The real issue here is Frank Stronach trying to destroy all the other racing associations who run in the same areas and jurisdictions as his tracks. He's already managed to take the October dates away from the Oak Tree Association (a charity group, for god's sake); he doesn't have to do anything about Hollywood Park, since the owners want to tear it down anyway, the same way they did Bay Meadows (for no good reason, since it is still a field of wreckage).
And it isn't as though his management of such facilities is a shining example to the industry. He has run Maryland racing into the ground; he (or his corps of lackeys) messed up the installation of an AW surface at Santa Anita TWICE (Hol and Dmr only had to do it once), then whined to the state commission about the cost; the less said about his fan-unfriendly remake of GP the better; and now he wants to put Calder out of business and turn GP into Aqueduct Inner South. Is is megalomania? Does he so desperately need to wring every penny out of his track properties? I would have hoped that the state commissions would have shown a little more breadth of vision and backbone in dealing with such a bully.
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