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Belterra Park, Ohio HBPA End Impasse, Simulcasting Set To Resume Under New Three-Year Contract

Officials with Belterra Park and the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association have agreed to a three-year contract that will result in the resumption of simulcasting from the Cincinnati, Ohio, racetrack as early as Tuesday.

The simulcast signal was shut off earlier this month after horsemen – who have been involved in protracted contract talks with Belterra – opted not to renew an export approval agreement that expired at the end of August.

With no simulcasting or advance deposit wagering and extremely limited on-site betting, handle at Belterra plunged. The first seven cards of September have averaged just $29,229 in pari-mutuel wagers compared to $874,261 on the final live program in August.

“Our board has approved a new contract with Belterra that we are in the process of finalizing today,” said Dave Basler, executive director of the Ohio HBPA. “I expect approval by this (Monday) evening and the signal should be back up tomorrow.”

Basler said the two sides have been operating off a contract from the old River Downs racetrack dating back to the 1990s that preceded both casino wagering in Ohio and the replacement of River Downs by Belterra. Changes of ownership of the racetrack casino – now part of Boyd Gaming – complicated the process, Basler said.

“The percentage (from casino revenue) paid to horsemen was set by the racing commission via resolution, but how that was distributed was being done without agreement,” said Basler, who said the amount in question was $9 million annually. “The process really bogged down the last couple months and we we thought it might drag on for the next couple months.”

Basler said the contract and export approval both run through December 2023.

The 2019 meet at Belterra Park ends Oct. 9 and racing is scheduled to resume in April 2020.

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Arizona Horsemen Secure Some Disputed Purse Funds

At the six-month mark of the shutdown of live racing in Arizona that is the result of both the pandemic and a prolonged fight over off-track betting (OTB) privileges, the Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA) has reportedly secured some of the disputed money from the horsemen’s account that had been controlled by Turf Paradise and placed it into a trust to pay purses if and when racing resumes elsewhere.

This news was shared in the form of a widely circulated email that made the rounds on social media Monday. It was purportedly written to the AZHBPA membership by National HBPA president Leroy Gessmann and dated Sept. 12.

“[AZHPA president] Bob Hutton, with suggestions from the Board members, was able to acquire part of our purse fund from Turf Paradise,” the email stated. “These funds are now in our control in a trust account and will remain there until our legal issues with Turf Paradise are resolved. When they are available, they will only be used for purse money, for whatever track wants to run a live meet! We have retained an attorney that is working on getting the rest of our money and all money earned in 2021 by Turf Paradise’s OTBs. If [Turf Paradise] won’t host a live meet for Arizona horsemen, they should not be able to profit from our business.”

The state’s two commercial tracks are Turf Paradise in Phoenix and Arizona Downs 82 miles north in Prescott.

Turf Paradise ended its spring meet prematurely Mar. 14 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation. Last month track management withdrew its dates request for a traditional 2020-21 autumn-to-spring meet, citing liability concerns related to COVID-19.

Arizona Downs is the former Yavapai Downs. It reopened in 2019 under the new name but called off part of its race meet because of a simulcasting signal dispute that eventually wound up in the courts. Its 2020 summer season never started as scheduled because local health officials would not extend permission to reopen under pandemic conditions.

At a Sept. 10 Arizona Racing Commission meeting, members of the horse racing community lobbied for officials to help clear the way for expanded dates at Arizona Downs.

“Arizona Downs future with racing is totally dependent on the proposal that Arizona Downs presents to the HBPA board,” the email stated. “The HBPA will make sure the purses are funded properly and that the management team is performing to the standards that the Arizona Horsemen deserve…The HBPA is about live racing and any permittee that doesn’t support live racing will not be recognized by our group. No permittee will be able to operate OTBs after Dec. 31, 2020, without having a live meet!”

