PLAINVILLE — The state Gaming Commission endorsed a plan Thursday to send more money from a racehorse development fund to the harness racing track at Plainridge Park Casino.
The move is expected to speed up the revival of harness racing at Plainridge, which has been underway since the facility got slot machines last year.
The commission voted 3-2 to approve a move by the state Horse Racing Committee to give Plainridge 55 percent of the fund of about $15 million. The change was made retroactive to Jan. 1.
Plainridge was receiving 25 percent of the fund, with thoroughbred racing getting 75 percent under a system approved before Suffolk Downs closed to thoroughbred racing.
Plainridge now runs more than 100 races per year, with plans to increase to 125. Horsemen at Suffolk only hold six races a year, down from 90 at the track a few years ago.
All five commissioners said they agreed Plainridge should get more money because the vast majority of races are held there.
The only disagreement was whether to make the new percentages retroactive.
Commissioner Gayle Cameron argued the change in the percentage would have taken effect in January, but was delayed because the Horse Racing Committee was short two members.
It could not vote until the vacancies were filled, she said.
She said Plainridge should have been getting more money all year.
The commission’s legal council, Catherine Blue, said the situation could be rectified by reducing payments to thoroughbred breeders for three months.
But, commission members Bruce Stebbins and Lloyd MacDonald said that would be unfair to the breeders. Chairman Stephen Crosby and member Enrique Zuniga disagreed, saying it was Plainridge that had been hurt by the delay in the new percentages.
Crosby said the thoroughbred industry got a “windfall” from the delay in filling the vacancies at the committee.
Attorney Peter Goldberg, representing standardbred horse owners at Plainridge, said the new arrangement is fair because the state’s racing landscape has changed, and Plainridge is now dominant.
He also said standardbred owners and breeders need the extra money now.
The situation at Plainridge has changed from “running on fumes,” before slot machines were introduced last year, to healthy now, but Plainridge still has some of the smallest purses in the region, he said.
The horse fund comes from a 9 percent tax on slot machine revenue at Plainridge.
About 80 percent of the fund goes toward higher purses while 16 percent goes to breeders and the balance to help pay for health insurance.
Since Suffolk Downs has almost no races, its share of the purse money has been “sitting around” doing nothing, Goldberg said.
He said the unused money is an inviting target for the Legislature, and there were two proposals last budget session to dip into it for non-racing items.
That extra money should go to Plainridge immediately to continue the process of rebuilding the harness racing industry, he said.
Goldberg and Cameron said the split between the thoroughbred and standardbred industries will continued to get reviewed every fall with more changes possible.
By Jim Hand
Reprinted with permission of The Sun Chronicle