
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994                    TAG: 9406080472 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D3    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY ALEC KLEIN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940608                                 LENGTH: RICHMOND

HORSE TRACK INTERESTS SQUARE OFF - POLITELY - AT HEARING

{LEAD} Refined sportsmen don't come to blows, they simply trot out their attorneys, poke verbal holes in each other and politely point out their superiority. That, at least, was the example set Tuesday when two titans of horse racing clashed.

Thomas H. Meeker, president of Kentucky's Churchill Downs, and Joseph A. DeFrancis, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, pleasantly tried to cut each other down during and after a hearing before the state racing commission to determine who will build Virginia's first thoroughbred race track.

{REST} Meeker on DeFrancis's plans: ``He's got some fairly obvious weaknesses.''

DeFrancis on Meeker's proposal: ``Right off the bat, you have a recipe for disaster.''

These were strange words coming from business partners who represent two-thirds of the celebrated Triple Crown, the pinnacle of American thoroughbred racing. But at Tuesday's hearing, the two corporate executives represented altogether competing interests.

Meeker wants to build a $53.8million race track in Virginia Beach; DeFrancis is offering a $56.5 million track in Loudoun County.

``I have the utmost respect for Churchill Downs,'' DeFrancis said magnanimously, then admitted: ``I was a little bit peeved when Tom (Meeker) called our proposal dumb in the newspaper.''

It was nothing personal, just big business, in the final chance to woo the racing commission before it awards a license no later than September to one of six applicants, including a Portsmouth group. Each is willing to spend millions of dollars to create Virginia's only major-league sports franchise in the hopes of a healthy financial return.

Meeker shrugged off the duel afterwards. ``Both of us are attorneys,'' he said. ``We're used to taking adversarial positions. . . We're big boys.''

Bombast and bluster weren't required to make their case in a courtlike setting full of Cross pens and boxy legal briefcases in a standing-room-only crowd. Formidable attorneys for both sides delivered civil but pointed attacks while cross-examining their opponent.

``My question to you,'' bow-tied Virginia attorney William Griffith Thomas posed to Meeker: ``Isn't your real purpose in Virginia. . . to create new markets for your races (in Kentucky)?''

``No,'' Meeker responded curtly.

Playing the role of judge, Commission Chairman John H. Shenefield called time, keeping the adversaries in line.

During a break in the proceedings, DeFrancis congratulated his attorney for working over Meeker. ``I'm just glad I wasn't the one being cross-examined!'' he said.

He got his turn later. Attorney Scott S. Cairns, representing Churchill, grilled DeFrancis on his financial package. ``The math doesn't work, does it?'' the attorney said.

Questions were raised about DeFrancis' company's financial stability, controversy plaguing his Maryland tracks and Loudoun protesters who turned up at the hearing to let the commission know they are trying to repeal the law that permits a race track in their county.

Meeker had to contend with several questions as well: jet noise near his proposed track site; potential traffic gridlock; the logistics of hauling horses long distances to the track; and the company's designs on expanding into other forms of gambling.

Virginia Racing Associates, a group of in-state investors backing a $60.1 million track proposal in Portsmouth, took the stand Monday along with Virginians Inc., a group proposing a $28.7 million track in New Kent County.

Today, the last two applicants, representing sites in New Kent and Prince William County, will present their cases.

{KEYWORDS} RACE TRACK HORSE RACING

by CNB