January - 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 

January 2, 2008 

JOE BRUNO SPEAKS 

We know not who speaks with forked tongue, 

but we do know a discrepancy when we see one, 

and statements issued by Senate boss Joe Bruno 

and the office of the governor of New York 

cannot both be accurate. Racing in New York 

continues, as expected, with no new operator 

and no legislation permitting it, but the major 

adversaries continue their head-butting. Bruno, 

in a statement to the press, said, “Negotiations 

have been very constructive over the last several 

weeks. However, we have been unable to get the 

Governor’s staff to meet with us since Friday in 

an effort to resolve remaining differences. For 

months I have called for open public leaders 

meetings to reach an agreement by the end of the 

year. The Governor and Speaker have rejected 

these calls. Today, I am renewing that call and 

asking Governor Spitzer and Speaker Silver to 

conduct a public meeting on January 2 to finalize 

an agreement. I am confident that our differences 

can be resolved.” Bruno went on to say 

his hopes for a settlement today “were hindered 

by NYRA’s intransigence on remaining issues 

that would assure accountability and oversight.” 

Summarized, it is everybody’s fault except good 

old Joe’s. According to Bruno, Spitzer and Silver 

are the bad guys. Gov. Spitzer’s office says 

an agreement already is in place, and will stay in 

place until Jan. 23, and adds, “The Governor’s 

Office has been in daily contact with representatives 

of the State Senate, the Assembly and 

NYRA.” Reconcile all the oratory as you wish. 

The horses, unaware of the oratory, are running 

today, and so are the politicians, in all directions. 

This will be resolved and forgotten, perhaps not 

for the 30 years the governor wants but for longer 

than Bruno wants, and Hal Handel can begin 

running the New York Racing Association 

on a day-to-day managerial basis. What 

a pleasant prospect that is for the start of 

a brand new year. 

LET’S SEE..2+2 = WHAT’S THAT 

You’ve heard of the gang that couldn’t shoot 

straight. Now try the gang that couldn’t count. 

Jockeys in Ireland this time, 14 of them who 

pulled up one track circuit early in a jump race 

of 2 miles 5 furlongs. They began heading for 

the unsaddling enclosure when five of them realized 

their mistake, turned around, and raced 

the final lap. The English racing press noted, 

“While jockeys individually occasionally ride a 

finish too early, it is rare for an entire field to do 

so.” Their mistake even fooled the commentator, 

who described the first “finish” in animated 

terms before also realizing the error. Having 

been one of those, we can understand race callers 

who have trouble counting.....but jockeys 

Those who finished second, third and fourth in 

the race -- and five-others as well -- were suspended 

for five days. That’s 5, boys...1..2..3..4..5. 

It’s easy until you get past 10. 

THINGS SLOW TRY BINGO 

Milton McGregor, who has tried dogs in Birmingham, 

now thinks Bingo may be the better 

bet. He is hoping to add electronic bingo machines 

to his track, where he was forced to remove 

casino-like machines a year ago, according 

to the Birmingham News. The paper reports that 

previous objections from Greenetrack, a Eutaw 

dog track that has hundreds of Vegas-style bingo 

machines and was able to block Birmingham, 

now is talking joint venture with McGregor. The 

Birmingham Racing Commission is next stop. 

STEEL YOURSELF FOR THIS 

Anyone who ever saw it remembers the old 

Bethlehem Steel Works in Bethlehem, PA, as one 

of the biggest and most foreboding structures 

imaginable. Now, almost 400,000 square feet of 

building have been demolished, and the Vegas 

Sands Corporation, whose stock is falling, 

expects to open the giant casino in 2009.


$11 MILLION, & UNRESOLVED 

This is not a post-dated, after-the-fact “I told 

you so” item. When the California Horse Racing 

Board first mandated synthetic tracks, we 

wrote we felt it was a knee-jerk reaction to criticism 

of on-track injuries. We are not opposed to 

synthetics, but when you are talking $10 million 

or so without testing under battle conditions you 

are risking big money. A Bloodhorse.com article 

this week carries a headline, “Santa Anita 

Track Dilemma Not Over,” a story in which Paul 

Harper, the technical director of Cushion Track 

Footings, the builder of Santa Anita’s synthetic, 

acknowledges that trying to create a track to 

withstand 110 degrees “was in hindsight a mistake 

as this has almost certainly compromised the 

drainage characteristics of the surface.” With 

heavy rain predicted for the next three days, 

Santa Anita plans to seal its track to avoid further 

drainage problems. Cushion Track noted 

other installations, including one at Hollywood 

Park, have been well received, and Paul Harper 

said that if Cushion is unable to find a remedy 

to stabilize the track it will install a new one at 

the end of the current meeting, at an estimated 

cost of $6 million. We sympathize with the present 

problems, but memories of 40 years ago returned 

when California plunged ahead with its 

mandate. Back then, in the 1960s, the industrial 

giant 3-M Company, urged by its then chairman 

William McKnight, a racing man, turned its 

huge research capabilities and financial resources 

to creating what it called a Tartan track. It 

worked initially, but was unable to withstand the 

constant pounding it received under battle conditions 

at The Meadows in western Pennsylvania, 

and ultimately was removed. We were there 

the first day Tartan was tested, at Max Hampt’s 

farm in Mechanicsburg, PA, and the ensuing trials 

and ultimate tribulations remain fresh 

in mind. It will be five years before the 

final verdict on year-round synthetics. 





Ron Charles, Santa Anita’s president, says 

Magna has spent $11 million so far for its Cushion 

Track, and it would cost another $6 million if 

the track must be replaced with drainage problems 

corrected. He has vowed to do whatever is 

necessary to restore ideal racing conditions. 

SPLIT ELLIS PARK IN TWO 

Ron Geary, owner of Ellis Park in Henderson, 

KY, is thinking of cutting the baby in half. He 

says if slots are approved in Kentucky, he would 

build a casino in Owensboro -- not a racino in 

Henderson -- to move it away from riverboat 

competition in Indiana. Geary told the Indianapolis 

Star, “Whether at Ellis Park or in Owensboro, 

under an Ellis Park license, some percentage 

of the money bet would go into the purse 

funds at Ellis Park.” Kentucky’s new governor 

Steve Beshear wants slots, and a state senator 

from Owensboro already has filed pre-legislation 

to amend the state constitution to permit them. 

Owensboro is Kentucky’s third largest city, behind 

Louisville and Lexington. 

SCHEDULE CHANGES AT WEG 

Woodbine Entertainment has changed its post 

times for 2008. Starting tonight, and for the 

balance of the season, Woodbine’s first post on 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights will be 

7:30, rather than the 7:20 that will remain on 

Monday cards. Sunday racing is gone for the 

winter and will not return until racing returns to 

Mohawk on May 1. 

DON’T GET SHUT OUT 

We are in our final week for reservations at the 

Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg, site of the 

HTA/TRA meeting Feb. 17-20. If you would like 

a stall, call Jen Foley at HTA, 520-529-2525, e- 

mail jen@harnesstracks.com, and she will be 

happy to accommodate you. Be sure to 

make your own Tampa air reservations.


LEERHSEN WINS DAN PATCH 

Charlie Leerhsen, executive editor at Sports Illustrated 

and author of the soon-to-be published 

Simon and Schuster production Crazy Good: 

The Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse 

in America, is the winner of Harness Tracks of 

America’s 2008 award for contributions to publicity, 

publishing and promotion of harness racing. 

Leerhsen, one of the finest writers plying the 

trade in America today, is author of three previous 

non-racing books, on Donald Trump, former 

NBC president Brandon Tartifkoff and test 

pilot Chuck Yeager. His book on Dan Patch 

arrives after more than two years of intensive 

research criss-crossing the country in what he 

called “solving a mystery,” filling in thousands 

of blanks on the story of the wonder horse that 

captivated America at the start of the 20th century, 

when trains, cigars, washing machines, 

and children - a host of them - were named for 

him. Leerhsen interviewed countless dozens of 

people, and injected his book with much of the 

drama and conflict of a story he calls “better 

than Seabiscuit.” He notes that Seabiscuit was 

not born cripple, unable to stand and nurse, as 

Dan Patch was; never pulled the local grocery’s 

delivery wagon; never drew 110,000 people to 

see him race against the clock. 

Leerhsen was first hired to work for the United 

States Trotting Association by Stan Bergstein, 

then vice president of publicity and public relations. 

He worked at USTA from 1976 until 1981, 

when he left to become a senior writer for Newsweek. 

He left that magazine in 1992 to become 

entertainment editor, and then assistant manager 

editor, of People for six years, after which he 

was named editor of the weekly US, joining 

Sports Illustrated as executive editor 

six years ago. 





Leerhsen will receive his aptly named Dan Patch 

award at the joint meeting of Harness Tracks of 

America and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations 

at the Renaissance Vinoy hotel in St. Petersburg, 

Florida, Tuesday night, February 19. 

FARINELLA LEAVES TIOGA 

Bob Farinella, president of Tioga Downs and 

Vernon Downs for American Racing and Entertainment, 

is leaving that post January 18 and 

will be succeeded by Pete Savage. Farinella, in 

a typical class move, issued a farewell statement 

in which he wrote, “Over the past 14 months we 

have crossed many bridges together and I am 

pleased with the changes we have undertaken 

to offset the tremendous negative burden of a 

broken lottery economic model and all the negative 

press that has been associated with it....I am 

confident that the pieces that we have worked so 

hard to assemble will all gel in 2008 and to that 

extent as I elect to turn over the reins to Pete Savage 

I want to extend my personal thanks for the 

friendship and professionalism extended me.” 

