On Wednesday, July 8, the board of directors of Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc, which owns Rosecroft Raceway, voted unanimously to sell the Maryland track to former owner and real estate developer Mark Vogel, according to Cloverleaf President Kelley Rogers. Although the financial terms of the deal have not been made public yet, Rogers said that it includes an estimated $11 million for subsidizing live racing. The agreement is the first step toward returning life racing to the track, which has offered only simulcasting since last year. The sale to Vogel must still be approved by the bankruptcy court judge overseeing Cloverleaf’s case in Maryland and Vogel must be approved for a license by the Maryland Racing Commission. “We don’t see any reason to anticipate any problems with any of that,” said Rogers. “We couldn’t be more excited. We are thinking that Mr. Vogel will take possession by mid-September, have simulcasting shortly after that and he hopes to have live racing by next spring.” As a condition of the sale, Rosecroft’s backstretch must close. There are less than 70 horses stabled there now. Vogel must also reach an agreement with the Maryland Thoroughbred industry regarding simulcast rights and fees. Even when Even when Vogel takes possession of the track, the $20 million lawsuit Cloverleaf last week against the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, the Jockey Club and 15 other defendants in protest of what it sees as a breach and interference of its contract with the out-of-state racetracks (which is a separate contract from in-state tracks) will go forward, said Rogers. “It will absolutely go forward and there will be more to come. It’s about making them do the right and fair thing. I do know that Mr. Vogel made an offer to pay $2 million in simulcast fees (of the $5.9 million the Thoroughbred industry say is contractually owed), but they wouldn’t hear of it.”
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