Motion Denied. Gearin Rules Against Canterbury, Holiday Weekend Cancelled and Season Now in Doubt

Now it’s getting serious.  That’s not to say that the closure of Canterbury Park at the hands of the state due to the budget impasse that has shut down all state services including the racing commission hasn’t been serious, just that today things went from bad to worse.

On Friday morning Judge Kathleen Gearin heard arguments from a select number of petitioners, Canterbury Park and the Minnesota Zoo among them, outside of the Special Master process about why they should be allowed to remain open during the state closure.  When no decision was forthcoming by mid-afternoon yesterday, track President and CEO Randy Sampson had no choice but to call off Saturday’s race card.

“Our horsemen need time to prepare their horses to race and the uncertainty of when the judge might rule has forced us to cancel a second day of racing at Canterbury Park,” Sampson said.

As Friday evening wore on with no decision, eyes and hope turned to Saturday – until the hours of Saturday starting drifting away without a ruling.  Finally Gearin issued her ruling: motion for injunctive relief denied.  Sampson promises an appeal but with Sunday and then the holiday that is unlikely to occur before the middle of next week.  There is a very real fear that trainers and owners will start leaving the backside for the opportunity to race.

“With no chance for the 1,300 horses stabled on the backside to compete for purse money, the danger is that trainers will begin to take their stables from Minnesota and once they do, they will not return,” Sampson said. “This ruling puts the entire season in jeopardy. I appreciate the support and patience of the horsemen and our race fans. The state shutdown did not need to impact the racing industry and its employees."

Four stakes races, the Shot of Gold, Blair’s Cove, Dean Kutz Derby and the MN HBPA Mile all fell by the wayside.  No determination has been made yet if they will be made up at a later date with the battle to make a “later date” a reality clearly taking precedence.  It is not known how long the track can go on being closed before the entire season is in jeopardy, but what is clear is that date is sooner rather than later.

WWTD - What Will Tabby Do?

What’s the latest?  What’s the latest?  This is now the most asked question of me by both partners and friends.  Everyone wants to know when racing is going to start again at Canterbury Park.  The short – and sadly most correct – answer is “I don’t know.”

Today the track stated their case to stay open in front of Ramsey County District Court judge Kathleen Gearin.  It was hoped that a decision would have been reached in time to save Saturday’s racing card.  It wasn’t.  At this point even if live racing continues to be an issue, you have to think that Canterbury would accept the reopening of the card club and/or simulcasting as some kind of step forward from a business perspective.  To have to cease all revenue generating functions over the busiest weekend of the year is brutal for the business – not to mention shareholders.  I don’t think that the decision needs to be all or nothing, however live racing is the jewel and without it summer is not the same.

Governor Dayton was quoted as saying that there will not be any meetings between his team and the Republican legislative leadership until after the holiday weekend.  It would give both sides a cooling off period before discussions resume.  This puts virtually the entire burden of Canterbury’s 2011 season in the hands – or the pen – of Judge Gearin.  If she does not find for Canterbury (and Running Aces, the harness track in Columbus, MN) that the MN Racing Commission should stay open then the holiday weekend has passed us by and horsemen will be looking at the possibility of a second straight weekend without racing.  Other owners have told me that their trainers are looking to ship out if there is no resolution by Tuesday.  If there is enough of an exodus, there will be no 2011 season.

What’s our plan?  We sit tight for now.  I haven’t spoken to our trainer, Bernell Rhone, since the shutdown went into effect.  I’m sure that he has some contingency plans but I know that his heart is in running at Canterbury.  He has several very nice Minn breds in the barn that could do some damage in the state bred stakes races in the second half of the meet, if there is one. 

The track will remain open for training – for now anyway – and that still leaves us the option of training here and shipping to Iowa or Chicago to race.  Since Tabby just ran last Sunday, we’re in no hurry to get her back to the races, but there are plenty of folks that were coming into their race time right now that have a horse tuned up and no race to run in.  You can’t keep an athlete tuned up like that forever with no outlet.  And as I’ve mentioned in the past, how do you get some of the trainers back next year after a debacle like this?

I better send off to renew my Iowa license this weekend…