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                                             Odds On Moinet
     wins the second leg of the Night Style Series at The Big M
     in 1:51.4 with leading driver George Brennan at the lines.
     This was her third straight victory at The Meadowalnds!

Lucky Jim Returns in Style
Lucky Jim got his 5-year-old campaign off to a triumphant start in the $32,000 invitational trot Friday night at Meadowlands Racetrack.

The 2009 Older Trotter of the Year got drew off to a length victory over Green Day in 1:52.3 for driver Andy Miller and trainer Julie Miller. It marked the trotter's 15th consecutive victory at the Meadowlands and his first start in over a year without the respiratory medication Lasix.

"He got a little bit bigger, but his mannerisms and his equipment have not changed at all," trainer Julie Miller said of Lucky Jim's transition from ages four to five. "In his 4-year-old year, we were giving him the minimum amount of Lasix that a horse can have. With the layoff, everything heals up when it comes to their breathing and airway issues. I trained him down this whole season without ever giving him Lasix, so I said, 'Why add it now?' So we decided to take him off of it."

Lucky Jim won 17 of 18 races, topped by a 1:50.1 world record in the Nat Ray, during his award-winning 4-year-old campaign. His stakes engagements this year begin with the Su Mac Lad Series (April 2) and Arthur J. Cutler Memorial (May 15) at the Meadowlands.

If all goes well, the Millers and owners David and John Prushnok and William Gregg will send the son of SJ's Photo-Hawaiian Sierra to Sweden for the famed Elitlopp on Sunday, May 30 at Solvalla Racecourse.

"I think we're going to stay here and just go over for the Elitlopp, just the one race, and then bring him back to the U.S.," Miller said.

"If we decide to go, Jenny Melander, the assistant trainer for Erv's [brother-in-law Erv Miller] New Jersey operation has agreed to be the caretaker for Lucky Jim," she added. "Jenny is originally from Sweden and is certainly a competent person to be working for Erv. I think we have an advantage in having someone from Sweden who obviously knows the language and how things are done over there. That will be a great advantage for our U.S. team."

Harrah's Hopes To Eliminate Racing
Harrah’s Entertainment is vying to persuade Iowa lawmakers to end live greyhound racing in Council Bluffs.

Harrah’s offered to pay the state $7 million a year for an “unlimited period of time” in order to halt the live meet at its Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. The casino company had earlier proposed paying the state $7 million over seven years.

Harrah’s is bound by Iowa law to offer live greyhound racing, but it has tried to convince lawmakers that it is a dying sport. The company’s initial attempt to end live dog racing in Iowa failed when a bill was killed last month in a legislative committee.

Earlier, Mystique Greyhound Park & Casino in Dubuque offered to pay the state $3 million over seven years to halt racing. Mystique is not part of the current offer to extend the payments indefinitely, said Jim Carney, a Harrah’s lobbyist.

The effort is racing against the clock. The Legislature is expected to adjourn its session next week. Harrah’s is hoping that lawmakers who are struggling to balance the budget will take a second look at the proposal.

Harrah’s Entertainment owns two casinos in Council Bluffs: the Horseshoe Casino and Harrah’s. In its early years, the Bluffs track ranked among the nation’s top 10 greyhound tracks in the amount wagered. But with the addition of casinos and other forms of gambling, wagering on the dogs has declined dramatically.

The introduction of dog racing in Council Bluffs in 1986 put new competitive pressure on horse racing in Omaha, too. The Ak-Sar-Ben track in Omaha closed after the 1995 season.

The casinos say dog racing’s days are numbered. Few people watch the races or bet on them, making it a losing proposition for casinos. Harrah’s says it loses about $12 million a year on greyhound racing.

Carney said he thinks a bill to allow the annual payments and end dog racing would pass if it were allowed to come to a vote.

The Harrah’s proposal also includes $4 million to $10 million for Iowa dog breeders who want to get out of the business, in essence providing a soft landing for the industry.

