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Racing Tidbits

January 13, 2010

You Go Boy!
Ryan Stahl, 31, got career win No. 2,000 when he drove Iknowwhatboyslike to victory on January 9 at Northfield Park. Stahl, an Ohio native, won a career high 412 races in 2009. Rick Zeron entered Monday needing two wins to reach 7,000 for his career. Todd Buter needed one victory to reach 2,000.

Helping Nebraska
A Nebraska lawmaker is making another run at helping the state's ailing horse-racing industry.

On Friday, state Sen. Russ Karpisek of Wilber introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to the Legislature that would allow betting on televised, simulcast horse races at facilities approved at the county or city level.

Currently, simulcast betting is only allowed at horse tracks like Fonner Park in Grand Island. Karpisek says that money generated from horse-race bets placed outside the state's tracks would be used to help boost purses for races in Nebraska.

Decreased attendance at Nebraska horse races has led some to say the longtime sport is on the brink of disaster. Last year, a bill from Karpisek to allow slot machines at horse tracks failed.

Georgia On My Mind
Groups working for legalized horse-race betting began sharing notes Sunday on the eve of the start of the 2010 legislative session.

With state tax revenues down $2 billion from their peak two years ago, they hope the timing is right. Four race tracks could make up the difference if they generate as much in taxes as Indiana did after it began legalized horse-race betting in 2007, according to Arthur Anderson, a lobbyist with the Georgia-South Carolina Horse Racing Committee, based in Augusta.

"We see it as a win-win-win," he told allies during a meeting Sunday. "The money trickles down all the way to the little guy and up to the big guy, and the taxes just come in."

He is overseeing a grass-roots campaign to tie the taxes from race tracks to education.

"Educators think it's wonderful," said Lisa Amey, a real estate agent in Newnan. She represents a group of investors who have raised $20 million for the construction of a track and training facility south of Atlanta to be called Georgia Downs.

Ms. Amey said the track and adjoining hotel would create 600 jobs, not counting suppliers. Mr. Anderson said the state could also support tracks in Augusta, Savannah, and possibly Valdosta or Hawkinsville.

While the racing committee has focused on rallies, T-shirts and brochures for a prototype track in Augusta, others have concentrated on legislators. A half-day hearing in Atlanta in November featured national experts explaining the details of gambling and race-track economics to lawmakers.

Educating legislators about the complexities of pari-mutuel gaming and off-site betting will be the first hurdle, according to Maria Strollo Zack, a veteran lobbyist hired by Profit Georgia LLC, a group of horse breeders and horse owners.

She predicted that legislation would be ready for introduction in two weeks, when the General Assembly returns from its one-week recess of budget hearings. She said it will probably be introduced by Rep. Harry Geisinger, R-Roswell, who led the November hearing.

Other lobbyists are pushing wider legalization that would allow construction of a casino in Underground Atlanta, the site of Sunday's horse-racing strategy session.

Either type of gambling would require a constitutional amendment. Mr. Anderson said horse racing stands a better chance.

"We think that our position is going to be the most palatable to the people," he said.