Opening Day
It’s opening day at Del Mar (Union-Tribune), and Saratoga is just a week away. NYRA officials must be fretting a little about attendance and buzz now that two crowd pleasers either won’t or may not put in a Spa appearance. Saratoga favorite Funny Cide is on the shelf until the fall (New York Times). “We’ll give him a little time off and then put him back in training and racing when the weather gets cool, probably around the end of September,” said assistant trainer Robin Smullen. Funny Cide came out of his last race, the Suburban, phyisically just fine, indicating that his sixth place finish there could perhaps be traced to a more existential problem. “He had no desire to get the job done,” said jockey Jerry Bailey after the race. Sackatoga managing partner Jack Knowlton said Funny Cide may try lower-level stakes next.
Afleet Alex is scheduled for the Travers, but he’ll run in the Haskell first, and trainer Tim Ritchey is making no promises about what Alex will do after:
“I would love to see him run in both races,” Ritchey said recently outside Barn 19 at Belmont Park, where Afleet Alex has been since winning the Belmont on June 11. “If he is healthy and doing well, then he will. The Haskell is the first race up. It’s very possible to do both races, but we will just have to wait and see how it goes between now and the Haskell, and then between the Haskell and the Travers” (Times-Union).
Wait and see? What kind of talk is that? I thought Alex was a superhorse, capable of leaping tall buildings and running more than one race a month.
The Times-Union also notes that Gary Stevens, Rafael Bejarano, and Ramon Dominguez are among the riders joining the Saratoga jockey colony this year.
No Nostalgia … No Consideration
More reaction to the Hollywood Park sale …
Inglewood city leaders are looking to the future, and they don’t necessarily see horseracing there:
“As the city evolves, we’ve got to be prepared to capitalize on every changing situation and we can’t get caught up in nostalgia,” said Assemblyman Jerome Horton … “The track’s heyday is long since gone,” said Inglewood Councilman Curren Price. “We’ll miss the horse racing, but we’re confident there’s bigger things ahead. It’s time for new uses, and that land is more valuable as a development project than as a horse racing venue at this time” (KTLA).
Price’s comments hit home — the same things can be said about Suffolk Downs and most other minor tracks in urban areas.
Horsemen at the track are peeved by the timing of the sale announcement:
“No consideration,” a veteran trainer said of the way the owners, old and new, broke the news on a day when Hollywood Park should have made headlines with the naming of the lineup for Saturday’s $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup (LA Daily News).
Hollywood Park Sold
The Bay Meadows Land Company bought Hollywood Park for $260 million from Churchill Downs yesterday (Daily Racing Form). Racing will continue for at least three years. What happens after may depend on whether changes are made to California’s racing law allowing other forms of gambling at tracks (read: slots). Without such, Hollywood’s acreage could be developed for commercial or residential purposes, said Bay Meadows president Terry Francher. “The land is attractive land and we’re prepared to go down either path” (LA Times).
More: “In Bay Meadows, we selected a buyer who not only recognized the value of Hollywood Park, but also is committed to continuing racing there and motivated to improve the California racing environment,” said Churchill CEO Tom Meeker, speaking of the deal (Blood-Horse) … “California horse racing announced Wednesday that it had had enough. It had sat quietly at the dinner table for too long. It was time to pound its fists and knock over the salad … What happened Wednesday was gutsy, brilliant and also somewhat desperate” (LA Times).
Hollywood Deal
The Los Angeles Business Journal is reporting that the owners of Bay Meadows put in the leading bid of $275 million to buy Hollywood Park. Stockbridge Capital Partners entered the bidding process late and submitted a bid that was 10% higher than any others; it also agreed to hire Hollywood’s current owners, Churchill Downs, to manage the track for another three years, giving Hollywood Park a temporary reprieve from becoming a condo development.
A Day at ACRC
Reader Chris Garrity visited Atlantic City Race Course last week and reports on a day at the once-thriving racetrack, which may close permanently after this year.
