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, EditorMORE FOOT-DRAGGING IN KYKentucky’s thoroughbred horsemen and their veterinarianswere still battling reform and progressyesterday, but thanks to a legislator who recognizedtheir ploy the commonwealth’s new drug ruleswere passed by the legislature’s AdministrativeRegulation Review Subcommittee and moves onto House and Senate committees. The horsemenand vets and their lawyer tried to block passage,but a motion by Rep. Jim Bruce, a HopkinsvilleDemocrat, brought quick passage. Bruce said hemade the motion because he believes the opponentsof the regulation are a vocal minority whowouldn’t accept anything. The horsemen’s andvets’ attorney called the victory “just round one,”indicating the fight is not over. In a strange development,the executive director of the Racing Authority,Jim Gallagher, apparently made an offerto put off consideration of the rule for a month, amove that happily Rep. Bruce’s successful motionmade moot. Gallagher called the passage “a goodday for Kentucky,” but still looming are threebanamine positives during the fall Grand Circuitmeeting that have drawn no action for 60 days. Apositive sign on the legislation was a statement byDarrell Haire, interim national manager of theJockeys’ Guild, who supported the new rules, sayingsome pre-race medications can mask physicalproblems in horses and jockeys “need to know whatthey have beneath them.”ANABOLIC STEROIDS IN NEWSThe American Association of Equine Practitioners’Task Force on Medication has recommendedthe banning of anabolic steroids inhorses being sold at public auctions. The recommendationprovides that in addition, no stimulants,muscle relaxants or diuretics should beallowed at any detectable level in sale horses,with sales companies to be the “principleenforcers.” More will be heard aboutsteroids in coming months.December 14, 2005SWEDEN, TEXAS, YOU NAME ITBreaking of rules, or legislation to prevent it, is inthe holiday air. In Texas, the racing commissionhas adopted a milkshake rule, setting 38 millimolesof carbon dioxide per liter of plasma as the cutoffpoint. Over that would be a violation which wouldbring a $1,000 fine and 30-day suspension for thefirst offense, a $2,500 fine and 90-day suspensionfor a second, and a $5,000 fine and one-year suspensionfor a third. All of the penalties includeloss of purse money, with testing random, pre orpost race. The rule will become effective nextmonth.In Sweden, the Swedish Trotting Association confiscatedthe license of trainer Michael Demmers,conditioner of the $800,000 winner Vasterbo Daylight,according to The Harness Edge. Demmershas been fined more than $45,000 for false breedingreports, and a Ms. Kathrin Biderman has beenfined $30,000 for signing false mating certificates.Demmers plans to appeal, saying he doesn’t thinkhis training license should be linked to his breedingoperations.COMPROMISE IN MARYLANDThoroughbred horsemen and management havereached an accord in Maryland, with both sidesgiving a little in a compromise that headed offcommission action. Magna’s Maryland JockeyClub will conduct 180 days of racing next yearand keep stable areas open at Pimlico, Laureland Bowie for all of 2006. According to the WashingtonPost, there still is disagreement on howmuch horsemen, including breeders, should contributeto the cost of satellite and simulcast operations.Magna has submitted a proposal to thehorsemen’s leadership, and the board of theMaryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Assn. isexpected to review and respond by next week.With a tentative agreement in place, the commissionapproved Jan. 1 - April 16 winterdates for Laurel.
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorQUEBEC PRIVATIZES TRACKSThe long-expected hammer fell yesterday in Quebec,where the Minister of Finance, Michal Audet,announced the transfer of management of theprovince’s four racetracks to private ownership.Winner in the competition is AttractionsHippiques Quebec, owned by Senator PaulMassicotte, currently attending the World TradeOrganization summit meeting in Hong Kong.Under the transfer, $100 million will be spent onrelocating Hippodrome de Montreal from itspresent in-city location to the northern suburbanring surrounding Montreal. Purses will receive$153 million over five years, raising them from$17 million to $25 million in the first year of theagreement, and increasing them each year afterthat to $35 million in the fifth year. Another $5million a year will be allocated to promotion andmarketing of the racing industry in the province.No mention of the fate of SONACC, which hasrun racing in the province, was made, butSONACC’s chairman, Gilles Dubreuil, a memberof the independent committee that workedout the transition plan, said, “Thanks to today’sdecision, the entire horse racing industry, whichemploys 3,000 people in Quebec’s regions, willbenefit from the injection of these new investments.”The Minister of Finance added that theagreement met the government’s objective ofdoing everything possible to secure the long-termviability of the racing industry in Quebec, and theinfusion of purse money could signal a new erafor harness racing in the province. The minister,Michal Audet, will determine the role ofSONACC in the reorganization. Massicotte, amember of the Liberal Party of Canada, is in additionto his senatorial duties the president andCEO of Alexis Nihon Real Estate InvestmentTrust and a board member of a number of civicgroups in the Montreal area. An accountant,he was lead director of the Board ofDirectors of the Bank of Canada.December 15, 2005He also has been a major real estate developer inMontreal. A rival bidder for the tracks of Quebec,Remstar corporation, filed for the tracks ofQuebec, Remstar corporation, filed for a temporaryinjunction blocking the government’s announcement,but a Quebec Superior Court judgedenied that request. Andre Marier, a former presidentof Blue Bonnets, the predecessor of Hippodromede Montreal, is associated with the Remstargroup.DISSENT REARS ITS UGLY HEADMore troubles all over the map:In Massachusetts, Raynham/Taunton dog trackowner George Carney stormed out of the StateHouse summit meeting with other track owners, justweeks before a looming legislative deadline thatthreatens Massachusetts racing. Carney wantsexpanded simulcasting at his Brockton Fair. Thethree other track owners in the state want a rollover of the current law. Plainridge president andHTA director Gary Piontkowski said of Carney’scarnage, “What you have here is a singleperson...stopping a billion dollar industry.”In Illinois, the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Associationand Balmoral and Maywood Park managementhave been meeting on contract negotiations,but despite exchange of various proposals an impasseis reported and no compromise has beenreached.In Utica, New York, a federal bankruptcy judge hasscheduled final hearings tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.to determine whether Jeff Gural and his NevadaGold backers of Vernon Downs Acquisition, or EricSpector’s Oneida Entertainment and his PlainfieldAsset Management of Connecticut, get VernonDowns. Mid-State Raceway, the track’s parent,paid $107,000 in county taxes today, forestallingpossible foreclosure proceedings.
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2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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