BROOKS SPRUNG FOR $4 MIL 

Former Perfect World Enterprises stable owner 

David Brooks, incarcerated since October on 

charges including securities and tax fraud, has 

been released under house arrest by a federal 

judge. He reportedly will be confined to a Manhattan 

apartment under constant surveillance 

with an armed guard, and as part of the release 

agreement he posted a $400 million personal recognizance 

bond, co-signed by his brother Jeffrey 

and secured by $48 million in assets. Brooks 

also supposedly sent $4 million to tribal holy men 

in Senegal, West Africa for religious ceremonies 

to help in his acquittal. One wag asked, “How 

many prayers do you get for $4 million.” 

While pondering that, send your hotel reservations 

for Florida to Jen Foley at HTA, 

520-529-2525. Time is short.






SANTA ANITA TO HOLLYWOOD 

Torrential, unrelenting rain -- 5 1/2 inches of it 

over the weekend -- washed out racing at Santa 

Anita Saturday and Sunday, including the 

$100,000 Santa Ysabel and the $150,000 San 

Pasqual Handicap. The problem, beside the 

punishing rain, was the inability of Santa Anita’s 

new Cushion Track to absorb water. With 

the cancellation, California Horse Racing Board 

chairman Richard Shapiro announced a poll of 

his members tomorrow on the issue of allowing 

Santa Anita to transfer its meeting to Hollywood 

Park in Inglewood. That track also has 

a Cushion Track, but unlike the one in Arcadia it 

was not built to withstand 110-degree heat. That 

decision -- called “an after-the-fact mistake” by 

Cushion Track Footings technical director Paul 

Harper -- led to serious drainage problems from 

the start of the meeting, and Harper and his crew, 

and Santa Anita track superintendent Richard 

Tedesco and his ground corps, have been unable 

to solve the problem. The entire surface was removed 

and replaced in December, but without 

adequate drainage the track is not safe for racing. 

Cushion Track says it will replace it, a task 

costing $6 million, and Santa Anita already has 

spent $11 million on the installation and subsequent 

maintenance attempts, according to president 

Ron Charles. Charles was summoned to 

Florida over the weekend to meet with Santa 

Anita’s owner, Frank Stronach, concerning the 

problem. 

INTERIOR TO MONTICELLO: NO 

The United States Secretary of the Interior, Dirk 

Kempthorne, has for the moment ended hopes 

of a San Regis Mohawk casino at Monticello 

Raceway in the New York Catskills, and another 

Indian casino planned for Sullivan county. 

Kempthorne refused to grant Indian reservation 

land in trust. The Mohawks say 

they will sue Kempthorne. 

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES 

Ohio and Oregon have released handle figures 

for last year, and they are revealing. In Ohio, 

betting at HTA’s Lebanon Raceway, Northfield 

Park, and Scioto Downs, and at Raceway 

Park, all were down, a total of 14.3%. Scioto 

was down 21.25% with two less days of racing 

than in 2006; Lebanon was down 15%, with 

two more days; Northfield was down 13.6%, 

with the same 364 days of racing; and Raceway 

was down 6.7%, with 362 days of racing in both 

years. All thoroughbred tracks in the state also 

were down, ranging from Thistledown’s loss of 

14.55 % through Beulah Park’s decline of 9.5% 

to River Downs’ 8.2%, with only a day’s difference 

in number of racing days. Statewide totals 

dropped 12.71%. 

Oregon’s racing commission issued handle figures 

for the last seven years. Hub betting was 

negligible in 2000, but in its first full year, 2001, 

Greyhound Channel, doing business then as US 

Off-Track, had a high second quarter, handling 

$3.168 million. In 2007, now known as Pay Dog, 

it handled over $7 million in each of the first three 

quarters of the year. TVG went from a high quarter 

of $13.8 million in 2001 to $151.4 million in the 

third quarter of 2007; AmericaTAB went from 

$11.2 in the last quarter of 2001 to $62.3 million 

before being acquired by Churchill Downs in the 

second quarter of 2007. Youbet, which arrived 

in Oregon in 2002, had a high quarter that year 

of $42.5 million, and its high quarter in 2007 was 

$133.3 million. The Racing Channel, doing business 

as Oneclickbetting.com, handled $42.9 million 

in its highest quarter in 2002, and only $10 

million in its best quarter last year. XpressBet 

entered the fray in 2005, with a high quarter of 

$26.2 million, and posted $56.1 million in its best 

trimester last year. IRG, in the same time frame, 

went from $2.1 million to $87.3 million in its best 

quarter. Churchill’s Twin Spires hit $39.4 

million in its second quarter last year.






WITH FLOODS, BUILD AN ARK 

That was the philosophy of the late and deeply 

missed Tom Joy, who owned Windsor Raceway 

in its better years. Now Ron Charles, just 

named Chief Operating Officer of Magna Entertainment 

Corporation, gets a chance to show 

similar optimism. Magna’s Santa Anita was 

washed out for the third straight day yesterday, 

as more rain fell in southern California, bringing 

the weekend total to a reported 7 1/2 inches. 

Charles, in his new job, will be responsible for 

all operational aspects of MEC’s business interests, 

and will answer directly to chairman and 

interim CEO Frank Stronach. As for considering 

his limited options with his drowned Cushion 

Track, Charles has a few. He expects permission 

today from the California Horse Racing Board 

to move the remaining days of the 85-day spring 

meeting to Hollywood Park. Joe Harper has tentatively 

offered Del Mar for training purposes, 

contingent on approval of his fair board. And 

the Los Angeles Daily News reported that Santa 

Anita might scrap the Cushion and revert to dirt 

for the remainder of its spring meeting, something 

the racing board obviously would have to 

approve, since it was the group that mandated 

synthetic tracks in the first place. Santa Anita’s 

forced cancellation yesterday marked the first 

time in the 71-year history of the track that races 

were cancelled on three consecutive days, and 

new COO Charles called the situation “unacceptable.” 

The track hopes to reopen with live 

racing on Thursday. 

SEND SURVEYS TO BRODY 

All HTA member tracks should have received 

their wagering survey forms from Brody Johnson 

by now. Will the responsible parties please 

fill them out and return them, as soon as possible 

by fastest means, to Brody. His welfare 

hangs in the balance, and he’s a guy we 

really cannot afford to lose. 

LOOKING FOR WORK TRY US 

An HTA member with a long racing season is 

looking for a racing secretary and for a track superintendent. 

If you are interested, send your 

resume to the aforementioned Mr. Johnson at 

the home office in Tucson. Keep Brody busy! 

UP THE HILL WITH VERNON 

New York Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow of 

Mount Vernon, chairman of the Assembly’s Racing 

Committee, announced today that a “conceptual 

agreement” has been reached between 

harness horsemen and those who run the tracks 

at which they race. Pretlow would not give details 

until the Assembly bill was printed, possibly 

today. Jeff Gural was not waiting, meeting with 

the State Racing and Wagering Board today, 

and the Assembly now is drafting a bill in accordance 

with the agreement. The state Senate 

passed a favorable bill earlier that could mean 

$5 million to Vernon. 

DOWN THE SLOPES AT EMPIRE 

Monticello Raceway is in what New Yorkers call 

The Mountains, and the slopes were steep yesterday 

as the stock of the track owner, Empire Resorts, 

fell to a record low yesterday on news that 

the U.S. Department of the Interior had denied 

a land-trust application that would have given 

the St. Regis Mohawk Indians a major casino 

in the Catskills. Empire’s stock dropped $54, 

from $3.08 to $1.42 a share. Empire’s stock was 

called “always volatile” by one financial adviser, 

while Monticello president David Hanlon called 

Interior’s decision “regrettable.” The decision 

came after federal environmental approval and 

favorable rulings from both previous New York 

governor George Pataki and present governor 

Eliot Spitzer. 

You are now almost out of time for room 

reservations for the HTA/TRA meeting.






DIRT-Y DOINGS IN CALIFORNIA 

The California Horse Racing Board yesterday 

voted unanimously to allow Santa Anita to run 

some or all of its remaining races at Hollywood 

Park if it cannot solve the drainage problem 

with its Cushion Track quickly. Board chairman 

Richard Shapiro said of the decision, “We are 

removing any regulatory impediment” for Santa 

Anita, including the option to return to dirt until 

a new synthetic track could be installed. Shapiro 

said the board was not deciding that racing 

should be transferred to Hollywood Park, but 

rather removing any restrictions “for the benefit 

of all parties.” According to the California 

Thoroughbred Breeders Association boardwatch, 

50% fewer horses have died since the synthetic 

track mandate became effective. The newsletter 

says before the new surfaces were installed, 

there was 1 horse death per 443 starts, and since 

installation the incidence of fatal accidents had 

dropped to 1 in 913. 

FAIRMOUNT SLASHES DATES 

Fairmount Park in southern Illinois has announced 

it will shorten its season by 33 1/3% 

this year, cutting back from 90 racing dates to 

60. Track president Brian Zander said financial 

strains on the track from competing riverboat 

competition was making the move necessary. His 

action came as the Illinois legislature continued 

its contentious debate about new gambling laws 

that could include slots at Illinois tracks. The 

casino industry has been bitterly opposing the 

idea, claiming oversaturation of the market, as it 

has in New Jersey, but one key Illinois legislator 

backing the move -- Rep. Lou Lang of Chicago’s 

northwestern suburb of Skokie -- said the real 

and only reason for the opposition is that the riverboats 

do not want the tracks to have slots. The 

Illinois House, Michael Madigan, said the 

riverboats will have to learn they may 

not get exactly what they want. 

