Churchill Wants to Replace Racing at Calder With Jai Alai

[Wandering Eyes]

Churchill Downs, Inc. has obtained a permit to conduct jai alai matches at Calder Race Course, which could allow them to end racing at the Miami track while still keeping its license to have slot machines.

The story was first reported by Daily Racing Form.

The Form obtained documents in which Churchill asked the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering how many jai alai programs it would be required to hold in order to keep the slots license. They said they would like to conduct no more than 88 programs and also are seeking to discontinue horse racing.

Phone calls to Churchill Downs seeking comment were not returned.

Churchill has already knocked down the Calder grandstand and has leased its racing meet to Gulfstream, which operates at Calder under the name of Gulfstream Park West. Calder/Gulfstream Park West is currently required to run 40 days of racing in order to retain its slot license. They are running the minimum 40-day meet in the fall, prior to the opening of Gulfstream’s championship meet. Churchill’s moves with Calder have made it obvious that they would like to get out of the horse racing business in Florida, but they have yet to find a way to end racing while still keeping its slots room open.

However, with the jai alai permit, they may have found a loophole that could end racing. In Florida, there is a distinct jai alai permit called a “summer jai alai permit.” It was created decades ago when jai alai was a popular and profitable sport and the main frontons wanted to keep the winter dates to themselves. Smaller facilities were able to conduct jai alai in the offseason under the summer permits.

“They’ve been trying to get rid of racing for several years now by backing the decoupling effort,” said Glen Berman, the executive director of the Florida HBPA. “So the underlying effort to end racing is not surprising. That they found this avenue as a means to try to do it, we think it is illegal and we are challenging it, but it doesn’t surprise me.”

In order for a jai alai fronton to have a slots permit, it must hold a minimum of 150 cards.

Before Calder can stop racing, it must get permission from the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering to replace it with jai alai and permission to conduct only 88 programs. Its efforts could also be stalled by legal maneuvers initiated by those who don’t want to see racing at Calder stopped. The Florida HBPA has filed a lawsuit and Gulfstream, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales and the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association have also joined in the legal effort to stop Churchill.

“We have filed a motion to intervene to get in the middle of the questions Calder has asked,” said OBS President Tom Ventura. “They petitioned for a declaratory statement that asked two questions: can we substitute jai alai performances and not run Thoroughbred races, and the other one is can we reduce the number of jai alai performances from 150 to 88? They not only want to stop running Thoroughbreds, they don’t even want to conduct a full schedule of jai alai performances. They are looking for the exit any way they can come up with it.”

Calder is obligated to contribute a portion of its slot profits to purses, an amount that is about $10 million annually. The Florida HBPA has an existing contract with Churchill that doesn’t expire until December 2020, so there doesn’t appear to be any way they can get out of their obligation to continue to pay into the purse fund. However, once that contract expires, it appears highly unlikely that Calder will keep racing, no matter what the outcome is concerning its efforts to convert to jai alai.

It might seem that, since Calder has to pay the purse money for the next 28 months, it would have nothing to gain by getting out of the racing business, but Berman said that isn’t the case.

“That land is valuable and a lot of space is being taken up by the racetrack and barns,” Berman said. “They’ve sold off a lot of land already and I’m sure they’d like to sell off more if it. A jai alai fronton takes up a lot less space than a racetrack and barn area.”

Though Calder is down to just 40 days of racing, it still plays an important role in the South Florida industry because it allows Gulfstream to take a needed break.

“Year-round racing is very desirable to the horsemen here,” Berman said. “They want a place to race all year long and the racetrack at Gulfstream, particularly the turf course, wouldn’t hold up so well if they tried to race 12 months a year.”

Gulfstream General Manager Billy Badgett said he remained confident that there would be racing at Calder in 2019, but said the Stronach team has already had some discussions as to what it would do if Calder were not available. He said a meet at Hialeah or at the Palm Meadows Training Center are options.

“From our end, we are very opposed to what they are attempting to do,” Ventura said. “It’s not surprising, but it’s very disappointing to see the extremes Churchill Downs will go to to remove themselves from the horse business in Florida. We hope we can put a stop to this. The reason why they were granted a slots license in the first place was to support the horse racing industry and now they’re just looking for a way to exit and still benefit from the slot money that they got that was supposed to help this sport.”

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