Each week members of the media around the country vote on the nation's top contenders on the Triple Crown trail in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. The poll will run weekly through June 5. Find out the latest 2021 top 3-year-old rankings below. AMERICA’S TOP THOROUGHBREDS FOR FEB. 16, 2021
Month: February 2021
Oaklawn Horsemen Hunker Down For Second Hit From Winter Storms
Subzero temperatures and approximately eight inches of snow have caused increasingly difficult conditions for horsemen at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ak. With up to 10 more inches of snow in the forecast and temperatures remaining below freezing for the next 48 hours, grooms and their charges alike have hunkered down to wait out the weather.
The main track has not been open for training or racing since Thursday, Feb. 11, and while some trainers have opted to jog horses in their shed rows, the cold has been so severe that many have elected to simply walk their charges instead.
Racing has been cancelled through Sunday, Feb. 21, with Oaklawn's major graded stakes rescheduled for the week of Feb. 25-28.
“We'll have a little more coming out here in the next couple days on how the dates are going to be shifted in terms of when we're going to run what and on what day,” Oaklawn's general manager Wayne Smith told Horse Racing Nation. “We just don't have that understanding at this point. I mean we're not supposed to get out of the 20s until Friday.”
Not accustomed to this level of winter storm, most of the town of Hot Springs has shut down, according to locals. Some off-track apartments and hotels have lost water access as lines freeze over, so several backstretch workers are relying on friends' places for water access.
At the track, additions to the grooms' regular chores are tasks like breaking open the top layers of ice on water buckets so their horses have access to water, and working to keep the racetrack's water lines from freezing.
One trainer noted: “It's really not that bad if you're dressed and stay working, but standing around is d*** cold real quick!”
Track maintenance workers spent much of Tuesday plowing snow off the track surface itself and around the backstretch, and the general hope among stable staff is that training will be able to resume when temperatures rise above freezing long enough to thaw out the track surface.
The post Oaklawn Horsemen Hunker Down For Second Hit From Winter Storms appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Belterra Wants To Dismiss Ohio HBPA Lawsuit Over $2.7M in ‘Deprived’ VLT Money
The present and former owners of Belterra Park have filed a motion to toss out a federal lawsuit filed by the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) that seeks to recoup more than $2.7 in gaming revenues that the OHBPA alleges the track wrongfully withheld between 2014 and 2018.
According to a motion to dismiss filed Feb. 16 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division), the defendants are alleging that “OHBPA has failed to state any viable claims against Defendants. OHBPA's cleverly labeled claims are nothing more than an attempt to plead around the fact that there is no private right of action under the relevant Ohio statute or regulation. Quite simply, OHBPA has no right to receive the “catch up” payments and only the Racing Commission is authorized to enforce [the relevant state codes] and the Resolution.”
Back on Dec. 18, the OHBPA's suit contended that Belterra never made good on a four-year difference between a placeholder rate first established for video lottery terminal (VLT) gaming and the eventually revised rate, which it claims totals $2,769,652.
“The OHBPA has been deprived of these funds, which go directly toward the benefit of horse breeding and horse racing in Ohio,” the OHBPA contended in its suit (which is explained in greater detail here).
On Tuesday, the defendants outlined a four-plank argument for dismissing the lawsuit:
“First, OHBPA has no right to the claimed payments under the relevant statutory or regulatory scheme, and even if it did, there is no private right of action for it to enforce the statute or regulation. Although OHBPA crafts its attempt at enforcing the statutes and regulations as tort claims, those claims fail.
“Second, the applicable statute, rules, and resolution regulating the payment of the VLT
commission percentage rates to the horsemen's associations are not retroactive. Therefore,
in contravention of an express contract and statutory and rule authority vested in the Racing
Commission, OHBPA is asking this Court to order Defendants to go back in time and pay
OHBPA additional funds for the time period between May 1, 2014 and July 1, 2018. Quite simply, OHBPA has no right to any extra payments and no authority to bring this action.
“Third, because OHBPA has no right to possess the payments Defendants' retention of
those payment cannot be wrongful, and therefore, its claim for conversion fails.
“Finally, OHBPA's claim for unjust enrichment fails because (a) there is an express contract covering the same subject, which precludes the unjust enrichment claim, (b) OHBPA has not conferred a benefit on Defendants, and (c) Defendants' non-payment of the purported extra VLT
commission rate payments is not “unjust” because OHBPA has no right to those payments…. Defendants have paid all amounts required to be paid and distributed according to Ohio law. As such, Defendants respectfully request that the Court dismiss OHBPA's Complaint.”
Belterra Park itself is named as a defendant, as is the racino's current owner/operator, Boyd Gaming Corporation. Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., (which, according to the suit, owned Belterra between 2011 and 2018) and Penn National Gaming, Inc. (which, according to the suit, briefly had an ownership interest in Belterra in 2018), are also listed as defendants.
The post Belterra Wants To Dismiss Ohio HBPA Lawsuit Over $2.7M in ‘Deprived’ VLT Money appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Robin Goodfellow’s Racing Tips: Best bets for Wednesday, February 17
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Wednesday's meetings at Hereford, Wolverhampton, Wetherby and Kempton.
