State Says Neigh To Playfair Whrc Spurns Tribe’s Bid To Operate Spokane Racetrack

The future of horse racing in Spokane turned grim Thursday in the wake of a ruling by the Washington Horse Racing Commission.

The Muckleshoot Tribal Council’s application for a license to operate Playfair Race Course was turned down by a 2-1 vote of the three-member panel.

Encouraged by the Tribe’s promise to sink more than $700,000 into improvements and promotions at the Spokane track, commissioner Jim Seabeck of Spokane sided with the Muckleshoots.

But Robert Plut of Seattle and commission chair Barbara Shinpoch of Renton voted against the tribe’s corporation, New Playfair Park Inc., citing among other objections, a conflict of interest should a gaming entity operate a racetrack. The Muckleshoot own a Nevada-style casino in Auburn, 7 miles from Emerald Downs.

The end of horse racing in Spokane, if that’s what this represents, “will have a bigger impact on the area than most people realize,” Playfair director of racing Ted Martin warned.

General manager Kim Rich said the track generated $42 million in payroll the last six years, through jobs that are directly and indirectly connected to track operations.

In the 54 days since they formally applied for a license, officials of New Playfair Park Inc. have tried to counter critics, most of whom are based in Western Washington.

The WHRC detailed its objections in a 31-page written order.

Martin called it a game of “splitting hairs.”

The commission contends that the promise to winterize the track and install a safety rail carried “no detailed cost estimates.” Information “as to whether the proposed winterization is adequate to provide safe habitat for horses and horsemen” in the winter is lacking.

The commission wrote that New Playfair Park’s suggestion that horses would put in 11 to 14 starts this season is unsupported “when the average number of starts per horse at any race meet in this state since 1991 has never exceeded 4.89.”

The Spokane track had asked for a November-through-March race meet. The commission noted that Playfair has never operated as a winter facility.

“The applicant’s financial plan continues to be based on unreal assumptions,” the commission said, pointing to the track’s losses of $1 million the last four years.

“Who the hell cares about projections if we can pay the bills?” Martin said. “How can you expect these horsemen who have fought this long to wait (for another applicant).

“What they’re saying is, ‘Hey, sorry about today, but come back next year. There’s no Christmas this year. Maybe next year. We have to have something more than that.”

The report, signed by Plut and Shinpoch, states that “Applicant’s financial plan which is predicated upon an unrealistic estimate of horse population and a yearly allocation of 60 satelliting days during the months of mid-September through early December (in 1997 and beyond) is fatal to this application, not feasible and not in the best interests of legitimate racing.”

Apart from the formal wording is the future of the industry in Washington. State law prohibits common pooling with parimutuel wagers outside Washington. A change in the law to conform with the rest of the country would enable tracks in this state to export their signal.

At issue is exclusive rights - today to the Puget Sound market, possibly later to markets outside the state. Ron Crockett, president of the new track in Auburn, Emerald Downs, maintains the critical King County market is his.

In its report, the commission essentially agrees with him. If and when the state broadens its satellite wagering law, Crockett and Emerald Downs will be the primary, if not only, player in the game.

Horsemen here contend the commission’s obligation is to the entire state. The commission left leaders of the Eastern Washington thoroughbred racing industry angry and bewildered.

“What the hell do we do now?” said Bruce Wagar, Playfair’s leading trainer last season. “I have 11 head (at Playfair) in training. What do I do with them?”

Wagar’s horses are among the estimated 350 quartered on the backstretch at the 65-acre facility at Main and Altamont, 2 miles east of downtown.

The track is owned by Spokane businessman Jack Pring, who was out of town and unavailable for comment. Under terms of the lease, Spokane horseman and businessman Stan Horton and partners pay $10,000 a month when the track isn’t running, $20,000 monthly when it is. Horton’s lease runs through February.

Horton has declined to run a race meet this year.

Brad Pring, president of Pring Corp., and Appleway Leasing, said he was “totally heartsick.

“I don’t think we’re to the point where we want to say racing in Spokane is over,” he said. “If this is the last (serious bid), we would pursue other avenues, but our first priority is and always has been to see horse racing go forward. To have it come to an end like this after 53 consecutive years of operation would be unjust and unfair.”

Playfair, built in 1935, has operated annually since a state-mandated closure during World War II.

If a ‘96 opening seems unlikely, nobody in the Playfair camp was saying so.

Phil Ziegler, president of New Playfair Park Inc., said, “We are not giving up. We have too much support to give up. The commission sent a half-hearted appeal to the governor and Legislature to save racing when they had the opportunity to save it right in front of them.”

Martin said, “Why the hell send something to the governor? I can’t believe some of these things.”

Ziegler added, “It’s a shame. We were suitable to everyone over there (in Spokane) who counted. They never put anybody through the kind of scrutiny they put us through. Most of the objections in their order are unsubstantiated.

“If these standards have to be met in the future, the future in Washington racing is that nobody will be able to run a racetrack.”

The Tribal Council has 10 days to appeal. Ziegler would not confirm that a legal challenge is underway.

Seabeck included a two-page dissent in the commission’s report.

“Full-card simulcasting (currently not allowed in Washington) would help resolve the problem,” he writes. “In most states that have instituted this, tracks have prospered. Too much money is leaving the state to full-card simulcasting outlets on three sides of our state (including Post Falls). The Muckleshoots are the only entity with proper financial backing.

“I think they should be given the opportunity to lose or win.”

In a brief interview, Seabeck added, “It’s hard for me to believe that one area can control the whole state. It sounds to me like Playfair was left out of discussions between Emerald Downs and Yakima Meadows (Yakima is reportedly seeking November race dates). That sounds like collusion.”

, DataTimes