Better NY odds for race group
July 17, 2007 12:00am
AN Australian consortium said yesterday it had teamed up with a Native American casino operator in its billion-dollar bid to make thoroughbred racing in New York as successful as it is in Melbourne.
Capital Play, run by several high-profile Australian racing figures, told it had partnered with East Coast casino giant Mohegan Sun to go after New York's racing franchise, which will also include a lucrative licence for trackside casinos as of 2008.
The move comes after James Packer's Crown Gaming passed on the opportunity to enter racing and gaming in New York in order to concentrate on the Chinese gambling paradise of Macau.
``We just didn't fit into their plans at the right time,'' Capital Play chief executive Karl O'Farrell said of his dealings with Crown.
``Macau is where it's at for them, right now.''
The backing of the major US casino operator, which runs one of the country's largest resorts in Connecticut, is a massive boost to Capital Play's pitch to run the Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga racing tracks in New York once the lease expires in December.
Until now the Aussies - including the Irish-born O'Farrell, Mark Owens, Paul Brettell and renowned steward John ``The Sheriff'' Schreck - had been seen at a disadvantage to their two major rivals in New York because they did not have a casino operator behind them.
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has made it clear that a lease with an experienced gaming company is desirable because the state will allow 4500 video lottery terminals - aka poker machines - to be installed at Aqueduct and Belmont.
The introduction of pokies at New York tracks marks the first time slot machines will be legalised in the state outside Native American reservations.
It is expected the tracks will be transformed into large gambling venues dubbed Race-inos. Excelsior Racing Associates, which has backing from Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn and billionaire developer Steven Roth, has long been considered the front-runner in the race.
Mohegan Sun - with its casino and slots expertise - provides a legitimate competitor to Excelsior, which also has the advantage of lobbyists with fund-raising connections to Mr Spitzer.
Capital Play has based its bid on the model that transformed horse racing at Flemington and made the Melbourne Cup one of the premier racing events in the world.
The company has promised to invest more than $500 million in the dilapidated Belmont Park and Aqueduct tracks, installing restaurants, new grandstands and better entertainment facilities with a particular aim of making them more attractive to women.
They have argued to state legislators that the only way to reverse the dwindling crowds and plummeting purses at Belmont and Aqueduct, which are the closest tracks to New York City, is to make racing appeal to women.
The men will follow, says Mr O'Farrell.
Capital Play has proposed introducing corporate marquees similar to those seen at Flemington's Birdcage every year, starting a Fashions on the Field type event at the Belmont Stakes, and appointing a "face of the races".
Mohegan Sun chief executive Mitchell Etess yesterday confirmed that his company had made a deal with Capital Play, saying he believed the Aussies had the best proposal for rejuvenating racing in the state.
Mr Etess said he was committed to the consortium's proposal to transform Aqueduct and Belmont into racetracks that appeal to women, where first-class restaurants and chardonnay will replace run-down concession stands selling hot dogs and cheap beer.
At the heart of Capital Play's proposal, Mr O'Farrell said, was restoring the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of US racing's prestigious Triple Crown, to its former glory and making it an event to rival the Melbourne Cup.
Just 46,000 people turned out to the Belmont Stakes last month. Fewer than 15 per cent were women, according to Mr O'Farrell.
Prize money for the race has remained at $US1 million for decades and very little marketing is done to promote the race as a major event in New York.
Mr O'Farrell told BusinessDaily he wanted to make the Belmont Stakes the fashion event of the year, with women in hats and dresses sipping champagne in the stands and tucking into gourmet meals at first-class restaurants.
"What brings people to race tracks in Australia is that they are actually nice places to be," he said.
"Women don't feel threatened. They enjoy going there." |
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