Track won’t pay Arcadia $185,000

Santa Anita Park track owner MI Developments will not pay the City of Arcadia the approximately $185,000 the city would have collected if Oak Tree would have run at Santa Anita in October.

(Update Tuesday, Aug. 24: Oak Tree Racing Association executive director Sherwood “Chilly” Chillingworth told ArcadiasBest.com today the move of Oak Tree to Hollywood Park “is a certainty” and that he is confident the meet will open as scheduled Sept. 29, though he is in full scramble mode to make the switch in time.)

“This is just another example of the fact that MID does not care one bit for the city of Arcadia,” said Councilman Mickey Segal.

“This comes as a disappointment but not as a surprise,” said Mayor Peter Amundson. “MID and Frank Stronach seem to say and do whatever is expedient at the time but, by what I have seen, (we cannot) take their word to the bank.”

Dennis Mills of MID told ArcadiasBest.com blogger Larry Stewart this morning that his offer in May during a meeting with Segal, fellow Councilman Bob Harbicht, and City Manager Don Penman to compensate the city for its usual percentage of the wagering handle (bets placed) was based on plans at that time for MID to void its contract with Oak Tree Racing.

But MID owner Frank Stronach subsequently relented on that strategy and agreed to let Oak Tree hold its fall meet one more year at Santa Anita. This week it was the California Horse Racing Board that denied Oak Tree’s application to run at Santa Anita due to safety concerns amongst horse owners and trainers.

Therefore, Mills said that since it was not MID that voided the contract, MID is not obligated to compensate Arcadia for lost revenue. More importantly, he said, MID is spending $6 million to replace the synthetic track at Santa Anita with dirt, which he says will benefit Arcadia in the long run.

“Since MID and Stronach have been here they have given little to nothing to the city,” Segal said. “Repairing the race track is not near as much of a benefit to the city as it is to MID. Without repairing the race track they would get no race days.” Segal also noted that the track could and should have been replaced during the nearly five months of the off-season when there was no racing from mid- April through early September, which would have avoided all of these issues. “The loss to the city does not even scratch the surface as to what MID would lose if they could not have racing. Maybe someday in my lifetime MID will become a good corporate citizen like Oak Tree was. But my guess is, with this management in place that is not possible.”

The City of Arcadia will also lose out on between $10,000 – $30,000 in sales tax revenue typically generated during the Oak Tree meet, according to city officials.

— By Scott Hettrick