Slots Stir Some Hope in Racing

Although slot machines at racetracks in California are a long way from becoming reality and may never be part of the landscape, some local owners and trainers are hopeful about the possibility.

Aware of how slots have resurrected such venues as Prairie Meadows in Des Moines, Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., and Mountaineer Park in Chester, W.Va., and swelled purses, racing people in California, who don’t like the direction the game is heading in the state with owners leaving to race elsewhere and the rising costs of workers’ compensation insurance, feel something has to be done for the survival of their livelihood.

“Unfortunately, it’s one of our only ways of surviving,” said trainer Dan Hendricks. “The addition of slot machines are probably the only way we can survive. We might survive 5-10 years without them, but we’re not going to last 20-30 years without them. We have to keep up with everybody else.”

Others share the opinion, although it wasn’t too long ago that many in horse racing opposed having a tie to other forms of gaming.

“It’s long overdue,” said owner, trainer and radio show host Roger Stein. “More people will bring horses here because purses will rise. My first thought is that it would save horse racing in California.”

Said longtime trainer Julio Canani: “I believe slots and a resolution of the workman’s comp situation are the only things that can save racing here. The purses would go up and you’d see a lot more people coming here to race their horses rather than people leaving to go someplace else.”

A pair of Hall of Fame trainers agree.

“I think slots would provide a great chance to draft new players,” said Richard Mandella, inducted into the hall in 2001 and the winner of a record four Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita. “You could have TV screens everywhere and people going around talking about racing and you could even go so far as to shut down the machines when the races are being run. Some of those people who would be there to play the slot machines would grow to love the races.”

Said Ron McAnally, who has been in the Hall of Fame since 1990: “I’ve been here since 1948 and there have been a lot of big, big changes, especially the last couple of years. We have to do something. Racing just isn’t the way it used to be. Fields are getting smaller and people are leaving California and we can’t seem to get new people in the business. I don’t know if slot machines are the answer or not and nobody does, but we definitely need something.”

A former assistant trainer to Joe Griffin and Jerry Fanning before going on his own some 10 years ago, Jack Carava is realistic about the possibility of slot machines, knowing they are a longshot, but he is excited about the possibility.

“It’s probably the key to our survival,” he said. “I haven’t heard anything negative from other parts of the country where they have slots except for a lack of stall space because they have so many horses [running] there because of the size of the purses.

“I think it would be a shot in the arm across the board for the whole sport. People would want to be here.”

Mike Mitchell, who has been training in California since 1974, believes slot machines would be a kick-start for the business.

“I think if they are put in the proper places and governed right, it would be fine,” he said. “I think it might be the answer to California’s problems. I’m not taking anything away from what the Indians have, but I don’t think they should have something we can’t have. You look at racetracks in other states that have slots and they are just flourishing.

“I’m excited about [Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger. I think he’s the best thing that’s happened to California in a lifetime. If you make your living training horses in California, you have to be worried about our business and where it’s going.”

Ron Ellis, who saddled his first winner at age 20 in 1980, is another proponent.

“I think it’s imperative for racing to survive in California,” Ellis said. “The horse racing industry employs a lot more people than the Indian casinos and the impact would be far more reaching to keep racing here.”

One person who says he has mixed emotions is Barry Irwin, the president of Team Valor, a syndicate that has raced numerous stakes winners both here and other tracks throughout the world.

“I don’t care for any kind of casino gambling and don’t see anything socially redeeming about it, but as a horse owner, locales where they do have it have increased their purse structure,” said Irwin. “In the best of all possible worlds, there wouldn’t be any slot machines, but we’re not living in that world.

“Have you ever been to one of the tracks where they have slots? There are two different worlds that just happen to be on the same piece of property. We’re saying our sport isn’t good enough to stand on its own. I can’t imagine slots at neat, classy places like Keeneland and Saratoga.”

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Ridden by Patrick Valenzuela, Fencelineneighbor took command into the stretch and held off late-running Katdogawn to win the $73,400 Audrey Skirball-Kenis Stakes for 3-year-old fillies by half a length at Hollywood Park.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.