Turf Paradise Won’t Open in November as Sale of Property Nears Closing

The current ownership that is selling at Turf Paradise in Phoenix won't be opening the track in November as planned for its 2023-24 race meet. But horsemen are holding out hope that the incoming ownership will be able and willing to operate the remainder of the scheduled season from January through May 4 if the real estate deal closes as expected by mid-December.

Turf Paradise management issued a statement via Facebook Tuesday afternoon confirming the decision.

Also on Tuesday, an email message reportedly sent to Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA) members by that group's executive director, Leroy Gessmann, detailed potential next steps as the 67-year-old venue transitions to its new buyer, CT Realty of Dallas and Newport Beach, California.

“After several months of speculation and rumors, I finally have some definite updates that I can report to the membership,” Gessmann wrote. “Yesterday July 31, 2023, [AZHBPA] President Lloyd J. Yother received a call from [Turf Paradise owner] Mr. Jerry Simms, telling us that his final decision was to not run a race meet in November and December of 2023. After 23 years of running race meets, he felt it was time that he stepped aside and turn things over to the possible potential buyer, Mr. James Watson,” who is the managing partner of CT Realty.

“He wanted to announce this now, so horsemen had time to find alternative plans,” Gessmann wrote. “Mr. Simms has started laying off key employees, is issuing a national press release this week and stopped watering the turf track. So, I do not see things changing.”

Gessmann continued: “What is next for Arizona racing? After conversations with Mr. Watson, his status is that his final financial approval will be issued on Sept. 15. If this is approved and all the zoning goes through, then they plan to close the sale on Dec. 17. If all that falls into place, Mr. Watson is considering running a race meet starting in January through May 4. A lot of ifs in that last statement, but there is a chance for a race meet in January 2024.

“There also appears to be a lot of interest in Arizona Downs currently,” Gessmann wrote, referring to the track 82 miles north in Prescott Valley.

Arizona Downs didn't apply for a June-through-September race meet this year because of financial difficulties. That facility formerly ran as Yavapai Downs between 2000 and 2010. The ownership at that time then filed for bankruptcy.

Arizona Downs co-owner Tom Auther “is telling me he has had some racing companies contact him on the possibility of investing in Arizona Downs to allow the running of some type of race meet. This would require a lot of things to come together quickly and cooperation from the Department of Racing. But there are ongoing discussions,” Gessmann wrote.

“There have been some major racetrack operators expressing interest in building a new track in Maricopa County,” Gessmann wrote. “These alternatives may be longshots, but there is interest in rebuilding Arizona racing. I know Mr. Simms's decision to close the track is very disappointing and scary news to all of us. However, I want you to know that I, President Yother and the HBPA Board will continue to work on restoring racing in Arizona!”

The sale of Turf Paradise was first made public Apr. 12. At that time, TDN reported that racing was expected to continue there only as a placeholder for several more seasons while new uses for the venue went through the planning, approval, and construction stages.

About a month later, other news outlets in Arizona subsequently reported that CT Realty would consider keeping racing going on a longer-term basis if it could successfully lobby the state legislature to approve historical horse racing machines or some other form of gaming at the track.

The relationship between the Arizona racing community and Simms has been acrimonious. An extraordinarily long pandemic closure, multiple racetrack safety issues, and prolonged fights over off-track betting privileges, simulcast signals, and how the horsemen's purse money can be used have roiled in the courts and at racing commission meetings.

Simms has been quoted in the press since 2020 as saying that he operates Turf Paradise at a “huge negative” financially.

Gessmann told TDN back in April that, “Our understanding is it's going to be developed in stages, and they're going to race for one to two, [maybe] three more years depending on the development process.”

The post Turf Paradise Won’t Open in November as Sale of Property Nears Closing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Multiple Moving Parts in Monarch, AZ Simulcasting Morass

For over two years, the simulcasting signal from 1/ST-operated racetracks, along with several others around the country, has been missing in Arizona–the residual fall-out from a long-simmering dispute between the owners of Arizona Downs and the arm of The Stronach Group (TSG) tasked with distributing the company's signal.

In both California and Arizona, stakeholders argue that this simulcasting blackout has hit both the bettors and the industry–by how much appears open to debate.

