Rosecroft

FORT WASHINGTON -- Maryland Sires Stakes competition continues at Rosecroft Raceway tonight and tomorrow with 3-year-old fillies in the spotlight.The fillies will headline three divisions tonight, with Tylown and Winning Wilma looking to repeat their victories of last Saturday. Tomorrow, trotters Rackem and Willow Run Gracie will attempt to make it two straight in their division.The best of the Maryland sophomores will return to Rosecroft on May 31 for competition in one of four $50,000 Sires Stakes Championship events.

The state commission charged with awarding a casino license in Prince George's County will call for proposals at a meeting in Annapolis on Jan. 31. Don Fry, the group's chairman, anticipates setting a due date in May and, depending on the number and nature of the applicants, awarding the license no later than the end of the year. MGM Resorts, a partner in a proposed $800 million project to be built near National Harbor, will begin work on its proposal as soon as the request is made, spokesman Gordon Absher said.

FORT WASHINGTON -- One of harness racing's most important tests for developing 2-year old pacers, the Potomac Stakes, will highlight tomorrow's holiday program at Rosecroft Raceway.This year's Potomac, worth $237,475, features 26 participants all competing in their richest race to date. There will be three separate divisions tomorrow.Perhaps the most competitive of the three divisions will be division 2 (race 7 on the 13-race all-triple card), as Eicarls W A G (Dave Palone) meets up with Cam's Magic Girl (Cat Manzi.

Penn National Gaming Inc.and the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association have agreed to a two-year contract extension that would keep live harness racing at Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George's County only if the General Assembly denies a casino license for nearby National Harbor, the company announced Tuesday. Penn National would like to see Rosecroft chosen as the site for a sixth gambling location in Maryland, but the site faces stiff competition from backers of the National Harbor location.

Colt Enterprises, the operator of financially troubled Rosecroft and Delmarva raceways, announced last night that it will cancel more than $1 million in stakes races, including the July 1 Messenger Stakes, the first leg of pacing's Triple Crown.The company released a statement saying that preliminary business projections show that "cash funds will not be available" to pay for purses for the races.About a month ago, Rosecroft dropped one live racing card per week and reduced purses in order to cut costs and stay in business.

Colt Enterprises, Inc., the owners of harness tracks Rosecroft Raceway and Delmarva Downs, presented a bleak financial picture at the Maryland Racing Commission's monthly meeting yesterday.John Kuhn, vice president of Colt, said the tracks have lost $4.8 million since Colt purchased them 31 months ago. But he added a more optimistic note."If all the entities that we work with pull together and they get a few breaks, I think harness racing [in Maryland] can survive and go on," Kuhn said in response to a question from commissioner John H. "Jack" Mosner Jr."

The sale of Rosecroft Raceway and Delmarva Downs was approved yesterday by trustee Jim Murphy, signaling a likely end to a stormy chapter in Maryland harness racing history.Murphy, trustee of the tracks since they were placed under the protection of a federal bankruptcy court in January, approved an $18.2 million bid by Colt Enterprises Inc., a company fully owned by Frederick Weisman of California."The proposal will be subject to the federal bankruptcy court for approval," Murphy said in a prepared statement.

Bally Entertainment Corp. yesterday announced the appointment of Dennis O. Dowd as the new president of Rosecroft Raceway and Delmarva Downs, effective Sept. 11.Dowd, 47, has an extensive background in harness and thoroughbred racing in New Jersey and is leaving the presidency of Freehold Raceway for his new position.During his tenure at Freehold, attendance and handle improved annually with his innovations regarding simulcasting, off-track betting growth and service to fans receiving much of the credit.

Rosecroft Raceway's scheduled program last night was canceled after the drivers met and decided not to race because of frost beneath portions of the track.Rosecroft was open only for simulcasting from The Meadowlands after losing its seventh consecutive racing day to weather problems.

FORT WASHINGTON -- Electric Yankee, a 2-year-old colt with strong Maryland connections, is the 5-2 favorite for the richest race of the year at Rosecroft Raceway, tonight's $133,448 Wayne Smullin Memorial Pace Final.Electric Yankee, a son of Jate Lobell, is driven by Rosecroft regular John Wagner and is owned by the Keller and Bittle families of Frederick. Electric Yankee last week came within 2/5 of a second of the divisional track record when he won in 1:54.Also pacing in 1:54 last week was Bull Hanover, who will have to overcome the outside post nine for trainer/driver Bruce Riegle.

