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, Editor March 22, 2005GURAL BUYING OUT SCOTT HELPFUL DECISION IN KYVernon Downs’ control by non-racing outsiders In a reversal of long-standing policy by his office,the attorney general of Kentucky, Gregmay be over, as New York realtor and harnesshorse owner and breeder Jeff Gural says he has Stumbo, has ruled that the state constitution doesreached a deal to buy the 52% share in the track not have to be amended to allow expanded gambling.While the decision is merely advisory inowned by Las Vegas and Virgin Island entrepreneurShawn Scott. Gural says he has an oral nature, it removes one stumbling block to legalizationof slots for tracks in the commonwealth,agreement with Scott and Vestin Mortgage,which holds a $27 million mortgage on Vernon but formidable opposition still faces such a move.and is the track’s biggest creditor. Gural’s dealwould end Scott’s involvement with Vernon, NEW SECURITY FOR RUNNERSmarred by Scott’s inability to obtain a New York In two significant thoroughbred security developments,the New York Racing Association haslicense to operate the track and its racino. Guralplans to invest $1.2 million to get Vernon up and announced it plans to use a pre-race detentionrunning, and has agreed to provide another $7.3 barn when it opens its 60-day spring-summermillion to get the racino open. Mid-State is estimatinggross revenue of $47 million a year from has announced tough new milkshaking penalties.meeting at Belmont Park May 4, and Keenelandthe racino. Gural is hopeful that the New YorkAssembly will approve a bill passed last week bythe state Senate which would increase revenuesfrom the VLTs.QUEBEC SELLING ITS TRACKSHTA member Hippodrome de Montreal andthree other harness tracks in Quebec will be soldto private operators under a move by the Quebecgovernment. The decision reverses the decisionof the province’s former finance minister,Yves Seguin. In addition to Hippodrome, formerlyBlue Bonnets, the tracks to be sold are inQuebec City, Trois-Rivieres and Gatineau. TheMontreal Gazette said the likely buyer will be eitherOntario-based Magna Entertainment orRemstar, a Quebec company, both of which haveshown interest in acquiring the tracks and haveexpressed a willingness to invest some $100 millionCanadian dollars.In another Canadian development, Great CanadianGaming corporation has completedits acquisition of Fraser Downs andSandown Park in British Columbia.NYRA began pre-race testing for carbon dioxidereadings in mid-February, and will begin freezingurine samples for use as Cornell Universitydevelops new tests for currently undetectablesubstances. The new testing program is beingsponsored jointly by NYRA and the New YorkThoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.Under new rules at Keeneland, readings of 37millimoles per liter of blood or higher will drawpenalties that start with the first horse in atrainer’s care having to be raced out of 24 hoursof detention and observation, to be paid for bythe trainer at $150 a day. A second stable offensewill bar the trainer from entering a horse at themeet for 10 days from notification of the positive.A third offense will result in banishmentfrom Keeneland for one year.Penalties against owners, through banning onentries of horses testing positive, are being proposedat a meeting today of the Kentucky HorseRacing Authority.
HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, Editor March 23, 2005KENTUCKY TAKES THE LEAD During the term of a suspension, access to theIt’s a headline you may never have expected to grounds of any Kentucky racetrack would beread, but the proposals made yesterday by the denied both trainer and horse, and there wouldKentucky Equine Drug Research Council, if be no “split sample” requirement for milkshakeadopted, would put the commonwealth at the testing.forefront of meaningful penalties for racing infractions,particularly the use of illegal substances.Largely the work of premier harnessbreeder Alan Leavitt and co-authored by Councilchairwoman Connie Whitfield, the penaltieswould include loss of purses and suspensions fortheir horses testing positive, putting the ownersin the orbit of responsibility. Here are highlightsof the proposals:For first offenses on milkshakes with a readingof 37 millimoles of carbon dioxide per liter ofblood or higher, with no allowances for Salix, lossof the purse, $1,000 fine and 75-day suspensionfor the trainer, and a 30-day suspension of thehorse.A second offense would bring loss of purse, $2,000fine and a 150-day suspension for the trainer, anda 45-day suspension of the horse.A third offense would result in loss of purse, a$3,000 fine and 300-day suspension for thetrainer, and a 60-day suspension of the horse.And a fourth offense would bring loss of purse,lifetime suspension for the trainer, and a 180-daysuspension of the horse.In addition, every winner would have to be testedpost-race for milkshakes, along with one otherhorse to be selected by the judges; any claim ona horse with a high milkshake reading would beautomatically voided; during the entire time anypenalty -- not just milkshakes -- was being appealed,all horses raced by the offending trainerwould be required to race out of a 24-hour detention barn, with the trainerbearing the cost.In a major innovation, possession or use of bloodgas machines, also known as black boxes, wouldbe limited to authorized state regulatory representatives,and the possession or use of shockwave therapy machines would be restricted tolicensed veterinarians, and no horse could beshock waved within six days of a race. The veterinarianusing shock wave therapy would haveto file a report listing the horse’s name, tattoonumber, and trainer, and file that report with thejudges within eight hours of administering thetreatment. Currently, in New Jersey, Florida andelsewhere, trainers are reported using these machineson their farms and/or training centers. Inthe case of black boxes, they obviously could permitexperimenting with milkshakes right up tothe maximum limit, and shock wave therapy isnot something at this stage of development fornon-veterinarians to use.The Kentucky proposals, based on work beingdone by the national Racing Medication and TestingConsortium, would divide drug offenses intothree classes, with penalties highest for Class Adrugs that have no therapeutic value in a horse.The penalties for first violations of administrationof Class A drugs would carry loss of purse, a$15,000 fine and 1,095-day suspension of thetrainer, and a 90-day suspension of the horse, andrange upwards to loss of purse, a $50,000 fineand life suspension for the trainer, and a 360-day suspension of the horse for third offenses.Third offenses for private use of a blood gas machinewould result in a $20,000 fine and 360-daysuspension, and for unauthorized shock waveuse in a $10,000 fine and 120-day suspension.
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2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

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