NewsBrief features news from around the mid-Atlantic region:
- The Virginia Racing Commission met today to consider two important issues: the number of days that Colonial Downs will race next year, and who will administer the Virginia Breeders Fund. On the former, the horsemen, in the form of the Virginia Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), had proposed racing 32 days over eight weeks — far more than Colonial, which was seeking just 12 days spread over four weeks. With no agreement in sight, the Commission approved a schedule identical to this year’s — 25 days over five weeks. That action pleased no one on either side, and it’s expected that the sides will resume negotiations with an eye towards resolving the impasse prior to January’s Commission meeting…
- On the issue of the Breeders Fund, the Commission, not unexpectedly, took the conservative path of reappointing the Virginia Thoroughbred Association to manage the fund. The VTA had for the first time faced opposition — from its ousted executive director, Glenn Petty, and his company, Equisport Solutions. But the Commission reportedly was concerned about the impact that moving the Fund would have on the VTA and left that organization, which represents Virginia’s breeders, in charge…
- More on both of the above coming shortly from The Racing Biz…
- The website www.thelegalblitz.com has an interview (here) with Republican Pennsylvania state Senator Dominic Pileggi, one of the sponsors of legislation that, if passed, would eliminate the state’s current racing commissions (one Thoroughbred, one standardbred) and replace them with a Bureau of Horse Racing in the Gaming Control Board, among other things. “Our goals are to make Pennsylvania a national leader in ensuring the integrity of the horse racing industry, to continue the growth of an industry which provides more than 23,000 jobs in Pennsylvania and contributes significantly to open space preservation, and to better fit the regulation of horse racing within the context of how Pennsylvania regulates other forms of legal gambling, such as slots, table games, small games of chance and the state lottery,” he tells the site…
- Bad weather has played havoc with the region’s racing schedules the last few days. Parx’s Sunday card took place in a snowstorm, that same track canceled its Monday card, and Charles Town has canceled Tuesday and Wednesday evenings…
- Laurel Park’s guaranteed $100,000 payout to a single winner of its Jackpot Pick 5 drew more bettors to the wager today — over $30,000 of new money in the pool — but multiple winners took home $4996.35 for each winning 50-cent wager. That means that the $100,000 guarantee remains in effect for Thursday.
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