Soured Deal Leaves Playfair Saddled With Short Summer Harsh Racing Dates Back On The Table After Tentative Agreement Breaks Down

It’s back to the starting gate for embattled Inland Northwest horsemen.

A tentative agreement announced on Jan. 20 that called for improved 1995 thoroughbred racing dates at Playfair Race Course has broken down.

Spokesmen for a steering committee of Eastern Washington horse owners, trainers and breeders said Sunday that issues that appeared to be resolved with the Western Washingtonbased Emerald Racing Association were pulled off the table Tuesday.

Horse people in Spokane who thought they had additional warm-weather racing days at Playfair - and a bigger share of the Western Washington gambling market - now face the same harsh racing dates passed down by the Washington Horse Racing Commission on Dec. 15 in Seattle.

That’s a 50-day racing season at Playfair starting on Sept. 6 and ending on Nov. 27.

Members of the steering committee - Jay Healy, Curt Golden, Mike Odom and Mel White - said they would continue to try to work within the industry but would continue the fight for the survival of their business and their sport in Spokane.

The key issue that appeared to be resolved 11 days ago is dual-card satellite wagering, which essentially means sending races from both Yakima and Playfair statewide on the same days.

The agreement in principle provided for dual-carding from August through the first part of September. The two tracks would operate with overlapping seasons. Six races from Playfair would be sent statewide via satellite following eight races from Yakima Meadows.

Until Tuesday, the East Side steering committee thought that hurdle had been cleared.

“There is no deal now,” Golden said. “We want the people we represent to be aware of that, and to continue to contact their legislators with their concerns.”

Opposing sides are exchanging proposals, said Golden, a Spokane veterinarian.

“We’re a bunch of amateurs going up against people who do this for a living,” Golden said. “I’ve learned something in three weeks about the rules of negotiation. There are none.”

Golden ran through the events of a hectic month.

Reacting to a meeting of about 400 horse people at Playfair on Jan. 7, representatives of the governor’s office met on Jan. 17 with the East Side steering committee and the state racing commission. At that time, dual-carding was considered a possibility, Golden said.

East Side steering committee members met with Emerald Racing Association president Hugo Toschi, chief operating officer Marie Clifford and racing commission chair Barbara Shinpoch. “A written opinion on the legalities (of dual-carding) was expressed,” Golden said. “After hours of negotiation a tentative agreement was reached.

“On Jan. 18 Governor (Mike) Lowry met with representatives of Playfair and expressed a willingness to help resolve the conflict,” Golden added. “Everyone in our group felt that details would be worked out.”

Steering committee spokesman Don Strate had asked HBPA president Carl Baze on Jan. 7 to distribute a single-ballot issue, urging that the HBPA board give all its members the opportunity to vote for or against dual-carding.

On Jan. 19 the executive board of the HBPA the horsemen’s protective association - decided not to poll its membership on dual-carding, Golden said.

The East Side committee met with Emerald officials last Tuesday.

“We felt that at that time the details of the Jan. 17 agreement in principle would be worked out,” Golden said, but “Emerald officials expressed their regrets that we could have been misled, and that all points of the Jan. 17 meeting were not acceptable.”

“As far as we were concerned, that was a turnaround from previous discussions,” he said.

Later Tuesday, the racing commission faxed a letter to the East Side steering committee, reminding it that any agreement had to be approved by the commission. The letter also repeated the concern that dual-carding might not be good for the industry and questioned the legality of dual-carding under the state’s satellite wagering law, Golden said.

Communication since Tuesday has not been encouraging.

“They (Emerald) have some legislation pending right now and I think that’s the only reason they talked to us again - because they were afraid we’d foul that up,” he said.

The prime-time racing season at Yakima is administered by Emerald Racing Association. The association with a different board of directors ran Longacres Park in the final two years of that track’s existence.

While race tracks in other states use dual-card satelliting to attract gambling dollars, horse racing industry leaders in Washington state remain fixed on the essential issue of building a new track in Auburn.

East Side horse people agree that a major track is crucial but have urged the state to promote what’s left of the sport while the wait goes on for the start of construction of the Auburn facility.