the complete Complaint in the 

case, United States of America v. Christopher 

Harn, Derrick Davis and Glen DaSilva, on our Web 

site, www.harnesstracks.com, and it is available 

there now. 

In other developments in the Pick Six affair, the 

Illinois Racing Board, meeting yesterday, banned 

all bets in the state with more than three legs, thus 

putting Pick Four and Pick Six wagers out of action 

for the time being. The racing board said it 

also intends to prohibit anyone betting in Illinois 

from wagering on a Pick Four or Pick Six held at 

any other track, although it did not say how it intended 

to do that. It also deferred licensing 

Autotote and AmTote for 2003, but will consider 

that decision at its next meeting Dec. 9. In California, 

Hollywood Park has petitioned the California 

Horse Racing Board to allow it the 

option of closing betting pools approximately 

two minutes before the start of each 

race, now Churchill Downs policy. 

In Ohio, the president of the state Senate, Richard 

Finan, said he expects that body to pass, perhaps 

as early as next week, legislation authorizing 

electronic slots machines at the state’s seven 

tracks. The Speaker of the House, Larry Householder, 

also supports the idea, and said yesterday 

he is counting votes to see how much support can 

be generated there. A spokeswoman for Gov. Bob 

Taft, re-elected last week, said the governor will 

veto any such legislation, and other legislative leaders 

oppose it as well. 

IN NJ, PRESS HANDICAPS RACE 

New Jersey’s largest newspaper, the Newark 

Star-Ledger, thinks it knows who will make the 

cut in the Sports and Exposition Authority derby 

to determine who gets to redevelop 107 acres of 

its property. The paper says that when Authority 

president/CEO George Zoffinger makes the cut 

from six to three proposals two months from now, 

the winners will be Hartz Mountain/Forest City 

Ratner, with its Expo Park; Mack Cali Realty and 

its Xanadu; and Westfield Holdings with its 

Arena Place. The Hartz Mountain proposal 

calls for public bonds, the other two do not.





NO JOY IN CHICAGO, TORONTO that the California Horse Racing Board consider 

Two of North America’s biggest racing operations its new rules for closing windows two minutes before 

post at its Hollywood Park operation, but the 

reacted angrily yesterday to bans on Pick Six and 

other multiple wagering pools in the wake of the board does not intend to take any action until a 

Drexel Boys scandal. After the Canadian Pari- week from today at the earliest. 

Mutuel Agency placed restrictions on what it calls 

“scan pools,” Woodbine’s vice president of wagering 

operations, Steve Mitchell, issued a release ing a different issue, Youbet.com, stung by con- 

In another response to bettor confidence, involv- 

calling the action a “bureaucratic knee-jerk reaction” 

to the Breeders’ Cup Pick Six that has gen- 

deposits in the face of Youbet’s financial problems, 

cerns of bettors about the security of their betting 

erated huge negative continent-wide press coverage. 

“My understanding of the CPMA’s mission deposits in a trust that will be managed by 

announced that it was placing all wagering account 

is to protect the betting public, not deprive them Comerica. Daily Racing Form’s Matt Hegarty 

of wagering opportunities,” Mitchell said, adding quoted Youbet’s CFO, Gary Sproule, as saying the 

that in his opinion the CPMA action is “not a reasonable 

or progressive response to this serious operational expenses. The Form said Youbet has 

company has never used customer deposits for any 

issue.” He said Woodbine Entertainment is committed 

to operating its business in a manner that 

lost $85 million over the past four years. 

ensures the integrity of the wagering process, adding 

that it wishes to be involved with other industry 

partners in the process to guarantee the security 

of current wagering systems. Mitchell said 

Woodbine was concerned that the Agency had 

acted “without any consultation whatsoever with 

the racetracks of Canada.” Ron Nichol, the 

CPMA’s director of program coordination and national 

standards, defended the action, saying the 

delayed transmission of information in the Pick Six 

and similar bets was a loophole in security, and 

that “We had to plug that hole immediately.” 

In Chicago, where the Illinois Racing Board 

passed a rule temporarily banning Pick Six and 

Pick Four betting, the president of Arlington Park, 

Steve Sexton, echoed Mitchell’s pronouncements, 

calling the action “premature” and saying the 

tracks had no opportunity to discuss the issue and 

were caught totally by surprise. Tom Carey III, 

director of operations at Hawthorne, also 

criticized the Board action, calling it “arbitrary.” 

Churchill Downs has requested 

MAGNA BREEZES IN MARYLAND 

Despite a lot of grumbling and harumphing by racing 

commission members in Maryland prior to 

yesterday’s hearing on Magna Entertainment’s 

purchase of controlling interest in Pimlico and Laurel, 

the commission gave Magna a rousing vote of 

confidence and bouquets of compliments as it approved 

the sale, 9 to 0, yesterday. Each of the 

commissioners thanked Magna president and 

CEO Jim McAlpine for his cooperation during the 

review process, and one of them, Terry Saxon, said, 

“You can’t believe how accommodating they’ve 

been.” McAlpine said a required guarantee to 

spend a minimum of $15 million in renovations by 

June 30, 2004, “wasn’t very important because we 

would have wound up doing it anyway.” 

HERPES OUTBREAK IN ONT. 

Seven horses are dead and 220 are being treated 

after a suspected outbreak of equine herpes virus 

in Ontario following the Forest City Yearling sale 

there.





WILLMOT HEADS FOR OTTAWA 

A very angry David Willmot headed for Ottawa 

today with a delegation of 20 or 25 horsemen and 

track representatives from across Canada, irate 

at arbitrary action without consultation by the Canadian 

Pari-Mutuel Agency, the federal control 

board of racing in Canada. The Woodbine Entertainment 

chairman and CEO lashed out at the 

Agency’s actions and press coverage of it yesterday, 

acknowledging CPMA’s authority but saying 

it should have waited for American findings and 

coordinated action with the NTRA, and saying 

some of its announced requirements are “impossible 

with current technology.” Willmot said the 

proposals, if not modified or rescinded, could have 

“severe if not catastrophic” effects on Canadian 

pari-mutuel operation. He particularly deplored 

the lumping of Superfecta wagering with Pick Six 

‘scan bets’, and was highly critical of Toronto 

newspaper coverage of the events. He used such 

terms as “irresponsible, inaccurate, not true, gross 

exaggeration and misrepresentation” in describing 

that coverage, and was particularly upset about 

reports of vulnerability to hackers with PCs breaking 

into betting pools, as opposed to the reality of 

the situation in which a senior computer programmer 

with codes and access allegedly made changes 

within the inner confines of Autotote. He deplored 

CPMA talk of “tremendous holes in tote networks,” 

and said there was no reason to believe 

that any Canadian pool had ever been manipulated. 

Willmot said Woodbine had asked the 

CPMA to suspend the regulations pending further 

study and cooperation with U.S. efforts, but said 

the agency declined to postpone their decision to 

close down all exotic bets, including the Superfecta. 

The CPMA, with 50 or 60 employees headed by 

Elizabeth Massey, is an arm of the ministry of 

agriculture in Canada. Willmot said its 

actions threw the entire racing industry 

into confusion and chaos in Canada. 


He called the agency’s actions “jumping the gun 

without consultation,” and said they would limit 

Canadian racing’s ability to do business with the 

United States. Willmot said that if the agency 

thought there were “tremendous holes in tote networks” 

it should have been aware of it for decades, 

and should have taken action in consultation with 

tote companies and Canadian tracks. Willmot 

also was livid at a newspaper report quoting CPMA 

executive director Elizabeth Massey as saying 

provincial racing commissions across Canada supported 

the agency’s actions. He said Jean Major, 

executive director of the Ontario Racing Commission, 

had not been consulted and that saying 

Ontario’s commission strongly supported the action 

was not true. Willmot and the other racing 

leaders in his delegation plan to meet with the 

CPMA today. 

HEAT IN ILLINOIS, TOO 

The Illinois Racing Board, criticized by tracks 

there for temporarily banning Pick Four and Pick 

Six pools, tabled a request from Arlington Park 

president Steve Sexton to rescind the prohibition. 

The board said the matter will not be reconsidered 

until its next meeting Dec. 9. Hawthorne 

Race Course, taking its own action to rebut the 

damage to its betting pools, announced that starting 

today it will offer superfecta betting on all races 

except the first and will have Pick Threes on the 

first, fourth and seventh race of every program. 

Chicago Sun-Times’ reporter Jim O’Donnell, a 

caustic observer of the racing scene, had a different 

solution: “One hopeful thought could be generated 

after the board’s asinine charade...A grand 

civic gift to the people of Illinois, and Gov.-elect 

Rod Blagojevich, would be the mass resignation 

of all commissioners and senior staff at the panel’s 

regular December meeting.” O’Donnell said that 

way the governor “could ashcan the chronically 

catatonic and bring in more savvy, unagendaed 

thinking.”





SUPERFECTA BACK AT WEG 

Following a meeting of racing executives, officials 

of all three major tote companies, Racetracks of 

Canada and the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency, 

superfecta wagering is being restored to the betting 

calendar of Woodbine Entertainment and other 

Canadian tracks today. Pick Fours and Pick Sixes 

will remain banned by the CPMA while information 

has been successfully evaluated, and the organization 

agreed that while it conducts its own 

investigations it will participate with the NTRA 

Technology Task Force to develop a North American 

standard for multi-race scan bets. Racetracks 

of Canada executive vice president Stephen 

Edwards called Friday’s meeting “very successful 

and productive.” 

In another development on the technology front, 

the University of Arizona Race Track Industry 

Program has made a late change in its Symposium 

agenda, adding a panel discussion on “The Integrity 

of Technology” to its Wednesday, December 

11 program. Doug Reed, director of the RTIP, 

said, “Given the recent series of events and the 

potential changes within the industry as a result, 

this is a ‘must have’ panel.” To make room for it, 

Reed rescheduled a session on “Account Wagering 

-- Bettors, Boundaries and Barriers” to 8 a.m. 

Friday, Dec. 13. The latest Symposium on Racing 

scheduling, with speaker listings, can be found at 

www.ag.arizona.edu/rtip. 

HTA DIRECTORS -- CALL SABLE 

To all HTA directors: If you are planning on attending 

the Racing Symposium, please pick up the 

phone and call 520-529-2525 and let Sable Downs 

know. Or fax her at 520-529-3235. Or e-mail her 

at sable@harnesstracks.com and let her know if 

you or a track representative will be coming, 

and what day and what time you will 

be arriving, so we know who will be attending 

from HTA tracks. 


MORE HASSLING IN INDIANA 

Indiana Downs moves closer to its scheduled Dec. 

6 inaugural harness racing meeting, and is embroiled 

in another dispute with its neighbor, Hoosier 

Park. Indiana Downs officials were scheduled 

to appear at a racing commission meeting today 

to argue that they deserve half of the $11 million 

subsidy that racing receives from riverboat 

admissions this year. Hoosier Park has received 

the subsidies for the last seven years, but Indiana 

Downs, which will race only 19 programs in calendar 

2002, says it is entitled to half of this year’s 

money. “Riverboat funds are a subsidy, and subsidies 

are meant to help fledgling businesses,” 

says Doug Brown, a track attorney. He says his 

client is investing $35 million into the state and 

has hired hundreds of people to build the track. 

Current rules provide that 2002 subsidies be split 

on the basis of how much each track handles during 

the year, but Indiana Downs wants the rule 

changed. Rick Moore, president of Hoosier Park, 

took a slightly different view than Brown. “This 

takes absurdity to the next level,” Moore says. 

“It is so totally unfair that it would be laughable if 

it weren’t so serious.” Coming up next, a debate 

at next month’s racing board meeting about the 

location of off-track betting parlors, which handle 

90% of the money bet on Indiana racing. 

NEED A LOAN? TRY THIS GUY 

The Seneca Indians, building a casino in downtown 

Niagara Falls, NY, came up a little short on scratch. 

They have found a friend, however, in a visitor 

from the Orient, bearing gifts. Lim Kok Thay, the 

50-something son of a developer of an exotic 

mountaintop casino in Malaysia, has loaned money 

to Indians for a casino before, namely hugely successful 

Foxwoods in Connecticut. He has come 

through again, loaning the Senecas $80 million on 

a five-year, adjustable rate loan carrying 

29% interest.





“IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN” 

That was the boast -- or promise -- of powerful 

Republican state senator William Gormley after 

a meeting of New Jersey’s Economic Growth Committee 

yesterday to discuss slots for the Meadowlands. 

Gormley told reporters following the meeting 

that the bill never will make it out of committee 

stage. “It’s not going to happen. It will never 

happen,” Gormley said. Representing Atlantic 

City casinos as he does, Gormley’s statements 

were hardly surprising. But what actually happens 

is more likely to involve New Jersey’s budget woes 

and what happens to New Jersey wagering after 

Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland introduce 

slots at their tracks. For one thing, Gormley may 

be good at politics but is poor at arithmetic. He 

tossed around numbers yesterday, saying slots at 

the Meadowlands would gut an industry that provides 

50,000 jobs -- Atlantic City cocktail waitresses, 

dealers, etc. -- for one that provides 5,000, 

but he presumably ignored the very substantial 

agricultural industry in New Jersey that includes 

farms, training centers, and green space throughout 

the state. 

HOW TO AVERT A PROBLEM 

The New Mexico Racing Commission has been 

agonizing over applicants for a license to open a 

racetrack in Hobbs, in the southeastern part of 

the state. One of the applicants is R. D. Hubbard, 

who was ousted this year from his role with Pinnacle 

gaming in Indiana. Another was Shawn Scott, 

who has had some licensing problems of his own. 

The governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, 

wasn’t anxious to have the issue resolved right 

now, preferring to find out if New Mexico needs 

another track and how it would affect Indian tribes. 

So he fired the entire commission, his spokesman 

saying they had deserted their initial philosophy 

that the state had enough tracks. 


