Breeders cup not in doubt?

racing seems to be in a bit of bother with greight leighs in the uk and doubtless others around the world, are things going to get worse?

Magna Entertainment files for bankruptcy ...By Dan Farley

MAGNA Entertainment Corporation (MEC), operators of ten U.S. tracks including Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, Pimlico and Laurel, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move which protects them from their creditors.

However there are no issues surrounding the Breeders' Cup meeting, held at Santa Anita last year and scheduled for that track again this year, as it is held during a time when the facilities are leased by the non-profit Oak Tree Racing Association, which has no connection to MEC.

MEC, which has lost a reported $628 million since 2002, has a current debt of more than $600 million according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A loan of $40 million from the Bank Of Montreal was due on Thursday for which MEC had received at least eight extensions according the Baltimore Sun.

But the latest payment wasthe first to come due since a reorganisation plan involving MEC's parent company, Magna International Developments, fell apart last month.

Frank Stronach, the man behind MEC and MID and also owner of Adena Springs Stud in Kentucky told the Baltimore Sun: "I will do everything I can do to see that racing will get on a healthy footing."

Jesus, could we Americans get so lucky as to not have the BC at freaking Santa Anita again?

Maybe this is the second coming of Jesus.

Lol, Barry. I've never been to a BC, or even to the USA for that matter, but from what regular visitors have told me I gather that the only worse place than Santa Anita that they've been to is Monmouth Park. Even Dettori was quoted in the press, comparing MP to some Italian minor league track and his hotel room to a broom closet!

And the rain at Monmouth Park was so bad that the dirt races were run in a river of sand.

Santa Anita is the nicest facility, but now has the worst track.

I guess that one of the gripes that S Africans have with Santa Anita is that it's the longest journey to any BC venue, but one regular visitor I know of has very little that is good to say about LA generally 'Sh!thole' was the exact word he used, actually! He loves Louisville and NYC, though.

Your friend needs a better tour guide, as Los Angeles and its environs are much more interesting and varied than Louisville and NYC. Also, the women in L. A. hold a phenomenal class edge over the babes in the bluegrass of Kentucky. They all move there to be close to show business.

Well, he is happily married...his real dream town is Vegas, though. If they built a track there and hosted the BC he would be the first to arrive and last to leave! To each his own, I guess.

They had a track in Vegas once, but had to abandon it because of the desert climate. Although the way the weather and technology have change, I would bet they could make a go of it today.

Get one of the casinos involved and heaven knows what kind of a track they might dream up! It wouldn't lack razmatazz, but they might implode the stands and erect newer and fancier ones every couple of years...throw in free hotel accomodation for all participants and the BC would never go anywhere else!

Breeders' Cup could move to Churchill Downs

USA: Breeders' Cup Ltd has given intended 2009 host Santa Anita an ultimatum to either put the bankruptcy issues surrounding its owner Magna Entertainmeny Corporation (MEC) behind it by the end of April or it will lose the event to Churchill Downs.

"It needs to get it done in the very near future," said Cup president Greg Avioli.

"We can't get very far beyond where we are now. We have contracts, hotel rooms, travel plans, a ton of logistics that can't be done until we know for sure."


Santa Anita: under threat


Santa Anita is actually leased to the Oak Tree Racing Association at the time the Cup events are run and Sherwood Chillingsworth, executive director of Oak Tree, said: "Everyone's agreed to it [the Cup at Oak Tree Santa Anita], and no one's opposed to it.

"It's hard to believe that if you have every party to an issue on board with it that it won't get done. But a bankruptcy court is a world unto itself."

The bankruptcy case for MEC is currently in a Delaware court with a judge who is confronted with many complex issues in the case.

Meanwhile, Breeders' Cup attorneys and creditors of MEC have for some time been working on an agreement that would protect the contract for the 2009 meeting even if ownership of Santa Anita were to be transferred to another partry. If reached the agreement still would require the approval of the Delaware court.

Ron Charles, president of Santa Anita, said of a possible agreement: "I think we're really close and I think everyone including Breeders' Cup has a comfort level with it. I'm hoping we can put this to bed."

Churchill Downs has hosted the Breeders' Cup events six times to date and is scheduled to host the event next year as well.

Many athiests are keeping close tabs on these negotiations and some have already prepared statements for release should the Cup be moved to Churchill Downs. These comments will freely admit to the existence of a higher deity, based on the premise that if the BC is not held at Santa Anita for a second consecutive year, it means that there is a God. Be the diety a he or a she, be it black, white, brown, yellow or red. These horse folk that have heretofore denied the existence of a higher being are now prepared to embrace the idea.

Can I get an Amen?

All the best and may your God be with you Barry.