White v. Turfway Park Racing Ass'n, Inc.

718 F. Supp. 615, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8512, 1989 WL 83189
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Kentucky
DecidedJuly 25, 1989
DocketCiv. A. 88-73
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 718 F. Supp. 615 (White v. Turfway Park Racing Ass'n, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. Turfway Park Racing Ass'n, Inc., 718 F. Supp. 615, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8512, 1989 WL 83189 (E.D. Ky. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

BERTELSMAN, District Judge.

This is a diversity action in which the plaintiff alleges that the defendant, a racetrack, committed fraud and negligence in violation of the Kentucky Rules of Racing. The matter is presently before the court on the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, plaintiff’s motion for class certification, and defendant’s motion to reconsider the discovery order of February 8, 1989.

FACTS

On March 23, 1988, the plaintiff in this case, Albert White, and his partner, Leon Hughes, placed a $216.00 bet at Turfway Park. The form of the wager involved was known as a “Pick Six” bet. To win a “Pick Six,” a bettor must pick winners in six *616 consecutive races, races three through eight, on an evening’s race card. A bettor’s picks are contained on a single parimutuel ticket that must be purchased prior to the start of race three, when the Pick Six begins. All Pick Six wagers are pooled for the night and each person who holds a winning ticket is entitled to a proportionate amount of the pool. If no one picks six winners in races three through eight, the pool carries over and is added to the Pick Six pool for the next evening’s races.

On March 23, 1988, White and Hughes picked five of the six horses necessary to win the Pick Six that night. In race seven, the race at issue in this case, they picked the second-place finisher, horse number seven. Horse number five, “Matter of Time,” won the seventh race. Consequently, White and Hughes did not collect any portion of the Pick Six pool. Fifty ticket holders held six winners on March 23, 1988, and they split the Pick Six pool, which totalled $1,474,060.00. Each winning ticket holder received $29,487.00.

Several days after the race, the plaintiff learned that the workout time for the winner of race seven on March 23, Matter of Time, had not been announced prior to the conclusion of the Pick Six wagering. Betting for the Pick Six ends at the start of the third race. The Kentucky Rules of Racing provide:

“(7) No horse which has not started in the past ninety (90) days shall be permitted to start unless it has at least one (1) published workout within twenty (20) days of entry at a distance satisfactory to the stewards of the meeting. In the event that a horse has done the requisite workout, but through no fault of the trainer, such workout does not appear in the past performances, the horse shall be permitted to start and the correct workout time announced.”

Kentucky Rules of Racing, art. XIII, § 2(7), 810 KAR 1:013, § 2(7) (1987). The workout time is “announced” at Turfway by its posting on the video displays terminals located throughout the park.

“Matter of Time,” the winner of the seventh race, was an Irish horse who had never run in the United States. All of the horse’s prior starts had been in Ireland. Consequently, the horse did not have a start in the ninety days prior to the March 23 race.

Plaintiff alleges, and the court accepts as true, that a workout time on Matter of Time had been mailed to the state steward, Bernie Hettle, a week before the race by the horse’s trainer. Turfway kept all workout times on a clip board in the racing stewards’ office. The paddock judge, Gary Smith, was responsible for obtaining the workout times from the stewards’ office and sending them to Galjour Electronics, the company which operated Turfway’s video display system and displayed the workout times to the public. According to the plaintiff, the stewards had no knowledge of whether the workout times were actually communicated to the public because it was the responsibility of the paddock judge to ensure that the public received the information. Plaintiff also asserts that, on the morning of March 23, one of the stewards alerted Gary Smith that a workout time was needed for Matter of Time.

Smith attempted to page Matter of Time’s trainer at 5:00 p.m. on the day of the race to obtain a workout time for the horse. The trainer did not arrive at the track until 6 p.m. that day, however. Before the start of the first race at 7:10 p.m., Smith took a list of workouts to the video room for display. According to the plaintiff, sometime between 7 and 7:30 p.m., Matter of Time’s trainer went to the paddock area and gave Smith a workout card. Smith testified, however, that he discovered the card containing the workout time sometime between the second and third races. Smith stated that when he found the card, he immediately telephoned the workout time to the personnel in the video room for immediate dissemination over the television monitors.

The workers in the video room were employed not by Turfway but by Galjour Electronics, the company which operated Turf-way’s video display system on which workout times are displayed. These employees testified that they do not recall Smith tele *617 phoning them with the workout time. They also stated that it was very busy that night and that it is common for Smith to telephone them with late workout times for immediate dissemination.

The workout time was not posted for Matter of Time that evening. Smith permitted the horse to go from the paddock area onto the track to race. The starter must also approve the entry of all horses in each race, but on the night of March 23, he did not give Matter of Time a starter’s approval card. Matter of Time’s trainer was not notified that the horse had neither a posted workout time nor a starter’s approval card.

Matter of Time went off in the seventh race at 17 to 1 to win, and finished first. At the conclusion of the race, no objection or complaint regarding the running of the race or Matter of Time’s eligibility to run the race was lodged with the stewards. Accordingly, the stewards declared the race results to be “official,” and Turfway paid those bettors holding winning tickets in the race.

Plaintiff did not attend the race, but placed his bets through his partner, Leon Hughes, who did attend. Hughes and White assert that they would have bet on Matter of Time had a workout time for the horse been posted. Hughes left the track immediately after the seventh race. Neither Hughes nor White ever complained to the stewards or filed a complaint concerning the conduct of the stewards with the Kentucky Racing Commission.

Plaintiff filed this complaint on April 19, 1988, alleging that Turfway Park had negligently or fraudulently allowed Matter of Time to enter the seventh race on March 23, in violation of the Rules of Racing established by the Kentucky State Racing Commission. Federal jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship.

Plaintiff seeks to represent the class of bettors who participated in the Pick Six betting of March 23, 1988. On April 19, 1988, plaintiff moved to certify the class of plaintiffs. On May 23, 1988, defendant moved to dismiss. The court denied that motion on July 22, 1988.

On February 8, 1989, the court set a discovery deadline of April 1, 1989. Defendants have moved for the court to reconsider that deadline, and grant them an additional two and a half months to complete discovery. Defendants have also moved for summary judgment.

ANALYSIS

Defendant argues that summary judgment should be granted because the plaintiff’s claims are too speculative to permit recovery.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
718 F. Supp. 615, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8512, 1989 WL 83189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-turfway-park-racing-assn-inc-kyed-1989.