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Rival Investors Pay To Keep Track Open For Another Week

VERNON, N.Y. -- Two rival interests competing for control of Vernon Downs agreed Monday to pay $75,000 each to keep the struggling track open for another week while a judge decides who gets to invest in the venue.

Appearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Utica, lawyers for New York City businessman Jeff Gural and Las Vegas-based Vestin Mortgage Co. said the party that ultimately wins the judgment will then pay off the other's $75,000 loan.

Mid-State Raceway, the track's parent company, accepted an $8.5 million financing offer from Gural on Jan. 14. The Mid-State board a few days later then rejected a $9 million offer from Vestin and Shawn Scott, Mid-State's majority owner.

Both offers involved refinancing the track's $26 million mortgage. Board Chairman Paul Noyes said Vestin's offer was too uncertain because Scott was denied a racing license by the state in 2003.

Copyright © Las Vegas Sun. Inc. Republished with permission.

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