Stronach’s deregulation idea flawed

The main theme to come out of the California Horse Racing Board meeting Tuesday was Magna chief Frank Stronach demanding free enterprise and the deregulation of the horse racing industry in California. I wish someone on the CHRB had the guts to tell him that such an approach was already tried -- and failed -- in Florida.

There's no doubt that the owner of Santa Anita Park is posturing for more racing dates. Magna voiding the lease of the Oak Tree Racing Association was clearly a power play to steal its fall dates. The fact that Stronach relented, allowing Oak Tree one final meet in Arcadia for 2010, only sugarcoated its expulsion.

The fact is, if Stronach remains patient, he will eventually get more dates from the future closure of Hollywood Park, but not from Oak Tree.

The Florida deregulation should have been well known to the CHRB. It occurred June 1, 1989, when the state allowed the Florida tracks -- Calder, Gulfstream Park, Hialeah and Tampa Bay Downs -- to race whatever dates they chose. Tampa Bay ran unopposed on the west coast of the state. The problem was in the Miami area with Calder, Gulfstream and Hialeah.

Stronach constantly talks about free enterprise, saying a racetrack, like a store or restaurant, should be able to remain open when "you've got the most customers." He sounds a lot like Hialeah owner John Brunetti, who wanted to remain open during the prime winter dates in South Florida.

So, after many years of haggling, Florida deregulated the racing dates. Calder and Gulfstream shook hands not to compete with each other. That forced Hialeah to overlap with both, eventually killing the racetrack altogether.

The CHRB has a mandate to act in the best interest of horse racing. It's won some and lost some, just like any of us. However, in the case of deregulation, it is 100 percent correct in holding its ground.

If it gave in, the most likely scenario would be Santa Anita overlapping with the Oak Tree at Del Mar meet and against Fairplex. I suspect Del Mar and Hollywood would cooperate and not go head to head.

If deregulation is Stronach's best idea for turning around California horse racing, then we're in trouble.

I'm all for outside-the-box thinking in trying to work with the state, tribal gaming, the horsemen and the customers. Boosting purse sizes should be the priority. But the potential chaos of racetracks butting heads is not the road to go down.

Richard Eng's horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.