A Month Before Kentucky Derby, Michigan Thoroughbred Racing Shuts Down

By Joe Nevills
Daily Racing Form
April 5, 2018

Hazel Park Raceway in southeast Michigan was shuttered Thursday after ownership group Hartman & Tyner announced that the property was in the process of being sold, just under a month before the scheduled opening day of the live race meet.

In a release, Hartman & Tyner revealed that the track has entered into an agreement to sell its assets, and closing of the transaction is expected within the next few weeks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The track was scheduled to begin live racing on May 4.

“Over the past 25 years, the gaming industry has dramatically changed throughout the country,” read a statement from the racetrack. “Clearly, this has had a significant impact on the proud tradition of horseracing throughout Michigan. For nearly 70 years, Hazel Park Raceway has appreciated the hard work and support of both employees and fans, as well as the economic and entertainment value this venue has brought to the community.”

The announcement came one day after horsemen were turned away at the backstretch gate during the track’s scheduled ship-in day for horses. The trailers were eventually allowed in to provide shelter and care for the traveling horses, and they have until April 15 to vacate the barn area. About 42 horses were allowed onto the grounds Wednesday.

“Our focus right now is on the horses and the horsemen right now in Michigan,” said Michigan Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association president George Kutlenios. “We’re trying to get in touch with the other racing secretaries in the surrounding states, and hope that they would be accommodating, given the predicament the horsemen in Michigan are in right now with stalls and stall applications. We’re trying to find everybody a place to land until we can sort out some of these details.”

A meeting took place at the track Thursday morning to inform the roughly 90 employees of the track’s immediate closure. The ownership’s release states that management will attempt to offer transition services to employees to help in their job search. Signs hang outside the facility doors informing patrons of the track’s closure.

“They were informed that the track had been sold to somebody who is not interested in racing,” Kutlenios said. “If they knew this was coming and anticipated something like this, the very least they could have done was to let the horsemen and the people involved in racing know about this so they could have made some plans. These other spring meets are starting up, and stalls are at a premium.”

The closure of Hazel Park marks the fourth Thoroughbred venue to shut its doors in Michigan since 2007, when Great Lakes Downs in Muskegon held its final meet. The horsemen moved to the newly built Pinnacle Race Course in southern Detroit from 2008 to 2010, then to Mount Pleasant Meadows in rural central Michigan from 2011 to 2013, before moving to Hazel Park in 2014. Detroit Race Course, the decades-long home for Thoroughbreds in the state, closed in 1999.

Hazel Park, located in the northern Detroit suburb of the same name, opened in 1949 as a dual-purpose facility for both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds. The five-eighths oval became harness-exclusive from 1985 to 2014, then was converted back to a Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, and Arabian facility in 2014.

Michigan’s lone remaining racetrack following Hazel Park’s closure is Northville Downs, a Standardbred facility on the northwest outskirts of Detroit.

Kutlenios said he was exploring options for the future of Thoroughbred racing in the state, but that Northville Downs was not appropriate for Thoroughbreds, and that there have been no discussions about the possibility of running there. Northville Downs applied for a Thoroughbred meet license for the 2014 season, but it did not meet the Michigan Gaming Control Board’s deadlines for converting the track for the breed.

In the meantime, Kutlenios said he did not expect Michigan will have a live Thoroughbred meet in 2018.

“We have no place to go,” he said. “The horsemen are scattering right now, so even if we were to find something that just amazingly appeared for us, the horsemen have a business to run. Having them come back would be a tall order. Even if we were to find something, horse supply would certainly be the first issue that would come up. It would be dicey, even if we could find something.”

Hartman & Tyner, a Detroit-area property management company, has been in the midst of upheaval in recent years, which has escalated since the death of co-founder and CEO Herbert Tyner in 2015. The Hartman and Tyner families were locked in a years-long legal battle against each other that was settled in July 2017.

Longtime vice president Daniel Adkins filed suit against the company and its principals in January for selling its Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach, Fla., for far less than market value, costing himself and the company millions. The defendants filed a counter-suit against Adkins for mismanagement.

The company also sold its Mardi Gras Casino and Resort, a Greyhound track in West Virginia, earlier this year.

Mary Kay Bean, communications specialist for the Michigan Gaming Control Board, said in a statement from the governing body that the announcement was not surprising given the company’s recent history. The property value for real estate development likely exceeds the profits from racing.

“The Michigan Gaming Control Board will enforce the requirements of Michigan law related to the closure of Hazel Park Raceway,” Bean said. “Our agency will ensure the track makes arrangements for bettors to redeem any unpaid winning pari-mutuel wagering tickets issued at the track by June 5.”

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