Tribe Proposes To Bankroll Current Playfair Operators Judge Tosses Issue Over Dates Back To The Racing Commission

A Thurston County Superior Court judge allowed a temporary restraining order to expire Thursday, clearing the way for the Washington Horse Racing Commission to grant 1996-97 race dates.

Although that’s a setback for Inland Northwest horsemen and representatives of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, who want to assume operations at Playfair Race Course, a surprise element surfaced in the drive to keep racing alive in Spokane.

Former Playfair general manager Dan Hillyard was in court in Olympia with a letter addressed to commission chair Barbara Shinpoch, asking for the “prompt reward” of race dates “as previously discussed and set aside by the commission for Playfair.”

Hillyard’s request boils down to a season running from Nov. 7 through March 31.

Hillyard, who represents the current Playfair license-holder, electrical contractor Stan Horton, told judge Paula Casey that with a $500,000 line of credit ensured by the Muckleshoots, the management team at the track is prepared to “immediately begin preparations” for a season.

In other words, the track’s current licensee seeks approval to operate with money loaned by the Muckleshoots.

So now the issue - will there or won’t there be a season in Spokane? - is back in the laps of the racing commission, with the court open to interpreting the decision.

Martin Gales, the Spokane attorney representing Playfair horsemen, said his read is that, instead of considering dates requests from only two associations - Yakima Meadows and Emerald Downs - the racing commission now has three requests in front of it.

But Elizabeth Erwin of the state attorney general’s office told the Valley Daily News of Auburn that she wasn’t sure the commission is bound to accept Hillyard’s “rather late” letter as a legitimate dates request.

While assuming jurisdiction in the matter, Judge Casey invited any of the principals in court to return if the commission’s decision on dates would cause them irreparable harm, Gales said.

Casey said the tribe must exhaust administrative appeals with the commission before the court can become involved.

“The judge expects a quick (commission) ruling on racing dates,” said Gales, who represents the Organization to Preserve Horse Racing in the Northwest (OPHRN). “At this point, she wasn’t going to tell the commission how to do its business.”

Gales put a positive spin on the 3-hour hearing, urging horsemen to keep their stock in training at Playfair, anticipating that a season can be salvaged.

“I would look at this as a positive indicator because we have old Playfair back, renewing its application for dates, which it had initially discussed in January and as late as May,” he said.

, DataTimes