DESPITE TRUTH AS NO.1 ALLY, STATE OF ILLINOIS, ARLINGTON AND 2014 RACING

SEASON STYMIED BY TOXIC PROFITEERS

Truth - or toxins?

TRUTH: Management at Arlington International continues to

maintain that the cost of enabling the Illinois Racing Board to be fully funded and regulate a complete live schedule in 2014 should be borne by the state’s five racetracks and horsemen as testified to at the dates hearing.

Not by the fans. Not by the state. Not by revisions of law enacted in 2009 that legalized Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) in Illinois. Instead, the responsibility for covering the shortfall should be shouldered by the five tracks and horsemen groups in Illinois.

The proposed formula in House Amendment #3 to SB 66 is simple (please see chart on Page 3). The pari-mutuel tax paid by race tracks would increase temporarily (by 0.135%) and be applied to the IRB’s budgetary deficit. The result would allow the Racing Board to rule over a full schedule next year at all five tracks, including a premier 89-program season at Arlington beginning on May 2.

But last week in Springfield, others in the industry fanned enough uncertainty to send the General Assembly home from its fall veto session without extending ADW law past January 31, 2014.

Without an extension, the 2014 live season in Illinois will go from robust to rumor. Arlington will continue as the state’s flagship, but with only 49 race days. The state legislature wanted consensus from the tracks, horsemen’s associations and ADW providers before taking action. Instead, due to the toxic cabal, the racing industry in Illinois remains flapping in the wind.

The masters of self-interest want a massive rewrite of the existing ADW statute. Their exploitation of customers includes an additional excessive surcharge on ADW customers. While their contrivance will adequately fund the IRB, it will also further line their own pockets. The anti-fan shell game went nowhere. But it did manage to pull Arlington and its allies closer to a once-unthinkable pyre.

Truth: Arlington and its allies say let the tracks and the horsemen pay to save the industry and tens of thousands of jobs in Illinois.

Toxins: Exploit the bettors, impede the growth of ADW and skulk toward yet another unfinished line of implosive consequences.

Beverly D. victor Dank beats the world (p4)

SPRINGFIELD UPDATE Legislative Clock Ticks on 2014 Season

Ioya Bigtime sold to stud in Uruguay (p3)

INSIDE

Vol. 3 | Issue 13 | November 16, 2013

No vote was called on extension of ADW last week in Springfield as the fall veto session ended. Lawmakers want “consensus” from all track operators, horsemen’s groups and ADW providers before moving toward a vote. There is the chance of a special session in early December and the General Assembly is scheduled to meet on January 29. For now, an industry-and families-wait and hope for the best.

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Issue #: [Date] Dolor Sit Amet

E. T. BAIRD REPORTS THAT HE had one of the great riding times of his career

while participating in his first Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita earlier this month. The

talented reinsman left his Arlington-area villa to finish respectably aboard Smarty’s

Echo (35-1) in the Juvenile for trainer Anne P. Smith.

“But what a tremendous weekend,” the local lad (Rolling Meadows High, Class of ’84) said. “Everything was done absolutely first-class and talk about glamorous people. One of my highlights was talking with Richie Sambora [the longtime lead

guitarist for Bon Jovi]. Then I stayed on for almost a whole week with some old

California friends and drove down along the beaches of western Mexico. The ten-dollar lobsters were amazing.”

The mount was only the second ever for “E. T.” in a BC or Triple Crown race. He coaxed Recapturetheglory to a fifth-place ending in the 2008 Kentucky Derby for Louie Roussel III and Ronnie Lamarque.

SPEAKING OF RICHIE SAMBORA, TMZ.com confirmed that the New

Jersey-bred submitted two versions of “The Call to the Post” (technically, the military’s “First Call”) to BC officials to be played before NBC’s prime-time telecast of the Classic. And XXX bosses opted for Sambora’s “more toned down” version. The reason: BC decision-makers did not want to risk rattling the 11 contenders during the post parade for the $5 million finale. Sambora’s poleaxed riff -

cleverly influenced by Jimi Hendrix’s iconic “Star-Spangled Banner” at

Woodstock - can be heard by Googling “Richie Sambora Breeders’ Cup.”

