New Jersey horse business facing bitter end
By Stan Bergstein
The death sentence arrived in a terse, four-paragraph release with an appropriate dateline of Atlantic City, and carried all the lethal impact that thousands of people who make their living in harness racing in New Jersey had feared.
Thoroughbred horsemen fared little better, as they will soon discover.
The word was that Chris Christie, who campaigned last year for money and votes for governor of the state with promises that he understood the problems of horse racing, had his chief executioner for racing, Jon Hanson, pull the switch.
The commission named for Hanson announced that there was no way the state could support two state-run tracks, and it proposed for the second and presumably final time to eliminate live racing at the Meadowlands, converting the world's greatest trotting track into a giant OTB.
It would consolidate its live harness racing into a shortened meet at Monmouth Park, an hour south of the crowded bedroom suburbs of New York, where the Meadowlands has raced for 34 years, eight miles from Manhattan. It has yet to be decided whether Monmouth will again run its a celebrated million-dollar-a-day shortened meeting, which brightened the Thoroughbred racing scene last summer and drew rave reviews from around the country and produced top-flight racing to the seaside track.
Hanson and Christie propose selling both tracks "to the private sector."
This is not some bush-league operation that the politically ambitious governor and his lieutenant are dismantling. It is the World Capital of Harness Racing, having taken that title from Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island when the Big M opened in 1976. It has presented the world's greatest harness race – the Hambletonian, the sport's Kentucky Derby – each August since 1981. It introduced million-dollar purses on a grand scale – 73 in all – since it raced the first in the sport on July 18, 1980.
The Hambletonian carried a $1 million purse for 25 years, then rose to $1.5 million for the last six. Along with it, the Meadowlands raced a companion mile for fillies, the Hambletonian Oaks, which carried a $500,000 purse from 1997 until 2004, then raced the last six editions for $750,000. It also raced 29 editions of the Meadowlands Pace, the counterpart of the Hambltetonian, for 3-year-old pacers.
These were the sport's big time, the world's most celebrated harness races here and in Europe and Australasia, and they brought prestige, pride and profit to New Jersey.
Now, with a pen stroke, Christie is removing the sport from the scene of its greatest triumphs. But he and Jon Hanson are doing far more than that.
They are sacrificing irreplaceable treasures – some of the lushest green space in the East, land that until now has provided homes for the best harness horses in the world and jobs for thousands who have made their livings breeding, raising, feeding and caring for them – along with scores of industries supplying them.
Replacing this green glory with suburban homes may appeal to Hanson, a real estate magnate, but it is despicable and inexcusable action for two governmental leaders in the nation's most densely populated state, based on people per square mile.
It is unconscionable kowtowing to casino interests who are regarded by many as the surrogate rulers of New Jersey. Their influence in Trenton, the state capital, is beyond question, and what makes this agricultural disaster so disgraceful is that there is a clear way out, without harm to any of the parties – horsemen, casinos or the state – and has been from the start.
The solution would be a governor with guts, who would not bow to the boardwalk barons. He would stand up and tell them what he planned to do, just as he did when he announced weeks ago that he was installing an administrative state junta to run Atlantic City.
He would insist on a casino – perhaps owned by a consortium of the 11 in Atlantic City – at the Meadowlands, and in doing so he would enable racing to continue at the track and prosper and flourish, while the casinos and state and racing industry solved their economic dilemmas as well.
That's what a political tough guy – an image Christie loves to portray – would do.
Instead, Christie, Hanson and his yes-men bowed to interests other than the citizens of the state they were charged to serve.
It is a disastrous course of action, and if not rectified will destroy a major industry on an unprecedented scale.
Even sadder, the runners and Monmouth Park will go next.
bureaucracylly amazing is that despite his tough guy image THIS is what Christie is going after? Anybody who lives here can tell you that the real problem is that every five blocks in New Jersey is a new town/borough complete with its own bueraucracy complete with an astounding number of employees with the greatest benefit package ever. Free lifetime benefits with retirement at 55.
