While the Meadowlands Racetrack is coming off a relatively successful running of The Hambletonian recently with a limited number of spectators, New York state racetracks are in dire financial straits.
That’s because like Pennsylvania, but unlike New Jersey, much of the purse money for New York tracks comes from a sliver of slot machine revenues at those tracks.
But New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has bucked the national trend and refused to reopen any of the commercial casinos or racinos due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prominent real estate developer Jeff Gural has a unique perspective on the issue, as owner and operator of the Meadowlands track as well as one casino and one racino in upstate New York.
Gural appeared on the Gamble On podcast last week to offer his thoughts.
“I think the governor is solely focused on the number of people dying, and keeping the number of people that test positive below 1%. And everything else is unimportant.
“Actually, someone in his office [on Tuesday] told me that they thought that if they opened the casinos, and it caused one person to die, then they would look at it as a mistake.”
Are casino closures really safer?
Gural continued, “So if that’s how you look at it, there’s not much I can say. I mean, the biggest disappointment for me is — because, I support the governor, and his job is to keep people safe; he has done an amazing job —but by keeping our casinos closed, he’s not keeping people safe. It’s doing just the opposite, because our customers are not waiting for us to open.
“He would be right if all the other casinos were closed. You’d say, ‘Why take a chance?’ But they’re going to other casinos, where it’s much more likely that there are people infected than there are in the Southern Tier, for example. I know, because I follow it.”
Gural, 78, said there are days of late in Tioga County where there might be one positive test out of 1,000.
“It would almost be like finding a needle in a haystack to find someone who’s infected who would be going to our casinos,” Gural said. “And we have all these safety features, but they never even told us what they would want us to do.”
Numerous tribal casinos — many of which compete for customers with commercial casinos and racinos — reopened back in June.
“It’s a nightmare, to be honest with you. We’re going to close [the Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs tracks] right after Labor Day, and I’ve heard some of the other tracks are going to close.
“The breeders are screwed. There won’t be money for the Sire Stakes. This is catastrophic damage to the horse racing industry in New York.
“I think the governor’s intent is right, but I don’t think his advisers have been giving him good advice, either,” Gural added.
A simpler Hambletonian
Gural had a relatively relaxing time visiting the Meadowlands to watch The Hambletonian races on Aug. 8, with capacity limited to just a few thousand spectators — about one-tenth of a big crowd in years past.
“It was less stressful, in a sense, because in previous years I was always worried about people getting in — shuttles, traffic. I didn’t have to worry about the size of the crowd, or the weather.
“Some of my biggest concerns were that we followed all the rules, and pretty much we did. Luckily, we have the ability to offer [outdoor] dining as people are watching the races because we have a couple of decks available to essentially run a restaurant with the tables spaced out.
“And we had Backyard [BBQ] picnic tables set up, and people could walk up to the rail to watch the races, or see them on TV. It was a good arrangement, actually. So considering, I would say it was a success.”
The Hambletonian winner was filly Ramona Hill, who matched the event’s record time as the betting favorite. A North American harness racing industry year-high of $5.7 million was wagered on the afternoon.
Trainer scandal overshadowed by COVID-19 pandemic
More than two dozen trainers and other horse racing insiders — some from Monmouth Park — were indicted in early March in what appeared to be a story that would cause major ripples nationally.
But just two days later, the NBA suspended its season to kick off a series of sports shutdowns that in some cases have continued until today. Gural, the most outspoken critic of “cheaters” in the harness racing industry, said he has mixed feelings about the scandal being shoved aside so quickly.
“I spent a half-million dollars of my own money to hire these investigators, who were able to get the FBI interested and the U.S. Attorney,” Gural said. “Had it not been for COVID, it would have been a blockbuster story.”
Gural said he asked to be kept in the dark as to the identity of those being targeted.
“I didn’t want to have to lie to anybody who’d say, ‘I hear you guys are investigating so and so,'” Gural said.
As to the results?
“There was not one name in there that was a surprise,” Gural said. “And the thing is, you have to understand, these people — some of them would call me all the time: ‘Why can’t I race? I’ve cleaned up my act.’
“One of the guys, I had met with at the Meadowlands about two weeks before he was arrested. He was there to convince me how honest he was. Nature of the beast, I guess.”
What’s the next step in the scandal, all these months later?
“I believe the final chapter not been written,” said Gural, who grew up on Long Island. “I believe that all of the people who were arrested are now offering to cooperate, in order to stay out of jail. So anything they know about who else is using drugs, I would think that they will supply that information to the feds.
“The feds also seized the hard drives of the people they arrested who were [allegedly] involved with selling drugs, so they have that information available.
“I think at some point it will all come out. But obviously, it’s disappointing, because I really thought we would be able to clean [the sport] up — and we have, to a certain extent. But I think there’s more work to be done.”
Photo by Debra Millet / Shutterstock.com