My day at ACRC was interesting. I found that my memories of the old place weren’t quite accurate — I think it was because I had never been to another racetrack at the time (and I had only been there once). My day was also sad in a way, though, because even though the facility looks pretty down-at-the-heels, the work it needs is all cosmetic — the structure looks fine, and with a little bit of restoration it could be actually be a beautiful venue for horse racing. Just about everything in the building, from the seats in the grandstand to the teller windows to the rails around the walking ring, is original (built in 1946), and with a fresh coat of paint it is easy to imagine walking through the place and feeling like you were back in its 1950s glory days.
Portland Meadows’ Uncertain Future
“Scott Daruty, Toronto-based Magna’s chief US counsel, said Magna, which has already invested millions into the Meadows facilities since purchasing it in 2000, doesn’t want to fully subsidize the track. ‘We’ve invested and operated at a loss for a number of years, and we’re not going to do that any more,’ he said.” Government and business leaders have lots of ideas for the track if it closes — ideas like big box stores and industrial development. Lose a track, gain a Wal-Mart? How horrible. (MSNBC)
ACRC For Sale
The Atlantic City Race Course mini-meet opens today amid reports that it will be sold to a camping superstore outfit. (Trentonian)
Reader Chris Garrity writes in to say: “It looks like this year almost certainly will be the last. The area around ACRC is the fastest growing in the state of New Jersey; it’s close to Atlantic City and less than an hour from Philadelphia. And because of the Atlantic City Expressway, it’s a gateway to Jersey Shore towns both north and south. A peculiarity in that part of the world is that there are more bait shops than there are gas stations: the area is densely concentrated with recreational fishermen. It makes sense, then, that the outdoor giant Cabela’s would be interested in opening a shop there, and that when they started looking for a big piece of land for development, the 250 acres of ACRC property would be at the top of the list.”
It’s true that the ACRC’s glory days are long gone. The track has been holding four-day meets (the minimum number of live racing days necessary to keep its license) in recent years and keeps most of the grandstand closed up (homeless people and skateboarding kids have made more use of it lately than racing fans), but it’s still sad news that the ACRC, like Suffolk Downs and Hollywood Park, is opening this spring for what may well be its last year of racing.
It’s All About the Up-sell
“The roiling sea of humanity that turns the Preakness Stakes infield into one of the biggest beer bashes in the country will be joined by upscale patrons at Pimlico Race Course this year.
“Taking a cue from other professional sports that increasingly cater to the wealthy, Magna Entertainment, which operates Pimlico, will offer new corporate packages, sponsorships and ticketing that emphasize luxury and exclusivity for the May 21 race. ‘Like a lot of other professional sports, we see an opportunity to up-sell,’ said Jim Gagliano, Magna’s executive vice president of Maryland racing operations. ‘This is the Super Bowl of racing in this region. We’re trying really hard to create opportunities for people to move into more comfortable settings.’
“Gagliano said revelers on the 35-acre infield will have virtually the same amount of space as in the past but they will lose most of their prime view of the homestretch for the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown. They can see the horses go around on the back side of the track but will watch the finish on scoreboard screens.” (Washington Post)
Related: Gary West pens an open letter to Magna chief Frank Stronach. “Can you lead this sport, and do you and your minions have any idea how to run a racetrack?” (Star-Telegram)
Through the Cracks
“Through the cracks, out of sight, out of mind. Not pretty.” That’s how the Lexington Herald-Leader, in a special report, sums up the working conditions backside workers face in Kentucky, where worker’s compensation doesn’t cover every exercise rider, groom, and hotwalker, and where injuries severe enough to warrant an ambulance call occur once a week on average.
Glitches Mar Gulfstream Opening
Gulfstream’s Monday opening ran into problems from the first race (which wasn’t finished) to the last race (which was cancelled). “The Pick 4 turned into a Pick 3, and the Pick 6 was a Pick 5. The jockeys were locked out of their changing room, and officials were trying to unjam the lock on the money room.” Rocks on the racing surface pelted riders, and fans waited in long, long lines to place bets. Monday was the first day of racing at the track since the grandstand was torn down at the end of last year’s meet. The extensive facilities renovations won’t be completed until next year. (Palm Beach Post)
More: “Meet gets off to bumpy start…. Many people were seen heading to the exits after the second race” (Daily Racing Form), and did Mr. Light set a world record in the ninth race? (Thoroughbred Times).
Also: Be sure to check out Gulfstream Park Journal for news and plays.
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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