NEWS
Oak Tree no longer has contract with MI Developments
Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 6:29 PM
by Larry Stewart
If the Breeders’ Cup World Championships are to return to Santa Anita Park in 2011 and beyond, the Oak Tree Racing Association may no longer be around to serve as the host.
Oak Tree, which has been conducting a fall meet at Santa Anita since 1969, might be ousted by MI Developments, which took control of the Southern California racetrack through bankruptcy proceedings of Magna Entertainment Corp.
“As of today, we have no contract,” Oak Tree Executive Vice President Sherwood Chillingworth said.
Chillingworth said that MI Developments Chief Executive Officer Dennis Mills informed him by phone on Thursday that Oak Tree’s contract to conduct its fall meeting at Santa Anita had been rejected.
Mills, by phone from his office in Toronto, said on Friday that the bankruptcy reorganization plan, which went into effect on April 30, gave MI Developments 15 days to examine and reject any contracts that currently were in place.
Mills said that he and other executives will meet with Chillingworth and the Oak Tree board sometime next week to discuss the situation. Chillingworth said the Oak Tree board will meet on May 18 before meeting with Mills and the MI Developments people later in the week.
Oak Tree served as the host of the Breeders’ Cup in 2008 and ‘09, marking the first time the event was held at the same site in consecutive years. The Breeders’ Cup Ltd. board has expressed an interest in holding the event at the same site for at least five years in a row, and the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita has been a leading candidate.
Asked if he believed an agreement between MI Developments, the parent company of Magna Entertainment Corp., and Oak Tree is still a possibility, Mills was noncommittal.
“I’m not going to have a knee-jerk reaction to that,” he said.
Chillingworth said the situation could turn into another mess.
“One thing horse racing doesn’t need is another mess,” he said.
Mills said the rejection of Oak Tree’s contract is only a minor part of a major plan by MI Developments Chairman Frank Stronach to construct a new business plan for horse racing in California. Mills added that Stronach will unveil that plan next month.
“I don’t want to talk about bits and pieces at this time,” he said. “Our chairman, who is very passionate about horse racing, will be making a total presentation when he comes out to Southern California in the middle of June.
“We’re not going to re-sign existing contracts when the current model is broken. We need to start with a clean slate in California.”
Larry Stewart is a California-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
READER COMMENTS
|
|
|
Posted by: ARaceFAn4Life, Arcadia, CA on June 04, 2010 at 12:31 AM
Frank Stronach is a big part of the problem with horse racing in California! Not that the industry doesn't have many problems but his lack of cooperation and refusal to listen to his own people have wasted millions, turned what fans are left away and if anyone who ever worked for him disagreed they were escorted off the property. Oak Tree was and still is one of the bright things in California Horse racing, but if Frank Stronach has his way that will stop! Just another example of his greed arrogance. He will kill all racing for good unless someone stops him! Reference his latest idea, he wants to run against other so, calif. tracks when we don't have enough horses to support 1 track running, I guess he figures he can use evryone elses money to outlast the other tracks. GO CHILLY, take your meet somewhere where you're appreciated the fans will support you!!
Report Abuse 
|
|
|
|
|
|
