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, EditorJUDGE SAYS NO TO KY HBPAA state circuit court judge in Kentucky has refusedto enjoin the state from implementing and enforcingits new medication rules, as requested by theKentucky HBPA. Judge Roger Crittenden saidthe new rules, which ban horses from receivingmost therapeutic drugs on race day, would notcause irreparable harm to horsemen in Kentucky.A few horsemen based at Churchill Downs declinedto enter Wednesday’s opening night program atTurfway Park, but the track filled its 10-race cardand has a full field in its feature. The threat of aboycott would have cast a pall over Turfway’s introductionof its new Polytrack surface, the first tobe tested under actual race conditions in the UnitedStates.ANOTHER SAYS NO TO NIAGARAIn Niagara Falls, New York, a state Supreme Courtjudge dismissed a suit filed by Niagara county,seeking 75% of the local share of Niagara Falls’Seneca Niagara Casino revenue. The judge ruledthat the $11.2 million cut for the locality hasn’t beenallocated as yet by the New York legislature, andcalled the county’s suit premature.MORE DARK CLOUDS FOR NYRAThoroughbred racing at Saratoga still is the bestand most successful handlewise in the nation, butthe New York Racing Association, which runs it,continues to catch flak regardless of its successes.Although this year’s meeting was down in handleby 5.47% from last year, and attendance was down3.17%, the meeting still averaged almost $15 milliona day. But it no sooner closed than a statecontroller’s draft report surfaced that it had failedto pay the state $40.4 million in franchise fees between2000 and 2003, a figure NYRA says is nottrue. NYRA also caught fire for spending some$17,000 for a press party the day before theTravers. A NYRA spokesman argues, withsome logic, that it makes money for thetrack in coverage.September 6, 2005IN BRITAIN, $4.4 BILLION DROPGibraltar-based PartyGaming Plc, the online pokeroperator that shook Britain with its most explosivestock offering ever in June, has fallen as muchas 37% below its initial offering price, accordingto Bloomberg.com. The report said the stock dropwiped out some $4.4 billion in U.S. dollars. Onefund manager in London for Barclay’s Private Clients,which manages $45 billion, said, “There weresome clear dangers in relation to the valuation ofthis company and our concerns have been realized.”Another analyst, at Seymour Pierce in London,said, “The market has misinterpreted what’sactually happened in the same way that it misinterpretedthat poker was going to the moon ad infinituminitially.” Whatever, it’s a big hit.THE RIGHT AIMS AT ROMNEYSpeaking of big gambles, Mitt Romney, governorof Massachusetts and a presidentialhopeful for 2008, has drawn the ire ofmidwestern and other conservatives with talkof slots in the Bay State. Right wing mobilizerStacey Cargill, who organized thousands ofvoters last year to soundly defeat a slots proposalin Iowa, now says she will seek to jointhe Iowa Christian Coalition and Iowa FamilyPolicy Center against Romney’s hopes in Iowacaucuses. Cargill was quoted in the BostonGlobe’s Boston.com as saying, “If Mitt Romneyis going to engage in incorporating casinoslots as a form of economic development forthe state of Massachusetts, we will spread theword and ask the state of Iowa to vote for anothercandidate in the caucuses. It’s that bigan issue.” Although Romney said two yearsago he would support slots if they were auctionedoff to the highest bidders and the licenseshad limited terms, the matter neverreached his desk, and a Romney spokeswomannow says, “Expanded gaming is notsomething Gov. Romney has proposed oris even considering.”