This is the eighth of a major series of articles concerning racetracks in the USA. We continue our review of USA racetracks looking at the live racing venues in Maryland.
Maryland –
In the late nineteen forties harness racing first appeared with the opening of Laurel and Rosecroft Raceways followed by Ocean Downs and Baltimore racetracks. At the time Maryland along with Kentucky were the only states that allowed wagering on races. After the Baltimore track disappeared, Laurel Raceway which had been renamed to Free State Raceway in 1980 ended racing in late 1989.
Ocean Downs (OD)
The half mile track near the resort town of Ocean City in Berlin, Maryland is a casino and harness racing track (racino) operating at this venue for over seventy years. Owned today by Churchill Downs Inc the harness racing facility and simulcast betting establishment it offers a full calendar of live racing during the season. Located just six miles from Ocean City, Ocean Downs Racetrack’s convenient location is a popular venue amongst vacationers on the east coast.
The race track opened on 25 July 1949 when it hosted twenty race nights. A year after Ocean Downs closed for renovations the $45 million dollar casino opened on 4 January 2011. The half mile track has a straight length of 440 feet and width of 70 feet with banking on the turns of the raceway of six to eight degrees. Ownership of the track has changed on a number of occasions at one time operating under the name “Delmarva Downs”.
In 1947 the Maryland General Assembly (MGA) authorized up to one hundred days of harness racing per annum with no more than twenty racing days at one track. The Ocean Downs Racing Association (ODRA) formed by a group of Eastern Shore promoters was one of twenty two applicants to the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) for harness racing licenses. The four applicants approved were Ocean Downs, Laurel Raceway, Rosecroft Raceway and Baltimore Raceway.
Construction work began in November 1947 with the intention of opening Ocean Downs the following summer but delayed due to construction difficulties. Completed at a cost of $650,000, by owner ODRA, it opened on 25 July 1949 with the opening meeting held on 1 August. Losing $85,000 in the first two seasons due to its remote location compared to the three other Maryland harness tracks, ODRA considered switching to thoroughbred racing but that did not happen leading led to the resignation of half of the board of directors in 1957. The MGA raised the tracks commission three times in ten years to assist revenues.
On 1 August 1949 in the first race held at Ocean Downs, Belle Morgan paid $64 to set up a $799 double. On 17 August 1953 a record attendance of 9,975 fans were on course. On 12 February 1961 seven horses perished in a barn fire while on 1 August 1981 the clubhouse built beside the grandstand opened. Racing seasons at Ocean Downs and other harness tracks were continually extended to keep pace with other mid-Atlantic tracks. By 1984 harness racing was a year round sport in Maryland with Ocean Downs season running from May to September.
In 1986 the MRC expressed grave concerns about track management and maintenance at Ocean Downs being hesitant to approve continuation of the tracks racing licence. Rosecroft Raceway’s owners purchased a sixty eight percent share in Ocean Downs from track President John Howard Burbage for $2 million and renamed the track Delmarva Downs in 1986. In 1987 real estate developer Mark Vogel bought Rosecroft Raceway and Delmarva Downs. Vogel allegedly diverted funds from the tracks to support failed real estate ventures and after being arrested on drug charges in 1991 he filed for bankruptcy. Californian philanthropist Frederick Weisman bought the two tracks out of bankruptcy the same year.
Colt Enterprises Weisman’s company lost $4m over the next two years prompting Weisman to place both racetracks up for sale in 1993. Weisman died in 1994 with the trustees of his estate reluctant to invest more money in the tracks intensifying the need for a buyer. An initial sale agreement was reached with Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association (CSOA), a group of 1,400 mid-Atlantic horsemen, for a total of $11 million pending financing. Delmarva did not open in May for the 1995 season with the deal not finalised.
Casino operator Bally Entertainment who were hopeful that Maryland would legalize slot machines at racetracks made a $12 million offer for a controlling interest in the two tracks, with Cloverleaf buying a small stake. The President of Pimlico and Laurel Park thoroughbred tracks fearing outside control of the state’s racing industry made a competing offer of a $1 million loan to help Cloverleaf complete its purchase. Wary that Bally Entertainment might have no need to continue racing after a casino was opened, the horsemen declined both offers. A deal was reached whereby Bally lent Cloverleaf $10.8 million to buy the tracks agreeing to operate them for seven years with an option to purchase a fifty percent share if slots were legalized. Delmarva reopened under its new ownership in July 1996.
In 1996 management changed the track back to its former name of Ocean Downs after the purchase due to the Delmarva name often being confused with Del Mar racetrack. With Cloverleaf losing $1.2m annually mostly at Ocean Downs and the horsemen unhappy with Bally’s management of Rosecroft, two months of negotiations were held over restructuring Cloverleaf’s debts, selling Ocean Downs to Bally and turning over the operation of Rosecroft to Cloverleaf.
