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, EditorHTA MEMBERSHIP UP TO 41Four more tracks will be welcomed to HTA membershipat the annual meeting. Rejoining HTA areBatavia Downs in New York and Cal-Expo in California.New members are Western Fair Racewayin Ontario and Harrah’s Casino and Racetrack inPennsylvania. Joining HTA’s board of directorswill be Martin Basinait for Batavia, Chris Schickfor Cal-Expo, Hugh Mitchell for Western Fair, andAnne Allman for Harrah’s. We welcome all fourwarmly.NYRA SLOT SPLIT ANNOUNCEDSlots are still a long way off at Aqueduct Racetrack,but the New York Racing Association andits thoroughbred horsemen and breeders havereached a revenue-sharing agreement for whenthey do arrive. In the first three years of slotsoperation, horsemen will receive 7.5% of grossgaming revenues. In years 4 and 5, they willget 7.75%. And in the sixth year and afterwards,they will get 10%. They will dedicate $3.5 millionof their share annually, however, to capitalimprovements on the backstretch for as long asNYRA retains its franchise. The New YorkBreeding and Development Fund will get 1.25%of gross gaming revenue for the first five years,and 1.5% after that. All parties to the agreementexpressed satisfaction with the split, whichwill begin when 4,500 slots start operating at Aqueduct.THE PENNSYLVANIA MYSTERYHow and why the Pennsylvania Harness RacingCommission operates is a secret shared by thethree commissioners who constitute it, and to theexecutive director who runs it, but public relationsseemingly is not one of their concerns. Yesterday,after agonizing for more than two yearsover which of two applicants should receivethe final harness license in Pennsylvania,November 4, 2005they stunned everyone concerned by deciding togive it to neither. That decision, coming on theheels of the fiasco of a six-month suspension ofthe nation’s leading harness driver, and the quickrescinding of that penalty, would have seemedenough to make the commission conscious of publicrelations, but instead the commission made itsannouncement with little comment and no explanations.The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, among others,was mystified, reporting, “Commissioners refusedto explain their decision and said their rationalewould not be available until next week.” Onemight think that if a racing commission had finallymade up its mind on something after two years ofdeliberation, it would be able to announce its reasoningwhen it announced its decision. Not in Pennsylvania.LIFE & DEATH IN HOLLYWOODThere are things that are hard to believe in Californiaas well as Pennsylvania. One is HollywoodPark operating without a fall turf stakesschedule. The once-storied track, now in a threeyearlife-and-death cycle that could wind up withit becoming a housing or business complex underits new owner, the Bay Meadows Land Company,announced it was cutting back live racingdates from 31 to 27, without turf stakes. It cut11 of them worth $2.3 million as a result of nothaving a raceable turf course. With the cutback,overnight purses will increase between 12 and14%. In better news, the California RacingBoard heard from Norm Towne, representingCal-Expo, who said that even though handle andattendance dropped during the summer lead-inharness meeting to Cal-Expo, that summer harnessmeeting still was desirable, and the Cal-Expo board was considering adding a turf courseand 5-furlong dirt track to accommodate runnersand harness horses in afternoon and night racing,in the pattern proved workable byWoodbine.