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
NEVER MIND TYSON AND LEWIS
Racing is getting physical these days, and Tyson
and Lewis aren’t the only guys scuffling, shoving
and swinging. Down in Tallahassee, where video
gaming at tracks is a major issue as elsewhere, a
Battle of the Bathroom developed when Jack
Cory, a lobbyist for dog and horse breeders, and
Pat Rooney, 63-year-old owner of the Palm Beach
Kennel Club, part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and brother of Tim Rooney of Yonkers Raceway,
had a vigorous go-round in a men’s room near the
House committee room where a hearing on VLTs
was underway. According to the Miami Herald,
Cory apparently was offended by a remark Rooney
made at the meeting, and confronted him in a hallway.
Brian Ballard, Rooney’s lobbyist, said, “Cory
knocked Pat into the men’s room and then he
grabbed at him again. Pat is just hopeful that the
next time he comes to Tallahassee he doesn’t get
accosted in the men’s room.” Cory, who also got
into a brawl with Senator Tom Lee in the closing
week of the 1999 legislative session, said of his
confrontation with Rooney, “We are very volatile,
excitable Irishmen who communicate their feelings
to each other.”
In Maryland, meanwhile, in what the Washington
Post said “may have been a new low in terms of
divisiveness and acrimony,” members of the
Maryland Racing Commission clashed verbally.
After member John Franzone bitterly lambasted
Laurel Park and its general counsel and treasurer,
Martin Jacobs, at one point calling the track “a
monstrosity,” Franzone’s fellow commission member,
John McDaniel, said, “You better go testify
over there on the side (of the horsemen), Mr.
Franzone, if you want to argue (their case).” At
issue was the schedule of racing days at Colonial
Downs, which the Maryland Jockey Club
manages. Horsemen want them in September,
the MJC wants them in July-August,
as in 2001.
January 24, 2002
WEST VA. CHAIRMAN OUT
There were no arguments, apparently on this one.
The tax and revenue secretary of the state of West
Virginia, says he asked the chairman of the state
racing commission, Bob Burke, to resign after an
internal investigation involving Burke placing bets
over the telephone at state racetracks, and Burke
did. Burke has been a member of the racing commission
for 13 years and chairman for 9. Brian
Kastick, the tax and revenue secretary, told the
Charleston Gazette, “We looked into the matter
when it was brought to my attention. I thought it
was the right thing to ask him to resign. It’s time
for him to move on.” Burke told the paper, “I just
wanted to hang it up.” He said his greatest accomplishment
was the addition of video lottery
machines to the tracks, noting that the state’s racing
industry was producing only $11 million in revenue
when he joined the commission in 1989, and
that it would reach $300 million next year.
HORSEMEN JOIN THE BATTLE
Harness horsemen are speaking out in the 2002
version of the Battle of Saratoga, and have a new
ally: the Saratoga County Farm Bureau. Mickey
McGivern, one of the most successful of the
Saratoga Equine Sports Center’s horsemen, told
the Albany Times-Union that without VLTs “it is
very unlikely we’re going to be able to field full
cards,” particularly if Yonkers Raceway, Vernon
Downs and Monticello get them. The battle is far
from over, however, even though the press has
been reporting that the Saratoga county commissioners
will approve VLTs for the track when they
meet February 13. One commissioner, Anthony
(Skip) Scirocco, is urging people from Saratoga
Springs to come to a public meeting January 29
and voice their opinions. Scirocco is unhappy with
the state law legalizing the machines, saying the
legislation was unfair and “the city should
have received a share.”