HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorThursday, July 22, 2010THE STORM AFTER THE CALMRealizing they have been betrayed, theharness racing community in New Jerseyreacted strongly yesterday to their governor’smessage that Atlantic City had to besaved but harness racing could go under.The Standardbred Breeders and OwnersAssociation, mentioned by the governoras a possible operator of the Meadowlandsfor a $1 a year three-year lease,issued a statement saying its preliminaryreaction to the Hanson report endorsedby Gov. Chris Christie “is that promisesto provide for the future of horse racingand horse farms may have been broken.”They are right, but they and the governorboth know that unless the tracks get slotsthe New Jersey tracks are real estate investments,and the governor also knowsthat his Senate President, Steven Sweeney,has the power to prevent slots from goingthere. Anthony Perretti, son of the state’sbiggest harness horse breeder and ownerof two of the premier standardbred stallionsin America, pacer Rocknroll Hanoverand trotter Muscles Yankee, toldNBC New York that the governor’s planto close the Meadowlands or lease it tothe horsemen would spell the industry’sdeath knell. He said the Perretti breedingoperation “shuts down -- guaranteed,” ifthat happens. Leo McNamara, executiveadministrator of the SBOA, took abrighter view. “I’ll take the bet,” he said,“that we will be racing at the Meadowlandsnext year.”MORE OF THE SAME IN PAAlthough the situation in New Jersey andPennsylvania are vastly different for racing,where the Pennsylvaia tracks nowhave slots and table games in their racinos,harness racing still is being buffetedby politics. John Wozniak, a Democraticstate senator from Johnstown, is proposingto strip harness racing from considerationin Centaur’s Valley View projectnear the Ohio state line, and allow a developerto build it anywhere in the state.This brought a quick negative responsefrom officials in Lawrence County, siteof the proposed track and racino. CountyCommissioner Dan Vogler said 2,000permanent and construction jobs wereat stake, as well as the overall boost toeconomy of the county, if Centaur is ableto obtain financing for the $425 millionproject. Centaur, with racing commissionapproval as the last racino in Pennsylvania,has two months left before itneeds an extension of time from the racingcommission. Centaur says it still “isfully committed to the successful launchof Valley View Downs.” Wozniak says hewill know if Centaur can get the money oran extension by September, and if not heplans to push his proposal in the Senate.Commissioner Vogel says if that happenshe and his two fellow county commissionerswould go to Harrisburg to plead theircase, and would urge their legislators inthe capital to oppose the Wozniak proposal.