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
TWO DOWN, BUT ERIE GETS OK
The Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission,
ignoring the dead bodies of two former racetracks
buried in remote Erie, Pennsylvania, approved
plans for still another yesterday. This one,
to be called Presque Isle Downs, is on the drawing
boards at a $56 million price tag for 2004 completion,
but no one -- except perhaps Pennsylvania’s
commissioners, and that is doubtful -- thinks it will
be built unless Pennsylvania approves slots at
tracks next year. The commission, however, voted
unanimously to approve the plans submitted by
Ted Arneault, president and CEO of MTR Gaming,
which runs a little slots-fueled gold mine called
Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. That track
has been sucking money out of western Pennsylvania
for several years now, and the Pennsylvania
commission apparently felt it would rather have
the dollars bet at home. Pennsylvania’s four existing
tracks opposed the approval, but the argument
that Presque Isle will help far northwestern
Pennsylvania prevailed. One state legislator who
supported the idea said people who now go to
Niagara Falls or Michigan or West Virginia to
gamble now will go to Erie instead, and Arneault
thinks he will draw from Cleveland, Buffalo and
Pittsburgh. He also says he will go forward with
or without slots, but only the tooth fairy believes
that, since both Commodore Downs, which died in
1982, and Erie Downs, which lasted from 1986 to
1987, both are buried in Erie. One of the nonbelievers
said yesterday, “Two racetracks have
already failed there, there’s nobody there, and for
some 30-odd years in the state the racing industry
has been struggling to exist.” But unlike Kentucky,
where a proposed new track in the remote
reaches of the state got short shrift from the state
racing commission earlier this week, Pennsylvania
sees gold and said yes. Another track
hopeful is on the boards in Pennsylvania
in depressed Chester, but at least that one
has millions of people within a stone’s throw
in Philadelphia.
September 27, 2002
AN IMPOSSIBLE DOUBLE?
Mal Burroughs, one of only two amateur drivers
to win the Hambletonian, tries to put himself alone
at the summit tomorrow when he drives Malabar
Motion in the historic $404,000 Kentucky Futurity
at the Red Mile in Lexington. No amateur
ever has won both races, and the odds say that
Burroughs won’t either, but the irrepressible New
Jersey contractor will give it a try. His mount,
Malabar Motion, is 20-1 on the morning line. Chip
Chip Hooray, the diminutive Hambletonian winner
this year, is favored in the race, with Like A
Prayer, a bridesmaid all season in the major classics
for 3-year-olds, will try to win one for a change.
Eric Ledford, who drove Chip Chip Hooray to victory
in the Hambletonian, will be up again, and Ron
Pierce will drive Like A Prayer. Andover Hall, last
year’s 2-year-old champion but a hard-luck horse
this year, will try to make amends before the home
crowd with outstanding Canadian trotting driver
Trevor Ritchie at the controls.
VARENNE GOES FOR MILLION
The world’s greatest trotter, Varenne of Italy, tries
for a million-dollar bonus tomorrow at Hippodrome
de Montreal when he makes the final start of his
career in the C$500,000 Trot Mondial. Barring
the way in the mile and 3/8ths test is the best U.S.
trotter this season, Fool’s Goal, winner of the
Breeders Crown and Maple Leaf Trot, and
Canada’s best, McCooeye, winner of 24 straight
in Montreal, but Varenne is expected to complete
the Grand Slam of trotting, having won the previous
four legs in Europe, and get his $1 million bonus.
CAPITAL OTB DOWN TO THREE
There was no shortage of candidates -- 122 applied
-- but the field was narrowed to 3 this week
in the chase for retiring Tom Cholakis’ job
as head of Capital District OTB in New
York. The finalists’ names were not released.