TULSA (AP) — The live meet at Fair Meadows Racetrack has become an embarrassment, with pari-mutuel clerks unable to provide change and TV monitors so foggy viewing is impossible, horse owners and a horse trainer at the track said last week.

Jerry Lowry, a Broken Arrow horse owner, went to the live meet hoping to purchase a few horses to race.

"But after the first day," Lowry said, "we just decided it wasn't worth it. I wouldn't bring my wife out there."

On the same day, Lowry handed a clerk a $100 bill for a $20 bet and received an $80 voucher in return.

"I just about threw it away," he said.

Trainer Mike Teel, who in years past has brought as many as 50 horses to Fair Meadows, said this year he might run 25.

"Nobody wants to run there," Teel said. "Instead of going to Fair Meadows, I have to find somewhere else to go, so I send horses to Lone Star Park in Dallas."

Lowry, Teel and others say Fair Meadows' track remains in good condition but that the rest of the facility has been allowed to deteriorate.

They point to a reduction in the number of concession stands, limited hours for the eateries that are open, the removal of picnic tables and misters in the paddock area, broken fans in the test barns and TV monitors with unclear pictures.

Horse owner Jim Skinner said parking is a problem because fairgrounds officials accommodate other events first, leaving parking spaces near the track off-limits to the horsemen and entrances and exits blocked.

"They don't seem to care anything about the horsemen," Skinner said. "They're like second-class citizens."

Skinner thinks he knows why: a 15-year agreement that Fair Meadows signed with three Tulsa-area tribes in 2005.

The deal calls for the racetrack to receive a minimum of $2 million a year from the tribes in lieu of installing gambling machines. As part of the agreement, Fair Meadows is required to run at least 400 live races a year.

"My gut feeling is they don't really care; they're going to get the money anyway," Skinner said.

Ron Shotts, Fair Meadows' director of racing, rejects Skinner's assertion.

He said that while some of the horsemen's complaints, such as the disruption in parking, are legitimate, others are not, or have since been rectified.

The bottom line, Shotts said, is that the live meet's bottom line is bad, and with that comes constraints on what he can spend. Last year the meet lost $731,188.

Still, more than $100,000 has been spent on maintenance and improvements to the racetrack since last year's meet ended, Shotts said.

In addition, the racetrack continues to try to boost wagering on its live races by increasing the number of locations the meet is broadcast around the country.

"I wish I had all the money in the world to go in and clean up the grandstand," he said. "I would like to tear the whole thing down; it's an obsolete facility.

"But we could build a grandstand and there is no way it would ever make economic sense because the public just doesn't come to horse races."

Shotts said he's sympathetic - to a point - with the horsemen's assertion that, without them, the racetrack would not be getting $2 million a year from the local tribes.

"But the only reason we have an opportunity to run 400 races is because we have a fairgrounds and a fair meet," Shotts said, referring to the state law under which Expo Square is permitted to hold races.

He said it's important to remember that Fair Meadows is not Will Rogers Downs in Claremore or Remington Park in Oklahoma City - racetracks first and foremost. The racetrack, completed in 1989, is part of a larger operation, Expo Square, and thus must make its budget decisions within that context.

"It's not the only thing we do here," he said. "At Remington Park and Will Rogers Downs, that's all they do. If it wasn't for the casino at Will Rogers and the casino at Remington Park, they wouldn't be open either."

Fair Meadows' and Expo Square's fates are intertwined, and an essential element of each organization's budget is the annual $2 million in tribal funds.

Without the funds, the racetrack would lose money every year, and the fairgrounds would lose money more often than not.

Over the last five years, for example, Fair Meadows has made at least $1.4 million a year - revenue that is included in the fairgrounds' overall budget.

During that same time, the fairgrounds has never made more than $1 million in a single year and has lost as much as $1.2 million.

Mark Andrus, Expo Square president and CEO, said he expects his staff to respond to the horsemen's concerns just as they would any other client of the fairgrounds.

But, he added, "some improvements may not be realistic or economically feasible. We do not need an 8,000-seat, $14 million grandstand for a dwindling audience."

Horse racing is ultimately about betting. If people aren't watching the races - whether in person or through simulcast feeds — they're not likely to be betting on them, either.

The trends don't bode well for Fair Meadows' live meet. The event's live handle, or money waged at the track, and simulcast revenue have shrunk each of the last four years.

That means less money for purses. Smaller purses attract fewer quality horses. Fewer quality horses means fewer people watching and wagering, and ultimately less money for payouts.

"If you bet $20 out there (Fair Meadows), you would make the horse the favorite," said Jerry Lowry, the Broken Arrow horse owner.

That's one reason he and other horsemen would like to see the track do more advertising.

That's unlikely to happen. Shotts said he did almost no advertising this year, and he's not planning to do any in the future.

"There is no way, if you put the numbers to it, that I can increase my business and handle enough to pay for the cost of advertising," he said.

And so the vicious cycle continues spiraling downward.

"I don't think anyone to this day knows Fair Meadows is open," Lowry said. "I wouldn't take anyone out there."

The Fair Meadows live meet runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through July 23. Admission is free.