California Horse Racing Board Approved Moving Santa Anita Races To Hollywood Park

Posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

In an emergency teleconference meeting on January 8, the California Horse Racing Board approved allowing some or all of Santa Anita Park’s horse racing dates to move to Hollywood Park on Tuesday if the drainage problem at Santa Anita is not quickly resolved.

The board voted 6-0 to amend the license of the Los Angeles Turf Club, which operates Santa Anita, and allow some or all of its winter dates to move to Hollywood Park in Inglewood, which has a Cushion Track surface.

Heavy rain on Santa Anita’s new synthetic Cushion Track forced racing to be canceled for three consecutive days, the first time in Santa Anita Park’s 71-year history that it happened. The track was hit by more than seven inches of rain during a four-day period that ended the morning of January 7.

“Right now we don’t anticipate having to use this amendment to our application,” Santa Anita president Ron Charles said on the call. “We believe we’re going to be coming forward with a contingency strategy to get us through the rest of the meeting.”

Ron Charles did not elaborate on future plans, but he said the track would have an announcement within the next two days “that we believe will be well received.” Charles said Santa Anita officials have been in contact with Hollywood Park and Del Mar, and both tracks offered up their facilities.

California Horse Racing Board chairman Richard Shapiro reminded board members that Tuesday’s meeting “is not designed to dictate that racing should go to Hollywood Park.” One of the CHRB’s main responsibilities is to award racing dates to the state’s tracks.

Richard Shapiro said the board would discuss Santa Anita’s drainage problems at length during its regular meeting January 16 in Arcadia. The following day, he said, the board will have another teleconference to discuss its mandate issued last year that all California racetracks install synthetic surfaces.

Santa Anita Park hopes to resume racing Thursday. The Santa Anita Winter/Spring Meeting ends April 20.

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Del Mar Inaugurates Artificial Race Track

Posted on Friday, July 13th, 2007

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — Thoroughbreds tested Del Mar Race Track’s new artificial surface for the first time Thursday, working out over the track ahead of next week’s opening of the 43-day summer meeting.

The $9 million Polytrack, a mixture of sand, fibers, rubber and wax, was installed recently in an effort to provide a more consistent surface believed to be safer for horses and riders. Racing on the mile oval begins Wednesday.

“We’re very happy with it right now,” said Jim Barnes, assistant to seven-time Del Mar training champion Bob Baffert. “The horses are going over it well. They’re not leaving divots. As the horses train, it (the surface) gives and then comes back.”

Several trainers said the surface had a bounce to it.

“It seemed like the horses really sensed it was a new track and they were kind of cautious,” trainer Bruce Headley said.

“My riders said it felt very good to them. They said the horses knew it was different but they bounced along, and so we’re hopeful that it’s what everybody dreams it is.”

Only two horses were timed in workouts, with an estimated 400 horses simply out for a jog or gallop on the new surface.

“I’m getting nothing but positive reactions,” Del Mar general manager Joe Harper said. “I had one trainer tell me the only thing wrong with this track was me standing in the middle of it asking everyone how it is.”

Since the initial installation of 16,000 tons of Polytrack in January, more wax and fibers were added to the mix to improve consistency.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” racing secretary Tom Robbins said. “We’ll continue to monitor the track on a daily basis to make sure we have it where it is right.”
Tags: Del Mar Race Track, artificial race track, Polytrack

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Account Wagering woes hit American horse bettors. Youbet customers can’t bet on Kentucky Derby

Posted on Sunday, April 29th, 2007

Account-wagering battle has bettors out in cold
By MATT HEGARTY DAILY RACING FORM

Even by horse racing’s dysfunctional standards, it was a tough week for the sport’s account-wagering customers.

Within a span of seven days, customers of AmericaTab’s online wagering sites were told that they would need to open an account with a different company if they wanted to bet races from Belmont Park, Del Mar (DelMar), Keeneland, and Oak Tree/Santa Anita, among other tracks, and customers of Youbet.com were told that they would need to find another service if they wanted to bet the races at the tracks owned by Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment Corp.

