Rosecroft to remain open at least to July 1

Although Rosecroft Raceway officials recently announced the Maryland racetrack would be closing April 19, it will now remain open until at least July 1 after the state’s Racing Commission on Monday voted 5-1 to approve a racing license after prospective buyer Mark Vogel offered to front money.

“We live to fight another day,” Sharon Roberts, executive director of Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association was quoted as saying.

According to reports, Vogel made an offer to loan the track $350,000 to keep the site open, and the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association added another $150,000 loan. Both loans are subject to approval by a bankruptcy court judge, but if given the OK then the track could remain open through July 1.

Also announced at the meeting was a plan by Rosecroft to reach an agreement with Ocean Downs to race 40 days of that late spring meet at Rosecroft.

The earlier announcement that Rosecroft would close April 19 stated it would come to fruition unless legislative relief was granted. Included in that were the possible passage of bill that would put the issue of poker rooms at Rosecroft to a county voter referendum. That bill was passed by the state Senate but did not gain approval in the House.

That bill, and another that would split the state’s racing commission into separate entities for Standardbred and Thoroughbred racing, would also change the revenue division from slot machines to go to purses to a 70-30 split between the Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds instead of its current 80-20 division.

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