At the Sept. 10 commission meeting, chairman Rory Goree said that moving forward, the commission needs to “start looking at what the requirements are regarding live racing versus having an OTB [and] what powers we may have regarding if [a licensee is] not offering live racing [but still operating] OTB networks.”

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Wildfire Smoke Forces Postponement of Grants Pass Downs Opener

Heavy smoke from wildfires in the northwest portion of the country has blanketed Grants Pass Downs at the Josephine County Fairgrounds in southern Oregon, causing track management there to postpone the scheduled opening day of the autumn meet from Sep. 14 to Sep. 21.

“We are committed to protecting the health and safety of our guests, human and equine athletes, community of horsemen and women, and Grants Pass Downs staff,” stated a track-issued press release published by FOX26 News. “Until the smoke from the fires decreases to a safe level, we will not conduct training nor racing. Our hearts are with the members of our community who have been impacted by these historic fires, and our sincere gratitude goes out to the firefighters battling the blazes and first responders working to keep our communities safe.”

According to the Josephine County website, people in the county who must evacuate because of the fires are being directed to report to the fairgrounds property where the track is located.

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Mr. Big News ‘Definitely’ Aiming For Preakness; Pegasus Winner Pneumatic Training Forwardly At Saratoga

Trainer Bret Calhoun termed Allied Racing's Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Mr. Big News “probable” for the Preakness Stakes but that a final decision likely will be made after the colt works later this week.

“Right now he came out of the Derby well; we're definitely pointing that direction,” Calhoun said at Churchill.

Mr. Big News rallied from 10th to finish third in the Kentucky Derby, 3 1/4 total lengths behind victorious Authentic and two lengths behind heavy favorite Tiz the Law. The Giant's Causeway colt earned a free spot in the Preakness Stakes by virtue of winning Oaklawn Park's $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes at 46-1 odds, almost identical to his Derby odds. In between those races, Mr. Big News was sixth in Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes won by Preakness candidate Art Collector.

Calhoun said the Preakness decision will be almost solely made on “just how he's doing,” not on the other horses showing up.

“I want him to be coming into the Derby just like he came into the Derby,” he said. “If he's going that good, we'll run. Who else is running really doesn't have a big bearing. We're getting to the end of the 3-year-old races, so my options are either run him there, go to the turf or back off. I really don't want to run him against older horses at this point in time. So if he's doing really, really well, like he was coming into the Derby, we'll definitely run in the Preakness.”

Of the Derby, Calhoun said, “At the three-eighths pole I got pretty excited. I thought he might win the whole thing. I knew they were going pretty fast in front him, and I thought they might back up to him. He was moving pretty good to them. But the 1-2 finishers are very, very good horses and when they straightened up, they went on and we didn't close the gap very much from there.”

Two years after they finished a very close third in the Preakness with Tenfold, owner Ron Winchell and trainer Steve Asmussen will be back in the 1 3/16-mile classic with Pneumatic. Tenfold closed out of a fog that obscured the view of much of the 2018 Preakness, coming up three-quarters of a length shy of Kentucky Derby winner Justify, who went on to take the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown.

Pneumatic worked five-eighths of a mile Sunday over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track in 1:01 2/5. The Uncle Mo colt will remain there with assistant trainer Scott Blasi until shipping to Pimlico.

“He's training really well,” Asmussen said. “Obviously we were encouraged with his Pegasus. We thought it was his strongest race to date. It appears the Derby participants have come out in good order, and the Preakness ought to be a great race.”

Pneumatic won his first two starts at Oaklawn Park, then was third in Churchill Downs' Matt Winn Stakes (G2) won by the highly regarded Maxfield. After a fourth in the revamped Belmont Stakes, eight weeks later he captured Monmouth Park's Aug. 15 Pegasus. Now he'll have seven weeks before the Preakness.

“We made a conscious decision, because of how well he ran in the Pegasus from the timing after the Belmont to the Pegasus, to try to follow a similar plan that he responded to,” Asmussen said, “(having) nothing but respect for how good of a race it's going to be.”

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