Times Union – Whither harness racing in Saratoga Springs? A day after the Saratoga racino announced it had deserted plans to pursue casino gambling in Saratoga Springs in favor of East Greenbush, hundreds of patrons placed bets on the racino’s video lottery terminals while trotters and pacers at the harness track enjoyed a day off.
Simmering beneath the calm at Saratoga Casino and Raceway, however, was uncertainty and nervousness. Horsemen were worried the state’s casino sweepstakes were leaving them behind. They said the future of the sport looked cloudy.
“There could be a serious situation down the road, serious effects on harness racing in Saratoga,” said Thomas McTygue, a former longtime public works commissioner who races standardbreds at Saratoga and Vernon Downs.
A 10-year contract between the racino and its horsemen concludes at the end of 2015. If business sags at the racino when a casino opens in the Capital Region, as expected, the facility’s owners may not be able to fund stall space, water and backstretch maintenance that horse owners depend on, McTygue said. Additional costs would put many horsemen out of business, he said.
Horses have raced at the Saratoga harness track for 73 years. Ten years ago, the facility introduced video lottery machines, which many credit with rescuing the sport by funding race rewards. Horsemen at the Saratoga last year received $13 million in purse money from VLTs. A provision in the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act may cushion the blow. The law requires any new casino that is not a racino to provide horsemen with the same amount of purse support from casino gambling that the racinos received from VLTs in 2013. However, state legislators could reduce or terminate that subsidy in the future, McTygue said.
“Everything is up in the air,” he said.
