Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 2, 1993 TAG: 9310040258
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
The applicants included a Covington dentist who is a racing novice to Kentucky's Churchill Downs, with its corporate polish and long, fabled record.
The five commissioners are expected to award rights to a track and six off-track betting parlors early next year. Whatever their choice, the applications submitted Friday mean Virginians, by 1995 or 1996, won't have to leave the state to bet on the ponies. It means a state with a tradition of horse breeding and training may soon have Thoroughbred horse racing.
All the applicants essentially offered the same thing - a track and clubhouse and a network of off-track betting parlors across the state. Details varied. Short or long season. More or less Thoroughbred racing. Special track designs.
One applicant, Joseph De Francis of Maryland, held out the prospect of a virtual-reality entertainment complex to accompany his racing clubhouse.
All the designs and proposals revolve around one argument: who could best build a healthy racing industry in Virginia as tracks elsewhere falter. A successful state racing industry could rejuvenate the state's horse farms and help protect the land from more intensive suburban development.
The commission required detailed and lengthy applications. The shortest was almost 400 pages. The longest was more than 1,000 in five volumes standing almost two feet high.
The proposals included applicants' financial histories and details of any criminal records. Virginians Inc., for example, revealed that one of its owners "stole a wooden stop sign in Colonial Williamsburg during his freshman year of college in May 1975."
Not all of the applications were complete. Churchill Downs and some others did not provide complete financing and revenue projections. That's because key Northern Virginia counties have scheduled referendums on off-track betting in November. The results could change revenue predictions. Because of that, the racing commission is allowing applicants to amend applications up to Jan. 3, 1994.
Highlights of the proposals:
Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, would build a $62 million facility in Virginia Beach with just 45 days of thoroughbred racing initially and 60 days of harness racing. Churchill argues a shorter season keeps purses and the quality of horses high. The company's track in Louisville has a similar short season.
Churchill Downs also notes that its site is inside a major metropolitan area that also is a tourist center. Locals can get bored quickly with racing and it's essential to have a renewable market, officials said. Other groups have erred, Churchill says, in locating on the fringes of major cities that require too much of a drive and having seasons that are too long.
"The thing that will benefit the Virginia horse industry the most is a successful Virginia racing industry," said Thomas L. Aronson, a consultant for Churchill Downs. "You have to figure out how to get there."
The Maryland Jockey Club, led by De Francis, would build a track in New Kent County that would be part of a new year-round circuit with the company's existing tracks, Laurel and Pimlico, in Maryland. Horses would race in the late spring, summer and early fall in New Kent, the rest of the year in Maryland.
To be successful, De Francis said, track operators must realize they are part of the entertainment industry. The facility could eventually include a virtual-reality entertainment complex, where visitors could imitate sports like skiing and surfing in a special theater, De Francis told reporters.
The Virginia Jockey Club, led by James Wilson of Middleburg and his two sons, offered 200 days of Thoroughbred racing. The family would build an equestrian complex in Prince William. Their 640-acre site is by far the largest proposed and would include a polo field and riding trails.
The family owns the El Commandante track in Puerto Rico and has 20 years of experience breeding horses at its Dresden farm outside Washington. James Wilson's son Thomas has competed in equestrian events at the Olympics.
The senior Wilson, a racing enthusiast, argues that track operators must promote horse racing as a sport, not just an outlet for gambling. Millions watch car racing, Wilson notes, without wagering.
Wilson challenged competitors' arguments that a track should not go in the already crowded Washington-area market. De Francis noted that seven tracks already operate in a 200-mile stretch from Washington to New York. But if Maryland can support two tracks year-round, Wilson argued, there is no reason Virginia cannot support one.
Virginia Racing Associates would build a track in Portsmouth. Led by industrialist William Camp of Franklin and former state Sen. Elmon Gray of Sussex, members of the group have worked for years to bring racing to Virginia.
The group initially was working with Churchill Downs. But the two split over the choice of a site and length of a racing season. The group wants a 125-day season.
The Taylor family, led by Dr. Jeffrey Taylor under the name Virginians Inc., would build a smallish, $28 million track and stadium in New Kent, halfway between Richmond and Williamsburg. The smaller design, with just a 2,500-seat clubhouse, is a plus, the Taylors argue. It means the track operation would not sink under a mountain of debt.
Arnold Stansley of Toledo, Ohio has been one of the less-visible applicants. An investment banker representing Stansley dropped off his application for a track at New Kent under the name Colonial Downs. Stansley's name was misspelled on the cover pages of each volume of the application.
Stansley operates Raceway Park in Toledo. His representative said the group has the experience to mount a credible operation.
\ HORSE RACING IN THE RUNNING\ \ Thomas H. Meeker, the polished lawyer who is president of Churchill Downs, leads the famed Louisville company that made Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby household names. The company is the top partner in a group of in-state investors.\ Site: Virginia Beach.\ \ Jeffery A. Taylor, a Covington dentist, leads a group of family members under the title Virginians Inc. who are doing everything from engineering studies on he track to painting watercolor pictures of it.\ Site: New Kent County.\ \ William M. Camp Jr., a colorful industrialist from Franklin, helps lead a group of horse lovers called Virginia Racing Associates. The group includes former state Sen. Elmon T. Gray.\ Site: Portsmouth\ \ James J. Wilson, president of the Virginia Jockey Club and owner of a race track in Puerto Rico and horse farm in Northern Virginia, leads a family group that includes his son, Thomas B. Wilson, an Olympic rider.\ Site: Prince William County.\ \ Joseph De Francis is president of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates the Laurel and Pimlico race tracks in Maryland and is expected to manage a track to be built in Texas.\ Site: New Kent County.\ \ Arnold Stansley, president of Raceway Park in Toledo, Ohio, leads a group of investors.\ Site: New Kent County.
by CNB