
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 8, 1994                   TAG: 9403080160
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                                LENGTH: Short

COMMISSION TO VISIT PROPOSED TRACK SITES

The Virginia Racing Commission will launch a series of tours this week of proposed track sites for horse racing, starting with visits to two Hampton Roads cities.

The commission is evaluating five jurisdictions as potential hosts for Virginia's first parimutuel wagering facility. Commissioners will look at locations Wednesday in Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.

On March 14, the five-member panel will travel to Loudoun and Prince William counties in Northern Virginia. On March 16, the group will be in New Kent County outside Richmond.

Six applicants are vying for a license to build a track:

Virginia Racing Associates, which wants to build its track on a 266-acre site in Portsmouth.

Churchill Downs Inc., operator of the Kentucky Derby. Their 245-acre site in Virginia Beach is now a private farm near the Oceana Naval Air Station.

Old Dominion Jockey Club, which won the commission's permission last week to change its proposed site from New Kent to Loudoun.

Virginia Jockey Club, which is seeking to build a track in Prince William County.

Two groups want to put a track in New Kent. They are Colonial Downs, and Virginians Inc.

The commission plans to license a track in late summer or early fall. It will hold public meetings for each proposed site immediately following its tours.

Racing will be delayed by the required passage of local referendums wherever a track might go up. Also, investors waited for the General Assembly to approve off-track betting, which they see as essential to making a track succeed financially.

by CNB