August 03, 1997|By Tom Keyser | Tom Keyser,SUN STAFF Thoroughbred Racing Communications contributed to this article.
The August-September issue of The Maryland Horse will be its last as a magazine. Starting with the October issue, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred will attempt to fill the void when it becomes a monthly.
The Maryland Horse Breeders Association publishes both magazines. Tim Capps, executive vice president of the association, said its board of directors decided to streamline its publishing efforts by producing one monthly magazine focusing on thoroughbreds in the region. (The Maryland Horse will live on, meekly, as a newsletter inserted into Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred.)
The association has published The Maryland Horse since 1936. It evolved into a bimonthly focusing on all breeds of horses. Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred has featured thoroughbred racing and breeding.
Capps said he and other members of the association have mixed feelings about the change.
"You never like giving up anything that's traditional, especially in horse racing," Capps said, "because there's value in tradition."
Casino opening delayed
The Charles Town horse track in West Virginia has pushed back the opening of its slots casino until mid-August, at the earliest.
Roger Ramey, track spokesman, said a mid-August opening is "optimistic." A late August, early September opening is more likely, he said.
One thousand video-lottery machines have been ordered, but haven't arrived, Ramey said. The casino will open with 400 and then ask state officials for permission to activate the other 600.
"It's going to be something," Ramey said of the slots casino. "The carpet's down, the ceilings and lights are up. They're designing a decorative entrance. It's really taking shape."
Meanwhile, Charles Town races thoroughbreds at 1 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday, and 7: 15 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Every day it simulcasts races from as many as 25 tracks, including greyhound and harness.
Form gets inserts
The Daily Racing Form has begun inserting the supplement "Flash" into its Eastern editions sold the day of races -- not the editions sold the day before.
The tabloid-size "Flash" contains late information not available when the Daily Racing Form is printed. "Flash" contains program betting numbers, scratches and other late changes from as many as 12 tracks.
"Flash" is free in Forms bought on-track, but 50 cents in Forms purchased off-track and at OTBs.
"This is what our customers have been asking us to do," said Steve Martin, Daily Racing Form vice president of circulation and sales. "They don't like buying a Form and then having to buy programs for $2 apiece."
'Sweetheart' deal
John Dinatale, a trainer at Pimlico, wants to elaborate on his comments Monday in The Sun about the opening of Colonial Downs. He was quoted as saying: "My thinking is, the last thing in the world we need is another racetrack. It's a sweetheart deal for Joe De Francis, that's what it is."
A couple of days later, Dinatale reiterated his opinion that Colonial Downs is a mistake. And he said: "Regardless of what I think from a horseman's point of view, from a business point of view Joe De Francis made a good deal. It is a sweetheart deal, but if I were in his position, I'd have done the same thing."
Hoofbeats
The Maryland Racing Commission will hold a public hearing at noon Aug. 13 in Hagerstown to consider the request by Bally's Maryland Inc. to open an off-track betting parlor in a Hagerstown shopping center. The meeting will be at the Ramada Inn, 901 Dual Highway. Tomorrow, jockey Gary Stevens, trainers P. G. Johnson and Michael Walsh, and horses Easy Goer, Bold 'n Determined and Granville will be inducted into thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Now that Breeders' Cup Limited has changed its procedures for supplementing horses to the Breeders' Cup races, the Breeders' Cup Classic could become easily the richest race in the world. Owners still must pay 12 percent or 20 percent of the purse to supplement non-nominated horses, but those fees now -- less 2 percent -- will be added to the purse.
Pub Date: 8/03/97