SCOT WATERMAN THE MAN 

Dr. Scot Waterman, executive director of the 

Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, is 

the 2008 winner of Harness Tracks of America’s 

Distinguished Service Award. Waterman will 

receive HTA’s equine bronze at the association’s 

Nova Awards dinner Tuesday night, February 

19, during the joint HTA/TRA annual meeting 

at the Renaissance Vinoy hotel in St. Petersburg, 

Florida. A graduate of the University of 

Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and an 

honors graduate of the University of Arizona 

Race Track Industry Program, Dr. Waterman 

played a leading role in the creation of the Medication 

and Testing Consortium and has been its 

leader and driving force in the five years since 

its inception. He has campaigned tirelessly, 

coast-to-coast, urging racing commissions to 

adopt RMTC guidelines, and more than 25 have 

agreed. Brock Milstein, president of HTA, called 

Waterman’s work “inspirational, and of huge 

benefit to the entire horseracing industry.” 

CLASSIC SERIES: PAY 1 FEE 

The Classic Series for older pacers and trotters 

will kick off this year on April 7 at Dover Downs. 

The series offers a solid deal to owners who nominate, 

requiring only a single nomination payment 

on February 15 for the three $85,000 preliminary 

legs and the chance to qualify for the $250,000 final 

at each gait. Mohawk Racetrack will host the 

second leg May 31, the Meadowlands will offer 

the third leg on July19, and the finals will be held 

with the Hambletonian eliminations a week later. 

THE RUMOR MILL REPORTS 

Rumors from Pennsylvania predict big changes in 

the composition of the state’s racing boards can be 

expected in the next six months. The harness racing 

commission, reports say, will be merged with 

the thoroughbred board, and casualties could include 

Ben Nolt on the thoroughbred board 

and Anton Leppler on the harness side.






BRIAN CASHMAN AT HTA/TRA 

Brian Cashman, general manager of the New 

York Yankees, and his Hall of Fame father John, 

one of harness racing’s best known executive 

personalities, will enliven the Nova Awards dinner 

presentations during next month’s joint annual 

meeting of Harness Tracks of America and 

the Thoroughbred Racing Associations. 

The Cashmans will chat with master of ceremonies 

and racing commentator Dave Johnson in 

a conversation titled, “No One Ever Grew Old 

With a Promising 2-year-old in the barn or a 

Pennant Contender in Winter Training.” The 

conversation will be a prelude to presentation 

of the Nova bronzes to owners of the champion 

harness horses of 2007, and awards to other dignitaries 

being honored at the dinner. 

The full agenda of the HTA/TRA meeting will be 

released tomorrow. 

THE ELOQUENCE OF SILENCE 

If you were waiting to hear what Gov. Eliot 

Spitzer had to say about racing and gaming in 

his State of the State message in Albany yesterday, 

don’t bother to hang around. He said 

nothing. No mention of racing, harness or thoroughbred; 

no mention of casino or tribal gaming; 

no mention of VLTs. His only mention of 

anything related to gambling was a pitch to find 

more money in the state lottery system, “either 

by taking in private investment or looking at 

other financing alternatives. As we do this, we 

will assure that the State continues to regulate 

all lottery games, and that we continue to receive 

the more than $2 billion annually that the lottery 

now provides. Today’s endowment dollars 

will be a down payment on tomorrow’s dreams.” 

To read his speech in full, if interested, try 

http://www.ny.gov/governor/keydocs/ 

state_of_the_state_address2008.pdf. 

AND THE THUNDER OF DELAY 

If you enjoy watching glaciers move, New York 

is the place to be. Ask Harness Racing TV. The 

company is awaiting a decision from the New York 

Racing and Wagering Board, but all it can get 

is board spokesman Dan Toomey’s pronouncement 

that, “We are reviewing the application.” 

This, by the way, is the second application of 

HRTV, which provided an earlier version to the 

board in December. HRTV, owned by Churchill 

Downs and Magna Entertainment, would like 

to resume showing Aqueduct races, which it 

stopped showing January 4, informing viewers 

board approval was pending. The racing board 

approved Xpressbet.com and Twinspires.com -- 

two HRTV wagering sites -- offering wagering 

on Aqueduct, but is in deep meditation on HRTV 

itself showing Big A races. TVG formerly held 

exclusive rights to New York signals. Spokesman 

Toomey, asked to elaborate on the decision 

delay, told reporters he could not put a timetable 

on how long the review process might take. 

ERIC LEDFORD RETURNS IN NJ 

harnessracing.com reports today that driver Eric 

Ledford, banned last winter for possession of 

prohibited substances in New Jersey, will be relicensed 

this week and probably return to driving 

immediately at the Meadowlands. Although 

Ledford’s year suspension from the racing 

board was up some time ago, a spokesman said 

the board had not issued a license until criminal 

probation expired. 

BURNED TWICE, SAME FLAME 

The painful scorch of changed facts and misunderstanding 

burned Executive News twice yesterday. 

Happily, executive director Anton Leppler 

will not be a casualty of reorganization of 

racing board staffs in Pennsylvania, and the vituperative 

CTBAboardwatch newsletter in California 

has no affiliation with the California 

Thoroughbred Breeders Association.






“IT WILL BE MY BILL” 

If there were any doubts or concerns about the 

intentions of the new governor of Kentucky, 

Steve Beshear, on the subject of casinos or racinos 

in the Bluegrass, they should be resolved 

now. The governor told newsmen this week, “In 

the end, I’m going to make the decisions and 

fashion the legislation. It will be my bill.” The 

issue was clouded a bit earlier in the week when 

Nick Nicholson, president and CEO of Keeneland, 

mentioned that Keeneland and the Red 

Mile might partner on a casino license and locate 

it somewhere other than either track in Fayette 

county. Legislators are asking where the facilities 

would be located before they vote on the issue, 

and the governor made it clear he will let 

them know where he wants them. Rep. Larry 

Clark, a Louisville Democrat and the House 

Speaker Pro Tem, said the tracks must choose 

their financial strategies, including locations, but 

would not have to make that decision until the 

constitutional amendment comes up for legislative 

approval. Asked what the next step would 

be, Clark said, “I’m waiting on the governor. 

When he has his legislation, I’ll be glad to look 

at it.” 

A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER 

For the first time in their 20-year history, Atlantic 

City casinos handled less money last year 

than they did the year before, and racetracks 

and new no-smoking regulations were blamed. 

Philly.com quoted Carlos Tolosa, president of the 

eastern division of Harrah’s Entertainment, as 

saying, “It is a shock...a slap on the side of the 

head for anyone who owns a casino in town.” 

Harrah’s owns the Harrah’s Marina, Showboat, 

Caesars and Bally’s in Atlantic City, and Tolosa 

said, “This is a wakeup call for everybody that 

we have to continue to build nongaming 

attractions and convert this resort town 

into a destination, and that we have a 

long way to go.” Tell you what, Carlos. 

Give us the slots, we’ll give you the rest. 

LIKE A REALLY BIG MARKET 

Think China. The official Xinhua news agency 

says the huge country may legalize horse racing 

for the first time since the Communist Party assumed 

power 59 years ago, in 1949. The Beijing 

government has approved regular horse racing 

in the central city of Wuhan, where it existed a 

century ago, and is considering the introduction 

of betting on those races next year. Xinhua says 

the experiment is a prelude to the return of nationwide 

betting on horses throughout China. 

If they bet on the mainland the way they do in 

Hong Kong and elsewhere, the Chinese represent 

a gargantuan market for the sport. One Chinese 

researcher estimated the introduction of betting 

could create 3 million jobs a year, and 83% of 

Wuhan residents polled thought it would have a 

positive social impact. With Bill Nader, formerly 

of NYRA, running Hong Kong racing, and the 

door already open to an American racing executive 

in China, it might be time to try Berlitz and 

get a head start. 

CONTROLLER JOB OPEN 

An HTA member is looking for a controller. If 

you are interested, please send your resume to 

Brody Johnson at brody@harnesstracks.com. 

DOWD ON WORLD IN HARNESS 

Dennis Dowd, senior vice president of racing for 

the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authorities’s 

Meadowlands and Monmouth Park operations, 

became the current interviewee on HTA’s 

World in Harness. His 35-minute, wide-ranging 

interview provides a fascinating view of his varied 

career as an amateur trainer-driver, attorney, 

racing commissioner and commission chairman, 

developer of New Jersey’s account wagering system, 

and former president of Freehold Raceway, 

Ocean Downs, Rosecroft Raceway and Vernon 

Downs. Access the show through www. 

harnesstracks.com/worldinharness.




Paul J. Estok, Editor 


BRIAN CASHMAN & HIS HALL OF • Maury Wolff, racing economist & long-time major bettor 

• Nick Eaves, President & COO, Woodbine Entertainment 

FAME SIRE IN A BASEBALL-RACING 

CHAT ON THE HTA/TRA AGENDA 

Brian Cashman, general manager of the New York Yankees, 

and his Hall of Fame father John, one of harness racing’s 

best known executive personalities, will enliven the 

Nova Awards presentations during next month’s joint annual 

meeting of Harness Tracks of America and the Thoroughbred 

Racing Associations. 

The Cashmans will chat with master of ceremonies and 

racing commentator Dave Johnson in a conversation titled 

“No one ever grew old with a promising 2-year-old or a 

pennant contender in winter training.” The conversation 

will be a prelude to presentation of Nova bronzes to owners 

of the champion harness horses of 2007, and awards to 

other dignitaries being honored by HTA. 