Odds On Moinet Wins Third Straight
Odds On Moinet extended her streak to three wins as she wired the field in one of two divisions of the Night Styles Series Thursday night at Meadowlands Racetrack.

With George Brennan at the lines, Odds On Moinet went straight to the front and strode comfortably through fractions of :27.4, :56.2 and 1:24.2 en route to a career best 1:51.4 clocking. Laughandbehappy angled out of the pocket late and closed to finish 1 1-2 lengths behind the winner. Bryan's Ideal was a distanced third.

Odd On Moinet paid $4.60 as she posted her fourth win in five starts this season. She will aim for her second series crown in the $60,000 Night Styles Final on Thursday, March 25.

The daughter of Real Artist-Aparte won the $61,000 Tender Loving Care Final on March 5. Odds On Moinet was a $32,000 yearling purchase that has now won $68,039 for trainer Robin Schadt and Dana Parham's Odds On Racing of Crete, IL.

Mid-Western Jatelo romped to a 5 1-4-length victory in the first of the two Night Styles splits. Driven by Brian Sears, Mid-Western Jatelo equaled her mark of 1:52.3 as she rolled to her fourth win in nine starts this season. Odds On Dominica and Fancy Pants Sandy were the respective second and third-place finishers.

Mid-Western Jatelo (Jate Lobell-Mid-western Charm) has now won 11 of 39 career starts and $118,895 for trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Jjk Stables.

MTR gets $20 million from Aladdin
MTR Gaming has entered into a new credit agreement worth $20 million, half of which it drew Friday. The company said the agreement for the senior secured, delayed-draw term loan credit facility is with Aladdin Credit Advisors LP as administrative agent.

The West Virginia-based gambling company said the purpose of the money is to pay for ongoing expenses and new developments like gaming operations at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa.

Companies that run casinos and horse racing tracks have been hit hard during the recession because people are less eager to part with their money. At the same time, MTR has spent a lot of money on lobbying efforts in places like Ohio, where voters last fall approved casinos in four cities.

The company last week reported a fourth-quarter loss of $24.2 million, nearly six times the $4.5 million loss it reported for the same period in 2008.

The new credit facility will mature on March 18, 2013. It replaces the currently credit facility, which is underdrawn and would have matured on March 31.

MTR owns and operates Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester; Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie, Pa.; and Scioto Downs in Columbus, Ohio. Shares of MTR Gaming Group Inc. fell 4 cents to $2.01 in afternoon trading Friday.

KY Racing Bill Stalls
Legislation meant to bolster Kentucky's racing industry by tapping into a new form of gambling on old horse races has stalled in committee.

It was an abrupt change in fortunes for the bill, which just a week ago had cleared the same Senate committee with strong bipartisan support. The bill was sent back to committee by the full Senate, and its chairman said Wednesday that anti-gambling forces have rallied opposition against the measure.

The committee chairman, Sen. Damon Thayer, said he's not sure if the bill will advance.

Instant Racing is a game in which gamblers bet on randomly selected past races without knowing the names of the horses. The bill proposes a 1.5 percent tax on those wagers, with the money flowing into a fund to supplement race purses for Kentucky-bred horses at Kentucky tracks.

Less is More Makes Sense for Monmouth
It is refreshing to see horse racing leaders who understand that the status quo isn't good enough anymore. I'm referring to New Jersey and Monmouth Park, where the state, track and horsemen agreed to a dramatic change in the way they're doing business.

Monmouth will race only 50 days this summer, with a 21-day fall meet. That will replace the fall thoroughbred meet at the Meadowlands, which now will conduct only harness racing. The reduction in dates is from 141 to 71 in 2010.

This will allow Monmouth to offer on average $1 million a day in purse money this summer, making it the richest race meet in the United States. Further changes include a three-day race week and 12 races per card.

The ''less is more'' philosophy makes sense. The U.S. has a horse shortage. Horseplayers want to play fuller fields. Thus, combining quality and quantity should produce an outstanding product.

