HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA Executive Newsletter

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAKY TO ENGLAND FOR TESTINGKentucky’s vaunted bluegrass horse industryno longer will go out of state for blood testing.It will go out of country. The state racing commissionyesterday agreed unanimously to hireEngland’s HFL Sport Science as its official drugtesting laboratory, replacing the University ofFlorida lab. If it will ease the pride of Kentucky,the commission announced HFL will do the workin Lexington, with “world-class testing with theopportunity for this company to expand intoother areas.” The idea of a nationwide testinglaboratory in the interest of uniformity has beenkicked around for years, and racing commissionchairman Robert Beck made it clear that is ahope contained in the new agreement. “This ismuch more than just drug testing of racehorsesat Kentucky tracks,” he said. If other states signon with a better deal than Kentucky will pay,Kentucky’s costs will be lowered. Lisa Underwood,executive director of the racing commission,says using HFL could save Kentucky 20to 25% of its $900,000 current costs for testing,or between $180,000 and a quarter of a million.HFL is a division of Quotient Bioresearch, whichthe announcement release says provides specialdrug development services to pharmaceutical,biotechnology and medical device clients worldwide.The Kentucky commission’s action apparentlyrelied heavily on the recommendations ofthe chairman of its equine drug research panel,Jerry Yon, who said that after months of studyingcompeting testing contract offers he was convinced“no lab in the world does testing betterthan HFL.”There was more news from Kentucky on a busylegislative day. The issue of Instant Racing,which governor Steve Beshear approves, becameentangled in politics when David Williams,the President of the State Senate, said hischamber will remove the item from aHouse bill it is considering.Executive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, EditorWednesday, March 17, 2010Williams put the item directly in the lap of thegovernor, who could approve it by executive order,or the racing commission, which could doso by changing regulations. In either case, Williamssaid the Senate would impose a 1.5% taxon Instant Racing, which would go to purse increasesand breeders incentives. A Senate committeeis meeting today to remove Instant Racingfrom the bill, according to kentucky.com, andfull Senate consideration will follow if the committeetakes action. Senator Williams told thenews service, “the bill will not authorize InstantRaces but will protect the position of the pursesand incentive funds if such action is taken by theexecutive branch, which the attorney general’soffice said they could do.”TABLE GAMES BY JULY: SOPERFollowing Pennsylvania Gaming Control Boardapproval of Mohegan Sun at Pocono’s requestfor table games, the track’s president and CEO,Bobby Soper, told the Wilkes-Barre Times Leaderthat after other details of internal controls satisfythe board, he thought his racino could be readyto offer games to players in June or July. Beforethat, Mohegan Sun would have to pay the state$16.5 million by June 1 for a licensing fee. Soperhad just returned to Wilkes-Barre after presentingHTA’s Stan Bergstein Messenger Award toPennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell at the jointannual HTA-TRA convention in California.IT WILL KILL US: SPECTOREric Spector, owner and operator of WyomingDowns in Evanston, is worrying about potentiallegislation that could affect future plans tocontinue this year’s schedule of no live racingbut continued simulcast by holding two “ropingdays.” He told the editorial board of the CasperStar-Tribune, “This concept of government orlegislative control is the wrong approach. Allit’s going to do is put us out of business.”