Here is the agenda of the February 17-20 meeting of racing’s 

two major racetrack trade associations: 

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 

All day Arrivals and Registration 

4:30-6:30p.m. HTA Fin. and Exec. Committee 

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 


8:00-9:00 a.m. HTA Scholarship Committee 

8:00-9:00 a.m. HTA Mission, Awards, Convention 

Committee 

9:15-10:45 a.m. HTA Committee of the Whole 

11:00-12:30 HTA Board of Directors 

1:00-6:00 Golf or AFTERNOON FREE 

1:00-3:00 TRA 2020 Committee 

7:15-9:15 Welcome Buffet Supper Reception 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 


8:00-11:15 a.m. GENERAL SESSIONS (Open to All) 

(Speakers subject to change in final agenda) 

8:00-8:10 a.m. Welcome 

• Brock Milstein, President, HTA 

• Robert Bork, President, TRA 

8:10-9:00 a.m. Trust in the Pari-Mutuel System: 

Looking at Late Odds Changes 

• Craig Fravel, Executive Vice President, Del Mar 

• Curtis Linnell, Director of Wagering Analysis, TRPB 

9:00-9:45 a.m. Swimming with Whales: Will They 

Beach Offshore or can They be 

Returned to the Racetrack 

• Mike Maloney, one of America’s biggest bettors 

9:45-11:00 a.m. Keeping the “Race” in Racinos: Are They 

Simply Purse Builders, or Can They Offer 

Racing Meaningful Opportunities to Broaden its 

Patronage 

• Chuck Atwood, Vice Chairman, Harrah’s Entertainment 

• Charles Hayward, President & CEO, NYRA 

• Jeff Gural, Principal, Tioga Downs & Vernon Downs 

• Bill Oberle, Speaker Pro Tempore, Delaware House of 

Representatives 

• Gary Palmer, President & CEO, Prairie Meadows 

• Chris McErlean, Vice President of Racing, Penn National 

Gaming 

• Bill Fasy, COO, Delaware Park & Ocean Downs 

11:00-11:30 a.m. Ghost Stories: Experiences of Charlie 

Leerhsen, Executive Sports Editor, Sports Illustrated, in 

writing his new racing book Crazy Good, on Dan Patch 

11:30-12:30 HTA/TRA Joint Board Meeting 

7:30-8:30 Nova Awards Reception 

8:30-10:30 Nova Awards Dinner 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 


8:00-12:15 a.m. GENERAL SESSIONS 

8:00-9:00 a.m. Miami Project Presentation to TRA 

9:00-9:30 a.m. The Mitchell Report & Racing 

• Bennett Liebman, Acting Director, Government Law Center 

& Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Albany Law School 

9:30-10:30 a.m. Medication & Regulation: Can Research 

Succeed Without Stronger, Meaningful 

Support from Regulators; including Prosecuting 

the Guilty while Protecting the Innocent 

• Alan Foreman, Chairman, Thoroughbred Horsemen’s 

Association, Inc. 

• Dr. Scot Waterman, Executive Director, RMTC 

• Ed Martin, President, RCI 

• Ben Wallace, Past Trainer of the Year, Canada 

10:30-11:00 a.m. Racing and New Technologies: Having 

Missed the Television Boat a Half Century Ago, 

Will We be Left to Sink Again Without Adapting 

to New Forms of Communication 

• Eric Wing, Senior Director of Media Relations, NTRA 

• Seth Merrow, Publisher, Equidaily 

• Dave Johnson, Host, Sirius Satellite Radio 

10:00-12:00 TRPB Board Meeting 

1:30-3:30 TRA Board Meeting






POCONO SLOTS TOP THE EAST 

Slot machines at HTA member Mohegan Sun 

at Pocono are the most productive in the east, 

according to a gambling research firm, and two 

other HTA member track’s racinos -- The Meadows 

and Chester Downs -- occupy the top five. 

Spectrum Gaming Group of Linwood, NJ, reports 

that the slots at Mohegan at Pocono generated 

an average $403 a day in the Sept. 20 thru 

Nov. 30 quarter. Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, 

the parent of the Pocono operation, was second 

during that span with $390 a machine, followed 

by Philadelphia Park’s $369, The Meadows 

Racetrack and Casino’s $347, and Harrah’s 

Chester Casino and Racetrack’s $322. Bobby 

Soper, president and CEO of Mohegan Sun at 

Pocono, said he was pleased but not surprised at 

the results. “Pennsylvania is a robust market,” 

he said, and it follows it will be for harness horses 

racing there as well. The Spectrum Group’s 

managing director, Michael Pollock, said, 

“You’ve got some very sharp operators there. 

They know how to reach players and give them 

what they want.” Gross revenue at Pennsylvania’s 

six operating slots parlors was $1.04 billion 

last year. The state takes 55% of gross gaming 

revenue, giving it $572 million in 2007. Racing 

is not the only beneficiary. The state’s taxpayers 

will receive property tax cuts, and budget secretary 

Michael Masch says a relief fund for that 

purpose now contains $576 million. At year’s 

end there were 12,686 slot machines operating in 

the state, according to Philly.com. 

OLDIES ARE GOODIES 

Florida gets more than its share of senior citizens, 

and its US Harness Writers chapter intends to 

see that they are recognized. This year it is sending 

old timers Alan Prince and Murray Janoff 

into the Communicators Hall of Fame in 

Goshen, and nominating Erwin Grossman 

and John Berry for next year. 

AXELROD IN, STARTS HAPPILY 

Ivan Axelrod, chairman of the board of the 

United States Trotting Association, has a new 

job as well. The California financial manager 

has been named president of Sacramento Harness 

Association, racing at Cal Expo, succeeding 

Ralph Scurfield, the former longtime chairman 

of the California Horse Racing Board, who 

has resigned his SHA presidency but remains a 

member of the board of directors. Axelrod was 

greeted with good news, as its Cal Expo landlord, 

which had granted rent relief last May, reduced 

its rent another $30,000 a month. SHA, a 

not-for-profit association, now will pay $180,000 

a month rather than $210,000. The reduction 

came at the urging of the California Horse Racing 

Board, and opens the way for negotiation for 

a new lease for its 10-month meetings. General 

manager Dick Feinberg says SHA now hopes to 

exercise the first of its three one-year options, 

covering next September thru July of 2009. 

AS WE WERE SAYING..... 

When we were so rudely interrupted recently, 

the Pennsylvania thoroughbred and harness 

racing boards will be reorganized and placed 

under the oversight of one person, to be chosen 

after a nationwide search according to Gov. Ed 

Rendell’s chief of staff, Greg Fajt. Fajt said the 

majority of both staffs are expected to remain 

in place. There currently are three harness and 

three thoroughbred tracks in Pennsylvania, with 

a fourth harness track and racino to be built in 

Lawrence county in western Pennsylvania. 

JOHNNY PODRES DEAD AT 75 

Johnny Podres, famed as the winning pitcher for 

the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1955 World Series, 

and a harness racing fan and horse owner, has 

died at 75.


THE MAN FROM AUSTRALIA 

Thank goodness for our allies and friends. Santa 

Anita, about ready to give up and ship out to 

Hollywood Park if a solution was not found to 

its Cushion Track drainage problems, reached 

out to Australia for help. It arrived, in the form 

of Ian Pearse, founder of a synthetic surface 

company called Pro-Ride. Pearse met with Dr. 

Jean-Pierre Bardet, professor and chairman of 

the civil engineering department at the University 

of Southern California. The two performed 

tests and experiments, and it turns out the polymers 

and fibers in Pearse’s Pro-Ride, mixed with 

Cushion Track, prevented bonding of water and 

track material and allowed adequate drainage to 

solve -- at least temporarily -- Santa Anita’s track 

problems. Track president Ron Charles decided 

against a move to Hollywood Park or petitioning 

the California Horse Racing Board to return 

to dirt for the remainder of the winter meeting 

that runs through April 20. Charles told Daily 

Racing Form’s Jay Privman that a timeline was 

being developed to mix Pro-Ride with Cushion 

Track, and that the process would take 10 to 12 

days to install the binder. He said, “The tests 

show that we’ve found a way to reformulate the 

existing Cushion Track surface. With the addition 

of polymers and fiber, the surface becomes 

kinder, more consistent, and it cushions the 

impact of the track on the horses. It functions 

properly in diverse weather conditions and reduces 

the amount of kickback,” which had been 

a complaint of some horsemen. Charles called 

the tests “dramatic and extremely encouraging. 

We have only a short window of opportunity 

to get this done and we believe we have finally 

solved the Cushion Track drainage problem. After 

exhaustive research, we feel strongly that this 

is the way to go. We’ve made this choice based 

upon the results of scientific testing and 

the reaction of the horsemen to whom 

we’ve shown the final product.” 





With Charles’ announcement, the racing board 

cancelled the teleconference meeting scheduled 

for tomorrow, since its sole purpose was to consider 

Santa Anita’s request to return to a temporary 

dirt surface. 

ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT 

There was another track announcement yesterday, 

a continent apart from Santa Anita. New 

Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority senior 

vice president of racing Dennis Dowd repeated 

what he said earlier on HTA’s World in Harness 

concerning the return to action of driver Eric 

Ledford. “As a state-owned facility,” Dowd announced, 

“the Meadowlands cannot simply ban 

Eric Ledford from driving if he is licensed by the 

New Jersey Racing Commission. However, we 

will be vigilant in monitoring Mr. Ledford’s conduct. 

Currently, he is licensed by the commission 

only to drive, and we have informed his attorney 

that if he intends to participate as a trainer or 

owner, our position will be reevaluated.” 