HOW TO KEEP A FIRE BURNING 

One way to make sure a scandal stays in the media 

is to keep hashing it over even after the problem 

has been discovered and is being fixed. The 

NTRA, determined to show that it is on top of this 

thing, now has announced that it’s wagering technology 

group will go back and review more than 

1,000 pick four and pick six wagers around the 

nation made within the last year. What that will do 

for public confidence is not clear, other than keep 

the issue alive and the NTRA name in front of the 

public. All that talent at NTRA apparently thinks 

this is a wonderful public relations move. We hope 

it doesn’t mind at least one dissenting vote. 

DECISIVE ACTION IN INDIANA 

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission took decisive 

action yesterday on two issues brought before 

it by Indiana Downs, scheduled to open its 

inaugural season Dec. 6. 

In one, the commission refused Indiana Downs’ 

request to split $11 million in riverboat subsidies 

for 2002 equally between it and Hoosier Park, and 

voted to enforce the existing rule that the subsidy 

revenues would be split between the two tracks on 

the bases of purses generated. 

The commission also declined with thanks an Indiana 

Downs invitation to step into the issue of 

how much tracks pay for their simulcasting signals. 

The track has requested a rule that would 

have required tracks sending signals into Indiana 

to sell to both tracks at a “prevailing market rate.” 

Racing commission chairman Richard Darko said 

it was “too early” for regulators to interfere in that 

area of simulcast negotiations, but added, “We 

could come back to this in the future if it’s necessary.” 

The commission did not deny the request 

outright, but tabled it for future consideration.





GUESS WHO’LL SAVE RACING? 

The man who saved New York and is going to save 

Mexico City. Rudy Giuliani himself, and his merry 

crew that includes his former police commissioner, 

his former head of economic development, and a 

whole bunch of other ‘formers’ who were members 

of his staff at City Hall when he ran the Big 

Apple. They have found sanctuary in his new firm, 

Giuliani Partners, and they have been hired by the 

National Thoroughbred Racing Association for an 

unannounced but large sum to “manage and oversee 

the horseracing industry’s review of its electronic 

wagering systems.” Part of that review will 

include a “systematic examination” of certain wagers 

over the past year -- as many as 1,000 -- to 

identify “whether there are areas requiring additional 

security measures.” Ernst and Young is on 

board too, hired a few weeks ago, and they will 

work under Rudy’s supervision. NTRA Commissioner 

Tim Smith says Giuliani “brings independence 

and credibility both to our review of past 

wagers and our commitment to future improvements.” 

Feel better? 

RIGHT PLEA, WRONG GUY 

A number of good lawyers, including former federal 

prosecutors in New York, have been suggesting 

it will be difficult to convict the three Drexel 

Boys in the Pick Six Affair. Today, however, the 

New York Times reported that Chris Harn, the 

“rogue senior programmer” at Autotote, would 

enter a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to 

commit wire and computer fraud and one count of 

money laundering. This did not sit too well with 

attorneys for Harn’s Drexel fraternity brothers. 

Edward Hayes, representing Glen DaSilva, called 

Harn “the ringleader” and said, “It’s ridiculous to 

give him credibility. It’s like turning John Gotti 

to go after the busboys in the restaurant.” 


TRACK SLOTS BILL IN OHIO 

A bill to introduce 14,000 video slot machines for 

Ohio’s seven racetracks has been introduced by 

state senator Louis Blessing and has been given a 

fast track, with Senate president Dick Finan scheduling 

hearings for tomorrow before the Senate 

Agriculture Committee. The bill will be racing uphill, 

however, facing opposition in the legislature 

and a certain veto from governor Bob Taft. Despite 

that, some legislative observers think it will 

pass before the end of the year. If it does, the 

Republican majority will need Democratic help to 

override a veto. Republicans control the House 

59-40, and the Senate, 21-12, but 60 votes are 

needed in the House to override a veto. Twenty 

are needed in the Senate, so a party line vote there 

could get the job done, although some observers 

doubt Republican House members would vote to 

override their governor. As introduced, the bill 

calls for 51.1% of proceeds to go to the state lottery, 

which would regulate the machines at the 

tracks, as is done in Ontario and elsewhere. In 

Indiana, however, the state lottery gets 20%, in 

West Virginia 30% and in New Mexico 25%. Slots, 

under the proposed bill, could be operated 21 hours 

a day, being closed only from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m., presumably 

for breakfast. 

CAPITAL PICKS ONE OF OWN 

Capital OTB’s search for a new president in 

Schnectady didn’t cover too much ground geographically. 

The directors wound up picking one 

of their own board members, Essex county director 

Michael Connery, to replace Tom Cholakis, 

who resigned. Cholakis had offered to stay through 

January, rather than Dec. 31, to dispel controversy 

over his pension plan, but the board solved that by 

having Cholakis resign now and have Connery 

come on immediately. Cholakis, who earned 

$150,000 a year, estimated his total pension 

will be about $78,000 a year.





ANOTHER TWO POUNDS 

Another two pounds of copy on the Pick Six fallout 

reached the desk this morning, from L.A. to New 

York, bringing the reading on the Richter Scale of 

writing over 10, really seismic proportions. 

Today’s coverage was split about equally between 

Chris Harn’s confession that he indeed was a fixer 

of Pick Sixes and other bets to the hiring of racing’s 

new $3 million man, Rudy Giuliani. The ex-mayor, 

incidentally, took advantage of the press conference 

to plug his book, although he apologized and 

said he did it reluctantly. Settle in for a long haul 

on this one, folks. You have to keep the pot boiling 

for that kind of money, so expect progress reports 

for the next six or eight months, reminding 

all about the scandal. Rudy says it will take his 

people that long to properly get this thing under 

control, so racing will continue reminding readers 

and listeners and viewers that things are really 

happening long after Harn and his Drexel buddies 

are put away and the scan bet loophole is tightly 

plugged. 

ADD COLONIAL TO MAGNA 

The Virginia Racing Commission has approved 

Magna Entertainment taking over management 

control of Colonial Downs under its agreement to 

buy a majority interest in the Maryland Jockey 

Club. The hearing was cordial and upbeat and the 

vote unanimous, with chairwoman Robin Traywick 

Williams of the commission saying, “We’re pleased 

about the association of Virginia with the visionary 

group from Canada.” Jim McAlpine, Magna’s 

president, responded in kind, calling Colonial “one 

of the hidden jewels” in Magna’s acquisition of 

control of Pimlico and Laurel. This gives Magna 

15 tracks in its march to the seas, Pacific and Atlantic, 

and beyond. Magna already is control at 

Flamboro in Ontario, and still is talking 

about a possible venture in the farmlands 

of northern California. 


DON’T BET AGAINST HOBBS 

The dusty little town of Hobbs in southeastern New 

Mexico may not sound too exciting, but it sits on 

the Texas border and is 86 miles from the bustling 

Texas oil cities of Midland and Odessa. Eightysix 

miles is a walk in western Texas, so there is 

gold in them thar hills. The outgoing governor of 

New Mexico canned the racing commission to 

keep it from voting on giving a track license in 

Hobbs to either R. D. Hubbard or Shawn Scott or 

veteran New Mexico track operator Ken Newton. 

That governor, Gary Johnson, opposes more tracks 

in the state. But Johnson’s upcoming successor, 

governor-elect Bill Richardson, likes the idea, and 

says he’ll give the residents of Hobbs what they 

want when he takes office. “I happen to think that 

racing is a positive sport for New Mexico, an economic 

engine,” he says. If you’re betting, bet on 

Hobbs. 

VISA SAYS IT’S ONLINE FRIEND 

Well, at least not online betting’s enemy. Casey 

Watson, a spokeswoman for Visa, told Interactive 

Gaming News, “There have been allegations that 

we’re trying to shut down the online gambling business, 

and that is not the case. We do process online 

gambling transactions today, and we’re simply trying 

to help our membership do the right thing, obviously, 

and follow the letter of the law.” She also 

said that banks must decide whether they want to 

approve or decline those transactions based on 

whether Internet gambling is in fact legal or illegal 

in their jurisdiction. 

YOUBET INTRODUCES FEES 

Youbet.com has introduced a new fees schedule, 

designed to keep non-bettors from getting free 

information. Non-bettors now will pay $14.95 a 

month for unlimited access or $7.95 for limited 

service. Discounts are given for betting, 

and high-end users bet for free.





COAST TO COAST ON PICK SIX 

This morning’s report on the Dreyfus Affair -- pardon 

me, the Drexel Affair, a Freudian slip -- finds 

bulletins from coast to coast. In California, the 

racing board refused to go along with Hollywood 

Park’s proposal to close all pools two minutes before 

off time, saying it would create confusion 

among bettors. The 5-1 vote dismayed Hollywood 

officials, with track president Rick Baedeker telling 

Bill Christine of the Los Angeles Times, “Most 

of my comments would be under the heading of 

‘expletives deleted’”. Baedeker did say of the 

commission vote, “Their complacency is shocking 

to me. This was a black and white opportunity 

to go on the record and do something for customer 

confidence in the sport.” The board, however, took 

Baedeker’s words of assurance literally, after he 

and Autotote president Brooks Pierce told them, 

“There is absolutely no evidence at this time of 

any wrongdoing.” Baedeker says his customers 

don’t believe him, since the track surveyed 301 

patrons Nov. 16 and 17 and 40% of them thought 

there was past posting going on, with 68% thinking 

it is likely that fraudulent bets take place. 

Baedeker denied there was past posting, saying 

it can take as long as 86 seconds before all of the 

bets from hundreds of remote sites show up on the 

Hollywood tote board. “We have a horrible perception 

problem in this state,” Baedecker said. 

“We need to do something and can’t wait around 

six months for a study.” One problem was that, as 

usual, racing faced a major issue with no unanimity. 

Santa Anita, Golden Gate and Bay Meadows 

did not agree with Hollywood’s proposal. Racing 

board chairman Alan Landsburg said the proposed 

change “is not worth the inconvenience to the relatively 

few horseplayers that we’ve been able to 

keep coming to the track. This would be a penalty 

for the players who like to wait as long as 

they can to make their bets.” 


We have a suggestion that should solve the whole 

problem and put all bettors in California, and the 

tracks and racing board, at ease. 

Have Rudy Giuliani jump on a plane, fly out and 

make a grand California appearance. That should 

restore calm from Inglewood to theGolden Gate, 

and everywere in between. 

IN ILLINOIS, DEC. 6 IS PAYDAY 

There is more than $3 million laying around somewhere 

in Illinois vaults, collecting interest, and the 

executive director of the Illinois Racing Board, the 

recently appointed Walter Dudcyz, says it is the 

board’s call as to what to do with it. The Breeders’ 

Cup was raced at Arlington Park, of course, 

which falls under Illinois Racing Board jurisdiction. 

If it is determined that Derrick Davis’ lone 

winning ticket on the Pick Six is null and void because 

of fraud, then the 108 of 186 consolation 

tickets with five winners that he also held would 

seem to be null and void. That would leave 78 

valid tickets, which would skyrocket in value from 

$4,606.20 to $39,331 each, plus accrued interest 

on the entire Pick Six bet of more than $3 million. 

The Illinois Board will discuss -- and possibly decide 

-- what to do about the bonanza at a meeting 

two weeks from Monday, on Dec. 9. 

In New York, where Chris Harn told prosecutors 

that he not only rigged Pick Six bets but also doctored 

uncashed tickets that would pass reading by 

automated machines, the chairman of the Assembly 

Racing and Wagering committee, Alexander 

Gromack, is announcing at a press conference today 

that he is preparing legislation that will mandate 

backup security for every wagering system 

in the state. Gromack’s bill would prohibit any 

New York track from dealing with any tote company 

that did not have backup security in 

place.





TRACKS DON’T ACCEPT “NO” 

Arizona is a state in which the legislature occasionally 

ignores the voters, overturning their 

wishes as expressed in election messages. Now 

the state’s racetracks are doing the same. Proposition 

202, which denied slots to Arizona tracks and 

reaffirmed governor Jane Hull’s right to sign Indian 

gaming compacts, passed earlier this month, 

but Arizona tracks now have gone to court to get 

that public vote reversed. A Superior Court judge 

in Maricopa county (Phoenix) turned the tracks 

down last week, saying, “This court determines 

that the plaintiffs do not have a reasonable likelihood 

of success,” but the tracks now have filed an 

appeal and claim that 202 is unconstitutional, and 

say they are prepared to take the matter to the 

Supreme Court. A track spokeswoman says, “We 

need a legal determination above the lawmaking 

capacity of the voters.” Christa Severns, speaking 

for the state Department of Gaming, says, “We 

have been arguing these issues over and over and 

over again. The racetracks continue to lose. The 

state would like to move forward as the voters have 

asked us to do.” The governor says she will sign 

gaming contracts with the tribes just as soon as 

the legal issues are resolved. 

ILLINOIS STRIKE? NOT AGAIN! 

A $15 million disagreement could lead to another 

horsemen’s boycott of racing in Illinois, according 

to Crain’s Chicago Business. The journal reports 

that horsemen are threatening a 2003 boycott if 

the state’s $15 million ‘recapture’ that goes to 

tracks is not returned to horsemen. If the threat 

were carried out, as it was briefly by harness horsemen 

a few years ago, it could lead to legislative 

consideration of slots at the tracks. The possibility 

of “opting out of the state’s racing circuit” might 

be an option for thoroughbred horsemen, 

but not for harness horsemen who enjoy 

one of the most geographically secure circuits 

in the sport. 


IF THEY WIN, THROW THEM OUT 

That’s how they handle bettors who are too successful 

at the Greektown Casino in Detroit. The 

joint ejected some 30 video poker players in recent 

weeks, according to the Detroit News, because 

they had become “unprofitable.” The story 

said the players’ winnings, combined with comps, 

were costing Greektown money, and the casino acknowledged 

the ban with a weird PR twist. A 

spokesman said the decision benefited 99.99% of 

its customers because it kept high-paying machines 

in play and did not force it to reduce its “very generous” 

comp, promotions and double points programs 

that it offers. Greektown noted, as tracks 

have, that it has the right to bar anyone as long as 

it does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, 

religion or other civil rights issues such as handicaps. 