Md. Horse Industry Makes a Bad Bet
For years, Maryland’s horse racing industry sounded dire warnings that it would soon collapse unless the state promptly legalized slot machine gambling. Slots in other states propped up their horse racing industries through subsidized purses and incentives for breeders, and Maryland’s horsemen insisted that we had to follow suit.

So we did. Voters approved slot machines, with a hefty portion of the proceeds going to the horse industry, and in Anne Arundel County -- where the state’s largest slots parlor was to be located -- the county council granted zoning approval for a casino the state’s slots licensing commission predicted could be among the most lucrative in the country.

But now the prospect of a slots parlor at Arundel Mills Mall is tangled up by opposition from what may be the Maryland horse racing industry’s greatest enemy: itself.

The Maryland Jockey Club is funding a petition drive to place the legislation authorizing zoning for slots at Arundel Mills on the November ballot, and the county’s election commission says it has enough signatures. If that ruling holds up against litigation by the developer of the proposed Arundel Mills casino, the Cordish Cos., the Jockey Club will also likely bankroll the referendum campaign this fall. What does it hope to get for its efforts? Here’s the best-case scenario:

The campaign for the referendum succeeds, and voters in Anne Arundel County, who overwhelmingly voted to support slots in 2008, knowing that a casino would be built in their jurisdiction, vote to nullify zoning that allows slots at Arundel Mills. In so doing, the voters also knock out zoning that allows for slots at Laurel Park. Then, the Jockey Club hopes that the state slots licensing commission decides to reopen bidding for the Arundel license. This time, Arundel Mills opponents hope, a valid bid can be entered for slots at Laurel, notwithstanding the fact that the track’s owner, Magna Entertainment Corp., is still in bankruptcy and is in the midst of trying to auction off both it and Pimlico.

The licensing commission, under this scenario, would decide to give the license to Laurel in spite of its previous analysis that Arundel Mills is the site that would generate the most revenue for the state. And finally, the county council, which by then would have several new members who have never considered the issue before, would swiftly approve new zoning allowing slots at Laurel, reinstating at least part of the law that voters had just overturned.

Talk about a trifecta. And even if all that happened, it would delay the implementation of slots in Anne Arundel County by a minimum of a year, and probably more.

But if that meant slots would actually go at the track, it would be worth it for the horse industry, right? Maybe not. Under the state’s slots legislation, the horse racing industry gets up to $100 million a year in slots proceeds to supplement purses and to provide incentives for Maryland breeders, whether the slots are at racetracks or not. And the tracks get up to $40 million a year for capital improvements for eight years, regardless of where the slots go. The state’s slots commission estimated that the Arundel Mills site alone would account for $47.5 million a year for the horse racing industry.

Thomas Chuckas, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club, says that wouldn’t be enough to save Maryland’s racing industry. He says slots must be at the tracks because the additional revenue for Laurel would enable a much greater face lift for the facility and help it attract a new generation of horse racing enthusiasts. Having a wider variety of activities at the track — including slots — would be necessary to prevent a rapid death of a storied Maryland tradition, he says.

The problem is, it hasn’t worked out that way in neighboring states. The horse racing industries in Delaware and West Virginia, where slots have been legal for about 15 years, are by some measures in better financial shape than Maryland’s. The subsidized purses there are bigger than the ones in Maryland, and breeding funds provide incentives for horse farms to stay in business or move there.

But the idea that slots at the track would bring more people out to bet on horses? Hasn’t happened. The live handle in West Virginia and Delaware — that is, the amount of money bet by patrons of those tracks on the live races there — is down in both states by nearly 50 percent since 2001. Revenues from out of state generated by simulcasting the races from their tracks have done better, but that has nothing to do with whether the slots parlors are attached to the grandstand or hundreds of miles away. It has to do with the quality of races, which is the result of the purse subsidies the slots support. Maryland’s tracks would get those no matter where our slots parlors are.

Slots at the racetracks in our neighboring states haven’t revitalized the industry; they’ve put it on life support.

Still, the racing industry insists that the referendum is do-or-die. If it fails, and with it the effort to bring slots to Laurel, the people now bidding for that racetrack would suddenly find the idea of continued racing there much less attractive, they say, predicting that the track would be razed in favor of strip malls and sprawl, racing would be limited to a few days a year at Pimlico, and the industry would die.