ANOTHER “RICHIE” - ENDURING ARLINGTON STAPLE Richard Ravin - also had a memorable BC XXX weekend. His Richies Party Girl,

owned in partnership with trainer Wesley Ward, opened the Saturday card

at Santa Anita by beating the boys in the $100,000 Juvenile Turf Sprint Stakes, a non-BC race. Ravin, a retired businessman, had another excellent Arlington International meeting this year. He tied for third in the owners standings with 14 solo victories and had no fewer than eight more in assorted partnerships.

OVALTINE: Team Block’s great Ioya Bigtime was sold at Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale and will stand in Uruguay. The stellar champ peaked at A-I with a win in the 2012 Stars and Stripes (Gr.

III)...Florent Geroux, third this summer in the Arlington jockey standings, is already unpacking his tack at the

Fair Grounds for key clients Doug Matthews and Wayne Catalano; bettor beware.

Far-sighted Chelsea Dagger-ites may want to take note of young Dominick Rivelli. The 10-year-old son oftrainer Larry Rivelli was rostered on the prestigious Chicago Jr. Blackhawks traveling Brick Team...Equine

artist Thomas Allen Pauly spread the gospel at the Santa Anita BC by wearing an Arlington Million cap. Not far away were supremely honorable A-I alumni Frank and Christine Gabriel.

Fresh off a successful sophomore term at Arlington, Brian W. Spencer’s media duties at the Fair Grounds will

include coverage of a “Mascots Derby” on Opening Day next Friday, November 22. The late Marie LaVeau’s

spirited favorite is Bones, from the New Orleans VooDoo (an Arena Football League team)...And Andy Beyer -whose seminal “Picking Winners” (1975) launched tens of thousands of bankrolls - showed his public picking is

as sharp as ever, telling a pre-BC Washington Post following: “I don’t believe Wise Dan is the same horse that he was last season.” Check, please.

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Issue #: [Date] Dolor Sit Amet DESPITE TRUTH AS NO.1 ALLY, STATE OF ILLINOIS, ARLINGTON AND 2014 RACING SEASON STYMIED BY TOXIC PROFITEERS (cont.)

Issue #: [Date] Dolor Sit Amet

Their kind of track, Santa Anita was, for two solidly Arlington-connected horses on Breeders' Cup XXX weekend. Dank, champion of the 2013 Beverly D., roared to victory as the 3-5 favorite in the $2 million BC Filly & Mare Turf while Mort Fink's super horse Wise Dan overcame mounds of trouble to flash his brilliance once again in the $2 million BC Mile. "What a race, what a horse," said Fink, 83, whose ace 6-year-old appears headed for second straight Horse of the Year honors. "We had great seats, on the finish line in the Turf Club, but I still couldn't see his stumble at the start from there." Wise Dan overcame more than that to send Fink and wife Elaine back to their north suburban home happy. Regular jockey John Velazquez was seriously injured in a spill during the BC Juvenile Fillies a little more than three hours before the Mile. "That worried me a bit but we got lucky because [Jose] Lezcano didn't have a mount for the Mile," Fink said.

ARLINGTON CONNECTIONS VICTORIOUS ON WORLD STAGE "So he was available. The only difference between him and Johnny on the horse is that Johnny always tends to keep him tucked inside for a big close whereas Lezcano always knows he has a great horse and just tries to keep him wide and clean." That's exactly what Lezcano did. He also caught a big break being forced off trail-searing splits of :21.94 and :44.47. The Wise One's final time on the SA lawn was a superb 1:32.47.

As promised, Fink and championship posse were back at his regular table in the restaurant at Arlington Trackside last Saturday. "There were balloons and a beautiful cake and everything and I know Mr. Duchossois was behind it all," the long-time cinema owner said. "Very, very kind." As for Dank, Sir Michael Stoute continued a westward-ho that began with a win in the Ireland-Group II Kilboy Estate Stakes at the Curragh in July. The Beverly D. was next and could be again in 2014. "I'd like to keep her in training next year," said Sir Stoute, a Brit Barbadian. No heroine has ever won the Beverly D. twice.