January - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA $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. Executive Newsletter A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor January 3, 2008 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.
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA 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. Executive Newsletter A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor January 4, 2008 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.
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January - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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