Answered Prayers: Magna to Cease Building Racetracks

I guess Magna’s president Michael Neuman thought he would send shutters through the racing community when he declared that Magna will not build any new race tracks without alternative gaming and a free-enterprise approach. I for one breathed a sigh of relief at this wonderful news. It means that unsuspecting fans will be spared Magna’s warped vision for the future of racing. You don't have to look to far to find proof of this warped vision. Look no further than the new Gulfstream Park, where the average racing fan is marginalized, herded off into the far corners of the facility and can’t find a good seat unless it’s in front of a slot machine. Other missteps like Palm Meadows, which was supposed to be a racetrack, but became a training facility almost as an afterthought because Magna could not secure a pari-mutuel license in Palm Beach County are monuments to Magna's miscalculations. Investors seem to see things pretty much as I do, Magna’s stock has been in steady decline for years now even with the addition of slots at Gulfstream Park stockholders are fleeing.

The only thing that would have been better is if Neuman announced that debt-laden Magna was divesting itself entirely of its racing holdings but at the moment I guess that is just to much to hope for. But if their stock price continues to head south as it has, maybe all my prayers will be answered. If only we could get Stronach extradicted to Austria; has anyone checked his work authorization papers lately?