Parties reach deal on racetrack suit Rockingham, other tracks end dispute

CONCORD, N.H. – Rockingham Park and the tracks it had accused of conspiring to limit simulcast races reached a preliminary agreement Tuesday to settle the dispute.

Rockingham and the tracks worked out the framework in U.S. District Court.

In exchange, U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico agreed to allow Rockingham Park to drop its petition requesting the other tracks to resume simulcast signals.

Details of the agreement were not made public.

DiClerico warned the lawyers that significant state resources went into pulling together a speedy court hearing and that he expected a deal.

“To stop in the middle of this and have to pick up again later would not be a good thing,” he said. “I expect all parties involved in this to act like professionals and come to an agreement.”

Edward Callahan, Rockingham’s general manager, spent a second day on the stand Tuesday. Around midday during an extended break lawyers representing the tracks named in Rockingham’s lawsuit gathered in the courthouse lobby, describing offers and counteroffers to their clients on cell phones.

By lunch an agreement had been reached in principle.

On Monday, Callahan testified that seven tracks cut off their simulcast signals to Rockingham, causing a drop in revenues he said could put the track out of business in three to six months.

The lawsuit claims those actions have caused “significant and irreparable harm to Rockingham,” the nation’s oldest horse track, and “damaged its business and reputation.” The park has not put a dollar amount on damages.

Callahan said the simulcast signals were pulled in retaliation for his decision to switch from thoroughbred to harness racing after he could not reach agreement with the New England Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, a thoroughbred rider’s advocacy group.

The Maine harness racing industry is concerned that it will be hurt by Rockingham’s switch from thoroughbred to harness racing.

The horsemen’s groups argued that Rockingham needed their permission to show simulcast races from Boston’s Suffolk Downs and Turfway Park in Kentucky. The groups claim Rockingham Park did not have this permission and were in violation of the Interstate Horse Racing Act.