NEWS & VIEWS Bits & Pieces continued from page 12
trend continues when Fasig-Tipton returns to Timonium for the Eastern Fall Yearling Sales in October; see
equiery.com/blog for more details.
Laurel Park Redevelopment Plan
Originally fi led with Anne Arundel County in 2006 and set to have expired in June of this summer, the Maryland Jockey Club updated its application to redevelop the 100-year-old race track, Laurel Park, into a hotel/dining/retail complex that ostensibly would compliment the racetrack. Changes to the 387-acre site would include a new 8,250-seat clubhouse and grand- stand near Route 198 (opposite the current grandstand) and a 350-room hotel, plus 9,200 parking spaces, restaurants and retail stores. T e redevelopment plan had been backburnered while the Maryland Jockey Club faced its slots battles. For more details, see
equiery.com/blog.
Penn National Queues Up for Legislative Session
Penn National, in its quest to bring slots to
Rosecroft Raceway in P.G. County, will not only have to get the state law changed regard- ing jurisdictions, it will also have to convince legislators to change the law that prohibits a company from having more than one slots li- cense (Penn National owns the Cecil County slots parlor). If the lawmakers approve, then the issue goes to a statewide referendum. Penn National has released the names of the
lobbyists they have retained for the upcoming session. T eir dream team includes Gerard E. Evans (former aide to Senate President Mike Miller, D-Calvert) and Nicholas G. Manis (who used to coach House Speaker Mike Busch, D- Anne Arundel), Sean Malone (former aide to Governor O’Malley), and Lisa Harris Jones. For more details, see
equiery.com/blog.
Ocean Downs Dedicates $300,000 to Promote Harness Racing
Maryland’s only active harness racing track, Ocean Downs, is dedicating $300,000 to Dela-
ware’s Pocomoke Fair for the purpose of gener- ating new interest in harness racing. T e owner of Ocean Downs, Montgomery County resident Bill Rickman, is quoted in
delmarvanow.com: “All of us at Ocean Downs, like our friends in Pocomoke, are absolutely committed to ensuring that the sport of harness rac- ing continues to thrive here in Maryland. Both of our organizations have enjoyed a long tradition of harness racing, and we are pleased that we can help to ensure the fu- ture of harness racing at the fair.”
Is it just this publisher, or does anyone else
fi nd it interesting that while all the race tracks (Laurel, Pimlico, Rosecroft) around Ocean Downs seem suff er from a roller-coaster drama, Ocean Downs just keeps doing its thing, run- ning a cute little track, hosting races and put- ting in slots? No drama. Mr. Rickman seems to embody two quotes: “If you can keep your head when all about
you are losing theirs…yours is the earth and everything that’s in it.” (from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If ”.) “T e competitor to be feared is one who
never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” (Henry Ford)
Corrections
In the article about the Seneca Valley Pony Club turning 50 in the July issue (page 21), the following two names were
misspelled:
Sissy Ewald-Fleming and Karrie Recknor. Our apologies!
OPINION
Why Penn National Should Let the Horsemen Back into Rosecroft by Nancy Lisi, Communications Coordinator for Preserve Harness Racing Group LLC. On July 6th at Laurel Park the Maryland
Racing Commission held a public hearing on Penn National’s application for a license at
Rosecroft Raceway to permit simulcasting and live harness racing at the track. Horsemen from Prince George’s County and the greater Washington area, many of whom used Rosecroft as their training and stabling area before it closed, had no choice but to sup- port the permit application, because without it live racing would not return to Rosecroft. T e Maryland Racing Commission placed conditions on the approval of the license. If the conditions are met and the license is issued, our group would like to see a dialogue opened with Penn National Gaming, the track’s new owner, to address the problems faced by our area’s horse owners and trainers, and make Rosecroft once again a contributor to the local economy. Four barns, with about 140 stalls, remain at the Rosecroft facility. T e use of about 60 of these stalls would go a long way toward reestab- lishing Rosecroft as a training center. Having resident horsemen at or near Rosecroft (each of whom represented an individual, or locally owned small business) brought considerable trade with local businesses: feed, supplies, gaso- line, and often trucks, trailers and insurance have always been purchased locally by Rose- croft horsemen. Moreover, owners of horses stabled at Rosecroft and frequent visitors there included substantial businessmen, government offi cials, diplomats, and in the past a few mem- bers of the Washington Redskins. One of the unique attractions for them was that anyone can “sit behind” and jog a harness horse. T ese benefi ts have all but disappeared with the clo- sure of the training center at Rosecroft. Reopening or establishing a training center at or near Rosecroft could work hand in hand with a program of live racing open to both lo- cal and ship-in horsemen. T e results could in- clude not only substantial economic benefi ts to our local community, but would also preserve Maryland’s 200-year tradition of harness horse breeding, training, and racing.
Western disciplines are some of the most rapidly growing sports in the horse world, and if you offer Western programs, then you need to be in the November issue!
Western Riding Special ad rates for
Western barns & trainers! 1-800-244-9580 •
www.equiery.com Tracy@equiery.com •
Jennifer.Webster@equiery.com www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580 SEPTEMBER 2011 | THE EQUIERY | 91
NEW NOVEMBER ISSUE
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