It did not mention handicappers. 

AN INTERNET WIN IN COURT 

In a decision involving gambling debts incurred in 

Internet betting, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 

5th circuit has upheld the dismissal of two cases 

involving Visa and Master Card. The cases were 

consolidated from among 21 similar ones, according 

to Interactive Gaming News, and involved 

RICO charges against the two credit card companies 

seeking damages for allowing the plaintiffs to 

gamble online. The cases had been dismissed in a 

U.S. District court last February in New Orleans, 

and last week the appeals court upheld that decision. 

The case covered the issue of whether such 

gambling debts were in fact enforceable because 

they violated the Wire Act of 1961. In a highly interesting 

comment, the court said, “Because the 

Wire Act does not prohibit non-sports Internet 

gambling, any debts incurred in connection with 

such gambling are not illegal.” The decision puts 

the court at odds with the Department of Justice. 

The decision is posted on HTA’s Web site.





TODAY’S PICK SIX HAPPENINGS 

In the continuing Pick Six saga, the New York 

Racing Association has eliminated teller cancel 

delays, and no longer will allow its tellers the luxury 

of 15 seconds to cancel bets at their computer terminals. 

Matt Hegarty quoted NYRA president 

Barry Schwartz in Daily Racing Form as saying, 

“We have to worry more about protecting the public 

than protecting the tellers. So from now on, if a 

teller punches the wrong ticket, he’s responsible. 

If the person calls the wrong ticket, that guy is 

responsible.” Schwartz said that “it just didn’t 

make sense” to keep the cancel delay, and he told 

his mutuel department “to just get rid of it.” 

In another Form story, the busy Hegarty wrote of 

the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission 

beginning an inquiry into the firing of an Autotote 

employee in 1999 for attempting to redeem 

uncashed bets, a ploy that Harn admitted in his 

guilty plea last week. Delaware Park announced 

last week that it had found the employee in an 

administrator’s room at the track printing out tickets 

that were uncashed bets, and said they notified 

Autotote, which fired the employee immediately. 

Why the racing commission did not know of 

this until three years later is not quite clear, but it 

says it didn’t find out about the firing until last 

week, and still doesn’t know the fired employee’s 

name. If that is so, the fired employee presumably 

could still be licensed in the state. 


WEG MOVES AHEAD ON COAST 

When Woodbine Entertainment took over thoroughbred 

racing at Hastings Park in British Columbia 

earlier this year, president/CEO David 

Willmot laid out a five-year timetable to accomplish 

its west coast objectives. The plan is moving 

forward, but slowly. The first move was to implement 

free admission, and Hastings Entertainment 

president Phil Heard says he has been surprised 

at the impact on weekend racing. “It gave people 

the flexibility to drop in any time to watch some 

horse racing, and I was surprised at how many 

turned out on weekends,” Heard says. Progress 

is hampered by a shortage of horses, however, and 

Hastings has cut back from three days a week to 

two, and will follow that schedule next year as well. 

Heard says WEG would like to have four days a 

week, but that it will take some time to get a horse 

supply large enough to do that. WEG had hoped 

to have one teletheater -- the central target of its 

acquisition plan -- up and running by now, with two 

more opening next year, but an election upset 

those plans and Heard now says the goal is to have 

one open in the first quarter of 2003. Handle is up 

1.6% over 2001 figures. 

In another British Columbia development, Colleen 

Findlay, the wife of well known harness horseman 

Dr. Jim Findlay, was found murdered last week in 

her home. The Findlays have three young children. 

HONG KONG OKS SOCCER BETS 

They’re closing loopholes in Hong Kong, too. 

Losing millions to illegal soccer betting operations, 

the Hong Kong government has decided to legalize 

betting on soccer and have the Hong Kong 

Jockey Club run the operation. It is expected to 

raise $641 million U.S. dollars in taxes 

alone. 

NO NY TRACK SLOT ’TIL MAY 

Cornelius Murray, the attorney handling the antislots 

litigation in New York state, has decided not 

to ask a judge for a preliminary injunction, saying 

the judge prefers ruling on the merits of the case. 

The judge turned down Murray’s request to block 

the MegaMillions lottery and to dismiss the slots 

suit, and may not rule now until May.





THE GOVERNOR SPEAKS OUT 

The Arizona Supreme Court slammed the door on 

the state’s racetracks yesterday, denying an injunction 

request by the state’s horse and dog tracks 

to stop Gov. Jane Hull from signing gambling compacts 

with Indian tribes. It was the third time in 

three days that the tracks lost in court, and this 

time the governor, with a mandate from voters, 

took to the press to give her response. In a long 

open letter titled “My Turn” in The Arizona Republic, 

the state’s biggest newspaper, she thanked 

voters for supporting Proposition 202, which denied 

the tracks slots, and gave her rationale for 

her actions. “I spent my first years in Arizona as 

a teacher on an Indian reservation,” the governor 

wrote, “and saw poverty so pervasive that the 

memory lingers even now. In time, my family grew 

and prospered and Arizona grew and prospered. 

However, prosperity didn’t extend to our Indian 

reservations.” Gov. Hull went on to say she was 

skeptical at first that gaming would improve Indian 

lives, but she came to see that gaming “had 

made a real difference to thousands of tribal members 

in Arizona.” For that reason, she said, she 

began to renegotiate compacts. She accused the 

state’s tracks of “a campaign of misinformation 

and litigation,” and said millions were spent to create 

confusion at the ballot box. She concluded by 

saying that the voters of Arizona had spoken, and 

she intended to sign new compacts before the end 

of her term. “It is time,” the governor wrote, “to 

put this issue to bed.” 

COMMISSIONERS SPEAK, TOO 

While Arizona’s governor spoke out, deposed racing 

commissioners in neighboring New Mexico had 

their say too. Three of them, fired by Gov. Gary 

Johnson to keep them from voting on a new track 

on the Texas border, wrote letters calling 

their dismissal “New Mexico politics at 

its worst.” 


Part of the controversy is the issue of R. D. 

Hubbard’s application for the new license, in view 

of his problems that led to him losing his license to 

operate in Indiana in the now famous case of importing 

prostitutes from Las Vegas. The New 

Mexico Gaming Control Board’s attorney had recommended 

Hubbard’s license not be renewed, but 

the commission chose to vote on it despite that 

fact, and the governor ended that prospect by firing 

three of them, leaving the commission without 

a quorum to act. The incoming governor, Bill 

Richardson, favors a track in Hobbs, and the betting 

in New Mexico is that Hubbard will be the 

man who gets to build it. 

WINNING IS THE GAME, FOLKS 

First the Greektown Casino in Detroit, and now 

Suffolk Downs in Boston. The Detroit casino 

barred nine gamblers who were winning too much 

at video poker, and tried to rationalize their decision 

by saying it would open up machine opportunities 

for others who weren’t winning. Suffolk 

Downs in Boston went to the Massachusetts racing 

commission and asked to conduct win betting 

only on state-bred races, and got it. The move 

came after the track had a $24,000 minus pool after 

a plunger bet $310,000 to show on a state-bred 

race for juvenile fillies. Instead of going to the 

legislature to get the $2.20 minimum payoff in 

Massachusetts changed to $2.10, Suffolk asked 

for the “win only” provision, and used it in the 

Massachusetts Oaks, where the 3-10 favorite 

wound up second in a six-horse field, beaten 12 

lengths by a filly owned by a 14-year-old high 

school student. The Boston Herald had fun with 

the story, and in Detroit Free Press columnist Brian 

Dickerson took Greektown apart, saying its 

publicist’s claim that the casino “loves winners” is 

like saying Augusta National “values diversity.” 

We’re off for Thanksgiving, but will be back 

with more Friday. Have a great holiday.





SNAKEBIT IN WASHINGTON 

You may have read the story about the character 

in Yacolt, Washington, who kissed a pet rattlesnake 

to impress friends, and the snake bit him on the 

lip. We thought of it yesterday over Thanksgiving 

dinner while reading about doings at Emerald 

Downs in Auburn, between Seattle and Tacoma. 

When the track first opened, president Ron 

Crockett rather contemptuously dismissed the 

nearby Indian casino as of no concern to his glittering 

new property. Now the Indians are buying 

the land under the racetrack. Crockett was “out 

of town” and not available for comment to the Seattle 

Post-Intelligencer, but the paper’s Paul 

Shukovsky reminded readers that six years ago 

Crockett had told the newspaper, “I built a live 

racing venue. I did not build a casino.” Right now 

gaming is not allowed at Emerald, but Shukovsky 

raised the point that the Muckleshoot Tribe might 

be hedging its bets against the possibility that slots 

will be allowed in new venues. The track’s vice 

president, Jack Hodge, said he learned of the 

impending sale only the day before the newspaper 

announced it, and he put a smiling spin on the fact 

that the Indians now will be the landlord. “We’ve 

got a long-term lease on the place -- 60 years -- 

and the only way it affects us is we will be mailing 

the rent check out to a different address.” The 

sale involves 150 acres currently owned by a limited 

partnership, several of whom also are part of 

the limited partnership that owns the track, and 

while Emerald did not announce a price the Post- 

Intelligencer said it learned the value of the land 

was roughly $70 million. Vice president Hodge 

said it was his understanding that the transfer 

would close around the first of the year, and said 

the marriage of the two gambling enterprises could 

create “synergies.” He said, “We’ve got a good 

relationship with the tribe, and are looking 

forward to sitting down and getting to 

know them better.” 


The Washington state racing commission said it 

knew nothing about the land sale. The 

Muckleshoot tribe, with 1,700 members, owns one 

of the most successful Indian casinos in the state, 

and also owns a bingo parlor and is building an 

amphitheater and a mall. Casinos currently are 

limited to Indian property in Washington, and 

Emerald Downs has felt their impact despite the 

fact that Crockett dismissed it summarily when he 

opened Emerald. 

BOATS FOR PA, SLOTS FOR MA? 

We’re not talking about Christmas gifts for the 

family, we’re talking about riverboats for Pennsylvania 

and slots for tracks in Massachusetts. 

The idea in Pennsylvania is being pushed by a man 

close to the governor-elect -- in fact the co-chairman 

of his campaign committee -- and he’s talking 

about three riverboats on the waters of Pittsburgh, 

or at least Allegheny county. The man pushing 

the idea, Mike Veon, has clout beyond his close 

ties to the new governor. He is house minority 

whip for the Democrats in Pennsylvania. 

In Massachusetts, lame duck state representative 

George Rogers has filed a bill for the second time 

calling for slots at the state’s four racetracks, sugarcoating 

the measure this time around with monies 

for education. “It’s foolish to ignore this,” he 

told the Boston Globe, and to say it’s overdue, 

that’s really putting it mildly.” Rogers has lost on 

the issue before and lost his bid for reelection, but 

he says governor-elect Mitt Romney may be receptive 

in looking for new revenue options. 

ALADDIN TO BE A TIME SHARE? 

That’s the rumor in Las Vegas, where the Review 

Journal says time-share developer Ian Bruce 

Eicher may be planning to buy the bankrupt 

Aladdin and convert it.





FORGET OHIO SLOTS FOR NOW 

That’s the word from Ohio state senator Lou Blessing, 

the man who sponsored the legislation that 

would have brought slots to Ohio tracks. He says 

the measure “is probably dead...for now.” The 

Cleveland Plain Dealer quoted Blessing to that 

effect, and attributed the defeat to “a veto threat 

from the governor, a groundswell of opposition and 

time constraints.” And Ohio State football. Blessing 

told the paper that “even if we would pass this 

in the next two weeks or so, I have no doubt that 

the governor would wait 10 days and then veto the 

bill. We would be asking people to come back after 

Christmas for an override vote, and I suspect 

a whole lot of them are going to be in Tempe, Arizona.” 

Tempe, of course is where Ohio State’s 

undefeated Buckeyes will be playing Miami in the 

Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. It 

should be Southern Cal, but it will be Miami. Go 

to the bank with it. 

LAST GASP FOR AZ TRACKS 

The news was no better for Arizona’s racetracks 

than it was for those in Ohio. The horse and dog 

tracks’ attorney in Arizona, turned down by three 

courts in three days last week, filed a brief with 

the Court of Appeals and the court said it would 

hear his arguments. The same court refused to 

grant an immediate injunction to stop implementation 

of Proposition 202, which was a victory for 

Indian tribes and a defeat for tracks, and so did 

the state Supreme Court. In the seemingly unlikely 

event that the Court of Appeals acts before 

Gov. Jane Hull signs new compacts under the provisions 

of Proposition 202, which could be as early 

as tomorrow, it appears the Arizona situation will 

remain largely status quo, except that it will allow 

17 Indian tribes to have up to 29 casinos, with no 

tribe to have more than 998 slots, and a 

state cap of 15,675. 

December 2, 2002 

INTRIGUING THOUGHT IN MD 

Steve Wynn, building in Las Vegas, Atlantic City 

and Macau, now would like to build in Maryland, 

and the scenario is fascinating. Wynn showed up 

in Annapolis recently to meet with legislative leaders, 

and tried -- but failed -- to get an audience 

with governor-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. as well. 

A spokesman for the new governor told the Baltimore 

Sun that it was felt “inappropriate” for 

Ehrlich to meet with Wynn, now a declared interested 

party for a slots license in Maryland after 

telling legislators he wants to build a major entertainment 

complex with racing, slots and entertainment 

in the state. The chairman of the Maryland 

house appropriations committee, Howard P. 

Rawlings, said that in order for Wynn to get involved, 

“he either has to buy a racetrack, or enter 

into a relationship with one of the racetrack owners,” 

which would mean either Magna Entertainment, 

now in control of Pimlico and Laurel; Centaur 

Inc., about to become owners of Rosecroft; 

or the Rickman family, which owns Ocean Downs. 

