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Live racing begins on windy day at Hollywood Gaming MVRC
Inaugural Race
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November 24, 2014 marked the first horse race to take place at the Mahoning Valley Race Course.
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
The crowd was chanting “Go! Go!” as the horses came down the backstretch as the first live race was underway on a windy Monday at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course.
Between 100 and 120 seats were reserved in the upper grandstand area, but because of the warm weather many patrons stood near the finish line to see how the horses would finish.
A ceremony took place before the first race featuring local, Hollywood Gaming and parent company Penn National Gaming Inc. officials. They discussed the process that led to live racing and the facility’s locating in the township.
Robert Schmitz, Ohio State Racing Commission chairman, along with Mark Munroe, Mahoning County Republican Party chairman and commissioner of the racing commission, discussed how live racing was returning to the Mahoning Valley 100 years after the first race at historic Southern Park Racetrack. It once sat at the intersection of U.S. Route 224 and Market Street in Boardman.
Munroe said the first thoroughbred race there was in July 1915.
“Here we are 100 years later and racing is back,” Munroe said. “It was a challenge getting here, but my hat’s off to Penn Gaming.”
He and Schmitz acknowledged the debate over horse stalls between the racing commission and Penn National — which was settled in March for 13 barns with 988 stalls.
Both Munroe and Schmitz thanked Gov. John Kasich, whose 2012 racinos bill allowed for the state to now open seven facilities.
“They saw the wisdom of a racetrack and a gaming floor,” Schmitz said. “We’re glad Austintown will be one of the chief beneficiaries of the jobs and progress around here.”
He also noted the amount of jobs instrumental for racing, from jockeys to the many workers needed for the upkeep of the horses.
Dave Basler, executive director of the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said: “I think we’ve created a year-round circuit now with Thistledown so Ohio horsemen no longer have to leave the state.”
Jim Davis, Austintown trustee, gave a proclamation to Mike Galle, general manager and vice president of Hollywood Gaming, determining that the fourth Monday in November will be Hollywood race day and thoroughbred race day in the township.
“We are overwhelmed by the support received by Mahoning Valley and Northeast Ohio,” Galle said. “Based on our response to simulcast racing, we are confident that this grandstand is going to be rocking every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday for live racing.”
Local officials included all three Austintown trustees along with other township officials; Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler, a former township trustee; state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-33rd; state Rep. Robert Hagan, D-58th; state Rep. Ronald Gerberry, D-59th; and newly elected state Reps. Michael O’Brien, D-64th, and Michele Lepore-Hagan, taking her husband’s seat.
RACING
Baby Time took the first race at Hollywood Gaming.
And then someone took Baby Time.
The horse, claimed by trainer Joe Poole for $4,000, won the $8,500 purse race for the claiming race of 3-year-olds and up.
In a claiming race, each horse is for sale at a determined price. Poole, who has stalls at Hollywood Gaming, had set his eye on Baby Time as the horse walked in the paddock area before the inaugural race.
Baby Time, the seventh horse, was followed by Take A Walk, 11, and Don’t Slip, 1. Some people noted the 7-11 combo at the top of the first race.
Poole said he looks at forms and uses his knowledge of the business to determine whether to put a claim on a horse.
He said the facility has been good to horsemen, so far.
He explained that as the purses in the state have increased, Ohio horsemen have to keep getting good horses to run.
Due to increased and stabilized purses in the Buckeye State, interest has grown from East Coast states as well as Kentucky and Illinois, historically strong horse states.
“The way that casinos are taking off, you’re going to have to have those better horses,” said Poole.
Chris McErlean, vice president of corporate racing at Penn National, said crews were able to work on the track and figure out some kinks due to last week’s winter weather.
“There’s some little things that we’re finding out now that we have horses on the ground and now that we have everyone in their positions,” he said. “Our track crew is probably going to be working 24/7 on the track. It’s a lot of manual labor on it.”
McErlean said he believes the track will fall into an average of 8 or 81/2 horses per race, above the current industry average based on national declines in the amount of young horses.