THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410140271
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
LENGTH: Long : 189 lines
PAM LINGLE, the city's public information director, awoke at 4:40 Wednesday morning so she could get dressed, meet a few other city officials and make the drive up Interstate 64 to Richmond for the racing commission's 9:30 meeting.
She was part of a small contingent of Virginia Beach leaders who were on hand for the live announcement. Meanwhile, back at the Beach most others were going about their usual business when word reached them that New Kent County had been chosen.
Here's a look at how some folks took the news:
PATTI THOMPSON, who rides at the West Neck Creek Equestrian Center on Princess Anne Road:
She does dressage with her horse Chester. Although Chester is a quarterhorse, Thompson has had several thoroughbreds in the past that have ``been wonderful.'' She said she liked the idea of a race track coming to Virginia Beach, because you can often pick up really nice thoroughbreds that are too slow for the race track.
``It (a track) opens up the horse market a little bit,'' Thompson said. ``A track also would have increased the availability of supplies in Virginia Beach. ``It might have upgraded the whole area.''
She said she wouldn't drive all the way to New Kent County to watch the races, although she would have attended races had the track been here.
ALLEN BAGGS, owner of Professional Horse Shoeing in Suffolk.
His business is good, he said, because horses are becoming more popular in the area now and there are a lot of first-time horse owners.
A track, even in New Kent County, will ``step up interest'' here, he said Wednesday while working at the West Neck Creek Equestrian Center in Virginia Beach. The growth won't be as strong as it would have been had the track been here, but indirectly it will affect all of Virginia.
``It's not gonna make or break me one way or the other,'' Baggs said. Baggs would go to New Kent County to see the races and he would also travel there to shoe horses. ``If I could make more money,'' he said, ``I would.''
BILLY CHAPLAIN, owner of Pleasant Ridge Stables in Pungo.
He had envisioned another barn, 25 extra stalls, a therapeutic pool for horses and a small track out back. He was talking to a veterinarian about establishing an animal hospital close by. All tied to a nearby race track.
``I wouldn't have minded having a couple of race horses myself,'' said Chaplain.
His hopes started slipping earlier this week, when he heard that New Kent County might get the track. About 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, he was on the phone trying to get the news.
``New Kent got it?'' he asked, resignation in his voice. ``Well, it would have been great here.''
EDDIE VAUGHAN, president of the Virginia Beach Farm Bureau.
The loss of the track may have hurt the farming community a little bit more than most business segments of the city, he said, but he thinks the whole city will suffer.
``Well, it was just another defeat for Virginia Beach,'' Vaughan said. ``We lost Dixie Stampede. We lost the ball diamond. . . . This is just another blow overall.''
The track would have helped to keep more of the land in old Princess Anne Country ``green,'' Vaughan added. ``We would have had a broader-based economy. Now development is all there is.''
TONY MERCURIO, talk show host and sportscaster for WGH-AM radio, whose studios are in Pembroke.
Let New Kent County have the horse races. Hampton Roads is going to the dogs.
Dog racing, that is.
That's what Mercurio and his talk-show listeners are calling for.
Many callers during the ``Radio Free Mercurio'' afternoon sports call-in show on WGH-AM radio agreed with the host that Hampton Roads now should try to develop a dog-racing track.
``Dog racing is very, very popular,'' Mercurio said, ``and I think a dog track in Portsmouth would be sensational.''
Mercurio also trumpeted the cause of riverboat gambling for Hampton Roads - another cause popular with his listeners.
``Joe,'' a listener from Hampton, blamed the loss on the lack of regional cooperation. ``If we had a basket weaving contest down in this area we couldn't get a place to have it,'' he said.
Other callers blamed state politics. But many said they'd still go to the New Kent race track, although only once in a while.
HENRY RICHARDSON, owner of the Comfort Inn on 29th Street and Pacific Avenue and president of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association.