That type of relationship has precedent in nearby 

Delaware, where Caesars World runs the highly 

successful racino at Dover Downs. Rawlings 

sounded one ominous note when he told the Sun 

that some Prince George’s county legislators might 

seek to license slots at Baltimore’s National Harbor 

rather than at Rosecroft Raceway, but the 

Peterson Companies, developers of the National 

Harbor development, say that a casino is not in 

their plans and neighborhood residents there 

oppose the idea. It also seems highly unlikely 

that governor Ehrlich would allow three of the 

state’s four racetracks to have slots to keep them 

competitive and allow Rosecroft to fall by the 

wayside without them. Maryland Senate president 

Mike Miller, who met with Wynn, said he told 

him that the new governor’s vision of slots encompassed 

racetracks and tracks only.





GAO REPORTS ON INTERNET 

The United States General Accounting Office, in 

response to Congressional requests for a study 

of Internet Gambling, has issued a 60-page overview 

of the issues. It has been posted in full and 

is available for downloading on the home page 

of HTA’s Web site, www.harnesstracks.com. 

The study is comprehensive, covering the Interstate 

Horseracing Act and Wire Act, Internet 

gambling regulations in foreign jurisdictions, and 

a survey of Internet gambling Web sites. Those 

looking for a definitive answer to the problem 

are not likely to find it, however, as the GAO 

makes no recommendations in the report. It is a 

solid overview, however, for those who wish to 

understand the issue in its various ramifications 

here and overseas. 

REID WILL VOTE AGAINST NET 

In another significant development on the 

Internet gambling scene, Nevada Democratic 

senator Harry Reid has announced that he will 

support an outright ban, rather than regulation, 

next year. Reid lashed out strongly against 

Internet betting, putting him at odds with one of 

his major constituents, Terry Lanni, the boss of 

MGM/Mirage’s far-flung casino/hotel holdings. 

Reid, who takes over as minority whip in the new 

Congress, said he and fellow members of Congress, 

including Rep. Michael Oxley of Ohio, will 

make an Internet gambling ban high priority in 

the next session. Other Congressional leaders, 

including John Conyers of Michigan, have a different 

view, favoring control and regulation, but 

Reid says he doesn’t think Internet gambling can 

be controlled. Whether emboldened by the GAO 

report, which passes on the view that “Internet 

gambling could potentially be a powerful vehicle 

for laundering criminal proceeds at the 

relatively obscure ‘layering’ stage of 

money laundering,” or merely by his own 

convictions, Reid sets the stage for a battle. 


THE ROCK BACK IN HARNESS 

Some, including the HBPA, thought he was bluffing, 

but Ed Callahan of Rockingham Park jolted 

them and surprised others yesterday by applying 

for and receiving 100 days of harness racing 

at Rockingham Park for 2003. The track returns 

to the harness fold after 22 years, and in another 

example of state racing commissions not giving 

much concern to conflict, New Hampshire’s gave 

no thought to the creation of a significant New 

England circuit and instead granted Rockingham 

dates from May 24 to September 1, putting it in 

direct conflict with Plainridge Racecourse in 

nearby Massachusetts. Callahan is no stranger 

to harness racing, having been general manager 

at Foxboro Raceway before it was torn down to 

make way for Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots. 

He says he does not plan to draw horses 

from Plainridge, but will try to get Freehold’s 

supply when that track closes after Memorial Day 

to make way for Monmouth Park’s nearby meeting. 

He also hopes to draw from Delaware, where 

he faces high slot-fueled purses, and from Pompano, 

which will not operate next summer. He 

says he may operate on different days or at different 

times than Plainridge, but that track’s 

general manager, Steve O’Toole, said he was “a 

little disappointed that Eddie didn’t think to call 

about it” and wondered aloud where 

Rockingham would get the horses for its meeting. 

He said Rockingham’s move was either an 

extreme form of flattery at Plainridge’s success, 

or an economic move that would cost them less 

to operate. Bob O’Malley, chief operating officer 

at Suffolk Downs, the closest horse track to 

Rockingham, called the development “a bombshell,” 

saying he thought the talk of returning to 

harness racing was “just a bit of sparring going 

back and forth between them and the horsemen.” 

O’Malley said if Suffolk raced more than 150 

days of thoroughbred racing it would mean 

less purses, as in New Jersey.





CASE OF THE MISSING CASE 

With a whip tossed in anger as the only tangible 

clue, the hugely talented but hard-to-handle 

Peck’s Bad Boy of harness racing is missing in 

action. Or out of action. Either way, Walter Case 

disappeared from Northfield Park after the final 

race a week ago and hasn’t surfaced since. 

He threw his whip into the infield at Northfield 

after finishing third with something called 

Hershel Kiss the night before Thanksgiving and 

sped off into the night, unseen and unheard since. 

Bob Roberts, writing in the Cleveland Plain 

Dealer, says Case was placed under suspension 

at the conclusion of that racing card by the Ohio 

Racing Commission for failing to pay $5,175 in 

fines, most of them for his familiar habit of taking 

a foot out of the stirrups and booting his 

mount. Roberts quoted Northfield presiding 

judge Larry Willis as saying Case has been fined 

more than $50,000 over the last two years, either 

unable to break the kicking habit or defiant 

enough to continue despite the fines. In either 

case, Willis told Case he could no longer drive at 

Northfield until the outstanding fines were paid, 

and that was the end of the trail. Barred earlier 

this year from the Delaware County Fair, home 

of the Little Brown Jug, after he failed to show 

up for scheduled drives, Case, 41, is running out 

of venues for his exceptional driving talents. This 

year, until his Thanksgiving eve disappearance, 

he had driven in 2,302 races this year, had won 

679 of them, and had finished first, second or 

third 1,347 times, in the mutuel money 59% of 

the time. Lifetime, he has won 10,788 races, and 

was HTA’s Driver of the Year three times, in 

1991, 1992 and 1998. Case drove for last year’s 

leading race-winning trainer, Bob Belcher, also 

no stranger to controversy, but the two had a falling 

out and Belcher said, “It wouldn’t break 

my heart if he doesn’t come back.” He 

added that “without a doubt, he’s the best 

driver I’ve ever seen.” 


NO TRACK SLOTS IN ILLINOIS 

Illinois joined Ohio as a loser in the quest for 

slots at tracks yesterday, when a bid for them 

was quickly dismissed in the state legislature in 

Springfield. Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun- 

Times reported today that no written bill ever 

was circulated for consideration, and no legislator 

stepped forward to sponsor the legislation. 

Balmoral Park’s John Johnston took a philosophical 

view, telling O’Donnell, “I think a very 

quick consensus arose that the issue could be best 

addressed when the new governor and the new 

state legislature are in place next year,” and 

added, “I guess that’s all part of good government.” 

STUNTMAN SUES ON PICK SIX 

There’s no humor to it, but it is ironic that the 

class action suit filed against Autotote in Los 

Angeles Superior Court today is on behalf of a 

Hollywood stuntman. Jimmy ‘The Hat’ Allard, 

48, reportedly is a shareholder in 78 consolation 

tickets on the Breeders’ Cup Pick Six, having had 

five of the six winners in the Arlington exotic. 

Allard is part of a group that bets California Pick 

Six pools daily, and he claims he has invested 

more than $20 million in the pool in the last 16 

years and has cashed more than 200 Pick Six 

winners, including three worth more than $1 

million each. If, as expected, there should be a 

distribution of the $3 million plus pool, Allard 

could see each of the tickets he shares grow in 

value from roughly $4,600 to some $39,000. Joseph 

Lisoni, Allard’s lawyer, is accusing Autotote 

of negligence. Autotote had not seen the suit, and 

had no immediate comment. Allard told Bill 

Christine of the Los Angeles Times that, as an 

extra and stuntman, he has appeared in some 

appropriately named shows, including Love Boat, 

Happy Days and Fantasy Island on television 

and Airplane and The Blues Brothers 

in the movies.





HULL SIGNS INDIAN COMPACTS 

In a victory for her and the voters of Arizona who 

approved Proposition 202 on Indian gaming, Gov. 

Jane Hull yesterday concluded the controversial 

issue in the state by signing new compacts with 17 

Indian tribes. The signing put an end to the crushing 

defeat at the polls suffered by the state’s horse 

and dog tracks, which had sought slots along with 

the Indians, but were rebuffed by 80% of the 

state’s voters. 

U.S. BETTORS LIKE WOODBINE 

Do they ever! Last year, although Woodbine 

Entertainment had slight declines in its Canadian 

market, American bettors stepped in with 

a 20% increase in their wagering on Woodbine’s 

thoroughbred signals and helped propel the 

Toronto track to a 5.5% gain for the 166-day 

meeting that ended last Sunday. U.S. wagering 

rose from $122.4 million a year ago to $146.9 

million this year. Woodbine’s telephone account 

wagering continued its strong growth, with its 

TAB customers betting $15.6 million on Woodbine 

runners as against $11.9 million a year ago. 

NEW MEXICO NOT INDIANA 

Kids learn that in first grade geography, and 

racing learned it again yesterday when the New 

Mexico Gaming Control Board, overriding the 

recommendation of its staff, voted to renew the 

gambling license of R. D. Hubbard. The staff 

and the board differed in their determination of 

what constitutes a “limiting action” in state law 

involving gaming actions in another state. 

Hubbard was forced to surrender his gambling 

license in Indiana and pay a $740,000 fine in connection 

with violations at Pinnacle Entertainment, 

of which he was chairman at the time. The 

New Mexico staff considered that disqualifying, 

but the board, although miffed that 

Hubbard did not show up, approved him 

and urged he conduct his New Mexico affairs 

with integrity. 


The Pinnacle issue, however, refuses to go away. 

The former chief executive of the gaming company, 

Paul Alanis, has filed a lawsuit against the 

company, Hubbard, and current Pinnacle CEO 

Daniel Lee, alleging he was defamed by suggestions 

that he was involved with the infamous 

June, 2001 golf tournament at the Belterra Casino 

Resort, where prostitutes reportedly were 

flown in from Las Vegas to entertain customers. 

In addition to the defamation charges, Alanis says 

he had been promised severance and other financial 

benefits. Pinnacle stock, which has traded 

between $5.02 and $12.68 over the last year according 

to Reuters Yahoo!Finance, was down 2 

cents yesterday at $6.33. 

ANOTHER VIP HAS PROBLEMS 

A former associate of R. D. Hubbard’s in the illfated 

Woodlands racetrack in Kansas City, Kansas, 

Richard J. Boushka, has pleaded guilty to 

defrauding a bank of $19 million, and will be sentenced 

March 3. Boushka, a former Olympic basketball 

star who played on the same team as Bill 

Russell and won a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics, 

will receive less than the maximum sentence 

of 30 years and $1 million fine for cooperating 

with federal authorities, according to the Kansas 

City Star. Boushka owned 40% of the Woodlands 

when it was built in the late 1980s, and the 

Star said a state audit released in 1995 showed 

that during the years he was a partner in The 

Woodlands, Boushka made more than $12 million 

in salary, consulting fees, stock dividends and 

stock holdings. 

FILION IN POMPANO TOURNEY 

Herve Filion, approaching his 15,000th driving 

victory, has been invited to compete in Pompano 

Park’s All-Star Driving Challenge Friday and Saturday 

nights, Dec. 13 and 14. He and eight 

others will compete in five races each night, 

with $3,000 going to the winner.





INDIANA DOWNS OPENS TONITE 

A 14-year dream turns into reality for developer 

Paul Estridge Sr. tonight, when Indiana Downs, 

the nation’s newest racetrack, opens for a 19- 

night ‘preview’ meeting in Shelbyville, Indiana, 

30 miles southeast of Indianapolis. If rave notices 

from trainers and drivers are an indication, 

the track will be popular with the harness racing 

fraternity. Gil Short, the track’s general 

manager, promised months ago he would have 

the plant ready for action tonight, and the veteran 

harness horseman made good on his vow. 

The track will share Indiana’s riverboat subsidy 

allocation with Hoosier Park, which last year 

picked up $6.8 million from that source. The trim 

plant will race 19 days of harness racing now, 

then will conduct 30 days of thoroughbred racing 

from April 11 to May 26, and will return with 

100 days of harness racing starting June 3 and 

stretching to October 18. Tonight’s feature, appropriately, 

is the $15,000 Paul Estridge Inaugural 

Handicap. HTA welcomes its newest member 

and wishes it good luck with its opening. 

CASE BACK AT NORTHFIELD 

Keeping up with Walter Case is difficult at best, 

but the nation’s current leading race winner will 

return to Northfield Park tomorrow night, attributing 

his abrupt weeklong absence without 

notice or previous explanation to a sore shoulder. 

No one at Northfield knew where Case was, 

but he told Dave Little of the New York Daily 

News , a personal friend, that “It is nobody’s business 

where I go.” Northfield’s stewards didn’t 

ask, but they insisted that Case pay at least part 

of more than $5,000 in fines that he owes for kicking 

horses before he could return. He paid $2,175 

and promised the remaining $3,000 would be paid 

in two weeks. Northfield GM Tom Aldrich did 

not elaborate on Case’s absence or return, 

but told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “I 

have expectations that need to be met and 

Walter knows it.” 


During his absence, Case apparently settled grievances 

with trainer Bob Belcher, with whom he had 

broken off relations, for he is scheduled to drive 

four Belcher-trained horses in his return. Belcher 

had said, after Case disappeared, that it wouldn’t 

break his heart if Case never came back, but his 

recognition of Case as “the best driver I have ever 

seen” apparently softened his stand and the two 

controversial figures are reunited. 

EAST TRACKS BACK IN ACTION 

The Meadowlands, Freehold Raceway and Dover 

Downs return to action today after winter 

weather closings on Thursday. The Meadowlands 

gears up for Saturday night’s $1.7 million 

Fall Final Four, the $520,000 Governor’s Cup 

for 2-year-old pacing colts, the $370,000 Three 

Diamonds for 2-year-old pacing fillies, the 

$410,000 Valley Victory for 2-year-old trotting 

colts, and the $370,000 Goldsmith Maid for 2- 

year-old trotting fillies. Allamerican Native is 

favored in the Governor’s Cup, Color Me Beachy 

is morning line favorite for the Three Diamonds, 

Sugar Trader is favored in the Valley Victory, 

and Pizza Dolce is the even money favorite in the 

Goldsmith Maid. 

