|
||
|
No horse racing at 2011 Western Montana Fair;
proponents focus on 2012 Missoula, MT - May 4, 2011 - Too little time, too many maybes. For the fourth summer in five years, Missoula won't have horse racing in August at the Western Montana Fair. Instead, the focus will be on reviving the flailing sport for 2012. "The dice was just too big and heavy to roll," Missoula County fairgrounds director Steve Earle said. The decision came at a meeting Tuesday morning between Earle, two senior members of the Western Montana Turf Club, Missoula County chief administrative officer Dale Bickell and Ryan Sherman, executive director of the Montana Board of Horse Racing. "There are so many ifs and buts about the whole thing," said a disappointed Toni Hinton of the turf club. "It was everything together: the shortage of horses, trying to do everything in three months, not getting accurate (funding) numbers ... "We thought about it, but then I thought, you know, instead of just scraping by this year, I guess if we did it in 2012 and the turf club was involved, we have an opportunity to make this an every-year thing again." Between projected funding from the state board, the county and the turf club through sponsorships, enough money was probably available to put on a successful meet. But with Eric Spector out of the picture, there was no one to put his or her head on the financial chopping block. "You've still got to have a licensed and bonded contractor, and you've got to have somebody who can face the prospect" of losing money, Earle said. Spector and his company came in from California and produced the races in Great Falls and Missoula last year, after securing the state simulcast contract the year before. He relinquished the latter under pressure in November, and the racing commission obtained full legal control of off-track betting when Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed a bill stating as much into law last Friday. Earle said he met with Merritt Pride, a horseman from Twin Bridges who was willing to produce the races at his home track of Great Falls and Missoula. But Pride's negotiations with Cascade County fell through last month, in large part because the county wouldn't agree to a two-year contract. That now appears to have started a domino effect. Read More: The Missoulian |
||
|
|
