June 16, 2003 – All is not well at the Clinton Phipps Racetrack on St. Thomas. A year ago it looked as if the dilapidated track would soon be spiffy, but today improvements are not completed. Horse owners are not happy about the track or an agreement entered into last year.
Sen. Celestino A. White Sr. is questioning a 20-year lease agreement by the V.I. Horse Racing Commission and the St. Thomas-St. John Racing Commission with EQUUS-St. Thomas Racing and EQUUS-St. Thomas Racing Inc. (E-STRI), which was ratified by the 24th Legislature last year.
White has asked Housing, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ira Hobson to resolve issues in the lease agreement, which White says is not being upheld by EQUUS. And for their part, E-STRI wants out as well.
Lester Ashby, past president of STRI, said in May, "We are disappointed with them. We had the franchise." He said, "EQUUS hasn't lived up to its part of the agreement and that no improvements have been made at the race track."
White, in a release last week, said that "as of June 9, the operating promoter of the Clinton Phipps Racetrack has not paid the horse owners all of the purses from the Carnival 2003 races held two months ago."
White said Monday that he understood the horse owners had received a check, which was announced on Lee Carle's Saturday WSTA radio program. Carle confirmed Monday that James Ashby, head of E-STRI, had called him after he had read White's release on the air.
Ashby told Carle the association had paid the owners a May payment of $13,000 and, Carle said, Ashby faxed him a copy of the check. Ashby didn't return calls Monday.
The agreement has been in question for months. (See "High hopes for horse racing run into hurdles").
The agreement between E-STRI and the association states that the association is to pay "no later than the 10th of each month, a minimum monthly payment of $20,000 or 8 percent of money received from simulcasting, fees paid to simulcast providers, and 10 percent of the handling fees received from the races."
White said in his release, "I am concerned that although simulcasting has generated over $1 million since November 2002, my research reveals that the government had not received its fair share from the profits. We must be cautious here," White said.
White claims now that the group is only interested in simulcasting. He said in a Senate Finance Committee meeting last May that he hoped, "once E-STRI receives its 20-year lease, it will move quickly to improve operations at the track instead of focusing on simulcast activities, which will provide most of the track revenues."
White said Monday, "We are right back at the point where my suspicions have been confirmed. It's time for Hobson to look at the lease in its entirety for breaches. I submit there are many breaches to the lease and it should be pulled – cancelled for nonperformance – and give these local guys the opportunity, and get rid of Puerto Rico."
In his release, White said, " This group (EQUUS) is affiliated with part of the same group that owed the Puerto Rico government millions of dollars."
In a Senate Finance Committee meeting this May, Chairman Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg learned that E-STRI owes the St. Thomas Horse Owners Association monthly payments for September, October and December of 2002 and April 2003.
Donastorg wrote to Attorney General Iver Stridiron and Louis Willis, Internal Revenue Bureau director, about the Pony Parlor's 15 percent surcharge. He asked them to investigate the legality of the charge and whether gross receipt tax is being paid on it. He asked Stridiron whether his office had issued a verbal opinion approving the fee and requested that his office "conduct a full-scale investigation of the various contracts and business arrangements now in effect at the race tracks."
Donastorg said Friday that he has not yet had a response to his inquiries.
White said he is continuing efforts to get the track back into local hands. "I've continued to talk about the lack of improvement at the track; now, more than ever, we must be very vigilant … to ensure we collect our proceeds," he said.
He said if the track's operating promoters are "engaged in the midst of infighting" to the degree that "it affects the government's ability to collect the monies due, we need to protect the government in these dire financial times."
Alvis Christian, spokesman for EQUUS, was off-island Monday, and not available for comment.
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