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 STATES AT CROSSROADS
It’s crunch time in two neighboring midwestern
states, and the coming weeks are critical. In Kentucky,
hearings have begun on the possibility of
VLTs for Kentucky tracks, and the heavy hitters
have come forward with testimony. In Indiana, a
House-Senate conference committee is debating
slot-like pull tabs for Hoosier Park, Indianapolis
Downs and two OTBs.
The Kentucky debate included a three-hour formal
hearing on Monday and heated consideration
of the matter now is underway. Long gone from
racing is Ted Bassett’s “mythical armada” of a
decade ago, with a gambling fleet now across the
Ohio river and firing away in easy range of
Churchill Downs. Keeneland has met the future,
and president Nick Nicholson ackowledges that
“the situation changed” and Keeneland now favors
VLTs from both an offensive position and
defensive one, both seeking slots and defending
against others in the state getting them with tracks
left out. Although discussions in Kentucky’s legislature
and on its racing commission center on
thoroughbred racing, Nicholson -- a realist and
former high level legislative aide - knows that any
bill will have to incorporate both breeds in Kentucky,
and he says he would prefer to enter into
some cooperative arrangement with HTA’s member
The Red Mile. “Whether the slots would actually
be here, there, or somewhere else is something
we’d have to determine,” Nicholson told
Daily Racing Form, and the Red Mile’s location,
a mile from the heart of downtown Lexington, obviously
is highly attractive. The current situation
was summarized best by Churchill Downs president
Alex Waldrop, who said, “We are in an arena
that we don’t control, and it’s impossible to predict
what will happen over the coming
weeks in Frankfort.” The Indiana pulltab
issue also will be voted up or down in
the days ahead.
March 5, 2002
GANDHI HEADS FOR POMPANO
Well, okay, not the real Gandhi, long gone and
missed, but the man whose portrayal of him won a
Best Actor Academy Award, and who now has put
down the sheet and put on clothes and a snarl and
was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscar
for Sexy Beast, along with earlier Academy Award
nomination for Bugsy. That’s Sir Ben Kingsley, of
course, knighted last year in London, and he will
be taking up residence at Pompano Park where
nearly 40% of a new film, All for Nothin’, will be
shot. The story is based on the true story of telecommunications
pioneer Walter L. Shaw and his
son Walter T., the confessed ‘Dinner Time
Burgler’. Filming is scheduled to start early next
month. Casting is underway, but no word yet on a
role for Steve Wolf.
IS GARY ON TO SOMETHING?
The question of the day is what does Gary
Piontkowski, president of HTA’s New England
member Plainridge Racecourse, know that we
don’t?
Word has reached here that Plainridge is introducing
a Stan Bergstein Pace in July, a late-closing
open event for 3-year-olds with eliminations
on July 15 and a final on July 22.
As everyone knows, those kind of events are usually
memorials, and we are waiting for the other
shoe to drop. We scheduled a quick medical
checkup followed the notification, and were given
clearance to schedule a flight for Boston whenever
we chose, and to run in the Boston Marathon
if scheduling can be arranged. We don’t plan to
leave until July, but if you want to reach us on July
22, just call Plainridge.
Meantime, our deep thanks to Gary, and
to racing secretary Paul Varrette for not
scheduling the series for geldings.