"I'm going to be rich!" said Wolfran, 63, of Kinard, with more than a hint of exaggeration. She'd put $10 down on the horse and rider Dallas Dewees. The bet paid $15. As she walked back to the bleachers, she yelled to her friends, "I can't carry it all!"
It was the first race in what's believed to be the only place in the country where people can bet on barrel racing.
The owners, Gretna Racing, say it's a legitimate pari-mutuel event that will provide entertainment and jobs in this poor, rural Panhandle community. Opponents who breed and race quarter horses on traditional race tracks say it's a scam — an exploitation of a loophole that will allow the business to open a poker room and, if voters approve, possibly add slot machines.
"We're racing," said James Dorris, president of facility operators PCI Gaming Authority, as he sat among a little more than 50 people in the bleachers. "We're very confident we're moving ahead."
While the operation is up and running, the Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association and Florida Quarter Horse Breeders & Owners Association are still challenging the state permit that allows pari-mutuel betting on the events. They say quarter horse racing is intended for tracks, not for riding cloverleaf patterns around three barrels in an arena. An appeals court on Thursday told the arena's owners and state regulators to explain why it shouldn't shut down the associations' request to shut down the operation until the challenge can be reviewed. They have to respond by next Tuesday.
"Barrel competition is not horse racing," said Dr. Steve Fisch, a veterinarian who is president of both associations. "I'm disappointed for Florida. I'm disappointed for Gretna. Gretna and Gadsden County stood to gain the most with a true horse track over there."
Beyond what should and shouldn't be considered racing, Fisch points at the difference in jobs in operating barrel racing and traditional quarter horse racing. In Gretna, eight riders and horses went head-to-head in a bracketed, double elimination round off betting to eventually determine an overall winner. In all, 11 races were held. The winner and second place riders completed four races on the same horse. In flat track racing, horses run one race and are done for the next two weeks. There are more horses per race.
For example, the track in Hialeah is preparing to open and will have 1,000 or so horses in its stables, Fisch said. There are tent-covered stables horse owners and riders can use, but they take their horses home with them after a weekend of competition is over.
"There's your difference right there," said Fisch. "The economic impact of competing eight horses compared to 1,000."
Dorris acknowledges that the barrel racing will not be the big money maker at the facility if plans go the way he sees them. The poker room will be more lucrative and slot machines will be even more so. And yes, the barrel racing is the ticket to the other two forms of gambling, but Dorris said they are serious about running a quality product. He also said it is a source of entertainment that will draw people, much like concerts do at casinos.
"The charges that we're trying to bypass one thing to get another are pretty ridiculous," Dorris said, adding that they are following state laws and regulations.
Brenda Wolfram of Kinard, who will be riding in barrel races next week, cashed in the first winning ticket of the day — collecting $15 on a $10 bet she placed on Dixie Wonder Bugs, a mare quarter horse that ran the cloverleaf in a time of 21:33 seconds. Wolfram said “this is a very pro-horse track,” with about 14 inches of loose red dirt and no whips allowed.
“This is something positive,” she said. “Anything that makes jobs is something we need in this area. I don’t go along with people who say there’ll be crime — I think it’s more of a crime that people can’t feed their families.”
The rodeo-style tracks are next to a card room, where operators hope to add slot machines after a Jan. 31 referendum in Gadsden County. The card room is set to open Dec. 17.
Besides the voter referendum on slots, the whole Gretna project is controversial, with lawsuits and administrative-rule challenges against its licensing.
United Florida Horsemen, an organization that includes the National Barrel Horse Association and American Quarter Horse Association, denounced the Gretna opening with a prepared statement calling it merely a foot in the door for slots. It called for the courts “to finally put a stop to the shenanigans going on in Gretna.”
Attorneys for the Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association, an AQHA-affiliated group, filed a motion to stay Gretna’s racing license issued by the state’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering. The association last month petitioned state regulators to revoke Gretna’s racing license, but the Department of Business and Professional Regulation rejected it. Pending appeal, they ask the 1st District Court of Appeal to halt racing until the case is decided.
On Thursday, the court gave Gretna Racing and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation until Tuesday to file arguments. If granted, the stay would shut down scheduled racing at Gretna until the larger appeal is decided.
Some people say that gambling brings crime but where there are no jobs, there is always crime,” said Holt. “The opposition to this — evidently they already have got good jobs and an economic base for their communities.”
She said about 1,100 people showed up for two job fairs recently, as the Creek Entertainment complex took applications for employment.
Barrel races are not like anything seen at Hialeah or Gulfstream. Horses compete two at a time on separate side-by-side tracks, looping around three barrels and getting back to their starting points in about 18 to 24 seconds, usually. On a baseball diamond, it would be like starting at home plate, running to first and circling the bag, crossing to third and going around that base, then doing the same at second and dashing straight back to home.
Racers make a tight, fast ring around the barrels, but tipping one over draws a five-second penalty. After a series of races, the winners and losers are paired off in subsequent brackets.
Races will continue through Sunday, and on each weekend in the next two months — meeting the minimum requirements required for the slots referendum.
A spokeswoman for the Gretna operation said the company would not respond to the United Florida Horsemen Association statement. The association said the state Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering “has completely evaded any public scrutiny or accountability” in permitting the Gretna gambling.
“The cruel irony of today’s pari-mutuel barrel racing opening is that it is actually designed to replace jobs with slot machines, rather than grow our economy through the recognized benefits of legitimate horse racing,” said the association. It said complexes like the one in Gretna will lead to “the predatory slot machines that will now outnumber people, while concurrently killing Florida horse racing industry jobs throughout the state.”
No comments:
Post a Comment