Yonkers, NY – The French horse racing wagering organization Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) has had a long-working relationship with many foreign countries sending and receiving races for simulcast. The United States has been one of those countries, with races from Yonkers being simulcast since 2014 into France and other European countries where PMU processes wagers.

After six years of decline in the horse racing betting turnover in France and in order to increase the attractiveness of its domestic races and its domestic betting pools, the PMU has made a change to their business model for 2019 and beyond that will curtail, in part or in whole, its domestic and international simulcasting throughout the world. The consequences and ramifications will be felt all around the racing world through the dozens of racing jurisdictions that enjoyed simulcasting relationships with PMU for many years.

In view of the tremendous working relationship developed among Yonkers Raceway, the Standardbred Owners Association of New York, on behalf of the United States Trotting Association, and the French breed registry Le Trot, other projects besides simulcasting of races will continue to be developed and pursued among the entities into the future.

Le Trot, the SOA of NY and Yonkers Raceway just completed a ground-breaking experiment to purchase 22 French-bred horses that were brought to Yonkers and competed for substantial purses. Those purses were made available by Yonkers Raceway in cooperation with the SOA of NY and were supplemented by Le Trot.

“Much time, effort and money was expended over the years to develop this market with France and we are obviously disappointed with this decision,” said SOA of NY President Joe Faraldo. “Regardless of the decision taken by the PMU, we will continue to work to open up new ventures with our French friends at Le Trot and the PMU, creating imaginative programs  to grow our partnership in the future.”

Guillaume Maupas, racing manager of LeTROT, stated: “The decision taken by the French racing authorities – gallop and trotting – is a major strategic change for 2019. Our main concern was to listen to the French punters regarding the racing offered and the number of bets, in order to re-launch by a new calendar, business and interest on racing (betting and spectacle). Even if we suspend the broadcast of Yonkers races in France next year, members of the board of LeTROT have re-affirmed the importance of the development of our partnership with the US Standardbred Owners Association that has existed for several years now. We will discuss in the next few weeks with President Joe Faraldo how we can orientate and reinforce our actions from 2019.”