William Rickman, owner of Delaware Park made a competing offer for the two tracks with Frank J. DeFrancis expressing interest as well. In May 1997 Bally Entertainment eventually purchased Ocean Downs from CSOA for $2 million agreeing to continue live racing contingent on certain legislative relief, also expecting slot machines to be legalized in the state. They proposed to end simulcasting of thoroughbred racing instead looking to open an off track betting option in Hagrestown without sharing revenues with the other tracks. The Racing Commission rejected this proposal and a new simulcast agreement was reached in April 1998. Another barn fire killed five horses on 22 July 1998.
In 2000 Rickman purchased Ocean Downs from Bally for $5.1 million, including $2.5 million to be put in escrow to cover the track’s operating costs. Cloverleaf initially exercised a right of first refusal that it had negotiated as part of the sale to Bally financed by a loan from the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC). Cloverleaf and MJC partnered in a state wide revenue sharing agreement hoping to protect their monopoly on Maryland racing but after due diligence decided Ocean Downs was losing too much money and needed many capital improvements. Stepping aside Rickman completed his purchase. A track record $435,028 was bet by fans on 16 August 2000 while the clubhouse was renovated in 2001 including Pacers Restaurant and a video wall.
In 2008 Maryland voters approved a referendum allowing slot machines at five casinos with one license allotted to Worcester County. Ocean Downs was the only applicant being approved for 800 machines. Construction of the $45m casino commenced in 2010 with the grandstand rebuilt into Maryland’s first racino opening on 4 January 2011 with 750 machines. Season 2011 attendances totalled 77,466 while betting reached $3,768,901. Table games were authorized in Maryland casinos in a 2012 referendum while the Ocean Downs season commenced earlier in mid-June.
A planned 50,000 square foot expansion announced in September 2013 including ten table games and a new restaurant completed in December 2017. Rickman sold the track to a joint venture of Churchill Downs Inc and Saratoga Casino Holdings in January 2017. Churchill Downs took full ownership of Ocean Downs in September 2018 swapping its twenty five percent stake in Saratoga for Saratoga’s fifty percent stake in the track.
Ocean Downs provides harness racing during the summer months (June – September). The climate controlled grandstand seats 4,650 in the grandstand with another 350 in the clubhouse plus parking is available for 5,000 cars. Among the facilities are forty betting windows plus twenty self-service terminals and two ATM machines. Walkways are lit and the track surface has been upgraded. Simulcasting is available year round from midday until midnight with broadcasts from sixty harness and thoroughbred race tracks throughout USA and Canada. Live sport broadcasts of football, baseball, basketball and hockey are available. Dining options include Pacers Restaurant, Clubhouse Turn, Poseidon’s Pub as well as four concession stands.
Feature races at Ocean Downs include Maryland Sires Stakes as well as over its history Isle of Wight Bay, Hal Belote Memorial, C’mon Tuff Guy, Austin Thomas Memorial, The Bay Bridge Pacing Series, Alan Myer Memorial, Ocean City Pacing Series, Miss Conna Adios and Robbert Cotton Jr Memorial. The 2022 season consisted of forty seven race nights commencing Sunday 29 May and ending on Wednesday 7 September with racing taking place on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday evenings (Thursdays in July also).
Rosecroft Raceway
Opening as a five eights mile track with 700 ft home straight on 27 May 1949, Rosecroft Raceway has undergone a number of ownership changes throughout a chequered career now stretching over seventy years. The Washington Post estimated a crowd of 12,000 for its opening day on 26 May but rain cancelled the races meaning the first nights racing took place 27 May. A crowd estimated at 6.000 attended achieving betting figures of $164,501, the second-highest ever recorded for a night trotting track on an opening night.
Located at 6336 Rosecroft Drive, Fort Washington right outside the national capital, Rosecroft was nicknamed the “Raceway by the Beltway” for being close to Interstate 495. Boasting an ultra-modern track with 90 feet wide straights and a 520 foot long home straight, the track accommodates nine starters behind the mobile. An attractive grandstand and clubhouse are other features.
On 8 September 1990 Rosecroft Raceway recorded its largest day of betting – $1,195,681 while many years earlier on 17 June 1965 the largest ever attendance saw 13,158 fans on track.
Rosecroft Owners –
Miller family: 1947–1987 : a meeting was held in September 1947 with a view to bringing harness racing to Prince George County in Maryland with Rosecroft the chosen site. Future harness racing immortal and horse breeder William E Miller was Rosecroft’s founder in 1949 becoming the first track owned by horse owners, trainers and drivers. Originally the WE Miller Stables the track was located next to the Rosecroft Stock Farm, a breeding operation.
