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BRD TO CLOSE
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Blue Ribbon Downs, founded in 1960 by William Barney “Bill“ Hedge, will close for good on Nov. 28, the last day of live racing in 2009, the current owner, the Choctaw Nation, announced Thursday. The Choctaw Nation operates the track as Backstretch LLC, and also operates a racino at the Sallisaw track. The racino will close also.
Sally Maxwell • TIMES
The Blue Ribbon Futurity is Blue Ribbon Downs’ signature race, and was begun by the racetrack’s founder, Bill Hedge, in 1964. Hedge won his own race one time — in 2002 with A Dash of Native, above. Hedge died a few months later, on July 6, 2002.
Sally Maxwell • TIMES
The Choctaw Nation, which owns the racetrack, announced Thursday the track will close permanently on the last day of racing during the 2009 season.
Judy Allen, Choctaw spokeswoman, said in a prepared press release, “Despite its best efforts to upgrade Blue Ribbon Downs and continue horse racing there, the Choctaw Nation has decided to close the track when the current season ends.
“The sport of horse racing is struggling nationwide,” Allen said. “We did our best and invested a lot of money to improve the local racing experience, but there just was not enough patron support to continue to operate the track.”
Allen said all full-time and part-time track and adjacent racino employees who stay through the closing of the facility will receive a package that will include their full salary and health benefits through December. Each of these employees will also receive a Christmas bonus. Seasonal workers who work through the last racing day will receive their normal Christmas bonus in appreciation of their service.
Any employees who wish to relocate to the Durant area will be have an opportunity to apply for one of the 1,000 new jobs available in the Choctaw Nation’s expanded hotel and casino scheduled to open in February 2010, Allen said.
Human resource specialists were on hand to guide interested staff through the process when the announcement was made at Blue Ribbon Downs early Thursday.
In a e-mailed letter to Sallisaw Mayor Shannon Vann, the Choctaw Nation noted that all management, gaming and racing employees will receive their regular or average salary through Dec. 31. The jobs listed were 17 in management; 16 in gaming; 63 in racing; and 49 in seasonal jobs, for a total of 145 employees.
This number does not include all those who work on the backside of the racetrack — the trainers and grooms — most of whom are individual businessmen.
OHRC notified
Constantin A. Rieger, Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (OHRC) executive director, said Thursday afternoon he had just been informed of the Choctaw Nation’s decision to close the track at about 1:40 p.m. He said the track’s general manager, Blaine Story, called to formally inform the OHRC that the track was to close.
If the racetrack closes, it will lose not only its OHRC-approved race dates, but also the racino that the Choctaws opened after Oklahoma voters approved having casinos at the state’s racetracks, Rieger said. Proponents of the bill hoped the casinos would boost racetrack attendance, but, when approved and casinos opened at Remington Park and Blue Ribbon Downs, the results were not as good as experienced in other states.
The Cherokee Nation purchased Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, and that casino is reportedly doing well.
Fair Meadows, which holds fair meets at the Tulsa Fairgrounds, does not have a casino.
Remington Park is in the process of being purchased by the Chickasaw Nation, and if that sale is approved, which is expected, three of the state’s four racetracks will be owned by Indian tribes.
Rieger explained that Backstretch LLC, the limited liability company formed by the Choctaw Nation to operate Blue Ribbon Downs, is on the OHRC Nov. 19 agenda. The item was for OHRC members to consider a 40-day race meet request by BRD for 2010. That will most likely change now, and it is expected that a formal letter announcing the track’s closure will be sent to the OHRC, which will change the agenda item.
The request for 40 race days in 2010 by Backstretch LLC was believed to have been part of sale negotiations between the Choctaw Nation and an unnamed buyer. By requesting race dates and being awarded a conditional license, Backstretch LLC could transfer the race dates to a new owner, if that new owner was approved by the OHRC.
Reiger said that if Backstretch LLC does close the racetrack on Nov. 28, without a sale and requesting no race dates or gaming license for 2010, then the racetrack and any prospective buyers will lost those race dates and license.
If the racetrack is sold after Nov. 28, the new owners will “have to start from scratch,” Reiger said, to obtain racing and gaming licenses, which is a long and complicated process.
“The commission will look at the buyer’s financial stability, their business plan, the quality of the application, the background, their suitability,” and other issues, Reiger said. “It requires a great deal of time.”
That time has been estimated to be at least one to two years.
Sale Left in Starting Gate
The Choctaw Nation confirmed earlier this year that the tribe was in negotiations to sell the racetrack, but did not name the prospective buyer. Tribal spokesmen said the track had been up for sale for several years.
An OHRC spokesman said earlier this year that the OHRC had received a letter from the Choctaw Nation announcing the pending sale.
The letter, from attorney Bob Rabon, general counsel for the Choctaw Nation which bought the track in 2003 for $4.25 million the day before it was to be auctioned on the courthouse steps, sent a letter May 28 to the OHRC announcing the Choctaw Nation has entered into a contract with Furlong Perfecta LLC.
Rabon’s letter states the Choctaw Nation has a contract with Furlong Perfecta LLC “…for the sale of one hundred percent (100 percent) of the ownership of Backstretch LLC. The sale includes all of the facilities owned by Backstretch, real and personal, currently being used to operate racing and gaming at Blue Ribbon Downs.…The agreement requires Commission approval of the transfer of ownership. An application for the approval will be submitted as soon as it can be prepared.”
An OHRC spokesman said at that time that the ownership transfer application has not yet been received. Reiger said the transfer application was never received.
If the sale had proceeded, the partnership would have been made public since the OHRC requires that all those involved in Oklahoma racing have background checks. It was confirmed by two sources that the members of the partnership included local horsemen and Ronnie Bowen of Tontitown, Ark., who is an OHRC licensed horse owner in Oklahoma. Bowen did not answer calls from Your TIMES.
According to records obtained from the Oklahoma Secretary of State, the articles of organization of Furlong Perfecta LLC were signed by Robert W. Kirby and witnessed by Benita Bowen, who is identified as the authorized manager, and who also has an OHRC horseman’s license.
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It's too soon to tell if liquor sales are going to be beneficial to the casino because they have only had the license to serve it for what, a little over a month? Don't forget that the economy right now would trump any gains that might be realized through the sale of liquor, or for that matter, anything designed to drive business to the casino.
As for the cost of licenses and whatnot associated with the sale of liquor driving up the price to sell it so much that it would hurt sales, I say balderdash. A conservative estimate would put the sale of mixed drinks at the casino in one day at 50. That adds up to be a little over 18,000 per year. Twenty cents added to the cost of a drink would yield $3,600 per year which is more than enough to offset the cost of licenses. That is not enough money to dissuade a mixed drinker from purchasing. And let's not forget that the regular profit on mixed drinks is pretty lucrative to begin with and the casino is going to make good money on sales even if they absorb the cost associated with licensing themselves.
The real problem seems to be that horse racing industry has been flat and continues to decline because of the horse racing commission and the politics involved. OHRC wants full control of what goes on in the racing industry and holds the upper hand because if they don't get their way, they will deny of cut back the number of race days at any race track. Lack of management by BRD and Choctaws, lack of promoting by area chamber of commerce, and patron support are also a part of the reason. It's been a tradition of this area to want something but not support it.