2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICABALA SENTENCED TO 27 MOS.Susan Bala, the founder and owner of NorthDakota’s Racing Services Inc., was sentenced bya federal judge in Fargo, North Dakota, yesterdayto 27 months in prison for her role in what theFargo Forum called “the largest illegal gamblingcase in North Dakota history.” Bala, for her part,continues to claim innocence, telling Judge RalphErickson, “I just want you to know, in my heart, Iwould never do anything illegal.” The judge chastisedBala for bringing “unsavory characters” toNorth Dakota, including an alleged member of theGambino crime family now under federal indictmentin New York, but also noted that in light ofBala’s past good deeds, spotless record and lowrisk, she deserved a sentence at the low end ofthe scale provided by federal sentencing guidelines,which is what she got. Assistant U.S. AttorneyKeith Reisenauer asked for 33 months, tellingthe judge that Bala has not taken responsibilityfor her actions. “She blames everybody butherself,” Reisenauer said. Bala, 50, and her companywere convicted in February on 12 counts, includingconducting an illegal gambling business,conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling business,illegal wire transfer, and nine counts of moneylaundering. Raymundo Diaz Jr., the vice presidentof Racing Services, was sentenced in May to90 days in a halfway house. He had pleaded guiltyto three felony charges of illegal gambling. Jurorsin February also ordered Racing Services toforfeit about $99 million, and Bala herself was orderedto pay $19.7 million of that. Reisenauersaid he did not know how much of the money wouldbe collected.SIMO AWARD DEADLINE AUG. 29The award to honor the racing industry’s best simulcastproduction again will be presented at the13th Annual International Simulcast Conference.The deadline for all entries isMonday, August 29, 2005. The award honorsthe best simulcast telecast by a host siteExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley Paul J. F. Estok, Bergstein, Editor Editor July 15, 2005and is open to all pari-mutuel breeds. The simulcastentry will be judged on technical merit, quality,and timeliness of racing and wagering informationdissemination, as well as overall appeal.Entries for the award must be no more than 30minutes in length and contain one complete racepresentation, including pre-race features andgraphics, the race itself, and any post-race replaysor wrap-ups. Entries must have been part of anormal simulcast program and not a collection ofhighlights or features and have aired after August24, 2004. For the first time, entries will be acceptedin DVD format. Six copies of each entryshould be sent to Thoroughbred Racing Associations,420 Fair Hill Drive, Suite 1, Elkton, MD21921, along with a letter of entry detailing thecontact name for the entry and the date the programaired.TUCSON TRACK DEFICIENT“Serious structural deficiencies” at 63-year-oldRillito Park Racetrack in sunny Tucson, Arizona,have prompted Pima County officials to considertearing it down and replacing it with athleticfields. That idea is drawing opposition from thehorse racing community. The track needs $1million to $1.5 million in repairs to avoid a “catastrophicfailure” of the steel-and-wood grandstand,according to a consultants’s report. Thegrandstand, built in 1962 and considered an eyesoreby many in the Old Pueblo, was “built deficiently[and] never strengthened adequately.”County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry saysthe county doesn’t have the money it would taketo repair the facility, let alone the estimated $5million to $6 million it would cost to replace thestructure with a new one. That puts the next racingseason, slated to begin in January of 2006, injeopardy. For now, the facility remains closed,but as a result of the dire reports and in an effortto move the issue forward, a county advisorycommission voted unanimously to “seekshort- and long-term solutions.”
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondJuly 18, 2005drawing by Robert Dickey.Stanley F. Bergstein, EditorHTA ART CATALOG NOW ONLINEHarness Tracks of America’s new art catalog forits Oct. 1 sale is now online on the HTA Web site.www.harnesstracks.com, and also can be accessedat www.elegantequineart.com. All 200 works areillustrated in full color, and each is enlargeablefor clearer viewing. A print version of the catalogwill be available free of charge by Aug. 1, andthe actual work will go on display in the grandstandof the Red Mile in Lexington, KY, Monday,Sept. 26, and remain on display through Fridaythe 30th, when it will be moved to Tattersallsfollowing that afternoon’s racing program for auctionthe following morning.This year’s auction is divided into four sections.The first is original harness racing art, numbers1 thru 85, which will be sold starting at8:30 a.m. This section includes the largest collectionof harness art ever offered by the Polishcavalry officer-turned-artist, ZenonAniszewski, HTA’s most popular and successfulartist. Included in this section is an originalearly work by George Ford Morris, a beautifulpainting of the trotter Baroness done by Morrisin 1906.Section II consists of a superb collection of Currier& Ives trotting prints, numbers 86 thru 124,selling at 10:30, and including such exceptionalprints as Central Park in Winter, Trustee, Starsof the Trotting Track, Trotting Cracks on theSnow, A Brush for the Lead: New York Flyerson the Snow, and Ready for the Trot. Also beingoffered, in mint condition, is SalvadoreDali’s American Trotting Horses #1 and AmericanTrotting Horses #2, hand signed by theworld renowned surrealist artist. A rare Currier,lithographed from a painting by the Englishmaster J. F. Herring Sr., also is inthe auction, along with five Currier &Ives comics and an original pen and inkSection III, going under the hammer at 11:30 a.m.,are truly exceptional equine bronzes by renownedEuropean masters. Isidore Jules Bonheur, PierreJules Mene, Pierre Lenordez and Arthur Waagenare represented in the collection.Starting at noon, HTA offers 70 works cataloguedas The Glory of the Horse, including paintings ofthoroughbreds, western horses, Indian ponies, carriagehorses, broncos,and show horses, and somebeautiful prints as well. Work by ZenonAniszewski, Helen Hayes, Svetlana Gadjieva,Henry Stull, Alfred Edgerton Cooper, RichardStone Reeves, George Ford Morris, SantosBarbosa, Mostafa Keyhani, Sherry Blanchard Stuart,Alyson Champ, David Pavlak, Joan MacIntyre andother well known equine artists are featured.All net proceeds of the show, as always, go to theHTA College Scholarship Fund, a 501 (c) 3 charity.HTA tracks are invited to participate.THE END FOR HIALEAH?Hialeah Park, once one of America’s most beautifulracetracks, may have reached the end of the line. TheThird District Court of Appeals in Miami affirmed anorder by Florida’s Department of Business Regulationto revoke Hialeah’s racing permit. Track ownerand president John Brunetti says he now will moveahead with plans to rezone the property for commercialuse, and if that happens another American racinglandmark disappears.THE MEN WHO OPPOSE GURALSpeculator Shawn Scott and three Florida partners, allof whom were unable to get New York licenses to runVernon Downs and its racino, now have filed a federalbankruptcy plan to pay off the track’s nearly $30 millionin debt and re-sell Vernon’s parent, Mid-StateRacway. The group wants to prevent New Yorkrealtor and horse owner Jeff Gural from buyingand operating the track.
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