That would mean getting authorization for another direct-deposit mechanism, making another deposit, splitting rewards points between two services, memorizing yet another user name and password, and facing the prospect of switching between two browser windows and accounts to be able to enjoy a day at the races from the comfort of one’s home.

The upheavals were the product of an emerging battle in the account-wagering arena, and the trigger was a new partnership of Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment Corp., two of the country’s largest racetrack operators. Both are publicly traded. Earlier this year, they joined forces to form TrackNet Media, a company that is buying and selling the rights to simulcast signals.

The battle reflects the importance of account wagering, the only growing segment of the wagering market in U.S. horse racing. Horse-race wagering is the only legal form of online or telephone betting in the U.S. In 10 years since the introduction of this type of wagering, it already accounts for an estimated 20 percent of the annual $15 billion bet on horse racing.

Racetracks were slow to enter the account-wagering market, preferring instead to sell their signals to third-party operators like Television Games Network, also known as TVG, and Youbet. Now, as account-wagering companies’ investments have begun to pay off, the partnership of Churchill and Magna has entered the picture, and the results have been frustrating, to say the least, to horseplayers.

At the center of the battle is TrackNet and TVG, the longtime account-wagering operator and television channel. Churchill Downs once sold its signal rights to TVG but is in the process of letting those contracts expire. Magna has never had a relationship with TVG and launched its own television channel, HorseRacing TV, to compete with TVG.

TrackNet controls or will soon control a sizeable number of racing signals, including Churchill Downs, Arlington Park, Santa Anita, Gulfstream, Fair Grounds, Laurel, Pimlico (home of the Preakness), Golden Gate Fields, Lone Star Park, and a handful of minor tracks. TVG controls the signals from the New York Racing Association, Keeneland, Del Mar, Oak Tree at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Turfway Park, and several other tracks, including the Churchill-owned Calder, at least until the Calder contract with TVG expires at the end of 2007.

From the beginning, TrackNet was an unusual marriage. Magna and Churchill are combining their signals for the purposes of resale, taking advantage of the leverage the consolidation gives them. But the two companies are going to operate separate account-wagering platforms. Magna already operates XpressBet while Churchill’s platform - which has yet to have a firm launch date - will be called twinspires.com.

Michael Neumann, Magna’s new chief executive, said earlier this year that Magna had attempted to convince Churchill to be partners on an account-wagering platform but that Churchill declined, preferring instead to operate its own. Churchill’s chief executive, Bob Evans, said that Churchill wanted an “open market” for account-wagering, with every platform having the same content while competing for customers on the level of service they could provide.

In order to offer its customers the signals from every track, TrackNet needs to cut a deal with TVG, which charges the highest rate in the market for the signals it controls. Without such a deal, TrackNet has pressed Youbet and AmericaTab, two of TVG’s sublicensing partners.

The negotiations have not been pretty. On April 18, AmericaTab announced that it had reached an agreement with TrackNet to take the Churchill and Magna signals. But AmericaTab - which is owned by several Ohio racetracks and includes the Brisbet and Winticket online betting sites - said it had failed to reach a new agreement with TVG and that its TVG sublicensing contract would expire on May 3.

Five days later, Youbet officials said that TrackNet had asked Youbet to drop its sublicensing deal with TVG as part of an agreement to take the Churchill and Magna signals. Youbet declined and chose instead to forgo the TrackNet signals. So, for the first time in five years, Youbet will not carry the Kentucky Derby.

Charles Champion, Youbet’s chief executive, said in a conference call on Monday that he would not let TrackNet tell Youbet which signals it could take and that Youbet was not prepared to walk away from a long-term contract with TVG just because TrackNet and TVG have not reached an agreement on signals.

“We’ve had our problems over the years, but TVG has never once tried to dictate who we do business with and on what terms,” Champion said.

Scott Daruty, TrackNet’s chief executive, said that if the account-wagering sites operated by Churchill and Magna didn’t have the rights to TVG’s signals, then no single company should be able to carry every track.

“That is something we could not allow,” Daruty said. “If and when TVG agrees to an exchange with us, then everyone can compete on a level playing field, and let the best operator win.”

