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
WESTERN SHOOTER PUT DOWN
Western Shooter, the outstanding 2-year-old pacer
of 2001, winner of $904,000 and last year’s Breeders
Crown and Governor’s Cup and top-rated in
this year’s Experimental Handicap of 3-year-olds,
was euthanized Saturday evening at the Biederman
Veterinary Clinic in Maidstone, Ontario. Owned
by trainer Bob McIntosh, the CSX Stables of Ohio,
Michael Koehler of Michigan and Walnut Hall Ltd.
of Lexington, the colt was named champion juvenile
pacer of 2001 by both Harness Tracks of
America’s racing secretaries and the United States
Harness Writers Association. He developed a lump
on his neck two weeks ago and was treated at Ohio
State University’s Veterinary Clinic. A week ago
today he was sent home to Ontario, where his condition
— diagnosed as toxemia — worsened. He
was sent to the Biederman Clinic and appeared to
improve by mid-afternoon Saturday, but he then
suffered a relapse, and as he sank into severe distress
in the early evening the decision was made
to end the brilliant young pacer’s suffering, and he
was euthanized at 7:30 p.m. His death removes
from the scene a colt that owner-trainer McIntosh,
who has conditioned some of the most successful
horses in the sport, said “He goes fast easy, and
does it easier than any I’ve ever trained.”
RACING VS. BOATS IN IOWA
Iowa’s discriminatory taxation of racing’s slots at
tracks as opposed to the state’s gambling
riverboats has reached the Iowa Supreme Court,
which now will decide the constitutionality of the
widely disparate rates. The Racing Association of
Central Iowa, which operates Prairie Meadows
Racetrack and Casino, is challenging the present
structure under which the track’s casino revenues
are taxed on a graduating scale that has risen
2% a year from 20% in 1994 to 32% at
present, and will continue to rise for two
more years to 36% in 2004.
April 1, 2002
Iowa’s riverboats, meanwhile, continue to be taxed
at a maximum rate of 20%. The rationale offered
for the differing rates by Iowa assistant attorney
general Jeffrey Farrell seem ludicrous. He argues
that the state was trying to keep riverboats from
leaving Iowa, which some did, and that it was not
interested in attracting more racetracks. He also
noted that riverboats, under the law, were required
to have historic river themes, and the tracks are
not. One Supreme Court judge last Friday, responding
to Farrell’s argument about keeping riverboats
in Iowa, asked, “If people were leaving western
Iowa, could we tax them at a different rate than in
central Iowa?” If having to maintain river themes
is a valid reason for hugely disparate tax rates,
then Prairie Meadows would seem to have an easy
solution. Paint historic Iowa rivers on all of the
walls. A Polk county district judge agreed with the
state’s arguments in December, 2000, but the Supreme
Court now will consider the matter. A decision
is not expected to be handed down for several
months, but if Prairie Meadows prevails Polk
county could owe the racino a rebate of $60 million,
Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in Council Bluffs
could receive $49 million and Dubuque Greyhound
Track and Casino could get $12 million in refunds.
NEW POST FOR HARTMANN
Joe Hartmann, veteran publicist and former general
manager of HTA member Plainridge Racecourse,
has been named executive director of the
Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association.
Past president and chairman of the board
of the United States Harness Writers Association,
Hartmann also has served as president of the
North American Harness Publicists Association,
director of communications at Pompano Park, director
of public relations at the Red Mile, and director
of simulcasting at the Little Brown Jug. He
takes over his new duties a week from today.