Colonial Downs dates standoff intensifies

A dispute between Colonial Downs and the state’s horsemen over the proper length of the 2014 meet escalated on Tuesday when Colonial officials said that they were prepared to shutter the track this year and seek out a live-racing contract with a group other than the Virginia Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

In a prepared statement, the track said it has “terminated” its negotiations with the VHBPA over the dates and that “there may be no Thoroughbred racing in Virginia for several years” because of the VHBPA’s rejection of a six-day September meet supported by the track. The statement also said that “Colonial Downs is in the process of identifying a group of horsemen who share [the track’s] vision for Thoroughbred racing in Virginia and who want to implement this new paradigm by entering into a new horsemen’s agreement with Colonial Downs.”

Under the federal Interstate Horseracing Act, the “group which represents the majority of owners and trainers” at a racetrack are given the authority to negotiate with the track. To replace the VHBPA as the horsemen’s representative, another group would need to conduct a vote showing that more owners and trainers support the new group than the VHBPA.

Tracks have had some success in the past in supporting the formation of rival horsemen’s organizations in order to get their way in negotiations. The new organizations are often derided by horsemen as “house organs” that exist to support management’s policies.

Frank Petramalo, the executive director of the VHBPA, who has led the negotiations with Colonial this year, said on Tuesday that he “would welcome” a vote to determine which group gets to represent horsemen.

“We’ll be more than happy to conduct a debate with Colonial over the value of a six-day meet, Petramalo said.

Throughout negotiations with the track reaching back to late last year, the VHBPA has steadfastly supported a meet of at least 21 days spread out over seven weeks of the summer, when Maryland tracks are dark. The VHBPA has said that a meet needs to be at least seven weeks in order to allow horsemen to start a horse three times.

The threats by Colonial are the latest in a long-running series of escalations between the two sides. Earlier this year, Colonial shuttered four of its offtrack betting facilities and stopped offering Thoroughbred simulcasts at its other four OTBs, under a commission order citing a law requiring a live-racing agreement with horsemen for Thoroughbred simulcasting in the state. Then, in March, the two sides met with a mediator to settle the dates dispute, but the mediator walked out after an hour, saying the two sides were so far apart there was no use in continuing.

The Virginia Racing Commission has also been attempting to bring the sides to an agreement, but to no avail.

Colonial has said it supports a meet of six days of live racing over two weekends in September, with several other race dates scattered throughout the spring and fall. Purses at the September meet would average $500,000 a day, the track said.

Petramalo said that Colonial only supports the six-day meet to cut expenses, but track officials said that the short meet would help the track attract patrons and horses.

“We recognize that creating a new direction in Virginia Thoroughbred racing without a horsemen’s contract and without the ability to send and receive a racing signal is an uphill battle, but [it] is a battle worth fighting,” said Jeff Jacobs, the owner of Colonial, in a prepared statement. “The end result will be long-term, high-quality racing of which all Virginia will be proud.”