Racing Association

NEW YORK -- There's more thoroughbred racing on network television than at any other time in decades. A snappy ad campaign has caught the attention of Generation Y. And racing is creeping back into the national consciousness.So far so good for the 1-year-old National Thoroughbred Racing Association, racing's answer to the front offices of the major-league sports.Now comes the hard part: keeping a fast pace long enough for the sport to catch on before the NTRA's money runs out.Over its 300-year history, American racing has resisted the unification that brought prosperity to other sports.

ASHIKAGA, Japan -- It is a sadly typical tale in recession-beleaguered Japan: An honest worker, too old and too slow, loses his job. "Downsized" is the euphemism, or "restructured."But Dojima Fighter fought back, overcame obstacles, inspired a nation and in his triumph became hailed in the Japanese media as "the Restructuring Horse."Dojima Fighter is a middle-aged racehorse. Demoted from Japan's main racing circuit and downsized to minor-league tracks, he has put together a record winning streak -- 27 straight races over the past three years.

Developers of a proposed 54,800-seat auto racetrack west of Fort Meade said yesterday they might build eight public ball fields, a skateboard park and improve road intersections to win the support of skeptical neighbors.Anne Arundel County Executive John G. Gary said the suggestion by the Middle River Racing Association of Timonium seems to indicate the developers want to be "good neighbors" to nearby Russett and Maryland City.But some community leaders reacted hostilely, saying construction of soccer fields would not ease the noise and traffic problems created by a racing complex.

Developers of a 54,800-seat auto racetrack, discouraged by community opposition to a western Anne Arundel County site they have been considering, are evaluating at least two other possibilities in Arundel, industrial properties north of Pasadena and west of Baltimore-Washington International Airport, according to a county development source.Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp., which works to bring businesses into the county, has been working with the developers of the proposed racetrack to find an alternative to their controversial first choice in Anne Arundel, a site west of Fort Meade.

For a sport that was supposed to be moribund, at least in nTC terms of its national appeal, horse racing is making a nice little comeback.Fox and its cable component, Fox Sports Net, announced yesterday that it will provide exclusive coverage of a new series of races for horses 4 and older, starting next year, through the auspices of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.The package of races, to be called the NTRA Championship Racing Series, will consist of eight to 10 middle-distance dirt races at various tracks and will take place from January through August.

Developers of a 54,800-seat auto racetrack, discouraged by community opposition to a West County site they have been considering, are evaluating at least two other possibilities in Anne Arundel County, industrial properties north of Pasadena and west of Baltimore-Washington International Airport, according to a county development source.Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp., which works to bring businesses into the county, has been working with the developers of the proposed racetrack to find an alternative to their controversial first choice in Anne Arundel, a site west of Fort Meade.

The thoroughbred racing industry recently announced a new strategy aimed at increasing its popularity, with a stated goal of becoming one of the top five sports in America.There's only one appropriate response: Whoaaaaa, fellas.One of the top five? More popular than every sport except baseball, football, basketball and hockey?Please. With all due respect, the chances of that happening are about as good as the chances of Secretariat coming back from the grave to win the Triple Crown this year.

Developers of a proposed 54,800-seat auto racetrack west of Fort Meade said yesterday they might build eight public ball fields, a skateboard park and improve road intersections to win the support of skeptical neighbors.Anne Arundel County Executive John G. Gary said the suggestion by the Middle River Racing Association of Timonium seems to indicate the developers want to be "good neighbors" to nearby Russett and Maryland City.But some community leaders reacted hostilely, saying construction of soccer fields would not ease the noise and traffic problems created by a racing complex.

In the wake of protests at a public meeting Monday, a majority of Anne Arundel County councilmen said yesterday they oppose a zoning law change sought by developers of an auto racetrack proposed for the western end of the county.The lack of political support is expected to slow plans by the Middle River Racing Association of Timonium to build a 54,800-seat track on 380 acres north of Russett.But the developers -- who recently backed away from a Baltimore County site after a political battle that lasted more than a year -- are refusing to shut off their engines.

Auto racing fans from outside Anne Arundel County crowded into a public meeting last night on a 54,800-seat speedway proposed for the west county.Leaders of the Russett Homeowners Association, which sponsored the meeting at Resurrection Roman Catholic Church, on Brock Bridge Road, said they were outraged that the developers brought scores of out-of-town boosters to a neighborhood meeting.The developer denied the charge.More than 650 people squeezed into the church, and traffic extended for more than a half-mile on Brock Bridge Road leading to the church.

