Canterbury Downs Buyer Misses Mortgage Deadline; Owner Begins New Talks

New Jersey businessman John Aglialoro, who last month bought 100% of Canterbury Downs’ stock, has missed a deadline to acquire a reduced mortgage on the race track. But he may try again to strike a deal, his attorney says.

Aglialoro’s failure to make the Tuesday deadline put holders of the mortgage in position to control Canterbury and jeopardized the scheduled April 27 start of the track’s sixth season.

To avert a lost season, Canterbury’s owners immediately began negotiations with Herbert Tyner and Bernie Hartman, the Michigan investors who acquired the track’s $45-million debt for about $12 million last month.

The current owners, including Brooks Fields Jr., Brooks Hauser and Santa Anita Realty Corp., are selling the track because of $40 million in losses they have incurred over the last five years.

Should they refuse Tyner’s and Hartman’s offer, Aglialoro’s attorney said his client would make another effort.

“John will be back in the Twin Cities (within the next two days) and his commitment to the deal remains stronger than ever,” attorney John Broeker told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. “It may look like he’s out of it completely, but he stepped aside because he did not want to hold Minnesota racing hostage.”

Aglialoro had agreed Jan. 15 to buy the stock for $4 million to $5 million from Fields, Hauser, Scottland Corp. and Santa Anita Realty Corp. contingent on his acquiring the mortgage.

The option to buy the stock expired Tuesday after Aglialoro and Tyler and Hartman couldn’t come to terms.

Tyler and Hartman capitalized on an option to buy the mortgage before Aglialoro purchased the stock.

Broeker said Aglialoro has suggested that he might ask Canterbury owners to place the track in bankruptcy, a strategy that could lead to his appointment as track operator during a reorganization.

But that course is not being pursued by the equity owners, as they listen to proposals from Tyner and Hartman.

Some of Aglialoro’s backers, mostly horsemen, considered Tuesday’s happenings “a tough blow.”

“I’d say that Aglialoro is going home with his tail between his legs,” said Dick Johnson, a breeder from Willmar, who first contacted Aglialoro as a potential Canterbury buyer last October.

“This is a tough blow to those of us who really felt he would operate the track in the interests of horse breeders and fans throughout the state,” he said. “It sounds like he came to the negotiations without his checkbook.”

“I was all for Aglialoro,” said Mike Peterson, whose family began to own and breed horses in Savage when Canterbury opened in 1985. “Aglialoro had good ideas and was willing to share his marketing plan in public. It all seemed very exciting to a lot of us in the business, especially the free parking and free admission policies and his commitment to quality racing, even if that meant supplementing purses a bit for a couple of years.

“On the other hand, we’ve been left in the dark about what Tyner and Hartman would do if they got the track.”

Tyner and Hartman, owners of Hazel Park harness racing track near Detroit, have had some stormy relationships with Michigan horsemen groups. Some of their difficulties stemmed from complaints that they did not make necessary improvements in Detroit Racecourse before they sold that track in 1986, under pressure from the state of Michigan.

Doug Eichten, Canterbury’s vice president for marketing, said, “Starting the season on time remains the primary interest of every employee. All we want now is for the parties to complete the deal as soon as possible.”