Playfair’s Still No Sure Thing Track Survives Winter Meet Without Clarifying Its Future

Welcome to winter racing in Spokane, where the horses are out more often than the sun.

Critics said cold-weather racing couldn’t be done here, and without Ted Martin, it probably couldn’t be.

As director of racing at Playfair Race Course, Martin is the glue that holds together this first and probably last winter season in Spokane.

With the track on target to complete its current 39-day meet, horsemen and track management have fought off a death sentence.

Caught up in the planning of the inaugural season at Emerald Downs in Auburn, the lead elements of the racing industry and the racing commission of Washington state all but turned their backs on the Spokane track that had no live racing in 1996.

Playfair is back, but not without a struggle.

A shortage of horses forced the track to drop plans to add Wednesday racing. Playfair had hoped to pick up Wednesdays after Emerald Downs ended its winter season Sunday.

The loss of Juan Ramos and Gary Gavica in separate spills reduced the jockey colony to the critical stage. When Gavica went down on Feb. 22, a horse in the last race that day was scratched because no rider was available.

A power outage on a recent Friday caused the eighth race to be declared no contest, upsetting customers who held what would have been winning parimutuel tickets. Faulty wiring that caused an electrical short has been replaced, Martin said.

Faced with possible cuts in purses of four stakes races, horsemen have asked sponsors to underwrite purses for their stakes program.

The long-awaited state satellite-wagering bill that went to the House last week will severely limit Playfair’s access to fans at key off-track locations on the West Side.

With the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s attempt to take over operations at Playfair bogged down, another investor may have to emerge before the track can launch its next meet, scheduled to run from Aug. 13 through Dec. 1. The lease between track owner Jack Pring and the current operator expires on April 1.

“You’d like to think the worst is over, but everything keeps raising its ugly head,” Martin said.

Still, Playfair has come far enough this critical winter to reach another crossroads. This is the year this sport, locally at least, could finally collapse - or be launched into new prosperity.

“We can’t stay the way we are,” Martin said.

Optimism is based on the prospect of the satellite-wagering bill’s passage. It’s flawed, from Martin’s perspective, but as amended last week, it’s more promising, he said.

A simulcast signal from Playfair could not be sent to an off-track betting site within 60 driving miles of an existing track while that track is operating an on-site meet. No satellite locations would be allowed within 20 driving miles of any Class I racing facility.

Those provisions would freeze Playfair out of the most attractive off-track locations when Emerald Downs is operating - and does seem to rule out the Muckleshoot Casino, just a few miles away, as an off-track site when Emerald is dark.

But the prospective legislation would allow the Spokane track to remain open 52 weeks a year with satellite wagering, both on a limited basis to augment on-site racing here, and on a more extensive level when Spokane is not hosting a live race meet.

The bill would allow Playfair to include one full race program from out-of-state, say Santa Anita, to complement the day’s local races. On offdays during the live meet, Playfair could bring in two full out-of-state programs.

Playfair could also, with commission approval, send its signal out of state to co-mingle not only with markets in Montana, Oregon and Canada but - theoretically at least - with the eastern U.S.

“Back east would want us merely because they’re wanting something to bet on (at night),” Martin said. “There are several hubs we could tie in with. We could conceivably do $1 million a day in handle with what’s out there, available to us.”

That alone could renew the financial vitality of the track that started to wane by the late 1980s.

Half of what Playfair would net from the sale of its signal out of state would be designated for the local horsemen’s purse account.

Martin objects to a provision that excludes Playfair from sending an imported signal to its satellite sites. If, say, Playfair takes the full program from Santa Anita, the Spokane track would offer it only on-site. Fans in Moses Lake and other off-track sites would not have the chance to bet on the Santa Anita card.

“That’s disappointing because we’ve worked nearly 10 years to develop our satellite sites,” Martin said. “Those people are entitled.”

Washington Horse Racing Commission executive secretary Bruce Batson said, “I don’t think anybody out there wants to be racing in Spokane in the winter. We hope this legislation passes. What happens then is the road is cleared for Playfair to race when it’s best for Playfair to race.

“Under this legislation, the idea that you have to close one track to open another one become less of a factor, so that Playfair can get back to running at a time of year when the fans and the horsemen want to race in Spokane,” Batson said.

Playfair and its horsemen are on record as opposing the bill. Martin softened that stance last week when he said, “It’s not everything we want or need, but it’s a start.”

Encouraging for now is the increasing interest in Playfair’s program statewide.

The daily wagering average after 24 racing days at Playfair is $159,046. The average in January was $125,000. In February, the daily handle jumped to $198,859, according to figures from the racing commission.

Playfair and Emerald Downs ran concurrent winter meets through Sunday. For the first time, the state allowed dual-carding - staggering starting times at the two tracks and allowing wagering statewide on both programs.

It wasn’t a cure for an ailing industry but it was, arguably, the most innovative move the commission has made in this decade.

“As far as the tracks go, I’m not sure it’s been economically positive, but the managers have said that any day you race is better than a day when you don’t,” Batson said.

Martin said, “We knew this wouldn’t be a profitable meet. We’re trying to reward our horsemen as much as we can for hanging in there with us.”

The critical question concerns who’ll operate Playfair this summer, assuming the Muckleshoot bid falters and the Pring family sticks to its policy of supporting the sport while declining to run a race meet?

“The lease ends April 1,” Martin said. “Something has to be put in place at that time. I feel confident something will come about at that time to continue this. The Muckleshoots are still interested - it’s too bad the state hasn’t seen fit to allow them to come in here - but I don’t see how they can clear all the hurdles (in time to run a summer meet).

“I understand there are other investors interested,” Martin added. “I’m not at liberty to disclose who - they want to be quiet, pending the outcome of the legislative deal (the simulcast bill) - but there is interest.”

Martin says the horse count is not what he had hoped for in November.

Still, the horse population is 650 head, Martin said, and “That’s pretty good for these guys (to be able to fill nine races a day, three days a week).

“We didn’t get all (the horsemen) we expected, but the ones who came have gone all-out,” Martin said.

The prospect of sending races from Spokane to out-of-state markets may turn out to be limited - or limitless. Among the more visionary possibilities is that “back east” scenario Martin mentioned, with its $1 million-a-day wagering handle.

“It won’t be easy,” Martin said. “It’s going to be a tough sell. But what has been easy in this game?”

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