VERNON — Vernon Downs will end its harness racing season early, on Saturday, Sept. 26. With the casino closed and no purse money derived from slot machine revenue, that’s when the money will run out, according to owner Jeffrey Gural.
“The racing has been OK but we’ve lost a fortune because of the fact that the Casino is closed, and we’re not allowed to have spectators come watch the races,” Gural said by phone Thursday.
“It was important to race even though it’s costing me money. The people who take care of the horses are starving. They have the expenses of feeding the horses whether they race or not.”
“It is not like some other business that can close their doors and save on some of the costs of business,” he noted. “For racing, horses need to be fed, trained and taken out to job whether there’s a season or not.”
“I never thought we’d be closed this long,” Gural said of the casino.
Meanwhile, he noted, nearby Turning Stone Casino and Resort is back open. “We don’t understand the logic” of allowing eight casinos in the state to be open while four remain closed. He praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of COVID-19 but questioned why Vernon Downs has not been allowed to reopen its casino.
Vernon Downs’ racing purses are funded in large part by 10% of the revenue from slot machines, with a smaller portion coming from the money bet on the races, Gural explained. With the casino closed, there’s no slot machine money, so he’s been covering that cost this season.
So Vernon Downs and Tioga Downs racetracks will close early in 2020. Unless, “by some miracle they allow us to open then we’d continue to race.” More likely, come Sept. 27, there will be no more racing this season. “It will be devastating to the industry,” he said.” I don’t know how people are going to survive,” he added of the livelihoods of those in the sport. Another impact is that the New York Sire Stakes will lack money for next season.
Gural said the track will not be able to make up for lost racing when 2021 rolls around. When asked if next season could have more races to make up for the losses this year, he said: “That won’t happen. The horses can only race once a week.”
By Steve Jones