“California Horse Racing Board approves return of fall racing at Santa Anita” plus 1 more |
| California Horse Racing Board approves return of fall racing at Santa Anita Posted: 18 Feb 2011 12:09 AM PST ARCADIA -- The California Horse Racing Board Thursday approved fall racing's return to Santa Anita Park after a one-year hiatus but this time the Oak Tree Racing Association will not be running the show. Santa Anita beat out Oak Tree's bid to run the competing racing dates at Hollywood Park, where the traditional fall meet was held last year for the first time since 1969. Assuming Santa Anita's license, applied for by the Pacific Racing Association, is granted by the CHRB, it will be the first time the not-for-profit Oak Tree will have to forego running its traditional fall meet scheduled for Sept. 28 through Nov. 6. "I personally feel very strongly that in 2011 this meet needs to be held at Santa Anita with accommodations made to Oak Tree," CHRB Chairman Keith Brackpool said at the meeting held at Santa Anita Park. "I think we need a successful meet and history shows us that this is the location" for that. The unanimous decision was made after officials from the California Thoroughbred Trainers and the Thoroughbred Owners of California said they preferred a six-week fall meet at Santa Anita, which recently reinstated a new all-dirt track. "It brings fall racing back dates to us and we're very excited to have them," Santa Anita Park President George Haines said after the decision. "The horse racing industry realizes that more racing dates need to be at Santa Anita ... It brings jobs back to the San Gabriel Valley and it brings revenue" to local businesses.If granted permission by Oak Tree, Santa Anita Park representatives said they would also like to run the graded stakes and Breeders' Cup qualifiers normally held during the fall meet as part of an arrangement with the "well respected" organization. "We have made a unilateral commitment to provide certain accommodations, including financial payment to Oak Tree, to help soften the blow to them if they don't receive those (fall) dates," Scott Daruty, who was speaking on behalf of Santa Anita Park, told board members. Oak Tree officials recently received a written offer signed by Frank Stronach, chairman of Santa Anita Park owner MI Developments Inc., on Oak Tree's potential participation in the fall meeting, said Oak Tree's executive director, Sherwood Chillingworth. "They want to run the meet... but they would allow us to do certain things that we've done in the past that they wouldn't ordinarily do, such as the operation of the Director's Room and the money we raise," for the industry, Chillingworth said. Stronach's letter also offered Oak Tree the ability to retain its office at Santa Anita Park through June, 2012, Chillingworth said. He declined Thursday to elaborate on the proposed compensation and other components of the offer since negotiations had not yet commenced. MI Developments voided its lease with the Oak Tree Racing Association last year after it acquired Santa Anita as part of a reorganization plan for Magna Entertainment Corp., leaving the 2010 traditional fall meet up in the air. Although Stronach later agreed to allow Oak Tree to run its fall meet at Santa Anita for one final year, the CHRB denied Oak Tree the license to run there after horsemen voiced concerns about the track's condition. Santa Anita's former synthetic track, which had serious drainage issues, has since been replaced with an all-dirt track favored by many of the horsemen. Chillingworth said he was grateful that Oak Tree would still play some kind of role in the 2011 fall meet rather than be ignored. "I'm the tour guide on the Titanic and it's going down to 45 degrees," he said. "I've got to to look for a life raft and get those (Oak Tree) guys somewhere. We want to stay alive. This is a method of doing that `til we go somewhere else permanently possibly." 626-578-6300, ext. 4496 This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| California Horse Racing Board set to decide on fall race meet Posted: 15 Feb 2011 12:53 PM PST Email ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board is expected to decide Thursday who will operate a six-week autumn meeting in Southern California this year, and a new plan discussed behind the scenes in recent weeks could lead to a change from the structure of the last 40 years. The dates have been traditionally operated by the Oak Tree Racing Association – from 1969 to 2009 at Santa Anita and at Hollywood Park last year. Oak Tree has a contract to conduct its meeting at Hollywood Park this year, but Santa Anita officials are seeking to conduct a meeting under its own management. Last fall, when racing dates are traditionally awarded each year, the racing board did not assign dates for a six-week period from Sept. 28 to Nov. 6. According to a person familiar with the negotiations who requested anonymity, a plan has been discussed that would involve Santa Anita hosting the meeting and making a cash contribution to Oak Tree, which has a not-for-profit structure, to continue its charitable work. Oak Tree officials told the racing board last fall that its organization has donated $27 million to racing-related charities in the last 40 years and that the absence of such an organization would create a philanthropic void in the sport. Oak Tree executive vice president Sherwood Chillingworth declined to discuss the racing dates issue Monday. "I feel it's more important to discuss it in front of the board," he said. Hollywood Park president Jack Liebau said Tuesday that he hoped that Oak Tree would receive the dates to run at Hollywood Park but did not elaborate on any ongoing discussions. "I understand there are a lot of things going on but I know not what they are," he said. Last fall, Liebau said that Oak Tree deserved the fall 2011 dates "for what they've done in California." Oak Tree operated a fall meeting at Santa Anita from 1969 until 2009, but the association's lease with Santa Anita's parent company, MI Developments, was voided last May after Santa Anita's previous parent company, Magna Entertainment, declared bankruptcy. Last summer, Oak Tree and MI Developments agreed to have Oak Tree run at Santa Anita in 2010 until horsemen's groups united in opposition in August, citing concerns over the condition of Santa Anita's synthetic main track. As a result, a rapid sequence of events led Oak Tree to move its meeting to Hollywood Park last fall. Santa Anita has since replaced its synthetic track with a sand-and-clay surface. The 2010 Oak Tree at Hollywood Park meeting averaged $7,198,000 in all-sources handle, according to a statement released at the conclusion of the meeting. The 2009 Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting had an average handle of $10.5 million, a figure greatly enhanced because the association hosted the Breeders' Cup that year. At a racing board meeting last September, Oak Tree officials argued that it should conduct its 2011 meeting at Hollywood Park for the second consecutive year. Santa Anita officials, citing expected higher attendance and handle figures, stated they should operate the dates to maximize revenue for the sport. The racing board tabled the issue. Santa Anita, led by chairman Frank Stronach, has sought the opportunity to increase racing dates in recent years, a position the track maintains. "I would hope that Santa Anita would be successful," track president George Haines said Sunday. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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