Colonial Owner: OK Plan or Operations Cease
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The owner of Colonial Downs said the Virginia racetrack and its network of off-track betting parlors will close Nov. 1 if the Virginia Racing Commission doesn't approve its plan for live Thoroughbred racing in 2015.
In addition, Jeffrey Jacobs said he wants the VRC to approve the track's contract Oct. 15 with a group called Old Dominion Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.
Colonial Downs, currently in the midst of its harness meet, didn't have Thoroughbred racing this year because it had no contract with the Virginia Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, the only horsemen's group to have a contract with Colonial Downs in its history. Because there is no contract, OTB parlors in Virginia were unable to import Thoroughbred signals this year.
Jacobs, in an Oct. 4 release, said he wants three major "marquee" race days, 17 regular days of racing for Virginia horsemen, and a few steeplechase dates.
"It's very simple," he said. "We want to focus our prize money each year on several high-quality days of nationally ranked races involving some of the top jockeys, trainers, and horses in America. Our former horsemen's group wanted to see our purse money spread out over more days of lower-quality racing, and they did not want to compensate us for losses incurred by opening the stables and backstretch for them all summer long."
The Virginia HBPA is still the Thoroughbred horsemen's group of record in the state and has been recognized as such by the VRC.
In an Oct. 1 letter to Virginia horsemen, Virginia HBPA executive director Frank Petramalo noted the organization proposed various compromises, all of which were rejected by Colonial Downs, including mediation by a state official. He called the group to which Jacobs referred a "sham horsemen's group set up by the track," adding that the Virginia HBPA "is unaware of any horseman who is a member of this group."
The Virginia HBPA is having an informational meeting Oct. 8.
Jacobs said employees have been notified operations will cease Nov. 1 if the VRC doesn't approve his application for dates and the Old Dominion THA as the horsemen's representative.