Arizona Downs has announced that it will suspend the rest of the summer race schedule as a result of a dispute with a simulcast company.
The Prescott Valley track reopened in May after $7 million in renovations nine years after being closed. It blamed the new suspension on Monarch Content Management, which the racetrack says won’t make its out-of-state racing signals available to its OTB site network.
The racetrack’s owner Tom Auther, issued this statement: “OTBs are the lifeblood of horse racing in our state because they fund the purse distribution to the horse owners, trainers, grooms and jockeys that compete at Arizona racetracks.” He added, “Our OTBs need access to the same robust network of signals that Turf Paradise offers at its OTBs through Monarch.”
A recently adopted requirement by the state legislature, HB 2547, which is due to take effect in August, requires that any simulcast signal of racing brought into the state “must be offered to each commercial live-racing permitted in this state.”
Monarch, owned by the Stronach Group, says it believes Arizona Downs’ OTB sites will cannibalize the Turf Paradise OTB network, and threaten the Phoenix track. It plans to challenge the new law in court under the Interstate Horse Racing Act.
In an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Monarch President Scott Duruty declared “It’s my belief that if Arizona Downs is allowed to go into the Phoenix marketplace and cannibalize the market, then Turf Paradise will not survive long term.” This would, he said, threaten his customers’ access to that content.
Turf Paradise insists that it is not a part of the dispute. Its general manager, Vincent Francia told reporters last week, “This is not a Turf Paradise issue,” he said. “It remains an issue between Monarch and Arizona Downs.”
Auther said the racetrack hopes to open again next season. “We are heartbroken at the prospect of suspending our 2019 summer racing, and for our employees, and all the horsemen, trainers, jockeys and their families who stayed in Arizona to compete in our meet,” he said. said. “However the successful passage of HB 2547 puts us on sound footing for a full summer meet in 2020.”
