Harness Tracks of America press release

Tucson, AZ — Harness Tracks of America President Paul Fontaine of Plainridge Racecourse in Massachusetts has announced the addition of Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway as HTA’s newest member, “adding strength and increased solidarity to the roster of HTA tracks, building on our goal of creating a united front and source of information for North American racetracks large and small.

“The addition of Yonkers continues the process begun under previous President Hugh Mitchell of streamlining and restructuring our nearly 70-year-old organization, enabling us to stand together on issues of importance within the often fragmented racing and gaming industries within which we now operate.”

In tipping his hat to the late, great HTA Executive Vice President Stan Bergstein, current ex¬ecutive vice president Paul Estok said, “Stan and I spent a great deal of time over the course of the last year talking about ways to move HTA forward into an evolving business environment, remaining flexible yet pushing an agenda that will benefit racing and gaming in areas as diverse as marketing and integrity, and doing it within a framework that allows for all of the industry stakeholders to work toward common goals while remaining autonomous.”

Fontaine added, “This is the first of what I promise will be a dynamic series of moves to show the racing industry that we are ready to meet the demands of the future with a willingness to work with others on any and all issues. Yonkers has long been and continues to be one of the great flagship tracks in our harness racing world. To add this impressive institution to our roster is a great day for HTA and we will hopefully provide Yonkers with all the benefits that our mem-bers have come to expect and appreciate.”

Industry titan Timothy Rooney and his strong right arm Bob Galterio will join the HTA Board as Directors for Empire City at Yonkers Raceway.