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THE RACE TO BUY LONE STAR IS EXTENDED BY DELAWARE BANKRUPTCY JUDGE
How many times have you heard someone say, “I wish that race had been one mile and two more jumps, because my horse would have won.”
Global Gaming Solutions, a subsidiary of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, thought it had reached the finish line in the race to acquire Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie from Magna Entertainment Corporation when it entered a Delaware bankruptcy judge’s courtroom this past Wednesday, but the race wasn’t over yet.
Ruling in favor of a request of the unsecured creditors’ committee of MEC, Judge Mary Walrath ordered a new auction of Lone Star Park to take place in the offices of a New York law firm next Friday, October 23. The MEC creditors’ committee supported the debtors’ proposal to adjourn the sale and schedule a new auction date in view of a new $40 million bid by Penn National Gaming Inc. to buy the operating assets of Lone Star. Penn National was reportedly ready to bid $28 million during an auction held on October 7, but PNG was ruled to be ineligible to participate due to a technicality. With no other bidders surfacing, that ruling left Global Gaming Solutions the apparent buyer on its $27 million stalking horse bid that had been accepted by MEC pending final approval in the Delaware bankruptcy court.
Penn National, which owns Zia Park in Hobbs, NM, and other racetracks and casinos in the east and midwest, recently lost a bidding war with Harrah’s Entertainment for MEC-owned Thistledown near Cleveland. Global Gaming acquired Remington Park in Oklahoma City through the auction of Magna properties and is very interested in adding Lone Star, which would give the Chickasaws a high-profile presence in Texas and protect their Oklahoma casino interests. Now Chickasaw interests will have to consider their options on Lone Star leading up to the new auction date.
In Oklahoma yesterday, Global Gaming officials appeared before the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission. They laid out plans to install new flat-screen TVs, refurbish corporate boxes and upgrade gaming machines at Remington. They are awaiting preliminary approval of their racing license, which may be granted when the regulatory board meets on November 19 with final approval likely in December.
In other action in the Delaware court, Judge Walrath approved proposed bidding procedures for interested parties to acquire the two MEC-owned Maryland Jockey Club tracks, Laurel Park and Pimlico Racecourse, home of the Preakness. Offers for the MJC tracks are due by November 2 with an auction date of January 8 set. Magna has stipulated that any bidders must agree to keep the Preakness in Maryland. The judge postponed setting auction procedures for Gulfstream Park, Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita, but Magna wants to conclude the sale of all of its racetrack properties by February 25, 2010.
TEXAS RACING COMMISSION WILL HEAR FROM LICENSEES WITH UNBUILT TRACKS
The Texas Racing Commission will hold a regularly scheduled meeting this coming Tuesday, October 20, in Austin. The most interesting items on the agenda will be discussion, consideration and possible action on the allocation of live racing dates for 2010 and 2011 at tracks for which licenses have been issued, but no tracks have been built.
The TRC will be considering 2010 live racing dates for Austin Jockey Club, Laredo Downs, Laredo Race Park, Saddle Brook Park and Valle de los Tesoros and 2011 live racing dates for Austin Jockey Club, Laredo Downs and Valle de los Tesoros. Laredo Race Park and Saddle Brook Park were allocated 2011 racing dates at the TRC meeting in September.
The opening of simulcast operations at each of the presently unbuilt tracks is a sure bet to be addressed as well. TRC will also be provided with an update from Magna officials on the pending sale of Lone Star Park.
TEXAS-BRED PRINCESS HAYA GOES FOR BROKE IN THE $1,000,000 E P. TAYLOR (G1)
Eileen Hartis’ Texas homebred Princess Haya, fresh off her Canadian Stakes (G2) victory over Eclipse Champion Forever Together, tackles an international cast of seven other fillies going 1 ¼ miles in Saturday’s $1,000,000 E.P. Taylor (G1) on Woodbine’s lush, expansive grass course.
Princess Haya’s stern opposition includes two fillies bred in Great Britain (Look Here and Treat Gently), two fillies bred in Ireland (Lahaleeb and Salve Germania), Ontario-bred Roses ‘n’ Wine, Eastern Aria, who was bred in the United Arab Emirates, and Kentucky-bred Rainbow View, who won the Group 1 Matron in Ireland last time out. Look Here captured the Group 1 English Oaks last year in an upset. Salve Germania is fresh off a surprise Grade 2 stakes win on Saratoga’s lawn.
ZENYATTA’S OWNER LEAVES NO DOUBT ABOUT HIS THOUGHTS ON SYNTHETICS
While Jerry Moss ponders whether to send his undefeated 13-time star filly Zenyatta for a repeat win in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies or send her to the Breeders’ Cup Classic against males for the first time, he leaves no doubt about his opinion on synthetic racing surfaces and their effect on California racing.
In an October 11 column in Daily Racing Form, Jay Hovdey quoted Moss, whose Zenyatta has done the bulk of her winning on synthetics, as saying, “It’s not right and it’s not fair,” when asked about the surface monopoly at the major California tracks. “It has separated us from the rest of the country. If we don’t do something about it, we’ll become Triple A ball out here. The purses might still be good, but you’ll never develop a horse that gets the national acclaim. California owners and trainers deserve better. They want to dream big.”
Fast furlongs...Internet betting has begun in Illinois through Youbet.com, Twinspires and TVG Network, each of which has been licensed by the Racing Board after entering into agreements with the Thoroughbred and Standardbred track operators in the state...In Michigan, the governor, by executive order, abolished the one-person Office of Racing Commissioner and moved regulation of racing under the Michigan Gaming Control Board...In Ohio, the governor has announced his opposition to the referendum on the November 3 ballot that would allow casinos in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo while he retains his support of slots at the state’s seven tracks, but that vote is another year away...In Pennsylvania, the budget passed 101 days late by legislators included reducing the share of casino and slots revenue going to purses and the lucrative state breed program by 2 percent from 12 to 10 percent...The lengthy Delta Downs Thoroughbred meet opened last Wednesday with overnight purses averaging $235,000 per day and 34 stakes worth $4.4 million with heavy emphasis on 2-year-olds in the months of November and December concluding with the $500,000 Delta Princess and $750,000 Delta Jackpot on December 4...An 11-year-old stakes-placed full sister to Texas’ leading sire Valid Expectations topped the final session of the 2-day Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company Fall Mixed Sale when Babyexpectations was sold in foal to Corinthian to Baccari Bloodstock for $40,000...The lack of industry cooperation and consideration of simulcast customers was seldom more evident than last weekend when major graded stakes with Breeders’ Cup implications were run at Belmont Park, Keeneland and Santa Anita on top of each other or just minutes apart...55 years of work of famed Daily Racing Form equine artist Pierre “Peb” Bellocq was celebrated at Keeneland this past Thursday on “Peb Day” as some 4,000 original cartoons and caricatures of racing personalities and racing subjects were donated to the Keeneland Library...Congratulations to Dr. Jack Allen, former TTA director, whose Texas-bred mare Sec Secrets produced Sparkling Oro, honored as one of the “cover girls” in the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling Sales catalog after her Peruvian Group 1 win in the Clasico Pamplona...Sonny Henderson, TTA’s West Region director, has submitted his resignation due to health problems...The date of the Fasig-Tipton Texas Mixed Sale has been moved one day later to Monday, December 14.