DOWN DOES NOT STOP UP 

Two of America’s biggest casinos -- Mohegan 

Sun and Foxwoods in Connecticut -- reported 

sharp drops in business in December. Mohegan 

Sun slot revenue was down 18.8%, and Foxwoods 

suffered the largest one month decline in 

its 15-year history, down $11.4 million from December 

of 2006. Beyond that, November slots 

revenue was down $3.4 million, or 5.7% from 

November a year ago. Weather and construction 

were blamed. The picture did not deter MGM 

Mirage, which announced yesterday it has filed 

key environmental permit applications for a $5 

billion super mega casino on 72 acres next door 

to its Borgata, that operation a joint venture 

with Boyd Gaming. The new MGM Grand Atlantic 

City will have 3,000 rooms in three towers, 

and the largest gambling casino in AC with 

5,000 slots and 200 table games, due 2012.


THE BOY WHO CRIED OTB 

Like the fable of similar name, no one believes 

him after the repeated cries. Does Michael 

Bloomberg really think Albany will be coerced 

by his threats to close a city industry that provides 

1,500 jobs and handles $1 billion of New 

York’s $2.7 billion in annual wagering. The New 

York Times expressed skepticism in its story today, 

reporter Ray Rivera writing, “Whether real 

or a mere negotiating tactic, the plan promises 

to intensify debate in Albany” as the legislature 

considers the fate of the New York Racing Association. 

Rivera went on to write that “some 

industry analysts said the plan looked more like 

a bargaining ploy,” and he quoted Daily Racing 

Form publisher and columnist Steve Crist as saying, 

“It’s 100 percent posturing. OTB is looking 

for a larger slice of the betting handle.” New York 

City OTB president Ray Casey says the threat is 

real. “It’s very serious,” he told Rivera,“We’ve 

been trying for years to have the inequities corrected, 

and this is an action at this point for 

us, and for me personally, of last resort.” The 

Bloomberg threat to shut down OTB June 15 if 

no legislative relief is forthcoming might carry 

some credibility if the issue of selling OTB were 

discussed at the same time. Why anyone would 

close down an operation worth hundreds of millions 

of dollars to private operators without serious 

efforts to sell it makes it difficult to believe 

that the threat is anything other than the Times 

story implies: a bargaining ploy. 

MEANWHILE, IN HARRISBURG... 

While the NYRA and New York City OTB matters 

occupy Albany legislators, their counterparts 

in Pennsylvania’s House were enjoying an 

orgy of tax cut proposals following on the heels 

of exceptional success with slots at the state’s racinos. 

The legislators went on what Philly. 

com called “a tax-cutting stampede” of 

proposals for billions of dollars of cuts. 





No action was taken, because all the talk involved 

amendments to an underlying property tax issue 

up for consideration today. Yesterday’s proposals 

included slashing personal income taxes by a 

billion and other hugely expensive cuts on everything 

from cell phone taxes to inheritance taxes 

and pet adoptions. House members, Philly.com 

reported, paid little heed to warnings about the 

enormous hole they were potentially blowing in 

the state budget. 

WHAT ELSE IS NEW 

Thoroughbred horsemen, acting through their 

eastern-based Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, 

are asking state racing commissions to 

slow down the rush to enact bans on steroids. 

Daily Racing Form reports THA chairman Alan 

Foreman as saying the intent of the delaying effort 

is to avoid “unfair punishments” that would 

result from horses moving from anti-anabolic 

states to those not adopting such rules. Unification 

of rules is, of course, the mission of the Racing 

Medication and Testing Consortium, of which 

Foreman is an influential board member. Foreman 

notes that the goal is not yet accomplished. 

“Right now,” he was quoted in the Form, “we’ve 

got this piecemeal approach for a problem that 

needs a national solution.” Will someone please 

step up and bell the commissioners’ cat. 

FORE! CONTACT HTA’S BRODY 

If you want a respite from the work scheduled 

for consideration at the upcoming HTA/TRA 

joint annual meeting, now is the time to contact 

Brody Johnson at HTA. Golf has been arranged 

for Monday afternoon, Feb. 18, starting at 1 

p.m., for men and ladies, with clubs and shoes 

available for rental. Transportation will be provided 

to the course, 1.7 miles and 5 minutes from 

the hotel. Brody has full details.






BANGOR HTA’S 44TH TRACK 

Bangor Historic Track, located downtown on 

Main Street in Bangor, Maine, has applied for 

membership in Harness Tracks of America and 

will become the association’s 44th member when 

the HTA board meets in St. Petersburg, Florida, 

February 18. Jon Johnson, Bangor’s general 

manager, will serve as the track’s director on the 

HTA board, with the track’s manager of raceway 

operations, Corey Smith, as alternate director. 

Bangor is a member of Penn National Gaming’s 

ever-widening circle of tracks and gaming 

facilities. 

NEW LIFE FOR SACRAMENTO 

The California Horse Racing Board this week 

extended the license of the Sacramento Harness 

Association, racing at Cal-Expo in Sacramento, 

for 11 weeks while it continues to study the financial 

condition of the not-for-profit track, HTA’s 

and harness racing’s only west coast operation. 

SHA had hoped for a full license through its 

scheduled August 2 close, but the board instead 

granted it racing dates through March 30, and 

said it would reconsider the matter at a March 

27 meeting. It has asked SHA, under its new 

president Ivan Axelrod, to provide its audited 

financial statement for 2007 showing a positive 

net worth, a $400,000 letter of credit to cover potential 

liabilities, a plan for future harness racing 

operations, and other documentation showing 

profitable operation. The commission, issuing 

the extension, also issued “a very public message 

of support for harness racing.” The message encouraged 

harness horsemen to continue racing 

in California while the board makes sure the industry 

is on solid financial footing. Elsewhere in 

California, Hollywood Park president Jack Liebau 

called for “a forum” of track officials, trainers, 

owners, veterinarians and breeders to 

meet for an in-depth discussion on synthetic 

tracks. 

2008 ADIOS SET FOR POCONO 

In a cooperative move reported here earlier unofficially, 

Mohegan Sun at Pocono and The Meadows 

Racetrack and Casino have announced that 

Meadows’ classic centerpiece event, the Adios for 

3-year-old pacing colts, will be raced this year at 

Pocono while The Meadows builds its new track. 

The move bodes well for Pennsylvania harness 

racing, already flush with slots success, and assures 

unbroken continuity for the Pace for the 

Orchids. Pocono’s vice president of racing, Dale 

Rapson, called it “an honor to host the Adios,” 

which will become the richest race in Pocono history 

when it is presented Aug. 9. The Meadows’ 

John Marshall, Rapson’s counterpart at the 

western Pennsylvania track, thanked Pocono for 

keeping the Adios in Pennsylvania and called the 

move “clearly in the best interest of racing.” The 

classic’s sister race for fillies, renamed the Quinton 

Patterson Adioo Volo to honor The Meadows’ 

longtime plant superintendent, also will be 

raced at Pocono, and a voice will move with the 

races. Roger Huston, the familiar Voice of the 

Meadows, will remain in that role for the Adios 

presentations at Pocono. 

LUNCH, RACES AT TAMPA BAY 

The agenda of the joint HTA/TRA annual meeting, 

that appeared here in Monday’s Executive 

Newsletter, did not show it because of space limitations, 

but the Tuesday, Feb. 19 program will include 

lunch and the races at Tampa Bay Downs. 

We thank president Stella Thayer and vice president 

and general manager Peter Berube for 

their hospitality, and look forward to a delightful 

afternoon at the track. Transportation will 

be provided. 

STILL TIME TO NOMINATE 

Pompano Park has extended its nominating date for 

the $350,000 Isle of Capri and $100,000 Francis Dodge 

pacing series, and the $100,000 Mack Lobell trot series, 

from Jan. 22 to Jan. 25 to accommodate horses being 

sold at the big winter sale at the Meadowlands 

Jan. 21.






JUST WHAT RACING NEEDS 

The New York State Lottery, with the tacit support 

of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and at the urging of several 

Wall Street firms, is thinking of expanding 

its outlets to coffee shops and malls in the state. 

It would not be done, according to the Albany 

Times Union, by the state but through privatization 

of a large segment of the lottery. Spitzer will 

unveil the plan tomorrow in his budget proposal, 

having been inspired by the Wall Streeters who 

are convinced the state should diversify the gambling 

market by broadening the demographic of 

lottery customers. Their rationale is triggered 

in part by the thought that anyone who can afford 

a $4 cup of coffee at Starbucks can afford 

a lottery ticket, but obviously the sweep of the 

proposal would take in a lot of others strolling 

or shopping in malls. Patrick Maloney, the governor’s 

first deputy, gave it a pleasant spin by 

cloaking the proposal in the robe of education. 

“We want to consider anything,” he said, “with 

an eye toward creating more value for higher education 

and consistent with the governor’s principles 

- - support for K-12, continuing all existing 

regulation and oversight, and no big increase in 

gambling.” 

V-75 POOL NOW AT 18 MILLION 

Saturday’s V-75 bet in Stockholm, Sweden, did 

not have a payout for seven consecutive winners, 

or five either because the payoff did not reach the 

government’s threshold, and the carryover jackpot 

now is $18 million US for next Saturday’s 

pool. Advance wagering for the V-75 starts on 

Wednesdays and remains open until the close of 

business on Fridays. The bet is available in the 

US at the Meadowlands, Monmouth Park, and 

Freehold Raceway in New Jersey, and at Delaware 

Park in Delaware and Saratoga Gaming 

and Raceway in Saratoga Springs, NY. It 

is the most popular bet on horse racing in 

the world in terms of pool size. 