Charlie Ruma, the managing member of AmericaTab, said that he made a business decision to drop TVG, saying that the network once had its place - “seven or eight years ago” - but that the company had refused to change to suit the new marketplace. He said that TVG was a “great partner” but that AmericaTab could not go on paying TVG’s high signal fees.

“It’s in their best interest to reach a deal with Churchill and Magna,” Ruma said of TVG. “They need to look at this new market, and they need to reset their model.”

TVG officials declined to comment about the developments. Privately, they have said that their model of charging high rates for signals benefits the industry by returning large portions of the wagering dollar to tracks and horsemen while funding a widely distributed television network. According to some officials, Churchill and Magna are also charging a high rate for signals compared with existing simulcast rates. Still, the two companies have not found common ground, likely because TVG’s rate is even higher than the TrackNet rate.

The signal from the New York Racing Association, the country’s most sought-after year-round product, will come into play at the end of 2007. NYRA’s contract with TVG expires then along with NYRA’s franchise to operate Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. If TVG loses the NYRA tracks, TVG would lose a great deal of leverage, and its signal rates would have to come down. In the meantime, TrackNet seems prepared to wait it out.

NYRA officials aren’t happy. When AmericaTab lost its TVG contract, it meant that NYRA lost access to AmericaTab’s extensive subscriber base, leading Charles Hayward, NYRA’s chief executive, to question TrackNet’s motives.

“What’s ironic is that TrackNet is saying that they didn’t think it was right dealing with an exclusive - quote-unquote - but now they’ve created their own exclusivity,” Hayward said. “So what’s being asked is a little disingenuous. They’re saying you can’t do business with an exclusive unless it’s our exclusive. But the biggest problem is, who’s the biggest loser? Once again, the biggest loser is the racing fan.”

tags: Tracknet Media, TVG, YouBet, Account Wagering, Churchill Downs, Magna Entertainment

Filed under Arlington Park, Belmont Park, Calder Race Course, Churchill Downs, Del Mar Race Track, Gulfstream Park, Horse Racing Industry, Keeneland, Kentucky Derby, Pimlico Track, Santa Anita Track, USA Horse Racing | No Comments »

Del Mar Race Course Inaugurates Polytrack

Posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — With Barbaro’s death still fresh on everyone’s mind, Del Mar Race Course officials broke ground Wednesday on an $8 million Polytrack surface designed to dramatically reduce the number of catastrophic injuries sustained by thoroughbreds. Synthetic surfaces will be mandatory at major race tracks in California by the end of this year. Del Mar will be the second track in the state to install one, following Hollywood Park.

Read full story: "Del Mar Race Course Inaugurates Polytrack"...

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Del Mar Race Track Installs Polytrack for 2007 Meet

Posted on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has announced the installation of its Polytrack surface as the new main track surface for its 2007 summer racing season. The Polytrack manufacturer is Martin Collins Surfaces and Footings, an affiliate of the Keeneland Association in Lexington. Polytrack, an engineered racing surface that consists of silica sand, fibers and recycled materials, has been installed on racetracks in the United Kingdom and, most recently, in Kentucky and Canada.

Read full story: "Del Mar Race Track Installs Polytrack for 2007 Meet"...

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Horse Greeley Closes Del Mar Summer Meet with Del Mar Futurity Win

Posted on Thursday, September 7th, 2006

>Horse Greeley, under jockey Victor Espinoza, stalked Stormello down the backside to win the Del Mar Futurity, closingh race to Del Mar Race Track’s Summer Meet on Sept. 6. Caped for Flight settled into third, Prime Ruler, co-favored at 8-5 with Great Hunter, broke poorly from the inside and was never in the hunt.

Read full story: "Horse Greeley Closes Del Mar Summer Meet with Del Mar Futurity Win"...

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Lava Man Big Win at Del Mar’s Pacific Classic

Posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006

Lava Man is the first horse to sweep Southern California’s “big three” grade I handicaps in the same year after winning Del Mar’s $1 million Pacific Classic by 2 1/2 lengths over Good Reward on Sunday. The 5-year-old California-bred son of Slew City Slew added the Pacific Classic trophy to his victories in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup July 8 and the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap March 4.

Read full story: "Lava Man Big Win at Del Mar’s Pacific Classic"...

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