
DATE: Monday, September 1, 1997             TAG: 9709010106

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NEW KENT COUNTY                   LENGTH:   99 lines

FUN REI(G)NS AT TRACK'S DRY RUN

Colonial Downs' public relations spinmeisters could not have designed a better story.

Monica Latimer, 29, and her friend Eileen Varner, 30, were driving to Potomac Mills Sunday when the race track's highway sign on Interstate 64 caught their fancy.

Varner, a school teacher who lives in Norfolk, thought: ``Entertainment attraction.'' The track, she said, would give her a place ``to bring my family. You know, something else beside the beach.''

``We pulled in on a whim,'' said Latimer, who lives in Hampton. ``We're shopaholics and we figured that we would come in a win some money to spend.''

But the Hampton Roads pair picked the wrong day to pick the ponies in hopes on winning enough to buy a new wardrobe: Sunday was Colonial Downs' official open house, with only mock wagering on three races - two simulcast from Saratoga, N.Y., and one abbreviated pony race on Colonial Downs' dirt track.

Today that all changes.

Colonial Downs opens all its doors for real thoroughbreds, real jockeys and real money to win or lose. For the first time in 150 years, today's 1:15 post time will launch the state's first season of horse racing and parimutuel betting. Officials said they expect as many as 15,000 spectators.

Under the pressure of a race-or-shut-down mandate by the General Assembly, Colonial Downs has galloped toward a Sept. 1 opening day. And the massively rushed construction had visible seams showing Sunday.

It was the sort of the day where workers picked up orange cones in the middle of the roads and replaced them with freshly painted white lines, just as cars started to tread across Colonial Downs' virgin roads.

Sod wrapped like jelly rolls was unfurled and laid down on barren ground in front on the red-brick, five-story clubhouse as dozens waited to enter. Concrete burbled out of trucks and into ready-made sidewalks. A thin film of dust coated most surfaces.

When customers entered, they were handed a track guide, $300 in Monopoly-like money and a list of races. Racing forms, which include information about races across the country, cost extra.

Patrons filled the concentric rings of long tables before televisions screens, chowing down on a variety of concession-style foods.

Though customers had access to the clubhouse's first floor of bars, food stands, betting windows and TVs, officials shut off access to the building's box seat area, restaurant and VIP lounge on the upper floors.

Bettors standing before the dozens of ceiling-level television sets shared space with ladders, hanging wires, extension cords and workers carrying boxes.

Still, many said they were impressed with all that had been accomplished on 345 acres of cleared woods in this rural county between Richmond and Williamsburg.

``It has always been my dream that this day would come. I think this will turn out to be the prettiest track in the nation,'' horse owner and Harrisonburg native Harold G. Neff said Sunday.

Watching the cocoa-colored dirt track from a patio of quick-dry concrete, Neff said he started buying horses when he turned 70.

``Sure, it's a risk to open a track these days . . . and maybe the slots will come. But I love the races,'' Neff said.

Race track officials said more than 2,000 people passed through the front gate turnstiles Sunday. They bet more than $123,000 in play money on the day's three races, Colonial Downs operations chief Stan Bowker said.

Hundreds of yellow chrysanthemums lined the entrance to the Colonial-style grandstand building where Lil Jarvis sat, waiting to enter. Jarvis, 71, said she was pleased with her investment in Colonial Downs.

``Well first of all, I own stock in this place,'' Jarvis said. ``I figure Virginia is 20 years behind the country and North Carolina is 20 years behind us. So when this takes off with people coming in from here and Carolina, I'll make a bundle.''

The McCormicks - father David, mother Marcia and daughters Jacqueline and Ashley - traveled about 45 minutes from their home outside Richmond to attend Sunday's track festivities.

``We've been pretty excited about this track for the better part of a year,'' David McCormick said. ``We have horses at home so we want to bring the girls out today.''

Though Jacqueline, 9, has a horse ``QT'' and Ashley, 4, has ``Magic,'' they seemed more interested in food Sunday as they pulled their parents away from the simulcast horse races and toward the concession stands.

Even if the day did not line or pick the pockets of bettors, no one wanted to tell Barbara Nelson, 58, of Gloucester.

``Golly gee, I won $248,'' Nelson cried, after completing her post-race transaction with an outdoor betting teller.

``It's a shame it's not real money. But I'll be back!'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Horses ran a short race Sunday at Colonial Downs, which opens today

with a 1:15 post time. Bettors used fake money at Sunday's mock

races.

30 DAYS OF THOROUGHBRED RACING

GRAPHIC

[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]

SOURCE: Colonial Downs

VP MAP