Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Excelsior Adamant over need for Casino

November 8, 2007

Belmont Park has to have full-scale gaming and entertainment for New York Thoroughbred racing to succeed, Racing Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey said on Wednesday. Bailey represents Excelsior Racing Associates, one of three groups challenging the New York Racing Association for the state’s franchise. NYRA‘s current contract expires on December 31.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Excelsior is still actively seeking the franchise, even with the departure of key members such as the New York Yankees’ Steinbrenner family and high-profile casino developer Richard T. Fields.

“We’re still as strong as anybody else, but there’s got to be gaming at Belmont and an entertainment destination there,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t make any sense for us if Belmont Park is not on the table.”

Putting video lottery terminals at Aqueduct alone will not generate enough revenue to support racing, he said. The state passed legislation six years ago allowing for an Aqueduct racino, but the project has never gotten off the ground, costing horsemen and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue. Aqueduct is slated to get 4,500 gaming machines.

However, VLTs have been installed at roughly a half-dozen harness tracks throughout New York state, and in almost every case wagering has fallen short of projected revenues.

Other tracks around the country have experienced similar problems such Delaware Park and Gulfstream Park, Bailey said. He said Belmont should be made into a Las Vegas-style gaming center similar to Florida’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino that Fields developed. Fields recently left Excelsior to pursue gaming opportunities at Suffolk Downs near Boston.

Last November, a state ad hoc Committee chose Excelsior as the preferred firm to run Belmont, Aqueduct, and Saratoga Race Course. Governor Eliot Spitzer, however, started the review process over after taking office on January 1 and the Steinbrenners, owners of the prominent Kinsman Stable, left Excelsior when George Steinbrenner’s daughter, Jennifer, announced her divorce from Steve Swindal, Steinbrenner’s heir apparent. The Yankee boss has since put his sons, Hank and Hal, in charge of many baseball and business decisions.

Chicago’s Johnson family is still on Excelsior’s team, but their main interest is harness racing. Remaining Excelsior leaders are primarily high-profile casino, investment and real estate developers, including Las Vegas gaming mogul Steve Wynn and Steven Roth of Vornado Realty Trust, which owns some of Manhattan’s most exclusive commercial property such as 1 Penn Plaza. Developers Steven Ross and Skip Bronson are still involved as is Bill Mulrow, whom Spitzer tabbed to be the state’s next comptroller before the Assembly chose someone else.

On September 4, Spitzer said he wanted NYRA to continue running the tracks for 30 more years while pledging to name a racino operator within 60 days. That deadline has since passed and no announcement has been forthcoming.

Earlier this year, rival Empire Racing Associates accused Excelsior and NYRA of collusion, saying the two had broken the bidding rules by working out a franchise deal behind the scenes. Both NYRA and Excelsior have denied such allegations.

Since then, Spitzer has encouraged all bidders to seek some type of collaborative agreement, and Bruno has said all along that he favors combining the best ideas from each entity into a new racing operation.