2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorFORM BUYS SPORTS EYEIn what could be a significant development forharness racing, Daily Racing Form has acquiredthe publishing assets of Sports Eye, the NewYork-based publisher of a number of sports publications.Brent Diamond, CEO of the Form,said of the acquisition, “Sports Eye has done atremendous job producing publications for thecasual and new horseplayer, which is an areathat we haven’t focused on with the Daily RacingForm products. We believe there is an opportunityto provide information to the full rangeof horseplayers and this will allow us to do so.We’re very excited about expanding our currentbusiness with these products. This acquisitionalso provides us with the opportunity to extendour franchise into sports publishing, which issomething we planned when we acquired DailyRacing Form as our platform asset in May,2004.” Harness racing, in this corner’s opinion,never gave Sports Eye the support it deservedfrom the day it was founded back in 1964. Theoriginal founders appeared at an HTA meetingin Scottsdale, Arizona that year and outlinedtheir plans, but fought an uphill battle for supportfrom that time on. Attacks on managementpolicies weakened the publication’s case underone editor, but under Daily Racing Form controland with the Form’s plans to expand thereach of the publication, Sports Eye is likely todeserve industry support.AROUND THE CIRCUIT......L. Wayne Gertmenian is gone from the JOCK-EYS’ GUILD. The Guild’s senate changed theirbylaws yesterday, appointed a new board of directors,and fired Gertmenian for alleged mismanagement.Darrell Haire, a guild regional representativefor the last six years and a protege oft h eformer national manager, John Giovanni,was named to head the organization on atemporary basis.November 16, 2005PENN NATIONAL’S Hollywood Slots in Bangor,Maine, are off to a bangup start. After $1.76 millionwas bet on opening day, the crowds continuedto pour in, and more than $8 million waspumped into the machines during the week thatended Sunday. The Maine Gambling ControlBoard reported that Penn National’s share fromthe first 10 days of operation was $435,000. Inother Penn National news, Richard Schnaars,general manager of the company’s Penn NationalRacetrack, resigned after six years in that role.BARRY SCHWARTZ, former chairman of theNew York Racing Association, has resigned fromthe NYRA board, saying, “My views on racing inNew York are very different from the views ofthe current management.” NYRA, meanwhile,was told by state regulators not to sell $2 millionin racing art at Sotheby’s next month because thepaintings are owned by New York state.KEEP, the Kentucky Equine Education Project,has proposed a racino plan that would providemoney to each of the state’s 120 counties basedon population, and would provide thoroughbredracing with 14.65% of casino revenue and otherbreeds, including harness racing, 1%.QUEBEC’s government has delayed its decisionon racing once again, this time postponing a verdicton which one of five proposals on theprovince’s four tracks will be accepted.DEATHS: Wayne Shumate, former member ofthe Kentucky Harness Racing Commission anda past president of the Association of Racing Commissioners,at 71. Tom Ivers, author of nine bookson training race horses, all espousing intervaltraining, at 61.RECOVERING: Race-caller Roger Huston, athome after suffering a torn esophagus.
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorAN EXCEPTIONAL HTA ‘CLASS’Harness Tracks of America’s 2005-6 scholarshipwinners, individually and as a group, representsome of the strongest academic achievers in the32-year history of the annual awards. Two of thewinners, Amy Beth Todd and Ryan John O’Mara,each awarded $10,000 scholarships, are straightA students in tough academic settings. Ms. Toddis a senior at Cornell Veterinary College, rankingthird in a class of 85, and Dr. Nena J. Winand,assistant professor of pathology in the departmentof molecular medicine, wrote HTA, “I anticipatethat Amy will be a leader in the field of equine internalmedicine. She is poised to make great contributionsto the performance horse industry.”Ryan, injured in a stable accident as a child, wasinspired during his recovery to become a surgeon,and remains on course, maintaining an all-A recordin pre-med at the University of Florida, aiming forHarvard Medical School. Ms. Todd is the daughterof trainer Art Giambrone and his wife Mona, ateacher. O’Mara is the son of Debbie Garofalo,a respiratory therapist, and trainer MarkO’Mara.Rounding out the $50,000 in scholarships are fourother outstanding students, each receiving $7,500grants. They are Jennifer Marie Ashby ofMaquoketa, Iowa, an accounting major at the Universityof Northern Iowa, daughter of trainer BradAshby and his wife Laurie, a pharmacy technician;John Bradbury, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, a trainerand senior in the veterinary school at the Universityof Montreal; Michael John Latessa ofAmherst, Ohio, member of a longtime Ohio harnessracing family, a second-year student at OhioState’s Veterinary School; and Jo Ellen Proctor ofChesapeake Beach, MD, executive assistant toCloverleaf Enterprises chief executive TomChuckas at Rosecroft Raceway, pursuingan associate’s degree in Human Servicesat the College of Southern Maryland, witha perfect 4.0 grade average.November 17, 2005AROUND THE TRACKS.....POMPANO PARK reopened for simulcasting today,its first day of operation after HurricaneWilma. Eighteen different signals were being offeredas the day’s simulcasting fare, and thingswere lively in the racing secretary’s office as well.Non-betting matinee races with purses were scheduledfor Saturday to help idle horsemen, and whenthe entry box was opened, slips for 299 horsesspilled out.PRAIRIE MEADOWS and its harness horsemenwere meeting today in an effort to close a $700,000purse gap in negotiations. The horsemen wereexpected to ask the racing commission to orderarbitration. Harness racing currently is to get $1.8million out of a purse pool of $18.4 million.VERNON DOWNS’ parent, Mid-State Raceway,wants Eric Spector and his Oneida Entertainmentpartner out of the picture, and have asked a federaljudge to toss out Spector’s plan to take overVernon. No more than 4% of any category of creditorapproved Spector’s plan, the rest opting forthat offered by Jeff Gural.JUDGE: REVOKE THEIR LICENSEAbner Mikva currently is an administrative lawjudge in Chicago, but his resume includes fiveterms as a U.S. Congressman, former WhiteHouse Counsel, and chief judge of the U.S. Courtof Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit.Given that background, he used pretty strong languagethis week when he recommended that theIllinois Gaming Board revoke the gambling licenseof the Emerald Casino, saying its leaderKevin Flynn “flat-out lied and others dissembled”when it first attempted to move its gambling operationto Rosemont, near O’Hare airport, in thelate 1990s. The gaming board is expected tovote to revoke the license when it meets inDecember.
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2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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