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| June 16, 2010 With racing getting a boost from casino cash, $5 million equestrian facility in works for East Penn Township In southern Carbon County, not far from the boundary with Schuylkill and Lehigh counties, grass grows knee-high on 50 flat acres flanked by farms. The meadow seems worlds away from the flashing lights and buzzers on a casino floor. Yet the proliferation of gambling halls in Pennsylvania could help turn the rural East Penn Township field into a $5 million equestrian facility, complete with stalls for 360 horses and a harness racing training track, as well as a solarium and aquatic center. Glenn Miller of Macungie is leading a group of investors called Advanced Racing Operations Consultant and Contractors in the development of the facility named Church View Downs. He recognized a need for the facility a few years ago when the state Legislature decided to devote a portion of slots revenue to racing purses. The cash attracted owners and breeders to the state, but created a housing void, Miller said. "You have all these horses breeding and racing to qualify for bigger purses, but the bigger picture is, 'How are you going to take care of these horses?' " he said. Miller hopes an equestrian center in East Penn Township, not far from the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, will give owners a convenient place to stable and train horses between harness-racing events. In this type of racing, Standardbred horses called trotters and pacers pull two-wheeled carts known as sulkies. Church View Downs would be an easy drive to the three harness racing tracks in Pennsylvania — Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Wilkes-Barre, Harrah's Chester in Delaware County and The Meadows near Pittsburgh — and five more in New Jersey, New York and Delaware. "Now that we have Chester Downs and Pocono Downs," said Sam Beegle, president of the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen's Association, "I think that's an ideal place for someone to be putting up a training center." Most tracks have backsides, or backstretches, where owners can stable their horses in 10-foot-by-10-foot stalls, often for free. But racing enthusiasts have noticed a recent shift toward "ship-in" horses, meaning horses that are driven in from nearby farms. Putting a horse up on the farm can be costly, but many prefer the natural environment to a crowded stable. Racetracks in Chester, Delaware County, Freehold, N.J., and Dover, Del., don't have stables and deal exclusively with "ship-in" horses. "Primarily it's turning to that right now," said Rick Kane, the racing secretary at Harrah's Chester. "It's better for horses. They get a chance to be turned out and it's a lot better than being cooped up in a stall in a barn area. It's no different than a person who works in a cubicle all day." Although more than 100 horses travel to Chester on race days, the facility on the Delaware River waterfront has limited space. "There is quite a need for that type of facility in the state because of the advent of slots at racetracks," Kane said. "There are more people at the track and more racing." Ballooning purses are the clearest indication of how casinos have affected horse racing, said Jerry Connors, director of the Sire Stakes and Standardbred Breeders Development Fund at the Pennsylvania State Harness Racing Commission within the state Department of Agriculture. In 2005, he said, harness racing purses totaled $24.8 million. Then came the gaming legislation and the purses grew to $58.9 million in 2007, $93.1 million in 2008 and $108.5 million in 2009. That doesn't include a few million earned on the fair circuit, he said. The prizes attract better-quality horses, make the races more competitive and have a ripple effect on all kinds of businesses. It's no surprise that hay suppliers and barns have seen more customers, but Connors noted that hotels and restaurants near tracks have noticed a bump, too. Corinne Sweeney, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Chester County, said the recession would have hit the industry much harder had it not been for the gaming and racing boost. Business has also been on the upswing in the past few months, she noted. She called Miller's plan for Church View Downs "real documentation" of racing's impact on the economy. The proposed equestrian center's proximity to Sweeney's emergency and non-emergency large animal experts is another selling point, she said. "We are poised to and pleased to treat horses — standard, thoroughbred and everything in between," said Sweeney, who is also chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission. Miller and his partners at AROCC would like to buy a barn across from the main site in the village of Andreas for an institution like New Bolton or Penn State to open a veterinarian clinic. Elaborate final plans call for five barns with 72 stalls each and a solarium and aquatic center in a separate building, Miller said. He also wants to employ local labor, install solar panels on the barn roofs and turn methane gas from manure into electricity. The first structures to go up would be three barns and a five-eighths-of-a-mile track, the regulation size used in harness racing. Owners could use the facility for free, after paying the $450 to $650 monthly stabling fee, according to his proposal. The plans require permits and approval from myriad agencies including the Carbon County Conservation District, the state Department of Environmental Protection and East Penn Township supervisors. Next Monday, Miller expects to appear before the township Planning Commission for feedback on a plan to combine plots of land bought from surrounding neighbors. It's the first of many steps toward his goal. "It will be a total equestrian facility, everything from horse operations to breeding and training better horses, rehabbing them quicker, making them more stable," he said. "It's all about the horse." |
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