This past Friday, Mum and I rewarded ourselves for a hard week’s work with the deliciousness known as Lunch at Barney’s. We were there later than usual, so the overtly LA-ness that is the lunch crowd of literary agents, movie stars, and celebutants had gone and we pretty much had the run of the place.
We talked about work and life and somehow the conversation wound its way around to my non-radio radio show scheduled for the next morning. Thanks to Indiana high school basketball championships, KYWC had been preempted this week, so we were taking it Online Only. “But last week’s show was crazy interesting,” I told Mum, “Greg Hall talked about all the intrigue going on in Frankfurt and why slots aren’t passing there or New York or anywhere else.”
We’ve all read the stories: New York approved slots in 2001 – now 9 years and 3 governors later, we’re no closer to the 4,500 machines being turned on at Aqueduct. Interestingly, every other location in the state that was approved has gone ahead with installation and has seen business boom. (btw, if you want a fun night out away from the City, take a trip to Yonkers – the racing is fun and the cover bands are seriously good)
Kentucky, meanwhile, has seen bill after bill after constitutional amendment fail (sometimes to even get out of committee). Interestingly – and even more confusingly – Kentucky State Senate President David Williams is unabashed in his love for visiting “The Boat” (aka the gambling boats on the Indiana side of the Ohio River). Personally, I’m in favor of the latest rumblings about the gaming bill in the Commonwealth: open it up for host site bidding and don’t limit it to the racetracks – that’s fine – I like a little competition. Even if we don’t jump in whole hog (or horse) right away with the table games or slots: Instant Racing is hugely popular at Oaklawn Park – and just as fun from what friends say.
But, as Mum asked, what does it all mean?
My (full of delicious salmon salad) gut feeling is: independent of the legislature’s choices, slots in New York will be a good thing for Kentucky.
Some will say this is an outrageous claim because it will be yet one more state that’s not Kentucky where purses are up and horsemen are tempted to go. And I don’t disagree that the fact is we’ve seen trainers leaving Churchill Downs and (more often) the Trackside training facility because the purses in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware are just too darn good to pass up.
But consider this: racing in New York is better than those 3 states combined and those other state-bred programs just aren’t on par with what the Empire State offers to breeders (though, to be fair, PA is getting close). If the machines can just be turned on, I’d bet my Bailey that horsemen in PA/WV/DE would be running in New York and horses being run out of New York would now stay.
So, while the 3 main states competing for Kentucky’s horses are busy fighting New York to stabilize the Northeastern racing circuit, horsemen would be more inclined to stay put in the Commonwealth. And, while this would undoubtedly help Churchill and Keeneland, the ones who benefit the most would be Turfway and Ellis – the sad, lonely stepchildren to the north and south – tracks that just need some love because no one can live for long with cards full of $5k claimers.
Just as a film financing debate breaks out at the table in the corner behind us, Mum asks “In your theory, what happens when Massachusetts goes ahead and approves slots at Suffolk?”
