Suffolk Downs looks to keep reduced racing days as it pursues casino
By Michael Norton / State House News Service
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
A shorthanded legislative committee on Thursday quickly endorsed a bill allowing Suffolk Downs to continue simulcast operations while hosting 80 live racing days per season rather than 100, a change that track operators acknowledged as a burden on employees.
With three members present, the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee approved the bill (S 2219) moments after Suffolk Downs chief operating officer Chip Tuttle testified in favor of it.
Tuttle said the bill would extend for another year a law passed in 2011 to help New England’s only thoroughbred race track compete with tracks in states like New York, Delaware and Florida that have broken into the expanded gambling market and raised purses, drawing horsemen from Suffolk.
Asked by Rep. Steven Howitt (R-Seekonk) how fewer live racing days would affect track workers, Tuttle said, “It’s clearly a hardship for some of our employees.” But Tuttle said the “vast majority” of Suffolk employees work year-round since wagering on races simulcast from other tracks at the track continues after the live racing season ends.
Tuttle said the reduction in live racing days at Suffolk last year allowed the track to increase purse levels from $7.8 million in 2010 to $8.25 million in 2011 and to pay average daily purses of $103,000 compared to $78,000 in 2010. He said the track had guaranteed horsemen that purse totals this year would not fall below $8.25 million.
Tuttle also told the committee Suffolk plans to continue live racing should the track win a license to build a resort casino, adding that it’s a requirement of the November 2011 casino law. “We’re committed to preserving racing at the facility,” he said.
In addition to the struggle to compete with out-of-state tracks offering higher purses, Tuttle said a national shortage of horses is also a factor and will intensify in the coming years.
The shortage, he said, has helped drive down the number of races nationwide from 55,127 in 2001 to 45,418 in 2011. Citing numbers from The Jockey Club, he said the number of thoroughbred foals produced in the U.S. dropped 20 percent in the last decade.
“This trend has affected everyone,” Tuttle said. “The Kentucky Derby will be held on Saturday with a major national television audience and 150,000 fans in attendance but Churchill Downs said on its most recent investor report that it expects to continue to reduce its racing schedule in the coming years.”
The 80-day Suffolk schedule, he said, is consistent with a two-year agreement the track reached last year with the New England Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, a group that represents horse owners and trainers.
Only three of the committee’s 17 members attended Thursday’s hearing, with Rep. Paul Brodeur of Melrose joining Howitt and committee co-chair Rep. Theodore Speliotis (D-Danvers). No Senate committee members attended.
Speliotis said a second one-year law allowing fewer racing days at Suffolk will enable lawmakers to continue to monitor the track, which plans to compete for one of the three resort casino licenses available in Massachusetts.
“No one really knows what’s going to happen in the next year or so,” Speliotis said.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20120506suffolk_downs_looks_to_keep_reduced_racing_days_as_it_pursues_casino/
With three members present, the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee approved the bill (S 2219) moments after Suffolk Downs chief operating officer Chip Tuttle testified in favor of it.
Tuttle said the bill would extend for another year a law passed in 2011 to help New England’s only thoroughbred race track compete with tracks in states like New York, Delaware and Florida that have broken into the expanded gambling market and raised purses, drawing horsemen from Suffolk.
Asked by Rep. Steven Howitt (R-Seekonk) how fewer live racing days would affect track workers, Tuttle said, “It’s clearly a hardship for some of our employees.” But Tuttle said the “vast majority” of Suffolk employees work year-round since wagering on races simulcast from other tracks at the track continues after the live racing season ends.
Tuttle said the reduction in live racing days at Suffolk last year allowed the track to increase purse levels from $7.8 million in 2010 to $8.25 million in 2011 and to pay average daily purses of $103,000 compared to $78,000 in 2010. He said the track had guaranteed horsemen that purse totals this year would not fall below $8.25 million.
Tuttle also told the committee Suffolk plans to continue live racing should the track win a license to build a resort casino, adding that it’s a requirement of the November 2011 casino law. “We’re committed to preserving racing at the facility,” he said.
In addition to the struggle to compete with out-of-state tracks offering higher purses, Tuttle said a national shortage of horses is also a factor and will intensify in the coming years.
The shortage, he said, has helped drive down the number of races nationwide from 55,127 in 2001 to 45,418 in 2011. Citing numbers from The Jockey Club, he said the number of thoroughbred foals produced in the U.S. dropped 20 percent in the last decade.
“This trend has affected everyone,” Tuttle said. “The Kentucky Derby will be held on Saturday with a major national television audience and 150,000 fans in attendance but Churchill Downs said on its most recent investor report that it expects to continue to reduce its racing schedule in the coming years.”
The 80-day Suffolk schedule, he said, is consistent with a two-year agreement the track reached last year with the New England Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, a group that represents horse owners and trainers.
Only three of the committee’s 17 members attended Thursday’s hearing, with Rep. Paul Brodeur of Melrose joining Howitt and committee co-chair Rep. Theodore Speliotis (D-Danvers). No Senate committee members attended.
Speliotis said a second one-year law allowing fewer racing days at Suffolk will enable lawmakers to continue to monitor the track, which plans to compete for one of the three resort casino licenses available in Massachusetts.
“No one really knows what’s going to happen in the next year or so,” Speliotis said.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20120506suffolk_downs_looks_to_keep_reduced_racing_days_as_it_pursues_casino/
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