Rosecroft was built on 125 acres (51 ha) at a cost of $800,000. It hosted an annual sale of standardbred yearlings for many years along with annual Maryland Sire Stake races. 1953’s attendance of 192,585 was the highest of all harness tracks in Maryland while average attendance in the early 1950s were more than 7,000 per day.
William E. Miller died from a heart attack in 1954 while driving a horse at Harrington Raceway. Rosecroft hosted the William E. Miller Memorial in his honour, winners included 1994 USTA Horse of the Year Cams Card Shark. Memorial stake races were held annually for both William and son John until 1995. The owners resurfaced and regraded the track in 1961. William’s son John W. Miller owned Rosecroft until his death in 1969. Following John Miller, Earle Brown became owner. In 1974 Maryland’s all-time most winning driver John Wager started working at Rosecroft. In 1980 Earle Brown moved to a different position at the racetrack, William E. Miller’s grandson William E. Miller II took over track ownership.
Rosecroft was awarded the 3yo fillies trot in the inaugural year of the Hambletonian Society created Breeders Crown in 1984 (also 1988), 2yo colts pace in 1985 (also 1987) and 2yo fillies pace in 1986. Five years straight but 1988 was last year for hosting Breeders Crown events.
Mark Vogel: 1987–1990, the Maryland real estate agent purchased both Rosecroft and Ocean Downs for $6 million in cash plus $5.5 million of debt in 1987. He later purchased Freestate Raceway in 1989 although it was sold to a development firm in 1990 when Rosecroft was awarded more race dates. Vogel’s goals as regards Rosecroft were to i) construct a $10m grandstand, ii) simulcast Rosecroft to other tracks throughout Maryland and iii) obtain more race dates. Washington Times journalist Rick Snyder noted that Vogel did not know the racing business making mistakes that negatively impacted the Maryland racing industry.
Attendances at Rosecroft declined with Vogel not focusing on marketing or daily operations being more interested in his real estate business taking money out of the betting pools to assist his business. Smaller betting pools meant lower payouts to bettors and less profit for the track, a deadly mix. In September 1990 Vogel was arrested for possession of cocaine with his company filing for bankruptcy protection.
From 1990 to 1994 Rosecroft Raceway hosted the second leg of the Triple Crown for pacers, Messenger Stakes won in 1992 by Western Hanover and 1994 by Cams Card Shark. On a September 1990 night, $1,195,681 was bet becoming the then largest turnover in Rosecroft’s history. This record was broken on 3 May 2003 when $1,564,150 was bet.
Weisman’s Colt Enterprises: 1991–1995 : two people were interested in buying the track in 1991 : Fred Weisman, California businessman and Mark May, former National Football League player. Weisman’s Colt Enterprises won purchasing Rosecroft out of bankruptcy for $18.2 million. The grandstand caught fire a few hours before live racing began on 23 November 1991. Reconstructed in 1993 at a cost of $3.6 million, the new grandstand featured giant windows and with Rosecroft officials reaching new simulcasting agreements during the reconstruction, several large screen televisions and betting windows were added throughout.
During Weisman’s first full season of operations, Rosecroft experienced a 10.5 percent increase in betting and an 8.3 percent increase in attendance. For the seventeenth time in harness racing history and the first time in Maryland a three horse dead heat occurred in race seven at Rosecroft on 10 October 1992. Five stakes races inherited when Freestate Raceway closed ceased from the 1993 season onwards – Potomac, Lady Baltimore, Terrapan, Turtle Dove, North American. This was brought about by declining attendances and betting with the stakes required being unaffordable. This was when simulcasting and authorised off track betting facilities throughout Maryland commenced as a means of increasing revenues.
In September 1994 Weisman died from pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles, his relatives took control of the racetrack. The owners were losing money although attendance and betting were increasing, the independent auditors reported Rosecroft and Ocean Downs losing $1.1 million in 1992 fiscal year, $1.4 million in 1993 and $6.2 million in 1994.
In neighbouring Delaware, the General Assembly approved slot machines for the states three tracks with the first racino opening in December 1995. Approximately ten percent of gross revenue was used to increase stakes further drawing competition away from Maryland.
Weisman’s relatives did not want to operate the track opting to sell it. A further five stake races including the Messenger Stakes were dropped from the 1995 racing calendar. Costs were cut, stake money lowered and racing dates reduced in an endeavour to avoid bankruptcy, the only other option if the track could not be sold.
Cloverleaf Enterprises: 1995–2010 : Rosecroft and Ocean Downs were sold to Cloverleaf Enterprises, a horseman’s organisation for $11m in mid-1995. Cloverleaf accepted a $10.6 million loan from Bally Entertainment hoping a casino would be permitted at Rosecroft. Rosecroft were unable to fill up a twelve race card for its opening night in 1996 An estimated $80 million in revenue was lost from the effect of Delaware’s casinos in 1996. All attempts to bring slot machines or table games to Rosecroft were unsuccessful.