At Windsor Raceway in Ontario, the top 3-yearold 

pacing colts in action meet in two eliminations 

Sunday for next week’s $500,000 Provincial 

Cup. 

SPORT LOSES TWO STARS 

Two major figures in harness racing died this 

week. Dorothy Pierce Hardy, owner of 1974 

Harness Horse of the Year and Prix D’Amerique 

winner Delmonica Hanover, died at 79 at her Upper 

Saint Clair, PA, home. She was the former wife 

of Joe Hardy, owner of 84 Lumber company. In 

Ontario, noted breeder Chris Van Bussel 

died at 61.





INDIANA DOWNS GETS GOING 

Horsemen were enthusiastic, the track was fast, 

the purses were solid, and racing secretary Jim 

Ewart put together full and well matched fields 

as Indiana Downs made its debut Friday night 

in Shelbyville, Indiana. An opening night crowd 

of 3,421 bet $265,933 and enthusiastically accepted 

the attractive plant that still has finishing 

touches to complete Gil Short’s ambitious plans. 

On Saturday night Daisy’s Boy gave ample evidence 

that the track was just what horsemen said 

it was -- good and fast -- when he won the Invitational 

Pace in 1:51.3 over Indiana Downs’ mile 

track. 

In another development, the track signed a settlement 

agreement with the Indiana Racing Commission, 

effectively ending the litigation between 

the two. Indiana Downs agreed to pay a fine of 

$400,000 in two equal installments May 15 and 

August 15, 2003, and cover commission legal fees 

of $150,000, for failing to properly disclose its 

relationship with consultants who violated commission 

rules in contacts with commissioners. 

The track also issued full apologies to commission 

executive director Joe Gorajec for disparaging 

remarks about his activities in pursuing 

the charges. The commission, for its part, stated 

that investigation uncovered no evidence that any 

of Indiana Downs’ owners and principals “either 

participated in the conduct giving rise to these 

violations or in any other type of inappropriate 

behavior or misconduct.” 

SYMPOSIUM STARTS TUESDAY 

The annual Racing Symposium of the Race 

Track Industry Program of the University of 

Arizona gets underway tomorrow here in Tucson. 

As usual, some 1,000 leaders of harness, 

thoroughbred and greyhound racing will 

be on hand for weeklong discussions on 

the state of racing today. 


For those HTAers who are not making the meeting, 

the daily Executive Newsletter will keep you 

posted on developments and presentations of interest. 

Wagering Insurance NorthAmerica, consisting 

of a number of HTA and other tracks as 

successor to HTA Insurance, will have a booth 

during the entire symposium, and brochures 

have been placed in the registration packets of 

every registrant. 

A FIRST FOR JOHN CAMPBELL? 

There are very few things that John Campbell 

has not attained in his rise to preeminence as 

harness racing’s greatest driver, but one of them 

is Windsor Raceway’s Provincial Cup. That 

honor is likely to fall to Campbell come Sunday, 

when he will drive Art Major in the $437,000 final. 

John won with the leading contender for 3- 

year-old pacing honors in one preliminary Sunday 

in 1:51.3 and Art Major will be the favorite 

in Sunday’s rich final. Dreamfair Vogel won the 

other elimination in 1:53.3. Both horses are 

trained by Bill Robinson, who has sent out five 

previous Provincial Cup winners. McArdle and 

Three Olives are among others qualifying for the 

final. 

A BODY IN A SUITCASE 

Sounds like a television mystery, and the only 

reason it gets space here is that the body was 

found by hunters hiking through pine trees near 

the entrance to Perretti Farms, one of harness 

racing’s major breeding farms, in Monmouth 

county in New Jersey. The victim was an Hispanic 

in his mid-20s, 5 feet 11 inches tall, with no 

visible signs of trauma. 

THE NEW MARTHA STEWART 

That was the description of the new savior of racing, 

Rudy Giuliani, given by a Connecticut 

marketing strategist, who called Giuliani 

“the Martha Stewart of security.”





SYMPOSIUM STARTS TODAY 

The 29th Symposium on Racing organized by the 

Race Track Industry Program of the University of 

Arizona got underway at 8 a.m. this morning, with 

two special sessions kicking off American racing’s 

biggest get-together. Some 1,000 members of the 

racing fraternity -- harness, thoroughbred, quarter 

horse and greyhound -- will have attended a 

host of sessions before the curtain falls on Friday. 

Today’s opener is an all-day marathon on insurance, 

primarily targeted on the workers’ compensation 

issue for horsemen, since it is sponsored by 

the American Quarter Horse Association and 

Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. 

Track insurance is certain to arise during 

the day, and Wagering Insurance NorthAmerica, 

which evolved from the old HTA Insurance company, 

will be represented by its counsel, Chicago 

insurance attorney Dan O’Leary. Eight other 

speakers are on the morning agenda, followed by 

an open discussion session in the afternoon. 

Also scheduled for today is a so-called Racing and 

Gaming Summit, which starts at 9 and goes on until 

4:30. Subjects include The Economic Impact of 

Gaming Machines at Racing Facilities; The Racetrack/Lottery 

Partnership; The Politics of Racing 

and Gaming; a luncheon with Ron Barbaro, chairman 

and CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming 

corporation as keynote speaker; Integrating Gaming 

Into the Racetrack Environment; and The 

Gaming Product. GEM Communications is sponsoring 

the event. Speakers are Jane Holmes of 

Ontario’s OHRIA, Wayne Lemons and Don 

Johnson of the Delaware Lottery, Gary Loebig of 

Multimedia Games, Dan Bucci of Lincoln Park, 

Gerald Aubin of the Rhode Island Lottery, Bennett 

Liebman of the Racing and Wagering Law Program 

at Albany Law School, consultant 

Mike Shagan, Bear Stearns gaming and 

leisure analyst Michael Tew, and Marc 

Falcone of the North American Equity Research 

Group. 


EARLY DATES FOR BIG RACES 

The realignment of racing dates in Indiana with 

the addition of Indiana Downs will result in two 

major pacing events being conducted early in the 

2003 season at Hoosier Park. The $200,000 Dan 

Patch Invitational will be raced on Saturday, April 

12, and the $500,000 Hoosier Cup for 3-year-olds 

will be raced Friday, May 30, which will be closing 

night for Hoosier next spring. The shortened Hoosier 

Park season will result in cancellation of other 

major events. The $250,000 Breeders Filly Stake, 

the Kentucky Standardbred Sales Company 

Stakes and John Simpson Memorial Grand Circuit 

races all will be dropped from the Hoosier 

stakes schedule next year. 

OHIO SEASON TRIMMED, TOO 

The Ohio State Racing Commission has approved 

shorter 2003 seasons for two tracks, Lebanon 

Raceway and Scioto Downs, under an arrangment 

requiring 17% reductions if approved by both track 

management and horsemen. Those conditions 

were met by Lebanon and Scioto, horsemen preferring 

shorter seasons rather than purse reductions. 

Lebanon will race 94 programs instead of 

the 113 raced this year, and Scioto will shorten its 

season from 115 programs to 95. Simulcast agreements 

also were approved that will have racing 

neighbors Beulah Park and Scioto Downs in Columbus 

working cooperatively. Beulah will simulcast 

from tracks that begin racing at 4 p.m. and 

earlier, and Scioto will simulcast from those with 

post times of 4 p.m. and later. Either track may 

simulcast California afternoon racing that begins 

racing after 4 p.m. eastern time. Scioto also will 

be able to simulcast on afternoons during the 

Grand Circuit meeting at the Delaware County 

Fair, home of the Little Brown Jug. 

SYMPOSIUM REPORTS 

The Executive Newsletter will carry news 

from the Racing Symposium all week.





RACING TAKES A BEATING 

Racing did not fare too well at its symposium in 

Tucson yesterday. Two of the main speakers of 

the day spoke rather contemptuously of the sport 

and its product, saying that slots at tracks might 

be a short term fix but would not do much for 

racing long term. 


Good or bad, the experts acknowledged that racing 

is likely to get the opportunity to add alternative 

gaming to its menus, saying that 40 states 

are facing deficit budgets next year and that fact, 

combined with changing mores that make gambling 

more socially acceptable, is likely to add 

slots to tracks in a number of states. 

Bill Eadington, a professor of economics at the 

University of Nevada-Reno and director of the 

school’s Institute for the Study of Gambling, said 

that racing’s problem was the product, and that 

current revenues from slots at tracks that have 

them is certain to diminish as economically 

strapped states dip into that reservoir for funds. 

Eadington said there were more pressing social 

needs than racing, and states would start to seek 

reallocation of slots money to satisfy those needs. 

He also called tracks with slots “casinos that happen 

to have animals that run in circles.” Bob 

Farinella, president of Prairie Meadows Racetrack 

and Casino, refuted that argument, saying 

that his experience was that his racing operation 

was very viable and stimulated breeding farms 

and horses and their related economic activities 

that benefit the state. Jane Holmes, who brought 

harness and thoroughbred racing together in 

Ontario, echoed those sentiments, saying slots at 

tracks in Ontario supported a huge industry that 

employed over 40,000 people and was the third 

largest agricultural operation in that province. 

Then another Ontario speaker, Ron Barbaro, 

chairman of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming 

corporation, derided racing, saying he watched 

eight hours of the Breeders’ Cup and found “no 

fun energy whatsoever,” but rather “trainers, 

owners, jockeys and horses.” Barbaro, who presumably 

thinks there is great “fun energy” in 

pulling slot machine handles, said, “I understand 

racehorse people are very religious 

-- they worship each other,” and 

added that “it annoys the hell out of me.” 

REINVENTING THE WHEEL 

A panel of nine speakers discussed insurance at 

yesterday’s Symposium session, and only one of 

them -- Dan O’Leary, counsel for Wagering Insurance 

NorthAmerica -- seemed to be aware that 

there already was an experienced captive for 

American racing. The others discussed the need 

and possibility for the racing industry to form a 

captive, apparently unaware that a booth in the 

exhibit area adjacent to where they were speaking 

had representatives from a successful captive 

with 24 years of performance that had returned 

$12 million in investment profit to members 

over its existence. Why any current members 

of WIN would want to join a new all-inclusive 

captive is a mystery, but the leaders of the 

movement formed a task force nevertheless to 

explore the possibilities. Far more sensible, it 

would seem, would be for the those seeking such 

salvation to join the existing captive available to 

all. Next up, discovering penicillin. 

MORE GUILTY PLEAS IN PICK 6 

Without much choice, two coconspirators in the 

Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick Six scandal are entering 

guilty pleas. Once mastermind Chris Harn 

pleaded guilty, Glen DaSilva and Derrick Davis 

were stripped of cover, and both are reported 

ready to plead guilty to wire and computer fraud 

and money laundering. 

CHURCHILL PROMOTIONS 

Tom Meeker has named Steve Sexton 

president of Churchill Downs and Cliff 

Goodrich president of Arlington Park.





TALK, TALK, TALK IN TUCSON 

As the second and third coconspirators in the 

Breeders’Cup Pick Six scandal pleaded guilty in 

New York, racing’s movers and shakers were 

trying to figure out how to repair the damage at 

the annual Racing Symposium in Tucson, Arizona. 

The president of Racing Commissioners 

International, Lonny Powell, described the agonies 

of the industry as “like undergoing gut surgery 

with a dull blade without anesthesia,” but 

there was no indication racing commissioners 

would unite to help the patient. Representatives 

of the NTRA, while acknowledging the damage 

might last for years, seemed happy that all in 

racing are “pulling in the same direction,” as if 

they were. Rhetoric was rampant, but one voice 

of reality pierced the noise. Bennett Liebman, 

former New York Racing Commissioner who 

now coordinates the Albany Law School’s program 

on racing and wagering, said stewards are 

becoming irrelevant and ignored among leaders 

addressing problems like racing security, and he 

lamented the fact that current rules, lacking uniformity, 

are leading to a world of total confusion. 

He warned, “We have land mines in the 

stewards’ stands that are ready to explode.” Tote 

technology was discussed at length, but without 

the people who utilize it -- the three major tote 

companies -- participating in the discussions. 

Marketing by small tracks and large occupied 

this morning’s sessions, with representatives of 

smaller independent tracks airing their problems 

and solutions in a world of simulcasting, and Nick 

Eaves, architect of Woodbine Entertainment’s 

far-reaching marketing program, outlining that 

all-embracing enterprise. Steve Mitchell, also of 

Woodbine, stressed the necessity of the racing 

industry to attend to time delays in time stops on 

betting, saying that a survey of 44 thoroughbred 

and harness races at Woodbine 

showed an average time of 41 seconds after 

the start for final odds to be posted. 


More significantly, he said that while he felt certain 

no past posting was going on, and presented 

abundant figures to back up his contention, including 

odds that went up instead of down, he 

noted that 40% of people polled at Hollywood 

Park thought past posting was occurring. Bill 

Nader of NYRA said the industry had to strive 

to reduce the time of final odds posting to as close 

to real time as possible. 

In the wake of all the talk, there were interesting 

developments elsewhere. 

In New York, Glen DaSilva, in pleading guilty to 

his role in the Pick Six scandal, said he made 

around $200,000 in his conspiracy role with Chris 

Harn. In upstate New York, in the course of selling 

junk bonds for the first time, the Oneida Indian 

nation revealed its slot machines generate 

$106 million for the casino each year. Since gaming 

accounts for some 70% of a casino’s income, 

it was projected that the Oneida’s Turning Stone 

takes in some $152 million a year. At the Turning 

Stone’s nearby neighbor, Vernon Downs, 

more trouble. The track is suing the state, contending 

that it has no right to require John K. 

