Ron Charles Steps Down as Magna Voids Oak Tree, Caruso Contracts

Ron Charles resigned from his post as President of Santa Anita this week - Photo by Terry Miller

By Terry Miller

Santa Anita parent company MI Developments announced this week that Ron Charles, president of Santa Anita Park and Berkeley’s Golden Gate Fields since November 2005, will leave his position effective May 20 of this year.
Frank Stronach, MID’s Chairman, stated, “Ron Charles did a great job at Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields during very difficult times for the horse racing industry. I wish him all the best for the future and I know that Ron will continue to play an important role in improving the future of the California horse racing industry.”
Trading praise with the mogul, Ron Charles said, “Frank Stronach has made a huge commitment to the horse racing industry over the years and in particular, to the California race tracks, Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields. I have great respect for Frank and I will contribute however I can to help Frank put California horse racing back on a sound footing. However, I am also looking forward to taking some time off.”
Following Mr. Charles’ departure, George Haines will continue to be the General Manager of Santa Anita Park and Robert Hartman will continue to be the General Manager of Golden Gate Fields.
The move by Mr. Charles comes during an extremely uncertain time for Arcadia’s Santa Anita Park, which made headlines this week amid rumors that the non-profit Oak Tree racing Association may pull up its stakes and head south to Hollywood Park.
Answers to questions about what’s going on with Santa Anita and the Oak Tree Racing Association’s upcoming fall meet, like so much else in the sport, depend largely on just whom you ask.

Oak Tree is the non-profit racing association that has leased Santa Anita for fall racing since 1969. It also was host to the 2008 and 2009 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. But the longstanding relationship between Oak Tree and Santa Anita may be coming to an end, as Oak Tree may be making a move to Hollywood Park.
After two successful Breeders’ Cup events, Santa Anita was under consideration as permanent host site of the prestigious racing event.
In keeping with traditions of the sport, an online horseracing news source even published odds regarding the future of the track. Bill Christine, who covered horse racing for 24 years for the Los Angeles Times, wrote Tuesday on horseraceinsider.com that it is “time to bet the future book on the Oak Tree Sweepstakes, also known as the Magna Handicap or The Great Chillingworth-Stronach Match Race.”
According to Christine, what will happen between Oak Tree and Santa Anita come fall is anything but certain.
Christine: “I called Tijuana to get the odds:
THAT Oak Tree, recently evicted at Santa Anita by its Frank Stronach-led landlord, MI Developments, will move its fall meet to Hollywood Park, and the Breeders’ Cup will run its 2011 races there. 20-1
THAT Santa Anita and Stronach will seize Oak Tree’s dates and become the host for the 2011 Breeders’ Cup. 25-1
THAT Oak Tree will move its dates to Del Mar, and the Breeders’ Cup, needing a wider turf course than Del Mar’s, will announce that its 2011 races will be run at Belmont Park. 30-1”
Any takers?
Matters are further complicated by uncertainty surrounding the long-term future of Hollywood Park, as plans made by the Hollywood Park Land Co. to demolish the Inglewood track and develop the 238-acre site are moving ahead. Though, according to one representative of the company, those plans are on hold, somewhat ironically, until the economy improves enough to justify the demolition. Until then, the representative said, racing will continue on a meet-to-meet basis. Hence the relatively favorable odds that Oak Tree will end up running in Inglewood this fall.
Just weeks after Oak Tree thought their lease had been renewed, MI Developments ended terminated the lease that allows the Oak Tree Racing Association to operate at Santa Anita Park.
MI Developments CEO Dennis Mills spoke with Beacon Media Monday afternoon.

“We want to make Santa Anita work, but we have a real challenge to keep the business sustainable. We are starting from scratch,” he said, referring to the negotiations slated to begin this week.
Arguing that the current business model at Santa Anita needs to be significantly improved, Mills said that he hoped the parties involved could roll up their sleeves and come to a new agreement.
Mills asserted that the business of horse racing in general needs to be reevaluated and revamped.
Asked why he believed horse racing industry was suffering, Mills cited casinos, satellite wagering, online betting and a dwindling horse population were contributing factors. Mills said that since January, there are 600 less racehorses on the circuit.
On the other side of the sandbags, Oak Tree Director and Executive Vice-President Sherwood Chillingworth said he agreed with many of Mills’ assertions, but challenged the lack of horses, saying that there are a large number of two-year-olds now entering into the fold.
It’s no secret that Santa Anita and its recently-restructured parent company are in need of new and larger sources of revenue, and Santa Anita is one place they are looking.
“Under U.S. bankruptcy law, you have the opportunity to give the asset a fresh start,” Mills said, “We want to give this asset (Santa Anita) a totally clean slate.”
Prior to April 30, Santa Anita was owned by Magna Entertainment Corp., which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in March 2009. As part of that reorganization, Santa Anita track was transferred to MEC’s parent company, MI Developments. Both companies are owned by Frank Stronach.
After the reorganization MI Developments had essentially 15 days to revise its lease agreements.
While Oak Tree could potentially lose the lease, Chillingworth said he is hoping for a positive outcome. “We hope [MID] will negotiate with us in good faith,” he said.
According to Mills, there are a number of things to be discussed in hopes of maximizing profits for the track. He has proposed that racetracks consider fewer racing dates or running more races at night.

According to Chillingworth, the negotiations may last well into mid-June. If the lease is not renegotiated, then Oak Tree would have to find another track, likely Hollywood Park or Del Mar. Perhaps hinting at the former, Chillingworth said he believes that the poor state of the Southern California real estate market meant racing would likely continue at Hollywood Park for a few more years.
Arcadia City Councilmen Bob Harbicht and Mickey Segal have written a letter requesting a meeting with Stronach “as soon as possible” to discuss the city’s concerns about actions taken by MI Deevelopments, the parent company of Santa Anita Racetrack . The council is particularly concerned with Canadian mogul Frank Stronach’s dealings with developer Rick Caruso, who plans to build an 800,000 foot shopping mall in the park’s south parking lot.
Last month, Mills said that this deal too would be “re-examined” in an effort to extract more profits. Caruso has said that he, much like the Arcadia City Council, hopes to meet with MID officials soon.
Photographs by Terry Miller- Copyright 2010 – All Rights Reserved

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