Thu, 15 August 1996
Hi Al,
With all the bad publicity about Trinity Meadows, and the aspersions cast
over TX racing in general due to the one track, I was very happy to see
that Gary West wrote about some of the positive things going on right now.
This is from the Dallas Morning News two days ago.
The first good thing was the update on Lone Star Park's construction. Currently, the floor is being poured for the fourth floor, while work is continued on the other floors. It really *is* rising out of the ground now. The base is being finished for the turf course--I believe they are scheduled to bring in the sod for that within the next week or two. At the same time, the foundations for the barns have been poured. The first barns are supposed to be up this week, with more barns added at the rate of--oh darn, I can't remember-- two every three weeks or the reverse, three every two weeks. Whichever it is, it is clear progress.
Lone Star's simulcasting has maintained very well. It makes me very happy to open the paper every day, and see that the attendance and handle keep holding. The handle seems to average somewhere around $300 per person, with attendance holding around 2,000 per day. We may not be the biggest yet, but Lone Star has nowhere to go but up-especially if you look at the trends of all the other TX tracks. They have started more slowly and built over time. Even assuming a more modest increase in attendance and handle than the other tracks saw, LSP looks to be able to generate larger purses and the better fields that go with it.
Gary West also indicated that Tom Amoss, a trainer currently based in KY but formerly a leading trainer in Louisiana, plans to bring his stable to TX. Personally, I feel that the more attention we draw to people that believe LSP will go well, the better off we are. The more big trainers that publicly plan on coming to Texas, the more trainers will be open to the idea of moving their stables here. Gary West had reported some time ago (maybe before the Citation Challenge) the Donnie Von Hemmel also planned to bring his stable to TX. If any of you reading this know of a trainer who plans on coming to Lone Star's opening, please let me know so I can post it!
Well, that is all I can think of right now. The sale is now 4 days and counting. See ya there.
Later,
Jill
Jill Tittle 
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Life is not a spectator sport
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The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com/alauck)