2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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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 BIG CHANGES AT NORTHLANDS One day after Horse Racing Alberta offered Northlands Park a 10-year license, the HTA track in Edmonton, Alberta announced plans to spend $40 million on expansion of the racing operation that would make Northlands “the finest racing facility in Canada west of Woodbine in Toronto.” On the drawing board is extension of the present fiveeighths mile track to six and one half furlongs, or just less than seven-eighths of a mile, for thoroughbred racing, with a new five-eighths mile harness track built inside of the running track. In addition, a new paddock and walking ring would be constructed, and the Northlands infield might be redesigned for jumping and dressage shows. Northlands president Eric Young said funding for the project would come from slot machine revenue. The track currently has 500 slots, with 52% of the revenue going to Horse Racing Alberta, the provincial governing body, and that group will have to approve allocation of funds for the rebuilding project. Since the plans were included in Northlands’ license application which resulted in the 10-year license grant, and HRA chairman Dr. David Reid, a thoroughbred owner, seemed enthusiastic about the project, that possibility seems assured. Northlands’ board of directors and city council also must approve the project, but president Young seems confident of a green light from both. Northlands may stop live racing next September for the track reconstruction program and rearrange its 2004 schedule, which by contract includes 68 days of thoroughbred racing and a 53- day spring harness meeting. NEW WEB SITE AT WOODBINE Woodbine Entertainment Group, which operates Woodbine in Toronto and Mohawk Raceway in Campbellville, Ontario, has launched an ambitious new Web site that fans can customize. November 12, 2002 The site will offer real-time entries, results and charts from more than 75 North American tracks, along with live racing video and audio feeds, schedules and programs, and is designed to be the ultimate word in racing Web sites. Called “myWEG.com,” it is called “a breakthrough in the way we can deliver up-to-the-minute information to our core audience” by Shelley Clifford, Woodbine’s Web Manager. Clifford says the level of customization available, coupled with the breadth and depth of the racing stats fans can access, is unprecedented. The site was designed by iLeo, a Leo Burnett company in Toronto, and developed by White Label Technologies. DREXEL BOYS IN COURT TODAY Chris Harn, Derrick Davis and Glen DaSilva -- the ex-Drexel university fraternity brothers involved in the national Pick Six scandal -- turned themselves in to the FBI in White Plains, NY, this morning, and were scheduled to appear this afternoon in federal district court to hear the government’s criminal complaint against them on wire fraud conspiracy charges. MARYLAND, MY MARYLAND HometownAnnapolis.com reports that Maryland’s governor-elect Robert Ehrlich will meet with legislators this week to discuss the future of slot machines at state tracks. State senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Democrat, criticized Ehrlich’s proposal before the election, but now says, “I’m for slot machines at race tracks, but it needs to be done the Maryland way, which is the correct way.” He indicates that way is that they be placed at tracks only, and nowhere else, and an Ehrlich spokeswoman says the new governor agrees with that plan. Whether the legislature will approve, or send the matter to a referendum, could determine whether the idea materializes in 2003 or 2004.
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 November 13, 2002 COCAINE, SOUND BITES & ALL MASS, OHIO UP FOR SLOTS? The three Drexel Boys showed up in court yesterday on their Pick Six charges, two of them testing tured most attention as next in line for slots at Although Pennsylvania and Maryland have cap- positive for cocaine, and the press was on hand, tracks, it appears there is a good chance Massachusetts and Ohio may join them early next year. en masse, to cover the story. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York did not disappoint the newsmen, providing solid sound bites paved the way with statements in recent days. Two key officials in the Bay State seemingly have worthy of the occasion. Asked if he felt the scam House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, an opponent was worthy of a Hollywood movie, he replied, “It’s of new forms of legalized gaming in the past, now already been made, but with much better-looking says he is willing to consider any idea that would people,” referring to Robert Redford and Paul generate money for the state. And the next Senate president, Democrat Robert E. Travaglini, who Newman in the 1973 production “The Sting.” The federal attorney, James B. Comey, also told the has two tracks —Suffolk Downs and Wonderland press, “These suspects bet that law enforcement — in his district, says he supports slots at all four could not catch them. But that’s a bet they could tracks in the state as a way of preserving jobs. not fix.” Today’s coverage of the surrender of the three weighed in at HTA at 1.3 pounds on the Press Richter Scale, complete with pictures of the three in handcuffs. HTA has posted the complete Complaint in the case, United States of America v. Christopher Harn, Derrick Davis and Glen DaSilva, on our Web site, www.harnesstracks.com, and it is available there now. In other developments in the Pick Six affair, the Illinois Racing Board, meeting yesterday, banned all bets in the state with more than three legs, thus putting Pick Four and Pick Six wagers out of action for the time being. The racing board said it also intends to prohibit anyone betting in Illinois from wagering on a Pick Four or Pick Six held at any other track, although it did not say how it intended to do that. It also deferred licensing Autotote and AmTote for 2003, but will consider that decision at its next meeting Dec. 9. In California, Hollywood Park has petitioned the California Horse Racing Board to allow it the option of closing betting pools approximately two minutes before the start of each race, now Churchill Downs policy. In Ohio, the president of the state Senate, Richard Finan, said he expects that body to pass, perhaps as early as next week, legislation authorizing electronic slots machines at the state’s seven tracks. The Speaker of the House, Larry Householder, also supports the idea, and said yesterday he is counting votes to see how much support can be generated there. A spokeswoman for Gov. Bob Taft, re-elected last week, said the governor will veto any such legislation, and other legislative leaders oppose it as well. IN NJ, PRESS HANDICAPS RACE New Jersey’s largest newspaper, the Newark Star-Ledger, thinks it knows who will make the cut in the Sports and Exposition Authority derby to determine who gets to redevelop 107 acres of its property. The paper says that when Authority president/CEO George Zoffinger makes the cut from six to three proposals two months from now, the winners will be Hartz Mountain/Forest City Ratner, with its Expo Park; Mack Cali Realty and its Xanadu; and Westfield Holdings with its Arena Place. The Hartz Mountain proposal calls for public bonds, the other two do not.
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2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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