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
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.
May 29, 2002
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.