The Hialeah Shuffle: Same Old Song and Dance
I’m not usually one to say I told you so, but because of all the talk during the 21st Century about reviving Hialeah Park, I reiterate: I told you so.
More than eight years ago I wrote: “Cheeky Miss captured the 10th race at Hialeah Park on May 22, closing day of the 2001 meeting. Unfortunately, it’s the end of the road for the track that has survived many trials and tribulations since opening in 1925. Tuck away the name of that winning horse in your memory because it will make a good trivia question.”
Hialeah owner John J. Brunetti didn’t believe the Fat Lady had sung. “While the future looks bleak, this has happened before,” he wrote in the May 22 program a week before closing day.
On the following July 1, Florida horse racing entered the deregulation era and Hialeah entered Memoryville. Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course extended their meetings leaving Hialeah with a single uncontested day the next April.
In ’89 when Hialeah ran head-to-head against Calder in late fall, it threw in the towel after nine days.
More than a half-dozen years ago when there was talk of a rebirth, I wrote: “There is a chance Hialeah Park, once considered one of the world’s most beautiful tracks, will hold a meeting in 2003, but don’t bet your last $2 on it.”
There have been various rumors from the New York Racing Association running a winter Hialeah meeting to a Saratoga-type month-long turf festival.
The first grass course in this country was installed in ’33 and hailed for decades as the finest. What many people remember most is the flight of the flamingos that occurred after the seventh race.
Last year when Halsey Minor, multimillionaire founder of CNET Networks, and Brunetti met to talk about resuscitating Hialeah, discussions were called good in various circles.
But I wrote: “After their first meeting in August, Brunetti and Minor each said they expected it would cost upward of $40 million to refurbish the track. If Minor wants to buy the track, it would cost upward to $40 million – if Brunetti agrees to sell. The odds remain high that the track will host racing again.”
That Oct. 2, Minor entertained questions in the printed BloodHorse.com section Talkin’ Horses. I asked:
“How could Hialeah survive during the present Florida deregulation era without the winter dates while Gulfstream and Calder are suffering with declining revenues due to the horrible South Florida economic conditions?
Minor’s reply: “Each suffers from a different problem. On the positive side South Florida has a huge population and an enormous winter vacationer population. The obvious answer is neither has built an experience people are interested in. Why do you go to good movies but not bad movies? They are both movies right?
Say, what? It apparently wasn’t a marriage made in the winner’s circle, according to an article written by Jim Freer that recently appeared on the racing website. It read in part:
“Technology entrepreneur Halsey Minor on Feb. 9 filed a civil suit that maintains John Brunetti, by not holding racing at Hialeah Park since 2001, is in default on agreements under which he purchased the historic racetrack.
”The suit, in which the city of Hialeah also is a defendant, asks a state circuit court in Miami, Fla., to “impose a constructive trust on the subject property in favor of the city of Hialeah and for the use and benefit of its citizens.”
”If the court rules in his favor, Minor said he believes the city would own the track. In that situation, he said he would be interested in leasing, rebuilding, and reopening it. Hialeah Park last held races in 2001.
When told about Minor’s suit, a representative for Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina said the mayor feels that “Mr. Brunetti lived up to all agreements” in the purchase of the track.
The Fat Lady’s song lingers on. Did I say I told you so?
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