MUNICH (dpa) – Germany’s harness racing tracks ended a disappointing year on a note of gloom. Nearly all of the nation’s major clubs suffered from slacking attendance, sagging betting revenues and soaring operational costs.
But the crunch to an ailing industry came when Berlin’s traditional trotting course Karlshorst shut down for good at the end of 2001. The collapse of Karlshorst, Berlin’s “other” trotting course along with Mariendorf in the western part of the capital, is seen as a warning to the rest of the harness racing community.Before reunification, Karlshorst was the only harness racing track in communist East Germany, dating back to a few weeks after the end of World War Two when Soviet occupation commander General Nikolai Berzarin gave permission for racing to resume in the eastern sector. Before WWII, Karlshorst was the pinnacle of hurdle and steeple chase racing, until later converted into a trotting track in East Germany.In its East German heyday, Karlshorst attracted as many as 30,000 visitors at a meeting, who pushed as much as half a million east German marks through the totalisator. Meanwhile, trainers Karl-Heinz Brendike and Bernd Klein, have appealed to the Treuhand, the trust set up after reunification to administer government properties, whose contract with Karlshorst still has three years to run.Arguing that attendance and betting had actually improved last year, they called on the Treuhand to seek a group to rescue the track. The Berlin trotting association BTV, which was responsible for both tracks, shut down Karlshorst for what it said were financial reasons. The BTV took over administration of both tracks 18 months ago.Although final returns are not in yet, projected figures on the basis of handle per race indicate that turnover in Germany’s major trotting tracks is down sharply. Both Recklinghausen and Gelsenkirchen in the trotting-crazy industrial Ruhr area posted drops of 7.52 per cent and 6.15 per cent respectively in turnover per race, followed by Munich’s Daglfing, down 3.95 per cent, and Hamburg’s Bahrenfeld, down marginally 0.97 per cent.Likewise in the Ruhr, the “B” track Dinslaken was up a marginal 0.44 per cent. Ironically, Mariendorf suffered a minus 4.35 per cent betting per race, while its rival in East Berlin, the now defunct Karlshorst, posted a hefty 10.27 per cent increase. As a silver thread in the general gloom, some of the smaller “B” tracks like Pfaffenhofen, Straubing, Pfarrkirchen and Muehldorf in the southern state of Bavaria all posted solid gains. Hence, all may not be lost for the major clubs.Max Stadler, an idealistic businessman who took over management of Munich’s Daglfing track last year despite its ongoing crisis, is convinced that the solution to trotting’s woes is to make the sport more popular.“The trotting sport has to become popular or else it will continue to go on a downward trend,” Stadler told a recent press conference.“A lot is in motion and every thing is in flux,” Stadler said. “I’m optimistic we can make progress in 2002, but pessimistic, if we fail to make the sport popular.”Daglfing, once one of Germany’s foremost harness racing tracks rivalling Hamburg and Berlin in the 1930s up to the present, celebrates its 100th anniversary on June 21, which the Munich Trotting and Bloodstock Association (MTZV) intends to use to better the track’s tense financial condition.Celebration of the track’s centennial will reach its highlight on June 23, with the staging of a one-time “Jubilee” race inscribed with a stately 50,000 euros. A gala evening will also take place at a luxury hotel on June 21, to mark the occasion, which Stadler is convinced will be worth the 7,000 euro strain on the MTZV’s budget.“The jubilee year is a piece of luck,” Stadler said. “Through it, we can call more attention to us through the media.”Regarding Daglfing’s financial straits, Stadler admitted that the track suffered another deficit in 2001, but that it was covered. “I cannot say whether or not a new credit will be neccessary in 2002, but I can say that there will be no financial bottleneck.”And as part of his drive to make the sport more popular, Stadler has lined up Klaus Koch, a German-speaking Dane, who brings with him experience and contacts acquired during a ten-year stint at Sweden’s famed Solvalla race track. With the advent of the euro, Germany’s race tracks have decided on a basic bet of 1.5 euros for combinations, and 2 euros for win and place, which means a de facto increase in the minimum wager.However, according to some observers, who advocated a one euro minimum bet, it remains to be seen whether the hiked euro wagers will boost betting handle at a time of recession and rising unemployment.
