Although members of the Ohio Standardbred Development Fund (OSDF) had voted on Dec. 11 to schedule the state’s sire stakes finals for 2010 at Scioto Downs on Sept. 4, with finals estimated at $70,000, the date, location and value of Super Night are all now in question. “All of our races are from May to September,” said OSDF administrator Doug Thomas. “I get my revenue from the state from January to December. In the past the racetracks have guaranteed the purses for Super Night and I would pay them back as the revenue came in.” But as it seemed that tracks in Ohio might get slots, receiving the Super Night purse money became problematic. “Northfield had guaranteed the purses at last year’s meeting, but after they borrowed $13 million for what they thought at the time would be licensing fees for slots, they said they couldn’t borrow anymore,” explained Thomas. “So we didn’t get the purses paid out until November. It was an embarrassment to us and bad for the horsemen, especially the winners who had to wait to get the $40,000 they’d won.” Knowing changes needed to be made; Thomas said the horsemen came to him with an idea. “The horsemen came to the OSDF and asked them to make it a condition that - with everyone’s knowledge and agreement - I would base the Super Night purses based on the revenue I calculated I would have available at the time and that would be the purse set on the day of the draw.
“But everything the OSDF does has to be approved by the commission,” he explained. “At their meeting on Dec. 15, they said we couldn’t spend money we did not actually have. We will not approve it. I told them we couldn’t wait until January or the next meeting because we’ve got to have a brochure out by then. I asked them to give me some options.”
The Ohio Commission laid out four acceptable scenarios for Super Night, according to Thomas.
“The first option is to race Super night at Scioto on Sept. 4 with Scioto guaranteeing the purses. The second is to keep the date but race with the purses based on the money available day of the draw. The third and fourth options are to race Super Night at Lebanon in late October either with purses set according to the revenue available the day of the draw or with Lebanon guaranteeing the purses.”
Thomas said he was told that Scioto was not likely to guarantee the purses and that moving the date to late October would be beneficial, especially if Lebanon could not guarantee the purses because the extra time would allow for additional revenue to accrue and raise the amount of the purses.
“So, we’re having an emergency meeting on Dec. 21 at 11:30 and that’s when the final decision will be made,” said Thomas. “Since those were the options given by the commission I am told the executive committee will sign off on the one we choose.”
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