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, 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
August 7, 2002
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.