A recent analysis by the Arizona Horseman's Benevolent & Protective Association (AZHBPA) of the projected lost revenue to California purses between 2020 and 2021 pinned the number at more than $1,1 million, and another nearly $900,000 in lost track commissions.

The estimated loss to Turf Paradise alone between the years 2021 and 2022 amounts to more than $1 million, said Vince Francia, general manager of Turf Paradise. For Arizona Downs, however, the impact has been “negligible,” say track operators.

Scott Daruty, president of TSG's Monarch Content Management, also downplays the impact of the hamstrung signal to Monarch's bottom-line, saying that the resulting lost fees is only a fraction of Monarch's total business. He also disputes the AZHBPA's projected losses to the California purse account.

Monarch's umbrella extends over several California tracks–including Santa Anita Park, Del Mar, Golden Gate Fields and Sonoma County Fair–as well as Turf Paradise, Lone Star Park, Gulfstream Park, Laurel Park, Pimlico, Rosecroft Raceway, Monmouth Park, and Meadowlands.

Against the backdrop of this ongoing dispute, there are indications that 1/ST is eyeing potential inroads into the Arizona marketplace.

Within recent months, representatives of 1/ST have visited Turf Paradise with the intention of possibly purchasing the facility, said Francia. AZHBPA executive director, Leroy Gessman, said that 1/ST recently did the same at Arizona Downs.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, 1/ST has made a thus far unsuccessful bid to purchase Arizona Downs.

Daruty declined to comment whether 1/ST has indeed made any formal bid to purchase Arizona Downs but called the Arizona marketplace “one that appears to have potential.”

 

 “At that point, you're negotiating with a terrorist, right?”

The genesis of this rather convoluted simulcasting dispute goes back years.

In summary, when Arizona Downs reopened for live racing in 2019, Monarch sent its signal to the track itself but not to the track's network of Off-Track Betting parlors (OTB), and at a higher rate than its Arizonan neighbor, Turf Paradise.

In contrast, Monarch distributed its signal to Turf Paradise and its network of some 60 OTB's.

When asked about the contracting disparities between both Arizonan tracks, Daruty said at the time that Arizona Downs had been “consistently delinquent in its payments to our racetracks.”

In an effort to resolve industry stakeholder disgruntlement, the state passed in 2019 a law requiring all simulcast providers that send their races into Arizona to offer the products uniformly among all tracks and all their OTBs.

The following January, the Arizona Racing Commission passed a motion requiring the three racetracks in the state–Turf Paradise, Arizona Downs and Rillito Park–to comply with that law.

The commission also sent a letter to Monarch to “stop sending any simulcast signals to Arizona permittees racetracks and/or their additional wagering facilities.”

To all intents and purposes and despite various legal maneuverings in the interim, that state of affairs has remained, and Monarch has not beamed its signal into Arizona since.

At the start of Santa Anita's most recent winter meet, Monarch approached the operators of Arizona Downs with an offer of all Monarch content to the entire Arizona marketplace, including to Arizona Downs' network of OTBs, said Daruty.

According to Daruty, the operators of Arizona Downs made several unilateral modifications to the contract which were unacceptable. They included reducing the fees paid to Monarch tracks below the previously contracted rate between them, and a requirement for Monarch to “pre-approve” new simulcast locations without the ability to conduct legal and regulatory due diligence, said Daruty.

“At that point, you're negotiating with a terrorist, right?” said Daruty, once again raising Arizona Downs' reported history of delinquent payments.

“We can't abandon our principles and abandon our reasoned business approach to distributing our signals,” Daruty added.

Detailing a back-and-forth process of negotiations, Tom Auther, an Arizona Downs owner and partner, said that Monarch initially offered Arizona Downs a contract with non co-mingled pools–what he described as an immediate non-starter–and then an offer charging the track overall as much as twice what Turf Paradise was paying.

Monarch subsequently declined Arizona Downs' counter-offer, which was to pay Monarch 20% more in fees than Turf Paradise, said Auther.

“Twenty percent's still a lot of money,” Auther said. “If we paid what they want us to pay, the horsemen would not approve it because there'd be no money left–only three percent left in horse purses.”

When asked about Arizona Downs' reported history of defaults, Auther said that they had offered Monarch to escrow an adequate amount of money to offset the anticipated costs. “They refused it,” said Auther.

