2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, Editor July 26, 2005MEADOWS SEEMS SECURE HEY GOV, HOW ABOUT RACINGLast week, when Magna Entertainment announcedit was redirecting construction monies of his own, and we apologize if we cannot under-The governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, has logicfrom The Meadows to Remington Park, HTA inquiredof MEC CFO Blake Tohana how the re-gambling machines openly operating in many ofstand it. The governor now says that since videofinancing might affect HTA member The Meadows.Mr. Tohana did not reply, but yesterday illegal, one way to solve the problem is to legal-the state’s bars, social clubs and truck stops arean MEC conference call gave a hint. The ize them. Daniels says that while he generallycompany’s chief executive, Tom Hodgson, identifiedfive key properties as core operations consider that approach as an expansion. Okay,opposes an expansion of gambling, he wouldn’t“with the greatest potential for value creation,” governor, if you say so. But logic would also seemand The Meadows was not one of them. He did to dictate that legalizing pull tabs or VLTs orsay, however, that MEC would “aggressively whatever at Indiana’s two racetracks, which employhundreds, would not be an extension of gam-pursue alternative gaming opportunities” atRemington Park, The Meadows and Gulfstream bling either, since people already go there toPark, and said results at The Meadows could gamble.jump by between $50 million and $60 million withthe introduction of slots. So while MEC said it 17 PAY UP FOR $1.5 MIL HAMBOplans to sell at least $150 million worth of assetsin the next 12 months to pay down debt, each this morning to enter the sport’s richest trot-Owners of 17 3-year-old trotting colts paid $12,500The Meadows is not likely to be one of those ting race, the $1.5 million Hambletonian at theassets. MEC recently sold Flamboro Downs in Meadowlands. Eliminations will be raced Saturdaynight to determine the field for the classic onOntario for $64 million, taking an impairmentcharge of some $10 million, which Hodgson said Saturday, August 6. Ken Warkentin and Classicwas “not pleasant, but the right strategic move.” Photo are the early favorites. The HambletonianMEC also owns Thistledown in Ohio, Portland Oaks, the $750,000 companion feature of theMeadows in Oregon, and Great Lakes Downs Hambletonian, drew 27 filly entrants, and threein Michigan, among other properties, along with eliminations will be raced on Saturday night’sthe Horseracing TV cable network and a onethirdinterest in the Racetrack Television Net-Meadowlands’ card.work.BETFAIR SEEKS FOOT IN DOORControversial Betfair, which has circumvented Australianopposition by seeking a license in Tasmania,is seeking to do the same here. It has approachedthe HBPA, NTRA, Breeders’ Cup andindividual tracks for partnering, but the companyhas been involved in another investigation in Australiaafter stewards found an “unusuallyhigh” amount of money bet on two odds-onfavorites to lose and said the circumstanceswarranted further investigation.NANCY MOVES; WE HAVE HERNancy Hanks, world champion trotter from 1892to 1894, will be reburied, along with 17 other greathorses, at historic Hamburg Place in Kentucky.Preston and Anita Madden and their son Patrick,who own the nursery that has been in existence inthe family since 1898, say the new cemetary willbe more accessible to the public. HTA, meanwhile,will offer a beautiful 1897 chromolithograph ofNancy Hanks, driven by her famed driver BuddDoble, in its College Scholarship Art Auctionin Lexington Saturday morning, Oct. 1.