The lawsuit that could delay the construction of the proposed Colonial Downs racetrack near Richmond by as much as a year and set back the opening until 1997 might also impede track operators Arnold Stansley and Joe De Francis from immediately opening six planned off-track betting parlors in Virginia.
Already the first two planned sites -- one in Virginia Beach, the other in Richmond -- are in jeopardy.
Opening the parlors is considered instrumental if Colonial Downs is going to be a success. The share of the takeout that the track operators and the horsemen receive from wagers on out-of-state simulcasts would go to promotion and building up purses when Colonial Downs opens.
Stansley had hoped to make licensing applications for the first two parlors within the next two months and open them this spring.
The outlets will be patterned after the Maryland parlors, which are built into existing facilities such as restaurants.
However, Jim Peterson, chief financial officer at Laurel/Pimlico and a member of the six-man team that is scouting Virginia OTB sites, said there is some question whether the OTBs can be opened until the lawsuit is settled. The matter is being studied by the Richmond firm of Mezzullo and McCandlish, which represents the Virginia Racing Commission.
The suit was filed two weeks ago by losing applicant Jim Wilson and alleges improprieties in the Virginia Racing Commission's decision-making in awarding the license to Stansley.
The delays mean that a combined Maryland-Virginia circuit, which would cost Maryland four months of live racing annually, is being pushed further into the future.
At a dinner at Laurel Park last week, Virginia commissioner Arthur Arundel Jr. said that the panel will not consider licensing a second track in Virginia until the first facility is built and is running successfully.
Arundel added that he is leading a campaign to allow reciprocal licensing between Maryland and Virginia racing personnel. Horsemen licensed in one state would automatically be licensed to race in the other state.
Potential track operators in Virginia also must deal with the movement to open riverboat casinos in the state, similar to the push now being felt in Maryland. The city of Hampton, in the Tidewater section of Virginia, is considering a plan to put a riverboat in its jurisdiction.
The 'Home Betting Club'
When Mark Brenner, president of On Demand Services, was in town last week testifying before the Maryland Racing Commission about how his company plans to test an interactive TV home betting program in Baltimore County, he estimated that United Video, ODS's parent company, already had spent more than $5 million in developing the equipment to start interactive programming.
He added that it will cost the company $250,000 to $500,000 to conduct the Maryland test from January through June. The majority of the costs will be picked up by ODS, not the Maryland Jockey Club.
Jim Mango, the Laurel/Pimlico executive in charge of the project, said that the program is just an experiment. "We have no idea if this is what we want to do in Maryland," Mango said. "That's what we want to find out."
The final phase of the experiment includes developing a daily racing show format. "It's got to be entertaining and to have some elements of a game-show format," Brenner said. "That why we're bringing in Mark Goodson Productions, the producers of 'Family Feud' and 'The Price Is Right' to help us design the kind of show that will appeal to new fans."
Fallout from lower purses?
When Northview Stallion Station owner Richard Golden announced last week that the farm's newest stallion, West By West, had been sold to Kentucky interests, he partly attributed the horse's departure to low purses at the Maryland tracks, indicating that they are detrimental to the state's breeding industry.
"There were many factors involved in our decision," Golden said in a news release. "Obviously all of them, we feel, are beneficial to the horse and his shareholders. The purse structure in Kentucky is currently twice that in Maryland. . . . One might consider this move a wake-up call."
However, the current purse levels at the Maryland tracks didn't deter Northview from doubling the stud fee of one of its stallions, Two Punch, from $5,000 to $10,000 for 1995, or increasing the fee for Private Terms from $7,500 to $10,000.
Other farms in Maryland don't seem to be having a problem gaining acceptance for their new stallions despite current purse levels.
Billy Boniface at Bonita Farm in Darlington said last week that he has sold 22 of 30 available shares in Grade I winner, Valley Crossing, and expects to sell out the rest of the shares shortly. Country Life Farm in Bel Air also recently announced across-the-board fee increases for all its stallions and reportedly has oversubscribed its newest stallion, Press Card.
According to a news release received from Turfway Park, the Kentucky track will have an average daily purse distribution of $200,000 this winter, more than the current $140,000 daily average at Laurel Park, but not twice as much.
Earlier this week, officials of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association said purse overpayments had dropped from about $2 million two months ago to currently about $1.2 million.
"The figure is steadily dropping," said MTHA executive director Wayne Wright.
De Francis instituted a purse cut a couple of months ago to balance the purse account. He said he hopes that by the Pimlico spring meet purses will be brought back up to their previous level.
Miscellaneous
When the stable area at Pimlico Race Course shut down earlier this month for training, about nine barn cats were left stranded at the track. Trainer Laurie Calhoun saw to it that all the cats were brought over to Laurel Park, and they have been fed and housed in Barn 33. Track veterinarians gave the cats free inoculations. . . . The deadline for nominating yearlings and stallions to the Maryland Million is Dec. 31. . . . The committee of the Triple Crown Ball, annually held in Baltimore, has passed a resolution donating 15 percent of its charity proceeds each year to a horse-related cause. The donation could amount to about $30,000 annually.