Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Ohio Track Presses On Under Dark Cloud

January 21, 2010

Thistledown's opening afternoon of the thoroughbred racing season is still more than three months away. Despite major hopes last year for improvements in 2010, a transformation of the dingy, old facility on Emery Road won't be in the cards -- or whirling on the slots -- when the gates open April 23.

The great expectations took off last summer when casino giant Harrah's agreed to buy Thistledown for almost $90 million from bankrupt Magna Entertainment Corp. (MEC). The incentive for Harrah's was the adoption of slot-machine gambling for Ohio's seven horse racing tracks.

The revenue from the slots plan, approved by Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio legislature, would have helped state budget problems and given Ohio's beleaguered horse racing industry a shot in the arm. The cash infusion would have meant track renovations, larger purses and a much-improved caliber of horse in the starting gate.

But the Ohio Supreme Court sidetracked the slots, the sale to Harrah's is on hold, and bankrupt MEC still owns Thistledown. To make matters worse, four casinos approved last November for Ohio will soon compete for gambling dollars, creating a monstrous black cloud hanging over Ohio's horse racing industry.

It's likely Thistledown will still be sold. MEC Chairman Frank Stronach got the nod from creditors this week to keep his favorite tracks -- Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park and Golden Gate Fields. Thistledown is not on his list. Stronach's MI Developments, MEC's parent company, gets the first $20 million of any Thistledown sale. Stronach said MEC is all but dead, and the big tracks can't afford to subsidize the smaller tracks, such as Thistledown, any longer.

No one will comment on Thistledown's future. Only the insiders have a clue, and they won't speculate.

Live racing is scheduled at Thistledown for 213 afternoons in 2010. Harrah's option to buy runs out in May. Slot machines at this point are an afterthought, with no hope for approval before the Nov. 2 general election.

The only question will be whether Ohio casino builders, including Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and Penn Gaming, will fight slots for the horse tracks, if it makes it to the ballot -- even though Penn Gaming owns Toledo Raceway.

The move might make business sense, but would be a swift kick to a horse racing industry that's really down, but not yet out