They’re Off and Running--on the Mitsubishi

Ah, the charms of old Del Mar, where the surf meets the Mitsubishi.

On its first day of horseless horse racing, a.k.a. satellite wagering, the Del Mar Race Track did a brisk business Wednesday as fans rushed to the track to bet races beamed in from Hollywood Park.

Del Mar Fair Board President Raymond Saatjian pronounced the results “overwhelming” as gamblers put down their money at pari-mutuel windows, then watched the races on Mitsubishi-brand television monitors.

“These are hard-core bettors,” Saatjian said. “These are not the people who come to the track for the gala, to watch the refined dress, the costumes, to preen around on Opening Day. These are people who know racing and want to bet.”

Fair officials had predicted 1,500 people for Opening Day. But when the nine races were over, paid attendance was 2,648, with a handle of $482,370.

Not everyone came to bet. The festivities were picketed by members of Service Employees International Union Local 102. The union alleges that the Fair Board is violating the law that authorized off-track betting by not signing an agreement to hire union members for a dozen jobs as ticket takers, ushers, janitors and program sellers.

Four union members were arrested shortly before noon for refusing to leave the Fair Board’s administrative office.

After being taken to the sheriff’s station in Encinitas and given citations for trespassing, the four were driven back to the track by a sheriff’s deputy so that they could continue their picketing.

Ran Out of Programs, Raising the Price

At the track, fans encountered several first-day snafus.

Hawkers ran out of 75-cent programs shortly before the first race at 1 p.m., and some enterprising gamblers scalped theirs for as much as $5. Several of the large television monitors in the lower clubhouse were tuned not to Hollywood Park but, for several hours, to an AIDS prevention conference on C-SPAN.

Beer lines moved with glacial speed at times. Exacta odds were given only once per race, and fans grumbled that there were not enough television monitors, particularly the big ones.

Parking was free, but admission was $5 for the Turf Club, $2 for the lower clubhouse.

The latter fell short of the advance hoopla--it offered an ambiance somewhere between a bingo parlor and a big-city bus station, with a thick cloud of cigarette and cigar smoke hovering in the air.

“It’s an exciting day, but they are going to have to make some adjustments,” said Lorraine Partnoff, 58, a San Diego resident. “It’s too hard to get inside to put down a bet. They have too many tables, it’s too confining. They need to have televisions on the patio.”

The complaints did not surprise Fair Board officials. They promised more very soon--more benches, more television monitors, more food lines, maybe even Early Bird Betting soon.

“We think we’ve come along very quickly,” said Saatjian. “You have to remember we started this process just 38 days ago (when Gov. George Deukmejian signed the off-track bill). This is an entirely new industry for Southern California.”

Festive Mood

Even with the problems, a good time was in the air.

“This is great,” said 81-year-old Matt Bristol. “It gives us old geezers something to do during the day. We have to watch something. We’re too old to watch girls so we watch horses instead.”

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Robert Davis, 70. “I can come out here and have a good lunch--I had the breast of chicken, the wife had the carne asada --and bet a few horses. It’s a 270-mile round trip from my home (in El Cajon) to Hollywood Park, and that’s just too far to go.”

As always, the race crowd ran the societal gamut--from a gentleman in the Turb Club wearing a “Cambridge University, Class of ‘36” sweater, to a bearded young man in the lower clubhouse wearing a hat saying “I Wish I Had a Job to Shove.”

It will be some time, of course, before it is known just how big off-track betting at Del Mar will be.

At stake is how much money the Fair Board will rake in to pay for a new grandstand, a planned two-story structure devoted exclusively to off-track, and other fairground improvements.

“For a lot of these people, this is a novelty,” said Kevin Smith, 30, who identified himself as a professional gambler. “When they realize they’re losing money, they’ll come less often.”

Competition for Caliente

One thing appears obvious: the foreign book operation at Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana is going to suffer. A major test will come Saturday, when both Del Mar and Caliente are offering off-track betting for the Breeders’ Cup Day at Hollywood Park.

“I recognize a lot of faces here today that I’ve seen at Caliente,” Smith said.

Union pickets, both in the parking lot and near the ticket booths, did not appear to dissuade many fans. But Terrence Cavanaugh, a Service Employees union field representative, said he thinks off-track attendance will sag as fans learn about the dispute.

The union and the Fair Board are at odds over a provision in the off-track bill requiring any track offering off-track betting to negotiate with the unions that hold contracts for the track’s own racing season. Local 102 holds a contract with the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club for Del Mar’s 43-day thoroughbred season.

But since off-track is being run by the Fair Board, not by the Thoroughbred Club, the Fair Board has decided to negotiate with the California State Employees Assn., which represents Fair Board employees.

Saatjian has asked the state attorney general’s office for a ruling.

“We heard a month ago that he had asked for a ruling,” Service Employees union President Eliseo Medina said. “We realized this is just a stalling game. We’re not willing to be stalled any longer.”

Citizen’s Arrest

Medina and three other Local 102 members were placed under citizen’s arrest by a Fair Board security guard when they refused to leave the administrative office until Saatjian and Fair Board General Manager Roger Vitaich agreed to a meeting.

Sheriff’s deputies took the four to Encinitas, where they were given misdemeanor citations. There were no other incidents reported.

Cavanaugh called the arrests “an outrageous response to a peaceful request to sit down and negotiate.”

Saatjian called the refusal to leave “a shameful and disgusting attempt to try to intimidate the board into bargaining.”

It all starts over again today--picketing, betting and racing--with gates open at 11 a.m. and the first race at 1 p.m. On Friday night, quarterhorse racing from Los Alamitos will make its debut.