But that fails to take into account two salient facts. First, the bidding process for the tracks began after Magna’s bid for slots at Laurel had already been thrown out by the slots licensing commission. All those who put in bids did so knowing that slots at Laurel was a long shot at best. And second, one of the bidders for Laurel and Pimlico is David S. Cordish, the man behind the Arundel Mills casino plan. He would have every incentive to continue racing — some of the money that came out of one pocket in the form of taxes on slots proceeds would come back into the other in the form of subsidies to the racing industry.

Anne Arundel County voters will have many things to consider if they get to decide on a slots zoning referendum this fall, but the idea that they’re voting on whether to save the horse racing industry should not be one of them.

Penn National Buys Beulah Park
Penn National Gaming wants to increase its presence in Ohio even more by purchasing Beulah Park, the thoroughbred race track in Grove City, a Columbus suburb. It already has the rights to build casinos in Columbus and Toledo, owns Raceway Park in Toledo, and seems optimistic that video slots will be approved for Ohio's seven race tracks.

"Penn National is optimistic about horse racing in Ohio," said Penn National spokesman Richard Land, beaming a ray of sunshine over an Ohio racing industry suffering from declines in wagering and attendance. "It's not a completed transaction. There is not much to talk about yet."

The purchase of Beulah Park from Heartland Jockey Club Ltd. is expected to be completed by June. It would then be subject to a 45-day due diligence period and the approval of the Ohio State Racing Commission. The purchase price won't be released until the sale is approved.

Penn Gaming officials are also optimistic video lottery terminals, or VLTs, that have been stonewalled by the group LetOhioVote.org will soon be a new revenue stream for horse racing in the Buckeye State.

"With ownership of Raceway Park in Toledo, this transaction will provide us another opportunity to benefit from the possible legalization of VLTs at the state's seven racetracks," said Penn National CEO Peter M. Carlino in a prepared statement. "We look forward to working with the local horsemen and the Ohio State Racing Commission to continue delivering both racing entertainment and a wide variety of summer attractions at Beulah Park."

Beulah Park would be Penn Nationals' seventh parimutuel facility, the most of any operator in the country.

"We are excited to carry on the rich 86-year racing heritage of Beulah Park and further expand our nationwide portfolio of racing facilities," said Carlino.

Gov. Ted Strickland approved VLTs, or video slots last year. LetOhioVote.org challenged the ruling, saying the VLTs issue needed approval by a statewide vote. The Ohio Supreme Court agreed, and LetOhioVote.org came up with the valid petitions to make it happen. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wanted the group to reveal its single contributor, who donated $1.55 million to the campaign, but was stymied recently by the Ohio Supreme Court.

"I think the public is entitled to know who the players are behind the effort of LetOhioVote.org," said Executive Director Tom Fries Jr. of the Ohio State Racing Commission. Fries believes the fight against slots goes deeper, particularly when out-of-state money is being spent in Ohio to influence other elections related to gambling and horse racing.

Fries is still optimistic Ohio's seven race tracks will get approval for VLTs, either in a statewide election in November or through the Ohio Legislature. State Reps. Todd Book, D-McDermott, and Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, introduced a bill allowing slots at the race tracks last September, but it has yet to escape committee. Neither was available for comment.

"We want to make sure the horse racing industry understands VLTs are not a silver bullet, but that they would certainly be a shot in the arm," said Fries. "I believe the entire industry also needs to come together and do a better job of marketing itself."

Although the approval for VLTs has been stalled, casino giant Harrah's still has an option to purchase Thistledown, Cleveland's thoroughbred track, from bankrupt Magna Entertainment Corp. for $89.5 million. The purchase agreement lets Harrah's off the hook if VLTs are not approved, but Harrah's appears to be comfortable waiting for their approval, which would have to happen this spring. Insiders believe Harrah's expects Thistledown to get VLTs, and sooner than expected.