``It's unfortunate that Hampton Roads lost in its bid. I think we have the infrastructure and the industry to support it,'' Richardson said, citing the city's agri-business industry as well as the hotels and tourism base. ``Obviously we were pulling for Virginia Beach or Portsmouth. If we lost it here I thought it was going to go to Portsmouth.''
Richardson wonders now whether Virginia Beach will support an off-track betting facility here, an idea that for him has quickly lost much of its appeal.
``We supported both pari-mutuel and off-track betting facilities, because off-track betting facilities are necessary for it (pari-mutuel racing) to be viable,'' he said. ``In and of itself off-track betting is not the reason people are coming to Virginia Beach. If the track was in Virginia Beach, you needed the off-track betting facility to make it a viable entity. OTB in and of itself will not bring tourists to Virginia Beach, in my opinion.''
RICK ANOIA, Atlantic Avenue hotel operator and president of the Resort Leadership Council, an umbrella group representing a cross-section of Virginia Beach resort businesses:
``We had a resort leadership meeting this morning and (tourism development director) Jim Ricketts tried to get a response as to what the answer was and there seemed to be a general disappointment that they (racing commissioners) didn't find favorably for Virginia Beach or Portsmouth. It would have been good for either city in Hampton Roads,'' Anoia explained.
``On the bright side of what's there: New Kent County is an hour's drive, so maybe the folks who come down and visit Virginia Beach will do like they do now, take a day trip to Williamsburg. And maybe they'll make that part of their itinerary.''
Still, Anoia admits it won't have the same impact as having a track in Virginia Beach.
``This was an opportunity to extend our seasons and anything we can do to extend the season on either shoulder is a high priority for the economic development of the tourism industry,'' he said.
HARVEY M., the local force behind Gamblers Anonymous, which meets each Sunday at Virginia Beach General Hospital.
With the selection of New Kent County for the state's only race track, local die-hard gamblers will have to drive about an hour and a half to wager their money.
And they will make the drive.
``Distance is secondary to these people,'' said Harvey. ``I know two people who drive to Laurel and Pimlico every week. So New Kent County is really not far.''
JOHN PERROS, resort restaurant owner and president of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association.
``Another dark day in the history of Virginia Beach,'' he said. ``What am I going to say?
``Maybe we'll hit a home run some day.''
LOUIS CULLIPHER, the city's agriculture director.
``I just heard the sad news,'' Cullipher said about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. ``I'm terribly disappointed.''
Cullipher said he thinks the horse industry here will continue to grow as it has for the past several years but not at the pace it would have grown given a race track in the area. But he is especially disappointed because he thinks a race track also would have given a boost to others in the agriculture industry here, grain farmers in particular.
Virginia Beach farmers grow 12,000 acres of wheat annually and most of the straw that remains after harvesting is plowed back into the field. A race track here would have generated a new market for all that unused wheat straw as high quality horse bedding, Cullipher said. However the cost of transporting the straw to New Kent County would erase the profits.
Cullipher also said that local farmers would have gone into the business of raising oats for horse feed. Oats are not raised here now, he said.
``I think it's a lost opportunity for Virginia Beach,'' he said. MEMO: Staff writers Mary Reid Barrow, Debbie Messina, Bill Reed, Stephanie
Stoughton, Tony Wharton and Mike Knepler compiled this report.
ILLUSTRATION: On the Cover
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
A single horse left alone in the stables at West Neck Creek
Equestrian Center on Princess Anne Road, seems to symbolize the
demise of the proposed Princess Anne Downs.
Staff photo by PAUL AIKEN
Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and councilman Louis Jones spent a few
nervous moments before Wednesday's decision.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Allen Baggs, owner of Professional Horse Shoeing in Suffolk who was
working at West Neck Creek Equestrian Center in Virginia Beach, said
he will go to New Kent if that's what it takes to make more money.
Patti Thompson, with son Patrick, says she won't drive all the way
to New Kent to watch the races.
``OTB in and of itself will not bring tourists to Virginia Beach,''
said Henry Richardson, president of Va. Beach Hotel and Motel
Association.
KEYWORDS: HORSE RACING
by CNB