Canterbury Downs’ Opening Gets Boost

The sale of Canterbury Downs’ stock to Michigan investors Herbert Tyner and Bernie Hartman improves the track’s chances of opening for a sixth season on April 27 as scheduled.

Brooks Fields Jr.; his nephew, Brooks Hauser; Scottland Inc., and Santa Anita Realty Corp. signed over 100% of the track’s stock as well as Santa Anita’s management contract to Tyner and Hartman Thursday for an undisclosed price, believed to be less than $4 million.

“The track is sold,” Fields said. “Tyner and Hartman own all of the stock.”

Control of Canterbury won’t officially change hands until a related deal is completed with the track’s prospective operators.

Still pending is Tyner and Hartman’s agreement in principle to sell operational control and a substantial portion of the track’s stock to Ladbroke Racing Corp., a British bookmaking firm with extensive holdings in U.S. race tracks.

T. G. Preston of Mona, Meyer and McGrath, a Minneapolis public relations firm representing Ladbroke, said the deal with Tyner and Hartman should be completed within three weeks.

Preston said, however, that Canterbury will “open on the backstretch, April 12” to permit horses and trainers to prepare for the season while the Ladbroke deal is made final.

David Goodwill, vice president of Ladbroke’s U.S. operations, confirmed that Ladbroke is seeking 100% operational control.

Ladbroke, Tyner and Hartman jointly paid $20,000 in fees last week to the Minnesota Racing Commission so that their required background investigations can proceed. The investigations and licensing are expected to take about 30 days.

Ladbroke officials also have been at Canterbury this week formulating policy with the track’s staff.

Fields and his partners, who built Canterbury in 1985 and added improvements the next year for an estimated total cost of $80 million, owned the track for five years. During that time, the track lost more than $40 million.

During Canterbury’s first two seasons of thoroughbred racing, average daily attendance had been more than 12,500, 20% higher than projected, and the average daily wagering handle was $1 million, about 5% below projections.

The track’s experimental harness racing meet in the fall of 1986 generated a loss of $5 million, however, and daily average attendance and handle for the thoroughbred meet declined steadily in each succeeding season to 7,239 and $844,525 respectively in 1989.

During the last five years Ladbroke--owner of more than 2,000 betting shops in Great Britain as well as the Hilton International Hotel chain--has bought several American race tracks in financial trouble.

In 1986, Ladbroke bought Tyner and Hartman’s lease on Detroit Race Course for an estimated $13 million. Last year it acquired three other tracks, including Golden Gate Fields in Northern California.