Lawyers for the Laurel Park racetrack asked Maryland's highest court Tuesday to restore its disqualified proposal for a slots casino license, suggesting the state would be better off restarting a bidding process that has fallen short of expectations. A slots license selection commission tossed out a bid from Laurel Racing Association in February because the company didn't submit the $28.5 million in mandatory licensing fees. A legal team for the track argued in the Court of Appeals that the company was concerned that there was no guarantee it would get the money back if it didn't win a license.

Families, spectators and power-boat race enthusiasts can join the Kent Narrows Racing Association this weekend to watch powerboats race more than 100 mph at the 17th annual Thunder on the Narrows races at the Kent Island Yacht Club. "It's flat-out fun; I tell people it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on," said Wheeler Baker, the race director. Attendees can watch more than 50 boats whizzing past at high speeds. The fastest boats go about 140 mph, Baker said. According to Baker, the event usually draws a crowd of more than 1,000 spectators.

If you compete in serious - or even semiserious - sailboat racing on the Chesapeake Bay, chances are you've been exposed to the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association. The group is in charge of racing and runs regattas, establishes rules and puts on various clinics for Bay racers. We talked to Angelo Buscemi, 40, of Washington, who recently became the group's new president, about its role: What is CBYRA, and who belongs? We're the local governing body for the sport of sailboat racing for the Chesapeake Bay area.

John Passero, former track superintendent for the Maryland Jockey Club, has accepted the same job with the New York Racing Association, which conducts racing at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga. After 17 years' maintaining racing surfaces at Pimlico, Bowie and Laurel Park, Passero resigned in May after saying he'd been excluded from Magna Entertainment Corp.'s rebuilding of Laurel's track surfaces. Magna is majority owner of the MJC. Passero has declined to elaborate, and Magna and MJC officials have declined to comment.

With jockeys boycotting races at Churchill Downs and the nationally known Shane Sellers being escorted from the track in handcuffs, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association is stepping into the exploding crisis over jockeys' insurance. D.G. Van Clief Jr., commissioner of the NTRA, said yesterday that the NTRA will convene a working group to try to resolve the dispute that cost the Breeders' Cup a marquee rider and now threatens racing at the home of the Kentucky Derby. Terry Meyocks, special assistant to the NTRA and former president of the New York Racing Association, will preside over the group.

WASHINGTON - While public-interest groups were deriding billions of dollars in business tax breaks approved by the Senate this week, Maryland horse racing executives celebrated a provision that could significantly boost foreign betting at U.S. tracks. It goes to show that one person's "pork" is another person's "perk." The provision - one of at least a half-dozen in the bill affecting sports - eliminates a 30 percent withholding tax that foreigners must pay on winning wagers into U.S. horse-track betting pools.

The Maryland Racing Commission today approved the Maryland Jockey Club's request to extend the Pimlico summer-fall race meeting as reconstruction of the Laurel Park racing surfaces has fallen behind schedule because of inclement weather this summer. The current stand was scheduled to end on Oct. 11 but now will tentatively conclude on Nov. 2. Two $50,000 stakes races were added at Old Hilltop: Sonny Hine Stakes (Oct. 16) and Japan Racing Association (Oct. 23), as well as a pair of $75,000 two-year old state-bred stakes (Heavenly Cause and Rollicking)

SHORTLY BEFORE last month's Preakness, as the media circus spun in three rings around him, Smarty Jones stood in his Pimlico stall casually munching from hay nets, alternately unfazed and mildly amused. His cool demeanor may have had something to do with his front feet being in buckets of ice water. It held, though, through a four-hour nap Preakness morning, after which he trotted out and blew away the field by a record 11 1/2 lengths. If anything, horse racing's latest darling is approaching tomorrow's Belmont Stakes with an even more confident air. He's the 2-5 favorite to win and thus become the first horse in 26 years to claim racing's Triple Crown.

The Justice Department and the FBI joined the investigation yesterday into allegations of wire fraud in a suspect winning wager, possibly worth $3.1 million, placed by a Baltimore man through a New York betting service. The disclosure of the federal criminal investigation came even as racing industry officials announced an emergency program designed to close a betting loophole and restore "customer confidence. "At the request of the New York State Police, this office, along with the FBI, is assisting in this matter," said U.S. Attorney James B. Comey in the Southern District of New York.

A task force examining electronic wagering on thoroughbred races met yesterday and agreed to hire a firm that specializes in information technology security. The task force was formed last week by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to restore confidence shaken by allegations of bet tampering related to the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup. A Baltimore man holds the winning ticket to the Pick Six, which is worth $3.1 million. However, regulators have frozen payment while they investigate suspicious circumstances surrounding the bet, including the alleged involvement of a computer engineer who was fired last week by the company that processed the bet. Three of the leading track owners - including Magna Entertainment Corp.