Baldwin, a financial partner of Shawn Scott in 

numerous business ventures, to be licensed. 

Baldwin is not an officer, director, member or 

stockholder of Mid-State Raceway, which operates 

Vernon, but the state racing and wagering 

board thinks he is inextricably involved with 

Scott and wants him to undergo a license and 

background check, which he has refused to do. 

Scott, it turns out, has not executed an option to 

acquire nearly 2 million shares of Vernon stock, 

which would have given him 80% of the shares. 

He currently holds some 4%, but he also was 

asked for a background check, and still has not 

obtained a license. 

In Illinois, Pick 4 and 6 wagering will return 

to Hawthorne tomorrow.





CRIMINALITY AND COMEDY TOO 

The guilty plea yesterday in White Plains, NY, of 

Derrick Davis, who nominally held the winning 

ticket to $3 million in the Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick 

Six scandal, contained comedy as well as tragedy. 

After telling how mastermind Glen Harn had called 

him and told him he was going to rig the bet and 

asked if Davis wanted in, Davis said he was “truly 

sorry,” that he would relinquish all rights to the 

money, and that the government could instruct Arlington 

Park to redistribute the $3 million “to those 

who truly have a right to it, the people that picked 

five out of six,” and that he hoped they could get 

the money by Dec. 25. What a tender touch for a 

crook. Wonder if he’ll send Christmas cards, too, 

to all those five-of-sixers. The likelihood of Christmas 

gifts is remote, unless the Illinois Racing 

Board, touched by Davis’ contrition, schedules a 

special meeting in the next 10 days to boost the 

payoff for the 5-of-6 holders from $4,606 to close 

to $40,000. The invitation from Harn to Davis to 

get in on “future action” on the Breeders’ Cup bet 

was not their first gambol into illicit gambling. In 

late May, Davis said, Harn asked him to cash some 

one hundred counterfit unclaimed winning mutuel 

tickets from 2001. He did, after a trip to Delaware 

Park to learn how to use self-service machines, 

and he split the $22,000 profit with Harn. 

The third Drexel boy, Glen DaSilva, cashed more 

than $90,000. After all, what are fraternity brothers 

for, if not fun and games? 

CORDIALITY, TO A DEGREE 

Four independent track represenatives kicked 

around the subject of surviving with the big guys 

at yesterday’s sessions of the Racing Symposium 

in Tucson, and there were sunny smiles all around 

and great conviviality. When the subject got around 

to account wagering, however, there was 

a chill behind the smiles. Jim Hannon, who 

handles simulcasting for Billy Johnston’s 


Chicago-area operations, said that fellow panelist 

Mike Weiss of Beulah Park in Columbus, Ohio, 

was stealing Balmoral and Maywood Park customers 

with his AmericaTab Internet and phone service. 

Hannon said that because Illinois does not 

allow account wagering, the Chicago tracks could 

not compete with those operations from out of 

state. Weiss essentially said it was survival of the 

fittest, attributing Beulah’s successes to account 

wagering, loyal fans, a clean plant and the wellrounded 

Katie and Jenna Felty, the Beulah Twins, 

who were given considerable credit for rises in 

Beulah’s handle. Tip to track operators: get yourself 

some lovely blondes, men. Two of a kind, if 

possible. 

HORSEMEN SUE MONTICELLO 

Claiming they have been shorted $1.3 million by 

purse deductions for track expenses, horse owners 

and trainers have sued Monticello Raceway 

for that amount after the track offered $125,000 

as a settlement. Track president Cliff Ehrlich says 

he has “utmost respect” for the horsemen, and 

calls the suit “unfortunate” because it will be 

lengthy and expensive. 

ANNETTE ABDICATES 

Annette Bacola, Michigan’s lone racing commissioner, 

has had enough. She announced her resignation 

yesterday, effective the end of the month, 

a year earlier than her term. Mrs. Bacola said 

she would have stayed on if Gov. John Engler had 

created a full commission to help out, but that she 

was tired of handling the task alone and opted to 

spend more time with her husband and six-yearold 

son. The development apparently caught her 

staff by surprise, the announcement coming not 

from her Michigan office but in a news story in 

Thoroughbred Times. Across the Detroit River, 

Windsor Raceway presents its 37th Provincial 

Cup Sunday, for a purse of $437,000, with a 

classy 9-horse field.





MICHIGAN GOV ACTS QUICKLY 

Annette Bacola’s resignation as Michigan racing 

commissioner may have surprised many, but John 

Engler, the governor of Michigan, apparently was 

not one of them. Within 24 hours after her announcement 

at the Racing Symposium in Tucson 

last week, Engler replaced Bacola with R. Robert 

Geake, a practicing consulting psychologist who 

has been serving as Michigan’s Children’s Ombudsman 

for the last year. Geake was appointed 

for a two-year term beginning this coming Saturday. 

ANOTHER SLOT FUSS IN MD 

Baltimore and Washington newspapers were in a 

tizzy today, buzzing about the revelation that Joe 

DeFrancis, his sister Karin, and other former minority 

owners of Pimlico and Laurel in a group 

called Maryland Ventures were to get 65% of 

pretax earnings from slot operations at Maryland 

thoroughbred tracks for the first five years of slot 

operations, if approved. The percentage, according 

to an SEC filing, would drop to 50% after five 

years, to 40% after ten years, and would cease 

after slots had been at the tracks for twenty years. 

The Washington Post quoted “several of 

Maryland’s legislative leaders” as saying that “if 

too much money lands in the pockets of a small 

collection of wealthy track owners, public support 

for slots could evaporate.” Incoming House 

Speaker Michael Busch, a Democrat and an opponent 

of slots, said, “The idea of creating bonanzas 

for individuals out there is not something 

that we as elected officials should be entertaining.” 

Republican legislators who previously opposed 

the idea of slots at tracks now say they are 

ready to go along with the idea, but the DeFrancis 

slot sharing could lead to them making the state’s 

share so high, or the tax so oppressive, that 

Maryland would face the same situation 

as New York, where tracks can’t build on 

a 12% share or with a five-year sunset provision. 


The DeFrancis/Maryland Ventures story was not 

part of the original news stories about the sale of 

the Maryland Jockey Club to Magna Entertainment. 

It broke after a DeFrancis announcement 

of the arrangement, and after the SEC filing by 

Magna Entertainment revealed the details, which 

also showed that Joe and Karin received $18.4 million 

from Magna for an option to buy their remaining 

49% stake in the Maryland Jockey Club in 

2006 or 2007. If Magna exercised the option, Joe 

and Karin would get another $18.3 million. As for 

the split of the 65% of pretax slots profits, the 

SEC filing shows approximate pro rata shares for 

the first five years of 35% to the Maryland Jockey 

Club; 19% to LUK-Flats LLC; 16% to the Laurel 

Guida Group, controlled by former harness racing 

owner Lou Guida; 13% to FJN LLC; 12% to Joe 

DeFrancis; and 5% to counsel Martin Jacobs. The 

dollar value of those percentages depends, of 

course, on how Maryland decides to divvy up slots 

revenues between the states and the tracks. This 

latest revelation clearly could affect those percentages. 

A STRANGE AND WEIRD REPORT 

Thoroughbred Times reports that Magna Entertainment 

has purchased a 271-acre site in suburban 

Detroit for more than $100 million to build a 

mixed-breed track. The report is bizarre, since 

Magna International bought the site two years ago 

this month for $17 million, and it seems unlikely it 

would sell to MEC for an $83 million profit. Michigan 

deputy racing commissioner Jim Bowes was 

quoted in the story, but he says his quote and the 

story were from two years ago, and that Salem 

township, where the property is located, opposes 

any racetrack there. 

GELLER INTRODUCES VLT BILLS 

Senator Steve Geller has introduced a bill -- S64 - 

- that would provide VLTs at Florida’s parimutuel 

facilities, racing and jai alai.





VETO FOR NJ COMMISSION BILL 

New Jersey governor James McGreevey slipped 

a more severe bit on the legislature’s loose horse 

racing commission revision bill yesterday, issuing 

a conditional veto and suggesting that legislators 

give a little more thought to conflicts of 

interest. The runaway bill flew through both 

houses of the state legislature with little opposition 

-- and with little thought -- in allowing racing 

commissioners to own and train runners or 

harness horses while serving on the commission. 

The legislators may not have thought this was a 

conflict of interest, but New Jersey’s attorney 

general did, and he advised McGreevey to veto 

the bill. The governor suggested to the legislature 

that allowing commissioners to retain an 

ownership, breeding or training interest in horses 

within New Jersey was unacceptable, and that 

“to ensure that each commissioner will carry out 

his or her duties in a completely objective and 

disinterested manner, the bill should provide that 

no commissioner shall breed horses in New Jersey 

or hold a license to train or race any horse in 

this State.” Instead, McGreevey said, he recommended 

a bill that would simply direct that two 

commissioners be persons with knowledge of 

thoroughbred horses and two commissioners 

have knowledge of standardbreds, and that to 

make sure of that the state’s two breed organizations 

should recommend potential nominees to 

the governor. That makes total sense, and is 

something other governors everywhere might 

consider as a model. The bill’s sponsor, Senator 

Martha Bark, said she was disappointed by the 

governor’s action, but her reason made no more 

sense than the original bill. She said it was her 

intention “to give members of the racing community 

an opportunity to have a strong voice on 

the commission.” The governor’s recommendation 

does precisely that, except that 

it doesn’t pander to special interests that 

seemingly convinced Ms. Bark to introduce 

her bill in the first place. 


ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS...... 

JIM MCALPINE, president and CEO of Magna 

Entertainment, told the House Appropriations 

Committee of the Maryland legislature that Magna 

could undertake “a total rebuild” of Pimlico 

Race Course and complete it in two years if the 

legislature authorized slots for tracks in the state. 

At the same meeting, the chairman of the committee 

told Joe DeFrancis that the sharing of slots 

profits for 20 years by DeFrancis and his sister 

Karin could raise problems for slot legislation, 

but DeFrancis said that arrangement would have 

no impact on how much money went to Maryland. 

HIPPODROME DE MONTREAL cancelled its 

$500,000 Prix de Montreal for 3-year-old pacers 

for budgetary reasons, and the Journal de 

Montreal reported that the Quebec government 

wants to shut down three small tracks -- Trois- 

Rivieres, Quebec City and Aylmer -- and turn 

them into teletheaters. 

NORTHFIELD PARK CEO TOM ALDRICH 

told some 300 members of the Pro Football Hall 

of Fame luncheon club that slots in West Virginia, 

Indiana, the Detroit area and Niagara Falls 

were creating “a managed decline” in Ohio horse 

racing, along with “the ravages of unregulated 

and unstoppable Internet gambling.” Calling 

governor Bob Taft, who adamantly opposes slots 

at Ohio tracks, “a principled man,” Aldrich said, 

“We’ll have to redouble our efforts in taking our 

case to the public.” 

SIS and TRPB CHIEF PAUL BERUBE, in a long 

interview in the Baltimore Sun, told writer Jon 

Morgan that the Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick Six 

scandal did not shock or surprise him. He said it 

seemed inevitable as racing moved from the 

confines of racetracks to the “nearly ungovernable 

realm of cyberspace.”





EVERYBODY WANTS A SEAT 

Everybody wants a seat at the slots table these 

days, and there is frantic scurrying around to 

gain one. 

In Pennsylvania, where Greenwood Racing 

wants to build a track in depressed Chester, it 

learned it will have to wait, as the Pennsylvania 

racing commission delayed a decision pending 

further financial information. Greenwood president 

Bob Green says he’ll build the track, if 

granted a license, regardless of whether slots are 

legalized. Given that the state’s new governor, 

Ed Rendell, was elected on a platform that included 

slots for racing, Green’s commitment 

seems a fairly safe bet, unlikely to be tested. 

In Maine, Las Vegas investor Shawn Scott has 

poured almost $130,000 into a campaign for track 

slots, through a committee called Best Bet for 

Maine. To date, Scott’s Capitol One LLC is the 

sole donor to the fund. 

In Lousiana, Harrah’s Casino received clearance 

from state gaming regulators to buy Louisiana 

Downs. According to the Shreveport Times, the 

state Gaming Control Board approved a complex 

series of transactions in a $183 million 

project in which Harrah’s will own 95% of the 

track and five Louisiana private investors will 

own the remainder. The deal involves new ownership 

of a Shreveport casino and a transfer of 

the horse racing license that is expected to be 

approved by the state racing commission tomorrow. 

The end result will be 900 slots in the track’s 

clubhouse, which will be refurbished at a cost of 

$41 million. The track’s purchase price will be 

$72.25 million, and all but $985,000 of that will go 

to Dr. John York, who is married to Denise 

DeBartolo, the daughter of Louisiana 

Downs founder Eddie DeBartolo, who built 

it in 1973. 


In New York, financially strapped Vernon Downs 

will have its license application reviewed by the 

New York Racing and Wagering Board next 

Monday. Shawn Scott is involved here, too, since 

the New York status of a Scott associate, John 

Baldwin, remains an issue in licensing. The track 

has applied for some $1 million in New York development 

fund money to build a 33,000-square 

foot slot facility. 

In another Vernon development, Jim Moran, a 

veteran and valued Vernon employee for 35 

years, has been cut loose, given an involuntary 

leave of duties. Vernon also is losing 19 parcels 

of land that the county is acquiring because of 

delinquent property, county, school and village 

taxes unpaid during the last three years. 

LOOKING FOR A JOB? TRY THIS 

If you are looking for a career change, and would 

like to move to Arizona, we have just the ticket 

for you. Arizona’s 29 Indian casinos, strengthened 

by support of the state’s voters last month, 

are desperate for blackjack dealers. The November 

legislation paved the way for blackjack tables 

in addition to slots, and dealers are in high demand, 

with up to 1,200 needed. Basic math skills, 

the ability to stand up for long stretches, and the 

manual dexterity to flip cards and divide chips 

are requisites. The pay is typically minimum 

wage of $5.15 an hour, but tips can run as high 

as $200 a day, so personality is important. We’ll 

provide you with character references if needed. 

