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
AN UGLY CALIFORNIA LAWSUIT
A California trainer has filed a lawsuit alleging
serious charges against Capitol Racing, which operates
year-round in Sacramento. The trainer,
Rudy Sialana, suspended by Capitol Racing for a
year, charges irregularities in testing for
milkshakes, and claims that Capitol and the California
Harness Horsemen’s Association have financial
vested interests in some trainers’ horses.
The suit has been filed in Sacramento County Superior
Court, with Los Angeles lawyer Jay M.
Coggan representing Sialana and his son Russ,
who also trains at Cal Expo. The Sialanas claim
that testing methods and penalties are influenced
by the financial interest held in certain horses. Alan
Horowitz, general manager of Capitol Racing and
executive secretary of the horsemen’s association,
denies that Capitol had any financial interest in
horses racing at the track. He told the Sacramento
Bee’s writer Debbie Arrington, “We will advance
shipping costs to trainers who want to bring horses
out, and we have made some loans to trainers who
wanted to improve their stock. But we have no
financial ties to the horses they chose or race.
There’s no relationship between that and the racing
program itself.” One problem is the limbo in
which milkshaking is held in California. It is not
specifically mentioned under banned substances,
as it is in some other major jurisdictions, but it also
is not on the list of allowed substances. Mike
Marten, the racing board’s spokesman, told
Arrington, “Our policy is that if it’s not specifically
permitted, then it’s not allowed to be there.
Nowhere (in state regulations) does it say anything
about baking soda -- or several other substances.
But the burden is on the horseman not to have it in
the horse.” California does not test for high carbon
dioxide, a byproduct of milkshaking, but Capitol
Racing does, with a blood-gas analyzer.
Coggan, Sialanas’ lawyer, contends the
persons doing the testing are “immediately
April 11, 2002
taintedbecause they are connected financially to
the parties they are regulating.” He says the
Sialanas, father and son, want blood-gas testing
eliminated entirely, or else administered by the
state as part of its regulatory scheme. “If the state
believes there’s a need to regulate soda, then they
should take it on.”
KILL IT? NAH, STUDY IT
It’s a technique as old as legislatures themselves,
of course, and the Rhode Island House pulled it
out of mothballs again this week in the Case of
the Narragansetts. That tribe, backed by their
Las Vegas friends, Boyd Gaming, wants to build a
Vegas style casino in West Warwick. The town
wants the legislature to put the matter on the ballot.
Ah, but another Nevada presence, Harrah’s
Entertainment, also is involved in Rhode Island,
and according to the Providence Journal-Bulletin,
their executives and lawyers and lobbyists
“helped to pitch and sell” the idea of a study. The
House Finance Chairman, Gordon D. Fox, welcomed
the study, saying, “You rush to judgment,
you often get burnt.” West Warwick’s representative,
Timothy Williamson, countered, saying,
“Let’s not do the same song and dance, year after
year after year about casino gaming. We are either
going to give it to them, like we did in 1994
(when a casino referendum failed), or not.” Fox
replied, “When the stakes are high, there’s mischief
that goes on.” Williamson laughed loudly at
that, and so do we. Mischief when the stakes are
high? Surely you jest, Mr. Fox. But Fox prevailed,
easily. On a vote of 77 to 12, the House ducked
the issue and voted for a Special House Commission
to Study Gaming, sort of like the federal one
that wasted zillions of dollars and went nowhere a
few years ago. This one, however, has served its
purpose already. There will be no referendum next
November. No legislative committee could possibly
study anything in seven months.