A report by The Record has explained how the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, via letter, approached the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority about operating the Meadowlands Racetrack before Jeff Gural came into the mix on December 17, 2010
. The organization now wants to know why it wasn't given the time of day to run the raceway.
The article explains that Michael Drewniak, spokesman for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, said that state officials were "unaware" of such a motion by the NJTHA in December, but that comparing that organization's motion with that of Gural would be “disingenuous and ridiculous.” Drewniak was cited as saying that the NJTHA has not explained how it would maintain and fund live racing at the track.
The article goes on to state that after the deadline for Gural to reach a deal with Local 137 -- the union representing the Meadowlands Racetrack's mutuel tellers -- had passed, the NJTHA sent a second letter explaining that it again wanted to "offer the same $1 bid" to lease the Meadowlands Racetrack and take over operation of the facility.
“The Meadowlands also was a vital part of our circuit until last year,” NJTHA President John Forbes was quoted as saying. “We want to be in the loop with what’s going on there.”
(With files from The Record)
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Typical thoroughbred
Typical thoroughbred extortion of the standardbreds. Everyone knows if an emergency situation didn't exist, the RFP for the Meadowlands would have been for running a 141 day standardbred meet (the RFP for Monmouth was to run a 141 day thoroughbred meet). There is no way they would habe bid on that contract. All they are trying to do is extort a subsidy for the thoroughbreds at Monmouth Park.
Maybe the relationship between runners and standardbreds are different in Canada, possibly because of WEG having both meets, but things like this makes me frustrated when Standardbred Canada promotes thoroughbred racing. In the states, the runners play nice with the standrdbreds when they need to and as soon as it is no longer convenient out come the daggers.