Like many horse racing tracks across the country, the Ocean Downs harness track on the Eastern Shore is hemorrhaging money. It lost an average of $2 million annually for the past five years. Ocean Downs' owner, William Rickman, wants the state's help. He is pushing a bill, scheduled for consideration Wednesday by a Senate committee, that would allow the state's two harness tracks to keep using a share of the purse money generated from Maryland's casinos to support daily racing operations.

A proposal by the Prince George's County executive to single out National Harbor as the only acceptable site for a casino in that county ran into fierce opposition on multiple fronts Wednesday in Annapolis. At a hearing before a state Senate committee, the owner of Rosecraft Raceway predicted that slots at National Harbor would lead to the demise of the harness racing track. Also objecting was the developer of the soon-to-open slots casino at Arundel Mills, who opposed the opening of any new gambling sites before the five locations already authorized have proven their viability.

Indoor soccer Blast signs Watson, Ukah, DeRoux Less than a week before training camp, the Blast has added three players to its roster for the 2011-12 season. Matt Watson (UMBC) returns for his fifth season, while fellow forward Warren Ukah is back for his second year. They're joined by midfielder-defender Stephen DeRoux . "We are excited to announce the return of Watson and Ukah as well as the addition of DeRoux," Blast coach Danny Kelly said in a statement.

Rosecroft Raceway, founded in 1949 and closed in 2008, will reopen its doors on a new harness racing season Friday night. "We're ecstatic," Tom Cooke, president of the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association, told the Maryland Racing Commission at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday. " We're back to live racing, something a lot of people didn't think would ever happen. " Rosecroft is opening for 20 days of live racing on Friday and Saturday nights. It will feature a 10-race card with post time at 6:45 p.m. Cooke also told the Commission that Penn National, the track's new owner, is increasing the total nightly purse from $16,000 to $25,000.

Renewed jostling to expand gambling in the state began Wednesday as a national casino operator painted its proposal to build a casino in Prince George's County as good for taxpayers and as Frederick County lawmakers asked constituents if they want slots there. Penn National Gaming, which owns a slots parlor in Cecil County, released economic impact studies that found that slots at its Rosecroft Raceway horse-racing track in Prince George's would generate at least $346 million in tax revenue in the first year of operation.

Rosecroft Raceway and members of the state's thoroughbred industry, including the Maryland Jockey Club, are expected to enter into binding arbitration to resolve a dispute over simulcasting fees. The parties failed to reach an agreement by the Oct. 1 deadline during a mediation led by Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez. Sanchez said in a statement Monday that he was disappointed no agreement could be reached among the parties that would allow Rosecroft to broadcast thoroughbred races.

FORT WASHINGTON -- Delaware's Karen Moore captured the third and final leg of the Ladies Driving Championship, as she steered Nerocillin to a half-length victory over South Point (Dawn Trader) in 2 minutes, 1 4/5 seconds last night at Rosecroft Raceway.The overall points winner was Darlene Heber, whose third-place finish behind Mighty Fine Time enabled her to accumulate 67 points. Moore was second overall with 62 points, 12 better than first-leg victor Colby Hubble.

A Prince George's County Council member, hoping to keep slots out of the county, introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban the gambling devices. The proposal comes just weeks after Rosecroft Raceway was reopened by its new owner, Penn National Gaming, which wants to offer slots and perhaps poker and other table games at the Fort Washington track. Proponents say Rosecroft, which went bankrupt and closed in 2010, cannot survive on horse racing alone. But many local leaders opposed bringing slots to Prince George's when they were authorized in other Maryland counties in 2008.

Rosecroft Raceway, which had been shuttered since last year, will re-open for simulcast races on Thursday. Under a new ownership, the Prince George's County harness track will open seven days a week to accept bets on harness and quarterhorse races from across the country. The track will resume live racing on Oct. 21 after a nearly three-year absence. Casino operator Penn National Gaming bought Rosecroft for $11 million earlier this year in a bankruptcy auction. Hanah.cho@baltsun.com An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of money for which Rosecroft sold at auction.