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
AND THE MELODY LINGERS ON
As the Pick Six feeding frenzy in the press continues,
with each story questioning the integrity of
the pari-mutuel system as currently deployed, a
larger question arises: is the Pick Six, on whatever
scale, worth this kind of press coverage?
Matt Hegarty, writing in today’s Daily Racing
Form under a headline reading “Pick six: A
hacker’s paradise?” begins: “If someone wanted
to manipulate the parimutuel pools in Thoroughbred
racing, the bet of choice would be the pick six
and it would be structured just like the Breeder’
Cup ticket now under investigation by the New
York State Racing and Wagering Board, racing and
wagering experts said Tuesday.”
Reports here indicate that Derrick Davis, the 29-
year-old who made the winning bets that have triggered
an avalanche of negative coverage, is not
merely some unknown computer repairman from
Baltimore who now desperately seeks anonymity,
but rather a bettor known in much wider circles
than Catskill OTB, where he showed up suddenly
on Breeders’ Cup Day, fully certified by Catskill
president Don Groth as a trusted customer. The
questions raised about the vulnerability of racing’s
computer systems remain, including Chris Scherf’s
germane reminder to Bill Finley of the New York
Times that if hackers can break into the Pentagon’s
computer system racing presumably is not impenetrable.
The press, meanwhile, has treated the
matter with varying degrees of skepticism. Two
of the more caustic commentators have been Jim
O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times and Jim
Handleman of the Asbury Park (NJ) Press. Their
comments are discussed in detail in this week’s
HTA Track Topics, but the headlines on their stories
are enough to give you the flavor of their writing.
O’Donnell’s Chicago story was headlined,
“Probe could end faith in simulcasting.”
October 30, 2002
Handleman’s lengthy column, in today’s paper, was
titled, “Another nail in racing’s coffin.” His column
was a bitter indictment of racing’s attitude
not only toward computer security, but about the
use of illegal medications that move horses up dramatically
and about banished trainers who show
up at off-track training centers and farms, known
to those around them but unreported. It is a powerful
piece, and contrasts sharply with the innocent
protestations of leading trainers and others
who either say they know of no such doings, or
else blame them on professional envy.
IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
In Indiana, where Indiana Downs is nearing
completion, that track and Hoosier Park, which
opposed its construction, now are battling over
whether the new track can open an OTB facility to
compete with Hoosier’s OTB site in Indianapolis.
The racing commission has scheduled a public
hearing on the subject.
In Great Britain, the digital broadcaster
Attheraces said it was “thrilled” with its six-hour
coverage of the Breeders’ Cup, watched by up to
151,000 viewers, and called it “the perfect platform
from which to launch our American racing
service,” which could happen as early as tomorrow,
depending on final tests. Britain’s Channel 4
said its late night Breeders’ Cup highlights show
drew 500,000 viewers.
In New Jersey, a bill that would add horsemen and
horsewomen to the New Jersey Racing Commission
sailed through the Assembly, 71-4, and now
goes to the Senate, where it faces a test.
In Pennsylvania, the harness racing commission
held a daylong hearing on the Chester Downs harness
track application, with a decision three
to six months away.