Arizona Racing Commission
With both Turf Paradise and Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA) representatives telling the Arizona Racing Commission (AZRC) Thursday that they are now close to agreeing on a contract for an 84-date, Jan. 2-May 1 race meet, AZRC chairman Rory Goree indicated that the commission stands ready to approve the dates request, which has already been submitted to the board but was not placed on the agenda for a vote at the Oct. 8 video meeting. Approval could come via a special AZRC session that might get scheduled before...
Thursday's Arizona Racing Commission (AZRC) meeting opened with the chairman Rory Goree asking stakeholders to "refrain from discussing anything" related to a controversial appeal over who controls purse account money that is scheduled for the October meeting. And it ended with Turf Paradise owner Jerry Simms apologizing for the frustration the state's Thoroughbred community feels over his decision not to incur liability by running a 2020-21 meet during a pandemic. In between those brief, book-ended statements that define the currently closed status of racing in Arizona, commissioners heard a slew...
In a special meeting Friday, the Arizona Racing Commission upheld its earlier decision to enforce a state law passed last year requiring all simulcast providers that send their races into Arizona to offer the products uniformly among all tracks and all their Off-Track Betting parlors (OTB). "I didn't expect anything different," said Bob Hutton, president of the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), about the decision. The meeting, which went on for two-and-a-half hours, was well attended by individuals on both sides of the stand-off, said Hutton. "It was...
The simulcasting stand-off between an arm of The Stronach Group (TSG) tasked with distributing the company's signal and the Arizona Department of Gaming has nearly reached the two-week mark, and the affected stakeholders are sending out mixed signals of their own as to its impact. The issue surrounds a state law passed last year requiring all simulcast providers that send their races into Arizona to offer the products uniformly among all tracks and all their Off-Track Betting parlors (OTB). On Jan. 24 of this year, the Arizona Racing Commission passed a...