AROUND THE HTA CIRCUIT..... 

ROCKINGHAM PARK has a great idea for 

reaching the youth market. It is offering a 

$15,000 grand prize in an inaugural New England 

College World Series of Poker, open to all 

students at least 18 who currently are enrolled in 

an accredited college or university in a six-state 

New England area. The tournament will begin 

Wednesday, Feb. 7, with satellite games of $25, 

$40 and $70 to be held through Saturday, Feb. 9, 

and the top four finishers in the $70 category, the 

top two in the $40 division and the top one in the 

$25 bracket winning a seat in the final on Feb. 

10. There also is a buy-in provision for the final 

for $150 with 8,000 starting chips. First prize of 

$15,000 is based on a minimum of 300 players. 

Ten percent of the players, or the top 30 finishers, 

will receive cash prizes. Players can pre-register 

at the track’s poker room to avoid being shut 

out. Poker at Rockingham, operated by Granite 

State Poker, benefits a variety of local charities. 

Want to bet they are oversubscribed 

THE DELAWARE COUNTY FAIR has commissioned 

a new book, featuring personal and 

favorite memories of the Little Brown Jug, to be 

written by Jug publicist Tom White and his colleague 

Jay Wolf. Publication is expected in the 

summer of 2009. 

THE CALIFORNIA HARNESS HORSEMEN’S 

ASSOCIATION will induct driver Rick Kuebler 

and major owner Lloyd Arnold into the California 

Standardbred Hall of Fame at the association’s 

meeting in late March. Horses I’m Damn 

Good and Denali also will be inducted. 

PRAIRIE MEADOWS will recognize 194 community 

betterment projects on January 31, and 

award $1.98 million in grants to foster programs 

in education, human services, economic development 

and the arts.






MASS GOV PICKS UP STEAM 

Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, 

apparently is a Boston brawler as well as a savvy 

politician. Girding for a legislative battle with 

Sal DiMasi, the powerful House speaker who opposes 

expanded gambling in the state, Patrick 

held a “cabinet meeting” that turned out to be a 

pep rally with organized labor cheering his proposals 

for casino gaming. Included in the turnout 

was the head of the 107,000-member Massachusetts 

Teachers Association, the president of 

the Massachusetts AFL-CIO with 400,000 members, 

and the head of the Greater Boston Labor 

Council. The leader of the 75,000-member Massachusetts 

Building Trades Council was there, 

and said, “We are geared up and ready to go.” 

Robert Haynes, the AFL-CIO boss, said, “We 

intend to do a full court press and do a real campaign 

to advance this issue.” Patrick said of the 

gathering, at which union officials held up procasino 

placards, “It’s important to pay attention 

to everyone in the work force. Let us get this 

heard and debated. Let us carry this over the 

line.” The Rev. Richard McGowan, an economics 

professor at Boston College, thought the occasion 

was significant. “I think this is a lot broader 

group,” he said. “The teachers never got near 

this before. All they need is for the firemen and 

police to say they are for it.” Anne Wass, who 

leads the teachers’ group, said, “We don’t normally 

take positions on issues that some say are 

not educational, but the budget cuts to public 

education have been so drastic and dramatic.” 

Gov. Patrick presents his budget this week, facing 

a $1.3 billion deficit. 

A RICH HUMANE SOCIETY 

People think of the Humane Society as simply a 

benefactor of animals, but they deal with political 

animals too. The HSUS is giving $500,000 

to anti-slots forces in Miami, Florida, to 

oppose a slots vote set for Jan 29. 

THE TEAGUE MARKET STRONG 

The Tattersalls January mixed sale at the Meadowlands, 

driven by an ownership difference of 

opinion in the powerful George Teague stable, 

set new records, with 387 horses sold for $13.4 

million, an average of $34,730. The race horse 

market, reflecting the influence of slots on purses, 

saw 287 horses bring $11.7 million of the total, 

averaging $40,925. Teague and one partner, 

the Only Money Stable, bought 2006 Pacer of 

the Year Total Truth for $900,000, second highest 

price ever paid at auction for a harness horse. 

Teague also bought the 2007 Breeders Crown 

3-year-old filly pace winner Artcotic, like Total 

Truth part of a disputed Teague stable partnership, 

for $315,000. Other Teague stable stars 

selling included 3-year-old pacers Moon Beam, 

sold to Richard Annunziata of Mahopac, NY, 

for $750,000, and Duneside Perch, purchased by 

trainer Ross Croghan for $700,000; the Hambletonian 

Oaks winning trotting filly Danae, which 

brought $240,000; and Isabella Blue Chip, 

2-year-old pacing filly champ of 2006, sold for 

$210,000. 

DELEAN, GAZETTE LOST 

The Montreal Gazette, one of Canada’s most important 

newspapers, has ended racing coverage 

in the wake of economic problems. The paper’s 

outstanding racing writer for 25 years, and columnist 

for the last 18, Paul DeLean, bade farewell 

to readers with a column thanking them for 

their “feedback, story ideas, cooperation and encouragement.” 

Fortunately for racing, DeLean 

will continue writing, doing regular features for 

The Harness Edge. 

ATTRACTIVE JOB OPENINGS 

An HTA member track is looking for a substitute 

racing secretary available for immediate work. 

Another HTA member is seeking a simulcast director/racing 

development coordinator. If 

interested, contact Paul Estok at HTA.






CRUNCH TIME IN NEW JERSEY 

Jon Corzine, the governor of New Jersey, and 

the state’s legislators, now have a clear choice. 

They can sacrifice the state’s premier position 

in world harness racing at the altar of the Atlantic 

City casinos, or they can fulfill commitments 

and promises and produce some action in 

the place of rhetoric. Dennis Robinson, the New 

Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority’s chief 

executive officer, announced a draconian purse 

cut as of the end of the month if the state does 

not either replace the expired subsidy of Atlantic 

City casinos or provide slots for New Jersey 

tracks. Robinson said the NJSEA has been subsidizing 

purses at the Meadowlands, but cannot 

continue. “Right now,” he told the Newark Star- 

Ledger’s New Jersey.com, “we’re paying higher 

purses than we’re earning. It’s as simple as that. 

I think we would lose our position as the number 

one harness track in North America, so it’s a 

serious issue.” There is no question that Robinson 

is right if the proposed 45% purse cut takes 

place. Nightly purses would drop from $220,000 

a program to $90,000, and the Meadowlands 

would fall from its 30-year position of preeminence 

among harness tracks. The New Jersey 

Standardbred Owners and Breeders Association 

president, Tom Luchento, said, “We are still 

hoping that the governor will fulfill the promise 

he made in October to provide a supplement for 

the racing industry. We are at a crossroads for 

the future of racing and breeding in this state. 

We need the legislature and the Governor to step 

up and finalize this agreement.” 

Freehold Raceway, not waiting for the governor 

or legislators, released a reduced purse structure 

that severely cuts prize money at the daytime 

HTA member. The lowest class, $4,000 claimers, 

would race for $2,000, the highest class for 

$9,100. That class raced for $14,000 last 

Saturday. 

ONTARIO MOVES FORWARD 

While New Jersey’s crisis deepened, the Ontario 

Racing Commission voted to move forward with 

the provincial Horse Improvement Program, an 

ambitious proposal put forth by the Industry 

Advisory Group. The ORC acted after a Monday 

meeting of industry associations advised 

John Blakney, the commission’s executive director, 

that it could not reach agreement on any 

change in the wagering levy and slots revenue 

contribution to fund the proposal. The commission 

board then revisited the issue and voted to 

move forward this year, using existing Horse 

Improvement Program funding. A Breeders Reward 

Program will be part of the improvement 

package. The commission asked a review panel 

headed by law professor and former commission 

chairman Stanley Sadinsky to identify how sustainable 

funding might be attained. The ORC is 

Ontario’s designated hitter on implementing the 

program. 

SPITZER: SLOTS AT BELMONT 

Facing a $4.4 billion budget gap, the governor 

of New York, Eliot Spitzer, yesterday outlined 

a budget replete with cuts and a controversial 

proposal to put slots at Belmont Park. The plan 

includes a one-time $250 million payment to the 

state from whichever company is awarded the 

contract to operate the video slots. Spitzer no 

sooner announced the plan than House Speaker 

Sheldon Silver cast doubt on its fate. Senate 

Majority Leader Joe Bruno supported Spitzer 

saying, “I hope he gets the speaker there.” In a 

related development, the non-profit Racing Association 

Oversight Board now operating the 

New York Racing Association while the legislature 

fiddles, voted to sharply curb the powers of 

the new chairman of the New York Racing and 

Wagering Board, Steven Newman, a Spitzer appointee. 

A government source said the purpose 

was “to shut Newman down.”


RACING WHAT’S RACING 

That seems to be the attitude of Jon Corzine, 

the governor of New Jersey, and his legislature. 

While putting the stature of America’s number 

one harness track, the Meadowlands, at risk, and 

failing so far to do anything to solve the plight of 

the state’s tracks, the legislature now is toying 

with the idea of trying an end run around federal 

restraints on sports betting. An Assembly committee 

is scheduled to consider legislation today 

to ask voters to allow casinos to offer professional 

sports betting, according to philly.com. The legislators 

are concerned about keeping the casinos 

competitive with neighboring states (read Pennsylvania) 

but have not given much thought to 

keeping racing competitive. Although the state 

capital is in Trenton, New Jersey seems to be run 

from Atlantic City, where the 11 casino bosses 

get pretty much whatever they want. After bills 

to allow sports betting passed the Senate in 1992 

and 1993 but went nowhere from there, the issue 

became largely moot when the federal government 

banned sports betting except for four 

grandfathered states. New Jersey is not one of 

them. Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon 

are those grandfathered. Now assembly budget 

chairman Lou Greenwald and Senate wagering 

committee chairman Jim Whelan want to circumvent 

federal law. Senate president and former 

governor Richard J. Codey, who knows and 

values the state’s racing, has a different view. 

