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
CRIMINALITY AND COMEDY TOO
The guilty plea yesterday in White Plains, NY, of
Derrick Davis, who nominally held the winning
ticket to $3 million in the Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick
Six scandal, contained comedy as well as tragedy.
After telling how mastermind Glen Harn had called
him and told him he was going to rig the bet and
asked if Davis wanted in, Davis said he was “truly
sorry,” that he would relinquish all rights to the
money, and that the government could instruct Arlington
Park to redistribute the $3 million “to those
who truly have a right to it, the people that picked
five out of six,” and that he hoped they could get
the money by Dec. 25. What a tender touch for a
crook. Wonder if he’ll send Christmas cards, too,
to all those five-of-sixers. The likelihood of Christmas
gifts is remote, unless the Illinois Racing
Board, touched by Davis’ contrition, schedules a
special meeting in the next 10 days to boost the
payoff for the 5-of-6 holders from $4,606 to close
to $40,000. The invitation from Harn to Davis to
get in on “future action” on the Breeders’ Cup bet
was not their first gambol into illicit gambling. In
late May, Davis said, Harn asked him to cash some
one hundred counterfit unclaimed winning mutuel
tickets from 2001. He did, after a trip to Delaware
Park to learn how to use self-service machines,
and he split the $22,000 profit with Harn.
The third Drexel boy, Glen DaSilva, cashed more
than $90,000. After all, what are fraternity brothers
for, if not fun and games?
CORDIALITY, TO A DEGREE
Four independent track represenatives kicked
around the subject of surviving with the big guys
at yesterday’s sessions of the Racing Symposium
in Tucson, and there were sunny smiles all around
and great conviviality. When the subject got around
to account wagering, however, there was
a chill behind the smiles. Jim Hannon, who
handles simulcasting for Billy Johnston’s
December 13, 2002
Chicago-area operations, said that fellow panelist
Mike Weiss of Beulah Park in Columbus, Ohio,
was stealing Balmoral and Maywood Park customers
with his AmericaTab Internet and phone service.
Hannon said that because Illinois does not
allow account wagering, the Chicago tracks could
not compete with those operations from out of
state. Weiss essentially said it was survival of the
fittest, attributing Beulah’s successes to account
wagering, loyal fans, a clean plant and the wellrounded
Katie and Jenna Felty, the Beulah Twins,
who were given considerable credit for rises in
Beulah’s handle. Tip to track operators: get yourself
some lovely blondes, men. Two of a kind, if
possible.
HORSEMEN SUE MONTICELLO
Claiming they have been shorted $1.3 million by
purse deductions for track expenses, horse owners
and trainers have sued Monticello Raceway
for that amount after the track offered $125,000
as a settlement. Track president Cliff Ehrlich says
he has “utmost respect” for the horsemen, and
calls the suit “unfortunate” because it will be
lengthy and expensive.
ANNETTE ABDICATES
Annette Bacola, Michigan’s lone racing commissioner,
has had enough. She announced her resignation
yesterday, effective the end of the month,
a year earlier than her term. Mrs. Bacola said
she would have stayed on if Gov. John Engler had
created a full commission to help out, but that she
was tired of handling the task alone and opted to
spend more time with her husband and six-yearold
son. The development apparently caught her
staff by surprise, the announcement coming not
from her Michigan office but in a news story in
Thoroughbred Times. Across the Detroit River,
Windsor Raceway presents its 37th Provincial
Cup Sunday, for a purse of $437,000, with a
classy 9-horse field.