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
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.
September 6, 2002
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.”