“I think Appalachian State would have to beat 

the Giants before the federal government would 

allow New Jersey to change the law to permit 

sports betting in casinos,” Codey said. Happily, 

there is one voice of reason left in Trenton. In 

another New Jersey development of interest, an 

appellate court has ruled that the New Jersey 

Racing Commission violated the Open Public 

Meetings Act last year when it distributed 

monies from the Casino Simulcasting 

Fund without providing its reasoning. 





The commission was ordered to meet again to 

reconsider the matter. 

FREE SPEECH AND BRITCHES 

Another racing commission has been challenged, 

this time in Kentucky. Jockey Jeremy Rose has 

filed a suit there contending the Kentucky Horse 

Racing Authority’s ban on advertising on jockeys’ 

riding pants is a violation of his free speech 

rights under the Constitution. A U. S. district 

court judge ruled almost four years ago against 

an earlier version of the ban, which was altered 

and implemented by the Authority. 

HEALTH V. WEALTH IN INDIANA 

A measure that would have banned smoking in 

racetracks, bars, bowling alleys, and all other 

public and work places died in committee yesterday 

in Indiana. The executive director of the 

Licensed Beverage Association hailed the vote, 

saying, “Tobacco is still a legal product.” The 

administrator of a county health department 

called the ban’s defeat “unfortunate.” 

SLOTS BATTLE HEATING UP 

Slots proposals in Miami-Dade county in Florida, 

and in the state of Massachusetts, are nearing 

critical boiling points. The Florida vote 

comes next Tuesday, Jan. 29, and opponents 

have dragged out the old war-cry of “the crack 

cocaine of gambling,” which now has been used 

for opposition to everything from trifectas to 

tiddleywinks. One possible blow to approval 

came this week when the Miami Herald threw 

its editorial voice against slots in a strong appeal 

to readers to vote no on the issue. In Massachusetts 

Gov. Deval Patrick included $124 million in 

his budget allocations despite the fact that there 

is still substantial opposition to his three-casino 

idea in the state legislature. That vote will not 

come until early summer.


THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE 

The incredible inaction of New Jersey’s governor 

and legislature in allowing the state’s once proud 

horse racing industry to slide down the slippery 

slope -- and help push it there -- took a new turn 

yesterday. The Assembly’s Tourism and Wagering 

Committee enthusiastically endorsed sports 

betting for Atlantic City casinos, despite it being 

against federal law. The state’s policy of “anything 

the casinos want” continues, as the chairman 

of the Assembly’s Budget Committee, Lou 

Greenwald, said the federal law banning sports 

betting can be challenged as a violation of states’ 

rights. This one could be headed for the U. S. 

Supreme Court, but what happens to racing in 

New Jersey before that long process is completed 

could be a grim story for a once dominant industry. 

The president of the Casino Association of 

New Jersey, which at times appears to run the 

state, thanked the committee backing sports betting 

by saying, “It has been a tough year for our 

industry. We appreciate the fact that you’re taking 

this effort, the heavy lift that it is, to help the 

industry out.” Leon Zimmerman, testifying before 

the committee for the Standardbred Breeders 

and Owners Association, told members of the 

huge impact of casinos on racing in the state, and 

said it endangered the livelihood of thousands of 

people who are in the horse racing and breeding 

business. He noted that a recent study at the state 

university at Rutgers found racing contributes 

$1.7 billion a year to New Jersey’s economy. 

In a strong letter to Gov. Jon Corzine, the director 

of Rutgers Equine Science Center, Karyn 

Malinowski, joined by the president of the SBOA, 

Tom Luchento, and the president of the state’s 

thoroughbred horsemen’s association, Dennis 

Drazin, told Corzine, “We are not crying wolf,” 

and said a real and imminent disaster was 

about to happen in the state, including 

possible loss of the Hambletonian. 





“If the lowered purse structure remains as reported,” 

the letter said, “the Meadowlands will 

have to cancel the premier events scheduled at 

the track. Races like the Hambletonian and 

Breeders’ Crown will need to find a venue outside 

of New Jersey. Horsemen could no longer 

allow the large expenditure from purse accounts 

needed to support these world class events that 

bring national attention to our great state. This 

is a sobering thought for all involved. We are on 

the edge of collapse of the entire horse industry 

in New Jersey.” 

NO VERNON ACTION, EITHER 

This week’s session of the New York Assembly 

has ended without action on the tax relief bill, 

and the best racing got there was Assemblyman 

Bill Magee’s promise that “We’re working on 

it,” and the hope that it might be discussed next 

week. Yonkers reportedly is unhappy with the 

legislation as proposed, and its horsemen continue 

their damaging opposition under a leadership 

apparently intent on torpedoing the measure. 

PASSPORT, BANS IN ONTARIO 

Ontario’s racing commission approval of new 

measures designed to protect the province’s 

horses and horse industry are far reaching. 

They include a “horse health passport” that 

will require public disclosure of all vaccination 

records to new owners; greater limits on commission 

approved veterinarian-only administration 

of medications except in emergencies; limits 

on shock wave therapy; mandated use of safety 

reins and safety vests; new guidelines regarding 

trainer transfers; new measures on out-of-competition 

testing; and perhaps most significant of 

all, banning from racing for 90 days of horses 

that show positive tests. Commission chairman 

Rod Seiling said the new rules are designed to 

protect the health of the horse, ensure the safety 

of the participant, and reinforce the integrity 

of the sport.






LEGISLATIVE ACTION IN NY 

A bill introduced last week in the New York Assembly, 

described as “essentially a compromise 

among track operators, horsemen and breeders, 

and state officials,” could break the legislative 

logjam in Albany. The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman 

J. Gary Pretlow, the man who Jeff Gural 

thought he had a deal with last summer, reportedly 

has crafted a consensus piece of remedial 

legislation that downstate horsemen describe 

as “both economically sound for the state and 

our industry.” Yonkers Raceway’s opposition to 

earlier legislation reportedly has been satisfied 

by stabilizing the track’s percentage of slots revenue 

at 32%, regardless of total play, as opposed 

to the present sliding scale that drops it to 26% 

after $160 million. New York’s SOA says it is in 

“total support of the bill.” It would redistribute 

video lottery vendors fees for Vernon Downs and 

restate allocation of racing dates. 

NOT SO HAPPY IN NEW JERSEY 

If there is any cause for joy in New York, there 

is little in New Jersey, where smoke and mirrors 

are all that the governor and legislature have so 

far produced in the way of a state subsidy agreement 

with Atlantic City casinos. Horsemen met 

yesterday and are talking boycott of the entry 

box, a move Dennis Dowd of the Meadowlands 

calls “not timely or appropriate.” Dowd says the 

governor already is aware of the situation and 

working on it, and a boycott would do little more 

than deprive owners of purses, not pressure 

the state into action. Two state senators, Jennifer 

Beck of Monmouth county and Paul Sarlo 

of Bergen, Essex and Passaic, sent a joint letter 

to Joseph A. Corbo, the president of the Casino 

Association of New Jersey, which some think is 

the de facto government of the state, asking for a 

meeting within two weeks, but both Freehold 

and the Meadowlands have draconian 

purse cuts in the works. 

RIDE THE WAVE IN INDIANA 

One place where optimism and happiness reign 

is Indiana, where slots are on the way, and two 

job openings are available at HTA’s Hoosier 

Park meeting in Anderson. Hoosier is looking 

for a track superintendent for both its harness 

and thoroughbred meetings, and also has a spot 

open for a program director for harness racing. 

JOY IN WOODBRIDGE, TOO 

The Meadowlands’ OTW operation in Woodbridge, 

NJ, now three months old, is exceeding 

all expectations. It racked up $18 million in bets 

to the beginning of this month, and if business 

holds it could handle at much as $70 million 

this year. If that holds, the NJSEA, parent of 

the Meadowlands, could pick up $3 million in 

Woodbridge. Woodbridge is the first of 15 offtrack 

wagering facilities planned for New Jersey, 

and the operation, called Favorites, is the 

top grossing OTW in the country, according to 

Frank Zanzuccki, executive director of the New 

Jersey Racing Commission. The food business 

at McLoone’s restaurant also is doing well, and 

the only problem to date has been a tough one 

to solve: parking. Nearby businesses are complaining 

their customers have no place to park. 

Site planners please note. 

1 PLUS 1 EQUALS 2 IN FLORIDA 

A 38,000-member teachers’ union in Miami- 

Dade county in Florida has figured out that slots 

at county tracks could generate more tax money 

for education, and has endorsed a vote for them 

in tomorrow’s election. Karen Aronowitz, president 

of the United Teachers of Dade, said her 

schools need the additional $210 million that predictions 

say slots could provide, and even though 

the money would be spread over all 67 counties 

in Florida, Ms. Aronowitz says, “You fill a cup 

drop by drop. We can’t let any funding 

source go untapped.”


The death of Tom Cholakis. The popular former 

HTA director as president of Capital District 

Regional OTB, died at 73. Operated on for an 

artery blockage, he left the hospital, returned 

home, went into cardiac arrest and died suddenly. 

A member of a prominent Rensselaer county 

political family and a former county majority 

leader and Republican chairman, he was headlined 

in an Albany Times Union feature eulogy 

as “a class act.” 

