January 14, 2005

HTA/TRA AGENDA WILL COVER WIDE RANGE
OF MANAGEMENT, TOTE, COMMISSION ISSUES

The agenda for the 2005 annual joint meeting of HTA and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, set for March 8-12 at the Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells, California, will cover a wide range of important and fast changing issues facing racing management and racing commissions in North America.

Association business sessions will occupy most of the day on Wednesday, March 9, with the two general discussion sessions scheduled for Thursday and Friday mornings, the 10th and 11th. There will be a welcoming reception Wednesday evening for all attendees and a luncheon for all on Thursday noon, with the annual Nova Awards to owners of the champion horses of 2004 to be held Friday evening, with a cocktail reception at 6:30 and dinner and entertainment starting an hour later.

Here are some, but not all, of the subjects scheduled for presentations:

• Betting Exchanges: Answers to Their Challenge
• Customer Relationship Management and Technology Solutions
• Racing Commissions: A Very Different View
• Evolving Totalisator Technology: A Look at the Future
• Racing in a Wireless World
• Marketing Racing as Racing, and Returning Lost Patrons to the Track
• Medication: Where It Stands Today
• New Bets and New Approaches to Betting
• Indian Gaming: Its Continuing and Changing Impact on Racing
• Tapping Into Pop Culture to Capture New Racing Fans

If you haven’t made your room reservations as yet, better do so soon with Cindy at HTA. Our bloc will be gone early in February, and Grand Champions is a busy resort. Your airport destination is Palm Springs, and the hotel is 15 miles south, either by Freeway or a scenic but busy business thoroughfare through Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage. Ontario, CA, is an option, 70 miles away.