Harrah's purchasing Lousiana Downs

[MikeH]

From the Friday, August 30 Las Vegas Review Journal (lvrj.com):

http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Aug-30-Fri-2002/business/19526907.html

[smf]

MikeH,

Interesting turn of events w/ Ladowns the past 2 years. Harrahs w/b what they need in BC to improve their meet. It's really gone downhill lately.

Three items of interest in the past week have signaled that Lone Star will get bombed into the ranks of Retama, Sunland in terms of racing quality in the not-so-distant future.

(1) Harrah's purchase of Ladowns.... They'll put whatever finances needed into LAD to make it a better track for bettors both on and off track. They'll likely ask for more dates in the future to cut deeper into the LS schedule.

(2) this...http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=25594&subsec=1

If EVD is offering 200k (slot $$) per day with lousy fields 2 years from now, the Hawley's, Broussard's and Candies, etc might migrate back to their native state. With a new facilty complete with a turf course, why run vs tougher competition at LS for the same purses when you can kick ass & make more profit at EVD? Those guys are the meat and potatoes of the LS meet. Asmussen and Norman win ~25% of all races here but if you want wagering value, you have to look at the 2nd tier of trainers. With that bunch gone, there's no reason to bet LS anymore!

(3) and the biggest of all, short term....Last week Steve Sexton of AP had issued a verbal "get your horses on our grounds at the start of the meet, or you'll not get stalls here, period".

I don't think he was aiming his statements to CD horsemen since they're under the same umbrella. It's definitely an attempt to undercut LS (a Magna track that offers competition for horses and simo handle). Don't expect Sam David, Hawley, etc to hang around here if they're gonna be frozen out of AP.