Rosecroft Raceway's finish line is July 1
Maryland’s racing industry will lose another player July 1, as Rosecroft Raceway closes its gates for good, idling about 240 employees.
The 60-year-old Fort Washington harness track has struggled to find a new owner for several years. Its current owner, Cloverleaf Enterprises, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2009. After a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge rejected Cloverleaf’s plan to sell the track to Mark Vogel, Rosecroft’s previous owner, Vogel put up $350,000 to keep the track open until July, but Cloverleaf was unable to come up with a permanent solution.
Cloverleaf’s efforts to preserve Rosecroft were dealt another blow in April when a House committee rejected a measure that would have provided $12 million in subsidies in the span of four years to the track through state slots revenue.
“We have no income,” Vogel said. “We have nothing. We have no way to make money.”
Vogel said the track would likely close for many of its employees this weekend but remained hopeful that Prince George’s County and state officials could intervene and persuade Pimlico’s owners to agree to a new simulcasting contract.
“It depends on political leaders. We need their help,” he said.
This month, Cloverleaf shifted its bankruptcy filing to Chapter 7 liquidation.
“Our long struggle is finally over and we have come to an end,” Cloverleaf president Kelley Rogers wrote in a memo to the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association and its horsemen.
“Unfortunately, despite all of our best efforts we could not escape the unreasonable demands of the thoroughbred industry and they have succeeded in putting us out of business… their goal finally accomplished,” Rogers wrote.
Cloverleaf cannot afford to provide severance packages to the 240 employees losing their jobs, said Thomas Cooke, president of the standardbred association. He added some employees who were laid off this year had hoped to return when the track’s finances stabilized.
“Some of these people worked for the track for 40 years,” Cooke said. “Our message just hasn’t gotten to the government.”
He predicted the trickle-down effect of closing Rosecroft to be “enormous,” resulting in lost incomes to standardbred trainers, suppliers and others. The association has 1,000 members nationwide, including 600 in Maryland.
“It’s another sad case of the Maryland legislature letting another business dissolve and leave the state,” said William Roberts, also known as Bib, a Rosecroft trainer and former member of the association board. “It didn’t need to happen.”
He blamed the lack of support for Rosecroft on the disparity between standardbred and thoroughbred racing representation on the Maryland Racing Commission.
Numerous trainers such as Roberts, who runs a Brandywine farm, were forced to shift their operations to Delaware after Rosecroft discontinued its live harness racing more than a year ago. Rosecroft had been fighting to keep its simulcast license since the commission pulled it a year ago.
Live racing revenues had been declining steadily during the years, with the track losing more than $30 million in revenue in 2009, Rogers said in an earlier interview.
Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) also expressed regret at the news, saying he has asked Secretary of State John McDonough to work with stakeholders to find a way to protect the Rosecroft jobs.
“The local families who depend on Rosecroft as part of their livelihoods and would be negatively impacted by this closure deserve our full effort in this matter,” O’Malley said in a statement.
Rosecroft’s closure marks the end of Maryland harness racing for this year.
Ocean Downs, the only other harness track, has announced it will not have its 40 nights of racing while it prepares to expand its facility to accommodate slots, said Peter Szymanski, general manager for the track. Harness racing will return next year, he said. Ocean Downs had hoped to host races at Rosecroft during the transition. The Berlin track received a license for 800 slot machines in September.
Previously, harness racing also was staged at Baltimore Raceway and Freestate Raceway in Laurel.
Rosecroft will continue to work through its bankruptcy procedures, which include $1.24 million owed to Maryland breeders and horsemen for its previous simulcast rights.
Comments are closed.