SERIOUSLY, TALENT AVAILABLE 

HTA has received resumes from an experienced 

and skilled mutuel manager, two experienced 

race callers, and a veteran harness racing publicity 

man. All three have long careers in the sport. 

If interested, contact us and we’ll send you 

the resumes and put you in contact with the 

talent.





CRUSADERS DON THEIR ARMOR 

The editor’s Daily Racing Form column today discusses 

Bill Oberle’s campaign to bring sports betting 

back to Delaware. The ink was not dry, however, 

before a Wilmington (Del) News Journal 

story told of a special counsel for the National 

Football League asking Delaware lawmakers not 

to pass the measure. Jay Moyer, saying he was 

representing all of America’s major professional 

sports leagues, told the task force convened by 

Oberle, who now is speaker pro tem of the Delaware 

House, that legally sanctioned sports betting 

would encourage young people to pick up 

the gambling habit. He said it would harm sports 

by increasing the perception of some that games 

are corrupt. Moyer thinks sports gambling sends 

a terrible message to youth, and that youth looks 

up to athletes. Maybe once upon a time, Jay. 

With wife and sweetheart beaters rampant, steroid 

users everywhere, and college recruits for 

the NFL acting like they have licenses to be thugs, 

we think today’s generation can pick better models. 

By the way, Jay, what’s your take on illegal 

sports betting? I’ll take mine legal, thank you, if 

at all. 

The crusaders are out in Massachusetts, too, trying 

to head off casinos, and presumably slots at 

tracks as well, in the Bay State. While Massachusetts 

money flows to Connecticut, state senator 

Susan Tucker is setting up an organization 

that would help anti-casino forces to broadcast 

their arguments to the public. She told Business 

Today.com that everyone understands that the 

state-appointed panel studying the possibility of 

gambling in Massachusetts “is rigged toward 

gambling interests,” even though it includes academics 

as well as labor and political leaders. 

Tucker apparently thinks something like 

Foxwoods would be okay, but as far as 

Massachusetts goes, she says, “We’re not 

talking about another Foxwoods, but multiple, 

junky casinos all over New England.” 


AN INDIAN VERNON DOWNS? 

The Oneida Indian Nation, which owns the Turning 

Stone casino some four miles from Vernon 

Downs, has said in a prospectus that it could be 

interested in buying its neighbor track in central 

New York. The Oneidas say they have considered 

investing in or buying the track. The 

prospectus says, “Vernon Downs at times has 

been offered for sale, and the nation has at times 

expressed interest in its operations.” Vernon is 

facing serious financial problems and the licensing 

status of investor Shawn Scott and a Scott 

associate. The Oneidas, incidentally, have spent 

$29 million on expansion, the ongoing effort including 

two new hotels, a performing arts center, 

and two new golf courses. It reported a profit 

of almost $70 million in the last fiscal year, which 

is 10 times higher than the area’s second largest 

private employer, Oneida Ltd., according to a 

report today in the Syracuse Post-Standard. The 

paper also reported that the casino paid almost 

$1.8 million to companies owned by the wife and 

brother of Oneida Nation leader Ray Halbritter, 

considered one of the brightest minds in casino 

gaming. Total revenues at the casino, hotel, restaurants, 

stores and showroom in the fiscal year 

ending September 30 were $232 million according 

to the Oneida prospectus, the first time any 

detailed disclosure of casino operations has been 

released. 

BEEN TO PAYSON, AZ, LATELY? 

Neither have many other people. But 30 manufacturers 

of slot machine games were there last 

week, testing their newest games with 200 of the 

best players at the Mazatzal Indian casino. The 

tribe has created an annual “games testing” event 

that also serves as a vehicle to entertain its top 

players with food, drinks and previews of new 

games. The manufacturers like the idea, and 

with a recent vote that increases Arizona 

machines to 15,675 in the next five years, 

it’s good business for the testers.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor December 20, 2002 

JANE HOLMES TO WOODBINE 

Standardbred Canada reports that one of horse 

racing’s brightest stars, Jane Holmes, is leaving 

her post as executive director of the Ontario 

Horse Racing Industry Association to succeed 

retiring David Gorman as a vice president of 

Woodbine Entertainment Group. Ms. Holmes, 

in her seven years at OHRIA, unified the Canadian 

horse racing industry into a group that 

speaks to government with one voice for both 

harness and thoroughbred racing. She received 

HTA’s Messenger Award, the association’s highest 

honor, last year for that accomplishment. No 

word on a successor has been announced, and 

Woodbine has not yet made a formal announcement 

of Ms. Holmes’ hiring, but OHRIA will 

have difficulty finding a person with the talents 

and political negotiating skills that Ms. Holmes 

demonstrated in uniting racing breeds in 

Ontario. 

A BUSY STADIUM AT BIG M 

With New Jersey cutting off its $5 million 2002 

subsidy and governor James E. McGreevey mandating 

that the Meadowlands sports complex 

must be self-sufficient operationally, sports authority 

chief executive George Zoffinger is turning 

to Giants Stadium to carry the load. The stadium, 

which hosted 47 events this year for a $16.3 

million profit, will host at least 56 next year, and 

Zoffinger hopes and expects they will bring in 

$21.1 million. On the calendar are at least four 

and perhaps as many as seven international soccer 

events, including an appearance of top flight 

Manchester United, and hopefully multiple performances 

by Jersey’s Boss, Bruce Springsteen, 

and Jon Bon Jovi. Monmouth Park which suffered 

deep declines last year, may be hard pressed 

to support a turnaround, but handle at the 

Meadowlands maintained an even keel 

and the start of the upcoming long season 

is doing the same. 

NO XMAS FOR BOB BRENNAN 

Robert Brennan’s nemesis, federal judge Richard 

Owen, is not imbued with the holiday spirit 

as far as Brennan is concerned. At the end of a 

hearing in which Brennan claimed remorse, 

Owen said, “I hear the words, Mr. Brennan, but 

I really don’t see any remorse.” Having said that, 

Owen indicated he is inclined to add another 

three years in prison to Brennan’s sentence in 

February, as punishment for Brennan having 

used frozen funds to pay his lawyer. Brennan 

had hoped to get off with a sentence of 8 to 14 

months, to be served concurrently with his 

present term, but Owen said Brennan’s actions 

amounted to theft. Citing what he called “today’s 

questionable corporate executive climate,” Owen 

said he wanted to make sure there was no impression 

that such conduct was tolerated or could 

go unpunished. Brennan, who said he had written 

the judge expressing remorse “from the heart 

while sitting in my prison cell,” called his treatment 

“a violation of constitutional principles.” 

His lawyer said he was impoverished and in ill 

health. Brennan, who for the first time talked of 

enrolling in a federal alcohol and drug abuse program, 

will be 65 or 66 by the time he leaves prison 

if Owen does not relent, which seems unlikely. 

RENDELL: NO RIVERBOATS 

Pennsylvania’s governor-elect, Ed Rendell, who 

had talked about riverboats while mayor of Philadelphia, 

had good news for racing yesterday. He 

reaffirmed his support for slots at tracks, but said 

he has no plans for riverboat gambling. 

ADD A RACING SECRETARY 

The Newsletter mentioned an experienced mutuel 

manager, two announcers and a publicist available 

earlier this week. Add a racing secretary with 

long harness racing experience to the list 

of available talent. Information available 

from HTA.




Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor December 23, 2002 

WRONG HORSE AT WOODBINE a red alert to all track managers to check that paddock 

and testing personnel are in fact performing 

In one of those dreaded incidents for track management 

in which not one but two key racing employees 

were lax in their jobs, a misidentified horse 

their identification duties regularly and diligently. 

won the second race at Woodbine last Thursday ANOTHER WIN FOR SIS 

night. Not only did the track identifier -- Paul Ruhl, An investigation by Standardbred Investigative 

an assistant paddock judge -- fail to check the Services and the Office of Criminal Investigations 

horse’s identity, but a laboratory technician employed 

by Woodbine’s testing company also failed ended the career of a dealer in illegal medication 

of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has 

to do so, and the race was won by a horse other in Illinois. Miriam F. Miquelon, U.S. attorney for 

than the one programmed to race, and winning bets the southern district of Illinois, announced that 

paid. The incident occurred when trainer Mark William Tippett of Fairview Heights, Illinois, had 

Harder shipped two fillies recently acquired in pleaded guilty to misbranding veterinary drugs 

Michigan to Woodbine. One, Nine O Nine Vine, earlier this year to be dispensed to horses without 

was scheduled to race last week, but it turned out prescriptions from a licensed veterinarian. Tippett 

that the second filly, Devereaux, actually went faces up to 3 years imprisonment and a $250,000 

postward. One of the fillies was reported to have fine when he is sentenced March 14. 

a star on its forehead and the other did not, and 

both were freeze-branded. Devereaux won the race NO HOLIDAY JOY IN QUEBEC 

for driver Paul McDonnell in 1:57 4/5, paying $7.20. Not for harness racing, anyway. The finance department 

of the province of Quebec has approved 

Woodbine’s senior vice president for racing, Hugh 

Mitchell, apologized to Woodbine’s patrons and an additional 1,070 VLTs for SONACC, the provincial 

governing body of racing, but with severe 

horsemen, saying the horse identifier failed to do 

his job and had been suspended indefinitely, and terms and conditions. The revenues cannot go to 

that new identification measures were being put in purses, since they are to be cut from $40 million a 

place immediately to insure that the regrettable year to $36 million in 2003 and to $32 million in 

incident could not happen again. “We dropped the 2004. SONACC is limited to $19 million for improvements 

to add the additional machines at Hip- 

ball on this one,” Mitchell said. Barry Hewson, 

Woodbine’s director of racing, noted that the odds podrome de Montreal and its teletheaters, and is 

of two identifiers failing to identify the horse starting 

in a race were astronomical. The Ontario Rac- 

10%, or $4.5 million. In addition, Quebec will ap- 

ordered to cut its annual operating expenses some 

ing Commission, taking quick action, fined Woodbine 

Entertainment $20,000 for the incident, fined tation of the retructuring plan, and any investment 

point its own representative to oversee implemen- 

trainer Mark Harder -- who was not present at of more than $1 million will have to be approved 

Woodbine -- $7,500, and fined Tony O’Sullivan, by the finance department. Hippodrome, meanwhile, 

has cut back its live racing dates to three 

Harder’s assistant trainer, $1,000. It also suspended 

assistant paddock judge Ruhl, who was responsible 

for identification in the paddock, for 30 campaigning independently to save tracks at Que- 

cards a week through April, and its horsemen are 

days, and ordered the purse redistributed. bec City, Three Rivers and Aylmer that the government 

wants to The unfortunate incident should serve as 

close.





UNHAPPY NEW YEAR! 

At least for Vernon Downs, which yesterday was 

denied a racing license and ordered to close down 

operations as of the end of the year by the New 

York Racing and Wagering Board. The board, 

vexed by Vernon’s serious financial problems 

and its refusal to cooperate with regulators, said 

enough was enough, and that it was spending a 

too much of its time and resources on Vernon’s 

problems. Board chairman Michael Hoblock 

said that when Vernon was granted a license in 

July, three months into its racing season, “We 

chose to give those involved one more chance. 

We did what we did based on faith. I think it’s 

time.” He and commissioner Cheryl Buley listened 

to a recitation of Vernon’s problems from 

the board’s director of racing operations, Joe 

Lynch, and then voted to pull the plug. Track 

president Andrew Goodell claimed Vernon was 

not given an opportunity to state its case, and 

said he hoped the track would seek a court order 

in the next few days that would allow it to operate 

past the end of the year. 

Part of Vernon’s problem, according to Goodell, 

is the status of John Baldwin, whom the state 

claims controls most of the finances of Shawn 

Scott of Las Vegas, the controversial figure who 

loaned Vernon either $8 million or $15 million 

at high interest, depending on which reports you 

read. Baldwin has until recently resisted licensing 

in New York, which the board demands. He 

said his lawyers had recently said he would go 

along with the state’s request if it paid for the 

costs and provided confidentiality. The board 

has charged that Vernon has failed to pay off its 

debts, to eliminate credit accounts and rebates 

for certain patrons, to maintain proper security, 

and to forbid its employees from participating 

in racing. Vernon’s 2003 racing 

schedule is supposed to begin in April. 

Whether it does remains to be seen. 


The Blood-Horse, meanwhile, said board chairman 

Hoblock announced four new rules for operation 

for all New York tracks for 2003 in the wake of the 

Pick Six scandal 

* No bets can be cancelled once a race has 

started. 

* Portable betting units issued may not contain 

the ability to cancel bets. 

* The units can be issued and used by one individual 

or betting interest only. 

* Every person who opens a day or temporary 

betting account must provide identification including 

social security number, and the records 

must be kept for three years by all tracks. 

WOE IN PHILADELPHIA, TOO 

Philadelphia Park and its horsemen are at it 

again, and the track could face a shutdown January 

1. The track wants a multi-year contract. 

The horsemen, with slots on the horizon, want to 

sign only for one year, and are insisting on a 

clause -- which Philadelphia Park says it will not 

accept -- which provides that the track will pledge 

to “maximize revenues,” something that normally 

is taken for granted in any for-profit organization. 

Apparently not so in Philly, and unless 

an agreement is reached by New Year’s Day a 

total shutdown is possible. President and CEO 

Hal Handel has told horsemen they will have to 

vacate the grounds by Jan. 6 if no agreement is 

reached. 

CPMA SAYS IT CAUGHT ERROR 

Yesterday’s Newsletter reported laxity by testing 

personnel as well as the track identifier in the 

“wrong horse” incident at Woodbine. The Canadian 

Pari-Mutuel Agency says that is inaccurate, 

and that its drug control testing personnel 

not only were diligent in their duties but were 

the persons who detected the error when the wrong 

horse reported to the test barn. Meanwhile, 

Merry Christmas. We’ll be back Thursday.





