Monarch, Co-Op End Dispute

On the eve of Saturday’s GI Florida Derby and supporting stakes at Gulfstream Park, and a week prior to the Santa Anita Derby program in California, a dispute between the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative–representing 23 facilities–and Monarch Content Management, operated by The Stronach Group, has come to an end, freeing up those customers to wager on races from tracks represented by Monarch. When Monarch and the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative were unable to come to an agreement last fall on simulcast rates, the signal from tracks such as Santa Anita, Gulfstream and Laurel Park was suspended beginning Dec. 1. A stalemate between the two sides developed, blocking the signals just as the winter/spring meeting was about to begin at Gulfstream Park and only a handful of weeks before racing on the Southern California circuit returned to Santa Anita. Details of the new agreement were not immediately available.