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
July 31, 2002
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.