A potential racetrack operator who lost out in his bid to win the license to build Virginia's first track has cried foul.
Lawrence Framme III, an attorney representing Jim Wilson's Virginia Jockey Club, which wanted to build a track near Manassas, notified the Virginia Racing Commission yesterday that his client is appealing in state courts the board's decision to award the license to Arnold Stansley and his partner, Joe De Francis of the Maryland Jockey Club.
Just how this will affect Stansley and De Francis's plans to proceed with construction of a track near Richmond is unclear.
"It is a ridiculous and transparent attempt to slow us down," De Francis said yesterday. "You would think Jim Wilson would have more regard for the horse people of Virginia who have worked so hard to bring racing to their state. However, it won't delay our building plans and we're going to continue to move forward as quickly as we can."
Trees are being cleared and roads are being built at the New Kent County site about 21 miles southeast of Richmond. But actual construction is not expected to begin until the first of the year, when Stansley has said the track's financing should be in place.
Stansley, and his partner, Jim Leadbetter, whose construction company is building the $40 million facility, could not be reached yesterday for comment.
In an interview last week, Framme questioned whether anyone would want to commit millions of dollars worth of financing or start construction on a plant whose license might be revoked by the courts.
In a letter received yesterday by the commission, Framme charged that the board "made serious errors of law, violated its own regulations, applied different standards to different applicants and ignored critical evidence" in awarding the license to Stansley and De Francis.
Framme said the panel based its decision "almost exclusively" on forging a Maryland-Virginia circuit without obtaining any binding agreements concerning a guaranteed supply of Maryland horses to race at the Virginia track.
Framme further stated that there is no binding agreement with the Maryland Racing Commission assuring that it will relinquish a portion of its dates to Virginia and that there is no financial investment in the actual construction of the track by the Maryland Jockey Club.
Instead, Framme asserts, the deal relies only on the "good faith of a competitor who is investing little money in Virginia live racing."
Although the Maryland Jockey Club is not a partner in the ownership of the track, it has a contractual obligation to manage the facility's proposed four-month long thoroughbred meet.
An attempt yesterday to reach Wilson for his comments was unsuccessful.
So far, Wilson is the only one of the four losing applicants to notify the commission of a plan to appeal. The deadline is Monday.
Tom Meeker, president of Churchill Downs, which was turned down in its plan to construct a track in Virginia Beach, has been quoted as saying that he has "little interest" in pursuing an appeal, although he said the track would be interested in refiling an application for the license if the process is reopened or if the commission is interested in granting a license for a second Virginia track.
Carrie Camp, of Virginia Racing Associates, who was rebuffed in her bid to build a track in Portsmouth, said this week that she still considers filing an appeal "an option."
Jeffrey Taylor, also turned down to build a track at the New Kent site, has indicated he has no plans to appeal the decision.
At a meeting of the Virginia commission on Wednesday, Camp petitioned the board to closely monitor Stansley's attempts to obtain financing.
At the meeting, De Francis told the board he is planning a series of six dinner meetings with Maryland and Virginia horse owners and trainers to discuss the plans for the New Kent track.
Many Maryland horsemen already have said they do not intend to ship their horses to Richmond, while others are adopting a wait-and-see attitude.