Betting revenue at Rosecroft decreased 90% from 2002 to 2010 with attendances declining 95% in the same period (see chart above). Cloverleaf attempted to sell Rosecroft multiple times in the 2000’s but were thwarted by lawsuits and politics leading to potential buyers becoming disinterested.
Rosecroft did not have the luxury of casino moneys to put into stakes like other nearby states. Peter Angelos, owner of Baltimore Orioles was a bidder but withdrew in 2005. With all lawsuits resolved in 2006 one bidder remained, Penn National Gaming. While Maryland passed a casino bill in 2007, Rosecroft was not one of the locations approved for expanded lawful gambling. Penn National lost interest in Rosecroft deciding not to purchase the track.
Cloverleaf announced Rosecroft would close on 1 July 2010 after live racing ceased in 2009 with the track only having simulcast revenue from off-track betting. In June 2009 Cloverleaf Enterprises filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Previous owner Mark Vogel loaned the track $350,000 offering to buy it but a bankruptcy court judge refused to approve the plan. Rosecroft officials hoped the Maryland General Assembly would approve legislation allowing casino style gambling at Rosecroft but when this did not occur Cloverleaf filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in early June 2010.
Penn National Gaming: 2011–2016 : Penn National Gaming purchased Rosecroft racetrack for $10.25m hoping to make it a racino, reopening on 25 August 2011. Penn National’s intentions were to have live racing and simulcast betting at Rosecroft as well as seeking changes in Maryland gaming laws to allow slots and table games. The Maryland Racing Commission approved Penn National Gaming securing a $1.4 million line of credit on 28 July 2011 to cover operating losses at Rosecroft for fiscal years 2011 and 2012, while $2.3 million in losses were likely through 2013.
Simulcasting disputes between tracks and simulcasters about revenues delayed new agreements on broadcast rights, especially as Penn National had wanted Rosecroft to begin simulcasting races in late August 2011. The Maryland legislature passed a bill requiring all parties to enter into mediation and if not successful by 1 October an arbitrator would be required. Penn National sold its financial stake in the Maryland Jockey Club in July to resolve a conflict of interest. Rosecroft released its plans for adding a casino in August requiring destruction of the grandstand and building a casino with approximately 4,700 slot machines alongside the track.
With an agreement on simulcasting of harness and quarter horse races reached in August, Rosecroft reopened on 25 August 2011 drawing 400 to 500 patrons. Owing $1.24 million in unpaid disbursements under its previous simulcast license, parties negotiated how much Penn National would pay of this debt. Penn National announced its intention to spend $1 million to renovate the property in coming years including razing old horse barns, putting a new roof on the betting areas and upgrading the HVAC (heating/cooling) system.
In 2012 the Maryland General Assembly introduced a bill which would allow a casino in Prince George’s County with National Harbour or Rosecroft likely locations. The bill was passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor in August allowing a casino in Prince George’s County, passing via referendum in November. After one season of live racing, Penn National and Cloverleaf reached an agreement to extend live racing at Rosecroft for the following two years, the only exception being if National Harbour became the location for Prince George’s County casino.
Stronach Group: 2016-present : the Stronach Group purchased Rosecroft Raceway for an undisclosed sum in May 2016. Closing the purchase on 2 August, Stronach Group said it would make some cosmetic improvements to the racing facilities and begin evaluating what long term improvements it could make.
There are 2,500 parking spaces including parking by the main entrance. The current grandstand erected in 1993 is 53,000 square feet and is beside the 96,000 square foot, three storey club house, inside of which is the terrace dining room holding up to 1,100 people. Each dining room table has its own television, which can be used to watch horse racing from Rosecroft or other tracks around the world.
The 2022 live racing season ran from January to May. The Maryland Sires Stakes remains Rosecroft’s major racing event. In recent years, Keystone Velocity’s 1:47.3US, 5 November 2017 is the track record while Australian bred Leonidas posted 1:48.0US winning the Potomac Pace on 15 November 2020.
Rosecroft’s facilities have also been used for :
I) boxing : Old School Boxing Gym used by children in the area with the track hosting amateur boxing matches for several years. Heavyweight champion boxer George Forman beat Sylvester Dullaire on 14 July 1969 at Rosecroft. Then undefeated heavyweight boxer Seth Mitchell fought at Rosecroft in 2009. Rosecroft hosted an all-female evening of boxing in 2009
II) professional motorcycle races in 1974
III) 46th Annual Cherry Blossom Rugby Tournament in 2012
IV) large banquets, community activities such as an annual Senior Citizen Day, flea markets, fundraising for politicians and Governor’s Day
Next Article : Maryland part two/closed tracks and Missouri tracks
Peter Craig
14 September 2022
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