In an effort to understand the impact from the nixed signal into Arizona on California's horsemen, the Arizona HBPA contracted the firm Global Racing Solutions–founded and operated by Pat Cummings–to run the numbers.

According to GRS' calculations, California horsemen lost $1,115,000 in purse contributions between 2020 and 2021, and California track operators missed more than $877,000 in commissions during that same period.

To put that into perspective, California's purse total in 2021 was some $118 million.

TDN reached out to Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), who declined to comment.

As for Monarch, when they last ran the numbers, “the host fees that the Monarch tracks received out of the state of Arizona were less than one percent of the total host fees received by the Monarch tracks,” Daruty said. “It just doesn't move the needle for us.”

Daruty also said that the AZHBPA's projected California purse loss numbers were over-estimated, though added that Monarch hadn't run their own calculations.

And what of the potential impacts on the Arizona tracks? Again, there are mixed-signals.

Between 2021 and 2022, Turf Paradise lost an estimated $1,011,317 due to the missing Monarch signal, the estimated loss to the purse account was $944,915, and the estimated loss to the Regulatory Wagering Assessment (RWA)–a wagering tax used to fund the state racing department–was $61,139, according to Francia's calculations.

Auther, however, shared handle numbers with the TDN–taken, he said, from the state commission's website–comparing the year 2021 with 2018, when Turf Paradise received the Monarch signal.

According to Author's numbers, Turf Paradise lost in 2021 more than $8 million in overall handle compared to 2018. Turf Paradise operated in 2021 with 13 fewer OTBs than in 2018, however, and those OTBs were closed for 1038 days more than in 2018, according to Auther's calculations.

Auther also estimated that the annual hit to Arizona Downs' business without Monarch has been negligible. “It exists,” said Auther, about the loss. Horseplayers, however, have simply adjusted their betting patterns to other available options, he said, adding that the loss of the Monarch product to Arizona Downs was one of quality rather than numbers.

More broadly, Arizona HBPA president Bob Hutton broached what he sees as some of the more deeply felt impacts to the state's racing industry.

“With the state of racing the way it is, when we're trying to get fans to the sport, why is this good?” said Hutton, critical of Monarch's part in the negotiations. “This is costing horsemen all over the country money, and why? I don't get it.”

Turf Paradise, it should be noted, has been for sale since at least 2020.

According to Francia, 1/ST representatives recently toured the track with a potential eye to purchase the facility. “They have not made an offer but they have looked at the track,” he said.

According to Gessman, representatives from 1/ST have similarly toured Arizona Downs, adding that he was present at the visit.

According to two sources who wished to remain anonymous, 1/ST made the owners of Arizona Downs an offer for the facility which was subsequently declined.

Both Auther and Daruty refused to comment on any possible offer that 1/ST has made for Arizona Downs.

Though calling the Arizona marketplace one with potential, Daruty added that “I think all the infighting and frankly some of the regulatory dysfunction has just left it in a place that's not healthy.”

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COVID-19: Local Officials Prohibit Arizona Downs From Racing In 2020

Citing concerns for public safety and new state orders restricting gathering in public places, local officials have prohibited Arizona Downs from opening this racing season.

That decision comes in the wake of the COVD-19 pandemic and after weeks of discussions between track operators and state and local officials. Though there were initial hopes of hosting races without spectators, local officials raised additional concerns about adequate spacing in stables and other back-of-the-house operations.

“We were hopeful we would be able to host racing, but understand and respect their decision,” said Tom Auther, an Arizona Downs owner. “Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees, fans, horsemen and jockeys.”

Earlier this year, Arizona Downs applied with the Arizona Racing Commission to host races through September. But after sharp increases in reported COVID-19 cases across the state, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in late June issued an Executive Order prohibiting the gathering of more than 50 people unless authorized by local officials. Prescott Valley officials recently provided formal notice to Arizona Downs that racing will not be allowed.

“We recognize the many difficult decisions our state and local leaders have had to make in recent months and appreciate them keeping safety at the forefront of all decisions,” Auther said. “We look forward to working with each of them to ensure the safe and successful opening of Arizona Downs in 2021.”

The post COVID-19: Local Officials Prohibit Arizona Downs From Racing In 2020 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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