SCIOTO SOLD FOR $19 MILLION 

MTR Gaming Group, which owns and operates 

Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in 

Chester, West Virginia, has agreed to buy Scioto 

Downs in Columbus, Ohio, for $19 million. The 

offer represented a 146% premium on Scioto 

stock, which had been trading at $13, but after 

announcement of the impending sale Scioto stock 

zoomed upwards by 126%, to $29.50 in over-thecounter 

trading. Scioto opened on October 9, 

1959, the proud possession of popular beer distributor 

Charlie Hill, who built it as a model track 

with its soaring cantilever roof and interior materials, 

including tile, that needed little maintenance. 

Hill and his wife LaVerne were two of 

HTA’s strongest supporters, never missing a 

meeting, and LaVerne still maintains that record 

after 43 years. She was awarded HTA’s Messenger 

Award, the association’s highest honor, two 

years ago, and is Scioto’s largest stockholder with 

208,341 shares. 

Under the sales arrangement, MTR Gaming 

agreed to pay $32 a share for the track’s 595,767 

shares, although stockholders were offered an 

alternative of taking $17 a share up front with 

10 annual contingent payments based on 10% 

growth of Scioto earnings before interest, taxes, 

depreciation and amortization. Closing is set for 

next spring. MTR also plans to build a track in 

Erie, Pennsylvania, and president Ted Arneault 

said he will not back away from that commitment, 

which is being challenged in court by Magna 

Entertainment, which owns The Meadows 

near Pittsburgh. MTR also owns the Ramada 

Inn and Speedway Casino in North Las Vegas, 

Nevada, and a Ramada Inn in Reno. Arneault 

said the present Scioto management group will remain 

in place, including president Ed Ryan. 

Mrs. Hill is president of Mid- America 

Racing Association, which splits the racing 

season with Scioto Downs. 


DETAILS OF MAGNA’S ERIE SUIT 

The Magna Entertainment challenge to MTR’s 

construction of a new track in Erie, in extreme 

northwest Pennsylvania, was filed in Commonwealth 

Court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s state 

capital. It is based on a claim that the Pennsylvania 

State Horse Racing Commission granted 

the license without giving Magna and other interested 

parties an opportunity to challenge the 

application. Magna says the new track, to be 

called Presque Isle Downs, would damage the 

Pennsylvania racing industry by diluting it, and 

the site is not economically viable, two other race 

tracks having died there. Magna contends the 

license award was not supported by adequate 

evidence, was arbitrary and capricious, and represented 

an “abuse of discretion,” and is asking 

the court to reverse the commission’s decision. 

MTR’s decisions both to build Presque Isle 

Downs and to buy Scioto are assumed to be based 

on the clear likelihood of slots at tracks in Pennsylvania, 

and the considerably longer odds on 

that prospect in Ohio. 

LAWYERS’ DAY IN IOWA, TOO 

Big money is on the line in Iowa, too, and is in 

court and possibly headed for the U.S. Supreme 

Court. At issue is a 4-3 decision in the Iowa Supreme 

Court last June, which ruled that the 

state’s tracks should be taxed at the same 20% 

rate as the state’s riverboat casinos, and not at a 

sliding scale in the 30 percentile and heading 

higher. After the decision the state’s tracks sued, 

saying they are owed $112 million in refunds and 

interest for tax overpayments since 1997. A Polk 

county district judge is hearing the case, but state 

officials, in a surprise move, are appealing the 

Iowa decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which 

will decide in the next few months whether or 

not it will hear the case. HTA’s member 

Prairie Meadows seeks $53.7 million.





STRIKE THREAT IN CHI...AGAIN 

Tony Morgan was Harness Tracks of America’s 

Driver of the Year in 1997, and shared the honor 

with Luc Ouellette a year earlier. This week he 

won his 8,000th race, putting him in an elite 

group of only ten other drivers that have attained 

that lofty total, and he is second in races won this 

year, with 688 winning drives, 12 behind Walter 

Case. But Morgan is an unhappy man, and he 

is back on the warpath in Chicago, not on the 

racetrack but in his role as president of the Illinois 

Harness Horsemen’s Association. He is flexing 

his muscles and fighting with the Johnstons 

again, threatening the third OHHA strike in four 

years. The issue is recapture money, which belongs 

to the tracks by Illinois law, but which 

OHHA wants, law or no law. The Johnstons have 

offered compromises on sharing the money, but 

they say the horsemen have rejected the idea and 

want it all. So a strike appears imminent. Duke 

Johnston of Maywood Park told Larry Hamel of 

the Chicago Sun-Times that if there is one, he 

hopes it will be brief, and added, “I can guarantee 

you this: we can wait longer than they can. 

As long as they stay on 100%, we’ll be forced to 

wait them out. We will not agree to a deal that 

would put us out of business.” 

AND IN ONTARIO, TOO 

The Ontario Harness Horse Association has set 

a 6 p.m. deadline tonight for a new contract with 

Woodbine Entertainment, or the group will boycott 

the entry box at Canada’s biggest track. The 

issues are veto power over simulcasting -- the 

horsemen prefer to call it ‘approval rights’ -- and 

“a recognition that they are partners.” That may 

seem strange to some, since they share 50% of 

virtually everything with Woodbine right now. With 

slots money pushing purses to all-time 

highs, there would seem to be one explanation: 

the horsemen can’t get accustomed 

to prosperity. 


TEXAS TALKING SLOTS, TOO 

Facing a state budget deficit of $10 billion or 

more, Texas is the latest state to begin talking 

about slots at tracks. Or the Astrodome. One 

Houston Democratic legislator thinks big-thinking 

Texas should turn the Astrodome into the 

world’s biggest casino. The Indians are powwowing, 

too, and this week’s $314.9 million Powerball 

payoff has resulted in a bill that would allow 

Texas to join the multistate lottery game. One 

consultant put it about as bluntly as possible: 

“There’s nothing like a budget crisis to reassess 

your morals.” 

A WEEK TO REORGANIZE 

They wanted two extra months, until March 10, 

but a federal bankruptcy judge in Chicago gave 

lawyers for the ill-fated Emerald Casino just one 

week past the original deadline of Jan. 8 to come 

up with a reorganization plan for paying its deep 

debts. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff 

set a Jan. 14 deadline before creditors are allowed 

to step in with their claims for $46 million for 

breached contracts and other debts. The casino 

is facing another deadline in March, for soliciting 

bids on their revoked license. 

TWO MORE ‘GRAY’ DRUGS 

The Association of Racing Commissioners International 

does not rush into things, but at least it 

moves on the issue of jolts that can move up 

horses. The ARCI has added two new substances 

to its list of items that it considers “Prohibited 

Practices.” The two are Oxyglobin and 

Hemopure, both manufactured by Biopure. The 

fact that Oxyglobin has been approved for use 

in the treatment of anemia and oxygen crisis in 

dogs, and that Hemopure is being tested for human 

use, is not likely to stop edge-seekers among 

trainers. If they use Clorox, as some do, 

something for anemia in dogs won’t stop 

them. Kudos for the ARCI.





TWO BOYCOTTS AT YEAR’S END 

Woodbine and Balmoral and Maywood Parks end 

2002 without entries for the first day of racing in 

2003. Illinois harness horsemen, led by driver 

Tony Morgan, have boycotted the Balmoral and 

Maywood entry boxes in a dispute over Illinois’ 

‘recapture’ provisions, and Ontario horsemen, 

wanting veto power over simulcasting, have boycotted 

the Woodbine entry box. Trouble also looms 

on the thoroughbred front at Philadelphia Park, 

where negotiations continue between the track and 

its horsemen. In Illinois, Maywood and Balmoral 

will continue full card simulcasting without live racing 

during the boycott. The ‘recapture’ dispute, 

which now has brought racing to a halt for the third 

time in five years, involves state racing law that 

enables Illinois tracks to recapture 2% of live racing 

losses incurred as a result of out-of-state simulcasting 

by deducting it from their purse accounts. 

That amount comes to some $15 million 

this year. The Johnston family, which control 

Balmoral and Maywood, say they plan to stand 

firm, as does Morgan, threatening a repeat of the 

situation four years ago when live racing was shut 

down for 37 nights. In Ontario, Woodbine says it 

will not relinquish control of its national and international 

simulcasting. A second issue involves “respect” 

for horsemen. Flamboro Downs, now owned 

by Magna Entertainment, has signed off on the 

new contract demands from horsemen, ending the 

threat of a boycott there. John Walzak, chief operating 

officer of the horsemen’s association, said 

negotiations were “not acrimonious” and said language 

and attitude adjustments could resolve the 

issue. 

Philadelphia Park was closed for three days, but 

not by a boycott. Bad weather created track problems, 

but live racing resumed yesterday. A 

mandate to vacate the stable area by Jan. 

6 remains in effect if no settlement is 

reached contract negotiations. 


SCOTT TAKES OVER AT VERNON 

A New York state Supreme Court justice gave 

Vernon Downs 30 more days to get its act together 

before a Racing and Wagering Board refusal to 

license takes effect, and Shawn Scott of Las Vegas, 

who has loaned the track $15 million and says 

he will loan it another $2.5 million, has taken over 

effective control of the track. A Scott associate, 

Hoolae Paoa, assumed the dual role of president, 

CEO and chairman of the board over the weekend 

when Andrew W. Goodell and Davis Jensen resigned 

those posts. Paoa said he would deliver a 

$250,000 check to Oneida county executive Ralph 

J. Eannace Jr. today as partial payment of back 

taxes, and would work out a plan for repayment of 

the rest. Eannace said the Scott group is “showing 

a commitment to trying to stay in Vernon, and 

we’re perfectly willing to work with them as long 

as that includes paying taxes and developing jobs.” 

Paoa ran Delta Downs for Scott between the time 

Scott bought the track for $10 million and sold it 

to Boyd Gaming for $120 million. 

DEADLINE FOR BIG M CHANGES 

Today is the deadline for the three finalists in the 

Meadowlands redevelopment program to submit 

their detailed proposals. Mills corporation of Arlington, 

VA; Hartz Mountain Industries of 

Secaucus, NJ; and Westfield corporation of Los 

Angeles were selected several months ago as the 

semi-final round winners, and the company that is 

chosen after today’s submissions will have the job 

of transforming 104 acres of the Sports and Exposition 

Authority site into something other than it is 

today. Mills wants to turn the area into a family 

entertainment center, with sports and other activities. 

Hartz Mountain thinks it should be a convention 

center, and Westfield is aiming toward an 

entertainment and performance complex. A winner 

will be announced early in 2003.





MIXED NEWS AT YEAR’S END 

Depending where you are, there is either good 

news or bad as 2002 comes to a close. 

If you’re in Toronto, the news is good. Not only 

was a shutdown of racing avoided with agreement 

between Ontario harness horsemen and 

Woodbine for a 90-day contract extension and 

cooling off negotiation period, but Wednesday 

night racing, considered lost yesterday morning, 

was resuscitated last night. Horsemen poured 

112 entries into the entry box , which had been 

kept open until 7 p.m., and 82 horses were drawn 

for a 10-race New Year’s night program. 

If you’re in Chicago, the news is not good. 

Maywood Park lost its New Year’s night and 

Friday night cards, and Balmoral Park lost its 

Thursday night card, as the Illinois harness 

horsemen’s boycott of live racing continues. 

If you’re in Salem, New Hampshire, it’s not a 

happy new year either. New England’s thoroughbred 

horsemen, who shot themselves in the foot 

in negotiations with Rockingham Park and lost 

their season to harness racing, now say they will 

withhold permission for simulcasting to The 

Rock and the state’s three greyhound tracks. 

Thoroughbred Times says it obtained the draft 

of a letter from the New England HBPA to 

Rockingham reading, “Your failure to receive 

permission from Suffolk Downs to receive outof-state 

signals, and compensate them appropriately, 

causes direct economic harm to the track 

and the horsemen. The (New England) HBPA 

shall not provide its approval to transmit the 

Suffolk Downs signal into your venue, until such 

time as you are in compliance with the Interstate 

Horse Racing Act.” Ed Callahan, general 

manager of Rockingham, called the move 

“a serious threat if they are attempting to 

close down the four pari-mutuel tracks.” No 

word yet from his lawyers. 


If you’re in Vernon, New York, you can take a little 

cheer into the new year. With a 30-day judicial 

simulcasting reprieve in effect from the New York 

Racing and Wagering Board’s decision not to license 

Vernon Downs, Shawn Scott’s chief lieutenant, 

Hoolae Paoa, showed up as promised at the 

Oneida county finance office and paid $250,000 

down on Vernon’s back taxes. He promised to pay 

another $250,000 by the end of January, which still 

would leave another $200,000 or so unpaid. Paoa, 

who now is president, CEO and board chairman of 

Vernon, said he thought the track’s regulatory issues 

would be resolved “in the next few weeks.” 

The state racing and wagering board said it will 

meet with Paoa and other Vernon officials sometime 

in January. Paoa said the issue of licensing 

of John Baldwin, another Scott associate who is 

not directly connected with Vernon Downs, would 

be resolved by a court decision. He said it cost 

Scott $250,000 to get licensed in New York, and 

“it’s going to cost a lot more for John Baldwin.” 

Paoa said he thought Vernon’s employees “are 

going to be assured of longevity,” although one of 

the longest tenured of all, publicity chief, announcer 

and former track spokesman Jim Moran, 

already is gone after 35 years. 

If you’re in Philadelphia, better news. Thoroughbred 

horsemen and Philadelphia Park avoided a 

stable area eviction and other unpleasantness 

when they signed a one-year contract for live 

racing. By the time the contract expires, slots 

should be in place at Philadelphia Park. 

If you’re in Pompano Beach, Florida, there is 

sorrow over the death of 69-year-old veteran 

trainer Eldon Harner, killed when a horse 

trampled him as it bolted its stall. 

Wherever you are, Happy New Year. We’ll 

be back next year, on Thursday.

2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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