Local trainers, drivers face rough stretch

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Local trainers, drivers face rough stretch

by Ted Black | Staff Writer

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For the better part of three decades, county residents William ‘‘Bib” Roberts and John Wagner have made their living training and driving standardbred horses at Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington.

But with the 59-year-old harness racing oval facing serious financial troubles, Roberts, Wagner and other horsemen who compete at the track 80 nights each year will soon be headed elsewhere or out of the business entirely. Last week, at the monthly Maryland Racing Commission meeting, Rosecroft officials were granted their request to cease overnight races in the fall and throughout 2009.

Live racing was scheduled to resume on Nov. 7 and continue two nights per week through Dec. 20. But due to the fact that the overnight races – those which do not require an entry fee – have been eliminated and only the Maryland Sire Stakes and Maryland Standardbred Race Funds will be contested, the track will race only Saturdays beginning on Nov. 15.

For more than a decade, Maryland’s two harness tracks (Rosecroft and Ocean Downs in Berlin) and its thoroughbred tracks (Laurel Park and Pimlico) have struggled while neighboring states such as Delaware and West Virginia have prospered thanks to the arrival of slot machines. Maryland voters will consider a referendum on slots in November; however, the proposal does not include a location in Prince George’s County.

Roberts, who owns a 21-acre training farm in Brandywine, has been attempting to relocate for more than a year but efforts to sell the farm during a sluggish real estate market have been in vain. Like many trainers, most of his horses compete in overnight races and Roberts has only one horse that is eligible for the remaining events this year.

‘‘I guess, like a lot of people, I’ll have to move and sell most of my horses,” said Roberts. ‘‘I’m not sure what will happen to my place, although I’m sure it will be subdivided into seven or eight lots. I really don’t see why people have a problem with slots. It’s like having a voluntary tax. If you don’t want to pay it, you don’t have to. It’s no different than the lottery. The state is going to control where all the money goes.”

Wagner, a Glenn Dale resident and 1974 DuVal High graduate, has nearly 80 horses in training at several different tracks throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. With nearly 4,800 wins and earnings of nearly $20 million to his credit, Wagner has been a fixture at the Fort Washington oval since his days as a provisional driver in the late 1970s. On June 28, the track renamed the Westside Lounge the ‘‘Earl Wagner Room” in honor of his late father.

‘‘I have 75 or 80 horses now, but I’m going to cut back to about 30,” Wagner said. ‘‘I’ll keep the better ones, but the other ones that race at Rosecroft and Ocean Downs I’ll have to sell them. They can’t make any money now. It’s really tough for the small owners and trainers. Most of them will move or just get out of the business.”

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.