DATE: Wednesday, August 13, 1997            TAG: 9708130901
SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 
                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

COLONIAL DOWNS TRAILING HEADING FOR HOME STRETCH

At Colonial Downs, the constantly swirling dirt is kicked up not by thoroughbreds but by the thundering hooves of construction workers entering the home stretch.

With less than three weeks remaining before the scheduled opening of Virginia's first parimutuel race track, the New Kent County site is still a hard-hat zone, and the only horse power on display is under the hoods of dump trucks and bulldozers.

Tuesday's dusty tour of Colonial Downs provided a glimpse of what the track will look like in time, with its vast 1 1/4-mile track, second largest in the country to Belmont Park, and grand clubhouse facade, recalling oddly enough Pat Robertson's CBN building.

But at first, and certainly on the first of September, says Colonial Downs President O.J. ``Jim'' Peterson, ``There are going to be a few raw edges.''

This is the Secretariat of understatements.

``If we had a chance to grow grass, this race track would be a lot more beautiful,'' said Peterson.

He promises the track will be ready on time but asks for patience. Sept. 1, Peterson notes, ``is not the last day of Virginia racing, it's the first day. By next year, this will be the prettiest track in the United States.''

Keeneland and Saratoga may have something to say about that, but a little hyperbole never hurts.

The rush job is the result of construction delays caused by weather problems and lawsuits filed by competing bidders for the racing license. Still, the dirt track, Peterson says, is complete. Horses will begin training on it by Tuesday.

When finished, the tidy grandstand will seat 6,000. In recent years, new tracks were built too large, a contributing factor, it's said, in their demise. Colonial Downs believes less is more.

But at first, what the track needs less of is dust. A Bermuda turf course would help class up the place. But the lush green carpet won't be ready soon, probably not until next season, when Colonial Downs hopes to promote itself as the turf racing capital of the East.

During the tour, it was explained that 50 percent of the horses appearing at Colonial Downs - including entries for harness racing season that gallops from April through July - will be shipped in each day and taken home at night.

Imagine the nightmares this would have created for horsemen had the track been built, as once proposed, in Virginia Beach.

The mind boggles at the thought of fully loaded horse trailers trapped in the crush of Hampton Roads' tunnels. The complaints would have kept PETA in the news for months.

No, the track probably is where it belongs, albeit 70 miles, give or take a few furlongs, from the heart of South Hampton Roads.

As for the economic impact of the facility on its neighbors, Glenn Petty, executive director of the Maryland-Virginia racing circuit, says, ``People don't understand the volume of people that are going to be coming through New Kent and Providence Forge.''

Maybe not, though that's a little like putting the cart before the horse. There remains the simple matter of taming all that dust and getting Colonial Downs in the saddle by Sept. 1.

Giddyap! ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Colonial Downs is expected to be completed by Sept. 1, but says

track president O.J. ``Jim'' Peterson, ``There are going to be a few

raw edges.''

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