Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 19, 1992 TAG: 9203190226
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
"Virginia is now a development priority for Churchill Downs," Mark Wilson, secretary and general counsel of Churchill Downs, told the Virginia Racing Commission. "We're very hopeful that something could be worked out where we could have a more permanent place in the commonwealth."
Churchill Downs officials are spending this week in Virginia touring potential sites for a major track. Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Ky., is the site of the Kentucky Derby, perhaps the world's best-known horse race.
The Churchill Downs officials visited three sites in Northern Virginia on Monday and Tuesday, Wilson said. All the sites are near Washington Dulles International Airport.
Track officials also planned to visit Portsmouth, where voters will decide in May whether to allow pari-mutuel betting. Today they will visit New Kent County, where Chesapeake Corp. has offered to give a track developer 345 acres along Interstate 64.
"It's far too early for us to comment on the appropriateness of any particular site," Wilson said after the meeting. He said the Churchill Downs officials will continue to visit Virginia sites during the next two to three months before they decide whether to invest in a track.
"These visits will become very routine," Wilson said. "We're an old, conservative company, so we'll probably move pretty slow."
Wilson said Churchill Downs ideally would like to manage and, with other investors, have a financial interest in a Virginia track. The only active track the company owns is Churchill Downs, although he said the company also is exploring opportunities in Indiana.
Virginia voters approved pari-mutuel betting three years ago, but no track has been built.
Churchill Downs' interest was prompted by passage last month of a bill to allow off-track betting on horse races. The legislation, awaiting the signature of Gov. Douglas Wilder, would allow up to six off-track sites in the state.
Wilder indicated Wednesday that he would sign the measure.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY HORSE RACING
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.