Local Bettors Left Out by New Cable Network

Attempting to catch up with the competition, Magna Entertainment announced this week that it is launching a 24-hour cable television network that will provide complete coverage of the 13 tracks it controls, including Santa Anita.

But the coverage won’t be immediately available in the Los Angeles area, where racing fans have been short-changed since the Santa Anita meet began Dec. 26.

Essentially, Magna’s HorseRacing TV network (HRTV) is where the Television Games Network (TVG) was four years ago, when its parent company, Gemstar-TV Guide International, invested about $200 million to launch a racing channel. Since then, TVG’s losses have reportedly passed the $100-million mark.

Under a different name, HRTV began as a satellite service that cost subscribers $100 a month after they paid about $450 in installation costs.

This week, Magna announced that HRTV is now part of the free basic service for Time Warner digital cable customers in San Diego.

Magna hopes to expand HRTV’s market into L.A., but for now, local horseplayers are left with less TV coverage than when Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Fairplex Park are open, or even when Oak Tree ran its fall meet at Santa Anita. The Oak Tree Racing Assn., a tenant of Santa Anita’s and the group that will play host to the Breeders’ Cup races there on Oct. 25, had a deal with TVG, as did Hollywood Park and the others. TVG also covers the year-round quarter horse racing at Los Alamitos.

Santa Anita’s races also aren’t appearing on the Fox network this season because Fox, like TVG, is owned by a partnership that includes Gemstar. For Los Angeles viewers, the only live Santa Anita TV coverage at this meet comes during a five-hour window on Saturday afternoons, when an HRTV show is carried by KDOC-TV.

“We would like to have Southern California racing on the Fox show year-round,” said Mark Wilson, president of TVG.

“We would put Santa Anita’s races on our network immediately if its owner was willing to do business with us on similar terms to which 60 racetracks, including all of the other tracks in California, have agreed.”

Both the California Horse Racing Board and the Thoroughbred Owners of California feel that television coverage is crucial in increasing betting handles by telephone and the Internet, forms of wagering that were introduced to Californians a year ago.

Although more than $150 million was bet from home in the state last year, the racing board and the owners’ group have been frustrated by the fighting between Magna and its competitors. TVG has its own betting system but cannot take bets on races at Magna tracks, which are linked to their own betting company, called XpressBet. A third company, Youbet.com, is also licensed to take phone and Internet bets in California.

Magna, with racetrack holdings in California that also include Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows, had been under pressure from the racing board to get HRTV rolling.

“It has always been part of our strategy to support the growth of our racing and wagering operations with the broadest possible TV distribution of live horse racing,” said Jim McAlpine, president of Magna Entertainment. “HRTV provides exclusive TV coverage to some of the best racing in North America.”

Magna Entertainment has tracks in nine states besides California. The suburban Toronto company, a subsidiary of Frank Stronach’s international automobile-parts empire, said that besides its own tracks, HRTV will cover races from about 60 other tracks. The on-air personalities include Kurt Hoover, Jon White, Peter Lurie, Laffit Pincay III, Randy Sparage, Jeff Siegel, Millie Ball and John DeSantis. Live programming will take up 15 hours a day, with the balance of the time filled by race replays and horse-related educational features.

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Before Mayakovsky’s allowance win in his grass debut at Santa Anita on Thursday, trainer Patrick Biancone had planned to return the 4-year-old colt to the dirt in the $1-million Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25.

But now Biancone is thinking about keeping Mayakovsky at Santa Anita for the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Turf on the same day. On Sunshine Millions day, eight races -- four at each track -- will be worth a combined $3.6 million at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita. The races are restricted to horses bred in California and Florida.

Besides the Classic, other races at Gulfstream will be the $350,000 Filly and Mare Turf; the $250,000 Filly and Mare Sprint and the $250,000 Dash. The races at Santa Anita, in addition to the Turf, will be the $750,000 Distaff, the $250,000 Sprint and the $250,000 Oaks.

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Biancone said Thursday that he’s planning to ship Whywhywhy to Gulfstream for the $200,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes on Feb. 15. The Fountain of Youth and the $1-million Florida Derby, at Gulfstream on March 15, are Grade I preps for the Kentucky Derby.

Whywhywhy, who had won three consecutive stakes, ran 10th as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Arlington Park in October, which was his last race of the year. The son of Mr. Greeley was clocked in :49 3/5 Friday, one of the slowest half-mile times on the Santa Anita workout tab.

The Fountain of Youth is also expected to draw Toccet, another Breeders’ Cup disappointment who rebounded to win the Hollywood Futurity, and the undefeated Sky Mesa, who was scratched the day before the Breeders’ Cup.