Maier gets a year in jail, 5 years probation. Former 

driver Daniel Maier, convicted of bribery 

to affect the outcome of a race at Cal-Expo, 

was sentenced to a year in prison and five years 

formal probation for his part in a race-fixing 

scheme. Maier did not drive in the race in question, 

but bet more than $3,000 on it. Maier, 23, 

is appealing. A second driver who was involved 

in the case and testified for the prosecution, Raymond 

Burt, received six days in jail and three 

years probation. Sacramento Harness, racing 

at Cal-Expo, also barred veterinarian Stephen 

Slender from its grounds after receiving a notice 

that Slender had been suspended by the British 

Columbia Racing Commission. 

The Meadowlands 2008 National Harness Handicapping 

Championship will be held June 21 at 

the track. It is the only tournament for harness 

players to feature a $50,000 guaranteed grand 

prize, and players can earn their way through 

qualifying rounds or buy in for $1,000. The first 

qualifier of the season will be Saturday, 

Feb. 23. Fourteen tracks held qualifying 

rounds for last year’s championship. 





LOST IN SPACE..OR OUT OF IT Northfield Park’s horsemen responding to a 

January was a busy month, and a number of 

newsworthy items were lost in space, or actually 

because we ran out of it. Here are a few that deserve 

tardy attention: 

Cleveland news story broadcast about starving 

and neglected horses at an area farm, produced 

500 pounds of specialized grain feed, blankets, 

and hoods. An Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Assn. 

representative, Amy Hollar, organized the response 

to an appeal from the Portage County 

Animal Protective League request. Northfield 

COO and past HTA president Tom Aldrich, commenting 

on the development, said, “I have seen 

this spirit many times from Northfield’s horsemen. 

At the core of this business is a respect and 

love for these animals.” 

Pocono, Woodbine build new paddocks. Mohegan 

Sun at Pocono is building a new $3.5 million 

paddock and will introduce it at the start of the 

2009 harness racing season. The 52,670 squarefoot 

building will be air conditioned and heated, 

accommodate a 14-race card, and contain the 

racing’s secretary’s office, program department 

and horsemen’s bookkeeper’s office. Work will 

begin in September after the 2008 harness meeting 

and the paddock is expected to be ready in 

March, 2009. Woodbine Entertainment has already 

broken ground on its state-of-the-art paddock, 

designed to incorporate the best features 

of the old one with the best ideas of paddocks 

around North America. The two-story building 

will contain 160 stalls, drug testing stations 

for runners and harness horses, offices for track 

veterinarians, emergency personnel and track 

maintenance crews, a television studio and a second-floor 

kitchen/cafeteria seating 60 to 75, with 

an elevator and panoramic view of the track. 

Target date for completion is Sept. 1. 

A Joe Joyce scholarship is being established at 

the Race Track Industry Program at the University 

of Arizona in memory of the racing leader 

who contributed so much to the program as 

a member of its advisory committee.






AN ELOQUENT VOICE STILLED 

And a good friend gone. The death at 86 of Dominic 

Frinzi, orator, statesman, 26-year leader of 

Harness Horsemen International, opera authority, 

fighter for unity and a force of good in harness 

racing, diminishes the sport even further in 

a time of crisis. Frinzi, a prominent Milwaukee 

attorney who once ran for governor of Wisconsin, 

traveled coast to coast in the interest of unification 

of harness racing, arguing eloquently 

that horsemen and management had to work 

together as a team for the common good. He 

interceded in numerous disputes, represented 

numerous causes, and gained wide respect as a 

voice of reason. A close friend of HTA, he made 

numerous appearances before its board, worked 

tirelessly for horsemen’s causes, and still found 

time to play an active role in state, regional and 

national Italian community activities. His stentorian 

tones and wise understanding of the need 

for balanced, power in the sport will be sadly 

missed, with no one even close to his skills on 

the scene. He was inducted into Harness Racing’s 

Hall of Fame in 1996 and to the Wisconsin 

Hall of Fame two years later, and won both 

HHI’s Man of the Year and U.S. Harness Writers 

Good Guy Award. Visitation will be on Monday, 

Feb. 4 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Schmidt and 

Bartelt Funeral Home at 10121 West North Ave. 

in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, with a Requiem Mass 

Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 12 noon at Gesu Church, 1145 

Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee. 

WAITING ON CORZINE 

Horsemen and management at Freehold Raceway 

agreed on a one-week postponement of the 

draconian purse cuts ordered by the track in the 

view of inaction by the governor or legislature on 

the purse subsidy issue. Amid threats of strike 

action, the SBOA called a special meeting 

of horsemen for 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, 

in the Meadowlands back paddock. 

MIAMI-DADE GET THEIR SLOTS 

Despite the tumult and the shouting, the city of 

Miami, and Miami-Dade county overwhelmingly 

approved slots at their tracks yesterday, by an 

almost 2-to-1 margin. The vote paves the way 

for upgrading and renovation of Calder Race 

Course, Flagler Dog Track and Miami Jai Alai, 

all in the area covered by the vote. The tracks 

claim the development will produce 6,000 new 

jobs, stimulate local business and generate $210 

million for state revenues that could be used for 

education purposes. An identical bill was defeated 

three years ago. 

STALL PUT ON STEROIDS 

It didn’t take long to undo the ballyhoo about 

steroids. The Maryland Racing Commission, 

which just a month ago announced its intention 

of banning anabolic steroids on race day, 

now has caved in to horsemen’s protests and 

scrapped the idea indefinitely for “further study.” 

Chairman John Franzone, who says, “We could 

implement this tomorrow, but we don’t know 

how we’re going to test for it or how we’re going 

to pay for it.” Franzone presumably could have 

asked those same questions a month ago when 

the commission moved forward with the ban. Instead, 

he criticized Delaware and Pennsylvania 

for starting policing steroids without consensus. 

Franzone now has created a four-man commission 

task force to study new rules in the hope of 

implementing a steroid policy, delaying any ban, 

until Jan. 1, 2009, at the earliest. Time, and steroids, 

march on. And some racing leaders continue 

the old line of “There go my people. I am 

their leader. I must follow them.” 

HOOSIER GIRDS FOR HIRING 

HTA member Hoosier Park has scheduled two 

career opportunity forums to provide local residents 

with job opportunity information as it 

gears up for slots this coming season.


SVENSSON GROOM OF YEAR 

Fia Svensson, a diminutive 22-year-old Swedish 

groom in the Florida-based Jonas Czernyson 

stable who delights in providing special care 

and attention to tough and difficult horses, has 

been named Caretaker of the Year by Harness 

Tracks of America, the association of major harness 

tracks in North America, and Hanover Shoe 

Farms. 

The winner, chosen by a committee of racing executives 

and officials who groomed horses themselves 

earlier in their careers, is symbolic of the 

dedication and sacrifices of all caretakers everywhere. 

Ms. Svensson, who currently works with five 

horses in the Czernyson stable and helps other 

caretakers with their duties as well, earned recognition 

for her overall work ethic and selfless 

contributions to her horses. They included last 

year’s winner of the $85,000 final of the New 

Jersey Sires Stake for 2-year-old trotters, the 

Self Possessed colt Better Than Most. Described 

along with other Svensson charges as “no walk in 

the park,” the colt could be a nasty kicker in the 

paddock on any second visit. After Jeff Gregory 

drove him to victory, Ms. Svensson stopped 

Gregory on the backstretch and had him replace 

the colt’s earplugs, knowing otherwise the winner’s 

circle would be “a gruesome scene.” 

Another pupil was a Danish colt named Number 

One D, with a sign hanging on his stall door 

reading, “Caution, I Bite.” The colt delighted in 

grabbing arms of unwary visitors, and bit Ms. 

Svensson in the stomach while she was blanketing 

him. She responded in her usual fashion, 

saying, “All he needs is love.” Ms. Svensson’s 

pride and joy last year was the 3-year-old 

Dream Vacation filly Resortful, second in 

the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks. 





After the filly fractured a cannon bone and was 

retired in Kentucky, Ms. Svensson spent a vigil 

with her at Millstream Farm before returning to 

New Jersey to groom Per Henriksen’s Breeders’ 

Crown winner Southwind Serena. 

Ms. Svensson will receive an oil painting of herself 

and a favorite horse of her choosing, as well 

as one of the Hanover-HTA jackets that goes to 

all caretakers named as nominees. 

The four runners-up in the Caretaker of the Year 

competition were Kelly Prinz, caretaker of Lis 

Mara; Mary Ceaser, groom in a small Massachusetts 

family stable; Mario Glynn, who groomed 

two million dollar winners -- Our Lucky Killean 

and Moving Pictures -- in Casie Coleman’s 

powerful Ontario stable; and Diana Fagnani, a 

groom for more than 20 years in the Jim Groff 

stable in Pennsylvania. 

CAREFUL BOYS, HE IS TOUGH 

A news story from New Jersey says harness 

horsemen at the Meadowlands are considering 

a boycott of the entry box in protest to lack of 

action by Gov. Jon Corzine, and will be meeting 

Sunday to discuss the matter. It is a bad idea, for 

three reasons and perhaps more. 

If the idea is to pressure the governor into action, 

it is not likely to work. He already is aware 

of the problem, and his negotiators are working 

on trying to solve it and reportedly are nearing 

resolution. 

The move is likely to greatly upset and irritate 

the governor, turning a dispassionate neutral 

into an unneeded foe. 

The horsemen are overmatched. Their power in 

New Jersey, compared to the casinos, is minute. 

Don’t pick fights where you aren’t likely to 

win, and more important might get hurt.

January - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?