Penn National, Beulah Park, Sam Houston. None come to mind when you think of great american racing. None have a proud history. They have had tough-ass horsemen scratching out a living at best and due to slots at Penn actually surviving. I respect the hell out of those horsemen. But, the Chairmen of Penn National Gaming Peter Carlino, owner of these tracks seems to feel racing is done. In a conference call to investors reported by the Thoroughbred Times he made this remark:
“There aren’t sufficient numbers of racing customers in the world anymore because they died”
A lot of truth in what he says, but I submit to you that they buy cheap ass tracks hoping to make money on gaming and the horses are just in the way. Truth is that if they could wave a magic wand and racing ends, they would do that. They are a public company and making money is their mission. I don’t have an issue with that. The problem is that they seek to have the revenue go directly in their pockets with little or no protection to the horsemen. Maryland who DOES have a proud history of racing allocated slots money to purses. Why? Because if it isn’t legislated track owners, especially public companies will not give the horsemen what they deserve. Even the best intended track ownership that answers to shareholders will eventually pull the rug out and the racing product suffers and with it horsemen who live the industry 24/7/365. This isn’t just an investment, this is their lives.
This from Peter Carlino:
“A huge mistake in Maryland—that’s never happened anywhere else anywhere in the country before—was to allocate slots proceeds to purses,” Carlino said. “I’m glad that horses are going to be eating well, but they’re not going to be running well if there’s no racetracks where they can run. The legislature completely ignored the people who have the real investment in the state, the racetracks.”
Maybe buying a big chunk in MD wasn’t the right move for Penn National Gaming?
I vehemently disagree, with Mr. Carlino’s stance, I feel a good bill should take care of both, horsemen and track ownership. But any legislation that doesn’t protect horsemen and racing is just on a road to a cliff’s edge.
Penn National Gaming mainly has bought tracks with less than stellar products. They are not exactly going after Keeneland or Saratoga type properties. So I submit to them, go to Keeneland this spring, or Saratoga in the summer and tell me racing is dead. Better yet, go to Monmouth who threw caution to the wind and created a buzz not seen in generations. Of course, Monmouth is a beautiful track, Keeneland is the world’s best run track and Saratoga is well Saratoga. So perhaps therein is part of the issue. Penn increased purses, but hasn’t seen the return they wanted. Unfortunately, that may be more to do with the property they bought, location, and schedule. Grantville PA is not exactly a vacation spot in the dead of winter. Winter racing just doesn’t work in cold climates, with cancellations, bad racing surfaces and boring racing.
So, before you put a wreath upon racing’s door, I would submit to you to take a step back and see why there are tracks surviving and doing well even through economic turmoil. Then look at your investments and compare and contrast. I think you will agree there is a reason you aren’t getting the return on purse money you so desire. Racing is more than purses, it is about the history, pageantry and beauty of the sport. These are things you just don’t seem to find in the dead of winter in Grantville, or ever in Grove City.
Well said. The guy is so transparent. If they were interested in quality racing they wouldn’t buy Beulah Park. No they want cheap tracks with gaming then cry and hopefully lose the racing part. And see below, all tracks aren’t having the same issues:
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/61181/fair-grounds-hikes-purses-another-5-percent
I think his comments were calculated. He wants to end racing and just have casinos. It may backfire as he is pissing off his clientele. Hopefully Ohio, PA and MD legislatures will make him run in order to have the expanded gambling part.
http://forum.turfnsport.com/general-discussion-handicapping/48449-your-dead-so-says-penn-national.html
The sport isn’t dying. Current track owners are failing to draw new fannies to their seats. All things are cyclical and horse racing is on the verge of a revival once the right ownership is in place. (see Global Gaming’s purchase of Remington/LoneStar)
RIght on point Barry. I have said this for years. Analogous was Harrah’s bid in OK last year to the state to simply pay the same amount of tax they received from the live dog racing to the state and discontinue live dog racing. It is dog racing, but is horse racing in all forms far behind?
And I think it is even worse than simply a, “racing is dying” attitude. The gaming companies pounced, lobbied, and promulgated racinos in states that had no legalized gaming except for lotteries and live racing. The racetrack locations were palatable for most state residents because “gaming” was already occurring there in some fashion with parimutual racing. Once in, they expanded in most jurisdictions to full casino gaming because expanded gaming at racinos was palatable at that point.
Now that the economy is in the tank all states that have gone this way are scrambling to take-back what the racing industry basically provided to begin with. Now the buzz phrase is, “why are we funding a private enterprise that should be left to die?”
Just look at PA where they took-back 17% of funding or IN where they were proposing 48%. You don’t need to look far when there is no protection for the racing horsemen contained in the state legislation.
And aside from take-backs a good example of not really considering the horsemen is seen with Penn Gaming. They bought Raceway Park in Toldeo, Ohio a few years ago. A struggling standardbred track for the last 15 years. And not only have things not improved there while Ohio sorts out the battle for implementing slots, they just recently applied to the ORC to move their racing to outside of Youngstown, clear across the state. Of note, Youngstown long been seen as a target area for casino gaming, yet was left-out in the recently passed casino gaming bill there.
It is sad that the horsemen’s organizations in every state, though billed mightily for lobbying, are getting the short end of the stick when everything has shaken out. The foot that got them into the door for higher purses will soon kick those hard knocking horsemen out. And that will occur sooner rather than later.