Three Day Racing Schedule approved
August 14, 2015
By Seth Daniel-Revere Journal
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) approved a three-day racing schedule and a $1.425 million withdrawal from the state’s new Race Horse Development Fund to supplement the meet’s purses, but some 350 local horsemen have withdrawn from their organization and are protesting the move.
“We supported the industry every year for 20 years with the hope that one day gaming would come to the Commonwealth and help our industry,” said Bernie Bramante of Medford, who recently signed on with the new organization, the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “Now, the money is here and we don’t have a shot at it. Now that it has come, the plan is to give it to a bunch of people from out of state.”
That was the unanimous reaction from many of the locals in the industry who felt they had been ripped off after last Thursday’s hearing. Many of those that showed up at the hearing had left the New England Horsemen’s Benevolent Protection Association (HBPA) recently, saying the organization had betrayed them in advocating for a three-day schedule – something the HBPA and Suffolk Downs dispute.
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