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Originally Posted by EMD4ME
Besides being my favorite track, Emerald downs can be respected why? Because the owner built and opened the track with his own dollars. Why did he do it? Because HE loves horse racing. When longacres closed to become..... nothing, he took action and built Emerald downs.
He refuses to ask for sluts, I'm sorry, slots as he doesn't want his track to be dependent on them. He went to the Muckleshoot tribe and made an arrangement. Give us a few bucks for each purse and we will not apply for a slot license. In return the Muckleshoot tribe gets advertising as well from Emerald Downs.
That is an operation I respect and want to support. Not these corporate slime dogs.
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Crockett gets a ton of heat from folks up here because he takes a big chunk of the breeding bonuses and lots of people blame him for the closings of playfair and yakima meadows, which were the minor leagues to Longacres.
Also, the slots statement you've made I don't believe to be the true. My mom owns a non-tribal casino and poker room and she's told me several times that non-tribal entities have been told countless times by legislators slots will never happen. They did put it to a vote a few years back and it lost. Non-tribal gaming spread like wildfire when legalized in 1997 and most cities ended up putting moratorium's (sp) on any new kind of gaming. The tribes have lots of power up here.
All that being said, I've always been thankful to Crockett for getting a group together to build and run emerald downs. When Longacres closed it was heartbreaking to everyone. Emerald's really high charges for admission and parking ($7 for each unless you wanna walk a ways) are the only things I've griped about with them. The facility is nice and clean and they always try fun promo stuff and generally get a good live racing crowd. I hosted the Longacres Mile breakfast/rally a few years and he would always come down and be an interview guest and was always so nice.
