Page 3 - May 2007 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper The Game, May 2007 3
Fort Erie Faces Challenges
Fort Erie Racecourse
As the 2007 Fort Erie meet begins on May 5, the sun is trying to shine through some oppressive clouds. Unfortunately that’s a metaphor and not the weather report. Beset by financial problems, both the track and its horsemen are attempting to reconcile some trying issues and the conversations are not always benign.
Layne Giliforte is a long time fixture at Fort Erie, usually found near the top of the trainers’ standings. Last year he was second with 31 wins and he’s more than just worried about what’s happening at Ontario’s border track.
“There’s a lot of people in a desperate situation,” says Giliforte. “I think there’s going to be a lot of financial devastation.”
What’s taken place in the past several months is certainly distressing, especially for trainers and owners who have grown accustomed to scraping out a living at the Fort.
“About a third of the way through the summer last year, the HBPA called a meeting and asked the horsemen if they wanted to cut the days or cut the purses,” recalls Giliforte. “And the majority said they would cut the days to keep the purses the same.
Then in the fall, they sprung a surprise meeting on the horsepeople at the end of the year and it turned out they’re cutting the purses as well.”
Based on declining money flow, the HBPA decided to reduce the number of racing days to 84 cards with the purses cut as much as 15%.
Management at Fort Erie doesn’t deny this double whammy.
“That decision purely came down because of the way the slots were performing,” says Herb McGirr, Fort Erie Director of Operations and Racing. “And so we said to the HBPA – you pool your membership and we’ll implement what you want to do. At the end of the day, 10% of the slot revenue goes directly into purses, so why should we tell them what to do with their money?”
There has, in fact, been a dramatic drop in slots revenue. Just a year ago the machine average was around $200. Early in 2007, that figure is closer to $100 a machine. There’s competition from casinos in Western New York and the anti-smoking policy has led to less play.
“So we had to make some hard decisions at that time.” Says McGirr
Sue Leslie, president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Agency (HBPA) understands that the backstretch has serious concerns.
“The bottom line is we’re doing everything we can,” she says earnestly. “We can’t make someone bet on slot machines. I’m sure the disappointment in Fort Erie is that the purses aren’t what they were a year ago. But that’s all directly related to the betting handle and the slot machines. We’re doing our best to come up with innovative way to get people back. We’re working with the community to try and create some new customer base. The HBPA has put a significant amount of marketing money, a lot more than we have in the past to revitalize this area.”
McGirr is able to attach a specific dollar amount to the marketing strategy.
“We’re going to launch a $500,000 advertising campaign to run in Western New York during the 2007 live racing season,” says McGirr. “That’s in
partnership with the Horsemen, the Economical Development Tourism Corporation and the town of Fort Erie as well as Fort Erie Slots, Fort Erie Holiday Inn, Peace Bridge Duty Free and the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership. We’re all at the table as full partners. In an effort to reverse the present business trend.”
Giliforte’s disappointment, however, seems to go beyond the fewer days and smaller purses. He doesn’t feel the present allotment of purse money reflects the type of horse that populates the racing scene at For Erie.
“At the end of 2005, they restructured the format of Fort Erie racing to try and benefit the horsepeople of Fort Erie,” he says. “I mean the cheaper horses, that were the bread and butter of Fort Erie racing. Now they are trying to spin it back around again in favor of allowance races and higher end, better hors- es. They don’t exist at Fort Erie. Cheaper horses are what fill the cards and make up the racing. In the fall, when they had this meeting and they proposed these changes back to allowance races, there was complete support against this proposal. Petitions were sent around and they were sent to Sue Leslie and they were sent to the HBPA. They told us if we got ‘x’ number of signatures, they would look at it and we supposedly reached those numbers.”
McGirr is clear that he doesn’t want to engage in a war of words with Giliforte, but his breakdown of the 2007 racing season indicates a high percentage of low claiming races.
“We brought back $4,000 claimers,” says McGirr. “Out of 800-plus races scheduled for 2007, 85% of the racing will be between the $4,000 and $16,000 claiming level, 75% of those races being at the $4,000, $5,000 and $7,500 claiming level races. This is the HBPA proposal that they drafted to us on November 3 and it has been approved.”
Ross Armata trained 21 winners at the Fort in 2006 and is trying to be philosophical about the financial challenges.
“There’s a reason why they’re cutting the purses, hopefully to save the track and keep it going,” he says. “You have to go with the flow. We have to go with what they offer us.”
Continued Page 4 - See Fort Erie
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