New Ohio horse racing track facing lots of hurdles: Horse Racing Insider

Posted: 19 Jan 2011 10:12 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 12:58 PM Updated: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 1:28 PM

Ohio has seven horse racing tracks. All are struggling to attract fans and offer quality standardbred or thoroughbred racing. A bid announced this week to create Mahoning Valley Downs & Resort in the Youngstown area seems a far-fetched dream.

There has been no formal discussion about the proposed track with the Ohio Racing Commission (ORC), only speculation, said Executive Director Tom Fries Jr.

"We have yet to receive an application from them for a racing license," he said. "We received an email last week (from principals Rick Lertzman and Dr. Bradford Pressman), asking to set up a meeting to talk about it."

Because of the shaky economics of Ohio horse racing, Fries is puzzled by the interest in building another Ohio track, the first in 60 years.

The ORC would first have to run the proposal, when they finally get it, past the owners of the seven tracks. The overwhelming odds are the track owners' position on sharing horses or fans would not be friendly. Petitions to allow the track would also have to be signed by 51 percent of the gubernatorial voters in the township or townships where the race meet is to be held.

Northfield Park is closest to the Youngstown area. Dave Bianconi, who is in charge of Northfield's harness racing, couldn't find a kind word for developers of the proposed thoroughbred track.

"I don't think there's any way they're going to get a racing license," Bianconi said.

Plans call for a "world class casino." With four Ohio casinos approved by the electorate and on the drawing board, it's a sure thing powerful Penn National Gaming Co. or the Harrah's-Dan Gilbert partnership would fight another casino.

It's still not as crazy as the local developer who wanted to move Thistledown to downtown Cleveland a few years ago. The developer didn't own Thistledown, and the pie-in-the-sky proposal quickly disappeared.

Thistledown happenings: There has been little news from Harrah's Entertainment officials since completing the purchase of Thistledown in July, and no reports this winter on what the huge casino company will do to improve the local thoroughbred racing facility. There was hope a renovated Thistledown could be patterned after Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack in Pennsylvania, a premier horse racing facility. With major management changes in the works at Thistledown, that now seems bleak.

Fairbanks dead at 79: Veteran Thistledown racing official Allen Fairbanks, 79, died at his St. Petersburg, Fla., home on Monday after a long illness. A jockey on the East Coast in the 1950s and 1960s, Fairbanks was a state steward at Thistle for 21 years, retiring in 2004. No funeral arrangement haved been made yet.

No slots for now: Ohio's tracks and the horse racing industry have been impatiently waiting for some good news on video lottery terminals. Gov. John Kasich seems ambivalent about the slots proposal. Despite the opportunity for much-needed revenue, Kasich has put VLTs on the back burner. Buckeye horsemen, fans and track officials have been selling the slots as the salvation for horse racing in the state.

New driving star: Northfield Park trainer Rachel Kaneoka, who turns 24 on Saturday, is making waves as a harness driver. The young horsewoman recently earned her provisional driving license. In the second driving start of her career, Kaneoka booted home trainer Jeff Welling's pacer, No Risk, on Jan. 12, guiding the favorite to a mile victory in 2:01. Kaneoka trains standardbreds for top driver Elliott Deaton, as well as Kent State University basketball coach Gino Ford.

Sunday gamble: Northfield Park's free Gulfstream Park handicapping contest has been a hit, with 270 gambling on Sunday they had the needed five winners on the 11-race card at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., thoroughbred track. James Robert of Euclid picked five, but needed a tie breaker to top Ray Albert of Oakwood and win the $500 top prize.

The contest runs every Sunday through April 24. The top four finishers, and the handicappers who compete in 12 of the 16 contests, qualify for the $5,000 finale in the spring.

Noble on top: Driver Dan Noble has the early lead in the 2011 driving standings at Northfield Park, posting 29 wins. Aaron Merriman, sidelined by a bad racing accident in 2010, is second (21), followed by Deaton (18). Trainer Jeff Amann leads the conditioners with six wins, one more than Russ Swartz. Bill Webb's Open Class pacers, Howyadoinpal, has been the racing star, undefeated in three starts this year.

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Horse Racing

Wednesday, January 19, 2011