About 10% of the population of New Jersey is getting benefits (health and/or pension) from the State. It\'s about 3 or 4 times the national average in terms of the ratio of state employees/general population.
Christie blew some smoke about layoffs (not that layoffs are so great) but ultimately this core issue of everybody and his mother working for the State is not being dealt with (that would cost votes) - but HORSE RACING is a get-tough target. Awful.
HP
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What is amazing is that despite his tough guy image THIS is what Christie is going after? Anybody who lives here can tell you that the real problem is that every five blocks in New Jersey is a new town/borough complete with its own bureaucracy complete with an astounding number of employees with the greatest benefit package ever. Free lifetime benefits with retirement at 55.
About 10% of the population of New Jersey is getting benefits (health and/or pension) from the State. It\'s about 3 or 4 times the national average in terms of the ratio of state employees/general population.
Christie blew some smoke about layoffs (not that layoffs are so great) but ultimately this core issue of everybody and his mother working for the State is not being dealt with (that would cost votes) - but HORSE RACING is a get-tough target. Awful.
As HP alluded to, you have to wonder why in a state that scrambles to fill budget deficits every year and has tons of wasteful programs burning billions of dollars, that the racetracks that lost $20 million in a year (or about $2 per taxpayer, and less than 1/10000th of the state budget) would be one of Christie\'s primary targets for eradication. One theory is that the AC casinos want the Meadowlands property to build their own group of casinos, but they know if they build those casinos while the racetrack is still around that some fraction of the revenues will end up funding purses, plus the track will use up valuable property. So, Christie and his minions are out to kill the Meadowlands, and if they take Monmouth with it, so be it. I don\'t have a better or more logical theory, but then again these are politicians we\'re talking about.
NJ is mainly telling racing that they need to do it on their own, no state help,no casino money.In any State, that live racing model cannot survive at present.
NYRA, saved by slots and Albany, already proved it could not exist without outside help.The clueless clowns controlling NYRA all safe and smug again,same old,same old.No bold initiatives, same disrespect for the players, same lack of transparency.
Mike
jma11473 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As HP alluded to, you have to wonder why in a
> state that scrambles to fill budget deficits every
> year and has tons of wasteful programs burning
> billions of dollars, that the racetracks that lost
> $20 million in a year (or about $2 per taxpayer,
> and less than 1/10000th of the state budget) would
> be one of Christie\'s primary targets for
> eradication. One theory is that the AC casinos
> want the Meadowlands property to build their own
> group of casinos, but they know if they build
> those casinos while the racetrack is still around
> that some fraction of the revenues will end up
> funding purses, plus the track will use up
> valuable property. So, Christie and his minions
> are out to kill the Meadowlands, and if they take
> Monmouth with it, so be it. I don\'t have a better
> or more logical theory, but then again these are
> politicians we\'re talking about.
I did not read anything on this but your theory above was the first one that came into my head..I think the casinos are trying to move as close to NYC as possible..Keep the Meadowlands simulcast area as a horse betting hub and build the casinos around it. Tell you the truth..it makes sense to me..They\'ll make more money with those casinos than the harness meets and the new jobs created by the casinos will cover the job losses on the backstretch..
Mike-- per some conversations I had at Saratoga over the summer, there is a faction of NYRA that wants to make lots of changes, but is hamstrung by interference from another faction made up of the same Kentucky old guard that has screwed up the industry for a long time.
JB,
When present NYRA was on the ropes,before the new franchise was awarded to them, they were receptive to a list of things some rather large regular players requested. Exit Bill Nader and with the new franchise,the reception is cooler.
The Albany politicians are also blocking a couple of things that NYRA wants and the players would welcome.
Racing will never go forward in NY with present NYRA management and the interferring Albany politicians.
Mike
I agree with JMA. Live racing is a loser these days, simucasting only with not much overhead is a winner. Casino interests are asking themselves why give slots money to racing/owners when we can kill the racing and have 100 percent of slots revenue to ourselves?