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
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
June 19, 2002
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.