Michigan Gaming Board sets deadline for Pinnacle

It appears the Michigan Gaming Control Board is taking steps to finalize Pinnacle Race Course’s status in regards to its conditional license.

The Detroit-area Thoroughbred track has been closed for live racing and simulcasting since last November. Since then, the state’s flat racing industry has been on hold, without solid plans of when, where or if racing will be held in Michigan in 2011 or beyond.

This information appeared on the Michigan HBPA website yesterday…

MGCB: The MGCB has requested Jerry Campbell Post It Stables d/b/a Pinnacle Race Course  to have all documents to meet “conditions” for 2011 license to the MGCB by 1:00pm Wednesday May 4, 2011

– Michigan HBPA

Any updates will be reported as they become available.

A slice of Michigan racing’s past

While we wait (and wait, and wait) for Michigan racing to right the ship or sink, I’d like to share a small piece of the state’s racing history I managed to snag on eBay.

As mentioned in a previous post, a pair of racing programs from the 1924 Alpena County Fair were offered on the online auction website, and I was the winning bidder.

Considering the age and use of the programs, they are in very good condition. The programs consist of a single piece of heavy stock paper folded down the middle to resemble a book. I believe elementary school students call this “hamburger style”.

Inside the programs are the entries for four races. Two are clearly marked pace events. The other two are a tad more ambiguous. The “County Race” and “Free For All Run” are race conditions I am unfamiliar with – harness or otherwise.

The highest published purse on the day’s card was a whopping $300. Using the Inflation Calculator, that purse would be equal to about $3,791.48 at last year’s rates. For a fair circuit track in rural northeast Michigan, that’s not bad at all.

Period-specific idiosyncrasies are plentiful in the programs. One can hardly argue with a 35-cent lunch or a men’s suit for $28.50. The two and three-digit phone numbers must have been easy to memorize, as well, when one needed to call the Studebaker Motor Cars dealer or the local radio shop.

For less than five bucks, these programs provided an interesting snapshot of the state’s fair racing scene, and that of its surrounding community. It was definitely worth the purchase, and I am happy to share it with my readers.

Today, the number of county fairs in Michigan still hosting harness racing is dwindling, but they are still out there. I have yet to attend any of the state’s fair races, but I intend to do something about that this summer – especially if it is my only option.

If any readers have any stories or fond recollections of racing on Michigan’s fair circuit, they are more than welcome to share them.

Behind the jump are photos of the racing program from the 1924 Alpena County Fair

Michigan Notebook: April 15, 2011

– Mum remains the word regarding the status of Michigan’s flat racing schedule for 2011, as the Michigan Gaming Control Board continues to mull over the fate of Pinnacle Race Course’s provisional racing license. The track has been closed for business since the end of last year’s meet.

An emergency meeting was scheduled between the Gaming Control Board and the Michigan Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association for April 14, but the HBPA website reports that the meeting had been cancelled.

From the Michigan HBPA website…

MGCB MEETING CANCELLED!!!!  for Thur. 12/14… No reason given, but will be scheduled for another time. It is a shame what’s going on with respect to horse racing. How does one run their business under these circumstances? Horsemen and women deserve better after all the years of being a productive industry for the state. It is becoming more difficult to argue with comments, that this industry is being systematically dismantled. Would this happen with an industry having 12,000 jobs in one place, rather than scattered around the state in almost every county? One location has only couple of legislators, the horse racing has many more, where are they?

– Michigan HBPA

– After a months-long period of inactivity, the bill to include a “representative of the equine industry” on the Michigan Gaming Control Board has again seen the light of day in the state’s House of Representatives. On April 12, the bill was referred to a second reading before the entire House after receiving approval from the House Committee on Agriculture. Follow the activity of HB 4151 as it makes its way through Lansing here.

– A piece of Michigan fair racing history is currently up for sale on eBay. A pair of racing programs from the 1924 Alpena County Fair is being offered on the auction website with a pair of Alpena Sports Hall of Fame programs. It is not specified whether the programs for the northeast Lower Peninsula fair feature flat or harness racing. As of the time this was first posted, five days remain to place a bid on the programs.

A Midwest Thoroughbred double feature

I have a pair of stories in the latest news cycle of The Midwest Thoroughbred magazine.

The print edition features a preview story for the upcoming meet at Indiana Downs. The Shelbyville, Ind. track had a banner year in 2010, and faces the unique challenge of keeping that positive momentum going. To find out how they plan to do it, I spoke to racing secretary Raymond “Butch” Cook and trainer Randy Klopp, who is also president of the Indiana HBPA.

Click here to read my preview of the 2011 Indiana Downs meet.

On the publication’s website, I have a feature on Michigan’s breeding industry. The story discusses the impact the state’s flagging business has had on its breeding operations, and highlights five of its top stallions. To get some insight on Michigan’s breeding industry I spoke to Michigan Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association president Patti Dickinson, trainer/breeder James Jackson, McMaster Farm manager Dan Boik and breeder EJ Hubel.

Click here to read my story on Michigan’s breeding industry.

Also, if you’ll notice on page six, I have been added to the publication’s masthead as a contributing editor. I’m honored to be part of the team.

This is not the first time I have had work published in The Midwest Thoroughbred. Back in September, I interviewed jockey and trainer Richard Rettele for the magazine’s “Jockey Shorts” section.

The Midwest Thoroughbred is a fantastic publication for readers interested in horse racing in the region, and the effect its native sons and daughters have on the national scene. Though the magazine focuses its coverage on the business in Illinois and Indiana, it frequently covers topics pertaining to racing in surrounding states, including Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and Kentucky.

The publication is getting better with every issue, and is definitely worth the time to check out. And I’m not just saying that because I write for them. The feature writing is creative, entertaining and covers topics that the national publications may overlook.

I’d like to thank The Midwest Thoroughbred for having me on board, and I look forward to working together in the future.

If you like what you see, click here to subscribe to The Midwest Thoroughbred.