Maryland Jockey Club

The Charles Town Races & Slots will close the 2006 stakes schedule Saturday with the running of the second annual Eleanor M. Casey Memorial Stakes. The 6 1/2-furlong race is a $50,000-added event for West Virginia-bred fillies. The race is named in honor of Casey, a long time owner and breeder of thoroughbred horses, who died in 2004. "There have been 15 horses nominated and three stand out," said Charles Town racing secretary Doug Lamp. The early list of favorites include: Glorious Appearing, who has earned more than $70,000 this year at Charles Town; Sue's Sweet Girl, who shipped in from New York to win a Breeders Classics race; and Sassy Sheri, who has earned $39,444 lifetime.

Thoughts and prayers go to the folks in Louisiana and Mississippi as they try to recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Over the years, Charles Town has had a "Cajun Connection" with jockeys such as Larry Dupuy, Kenny Voss, Tammy Johnson, Vincent Graffagnini, Todd Dupuis and Troy Roberts once calling either Louisiana or Mississippi home. The most famous "Cajun" riding today is California-based jockey Kent Desormeaux. He was the leading apprentice in the country when he first started in Maryland.

The Rooney family, which happens to own a professional football team in Pittsburgh, once ran horses at Charles Town Races and Slots. Over the years, there have been many Rooney-owned horses compete at the West Virginia thoroughbred oval. The best of the lot was Christopher R. Art Rooney, the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, saw his horse win by the largest margin in the history of the Tri-State Futurity. Christopher R. won in 1973 by 12 lengths for trainer "Tuffy" Hacker and jockey William J. Passmore - now a state steward in Maryland.

Is it summer or fall? Well it depends on whom you ask. The calendar says summer begins on June 21 and runs until Sept. 21 when fall begins. Climatologists take another approach by tracking solar radiation and day length. They define June-July-August as summer and September-October-November as fall. Labor Day, the first Monday in September, was a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.

The newly-formed The Thoroughbred Club at the Charles Town Races & Slots believes the current renovations at the West Virginia thoroughbred oval aren't going far enough. "We agree that work needed to be done but we feel Penn National Gaming management could have taken things a step farther by increasing the width of the turns, expanding to a mile track with an inner 6-furlong turf course and removing the concrete base on the racetrack, a very dangerous situation," The Thoroughbred Club Chairman Harold Shotwell said.

Remember A Huevo? The seven-year-old thoroughbred, who won the 1999 West Virginia Breeders Classics at Charles Town Races & Slots only to be disqualified for testing positive for the drug Clenbuterol, has returned to racing following a four-year layoff. Owned by Mark Hopkins and trained by Michael Dickinson, the son of Cool Joe competed in the $85,000-added The Harvey Arneault Memorial Handicap at Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester, W.Va., last Saturday afternoon and finished seventh in the 6-furlong test for 3-years-olds-and-upwards.

Local betting parlor plan goes off track By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer Bally's Maryland Inc. said Thursday it will re-examine its effort to open an off-track horse racing parlor near Hagerstown after the Maryland Racing Commission rejected its application Wednesday. Dennis Dowd, chief executive officer of Bally's, said the commission's decision - made in the midst of a turf battle between thoroughbred and harness racing owners in the state - kills the project for now. "We are rethinking our options.

Gamble on betting parlor turns sour By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer James Hinkle admits he took a gamble when he agreed to lease 18,500 square feet of space at his North Village Shopping Center for an off-track betting parlor that had yet to be approved. But that doesn't make it any easier for the Hagerstown businessman to swallow the Maryland Racing Commission's decision last week to reject the application from Bally's Maryland Inc. to open the parlor. "I guess I'll just move on and rent the building to somebody else," said Hinkle, who estimated the center north of Hagerstown on U.S. 11 would lose nearly $190,000 as a result of the state's decision.

Ronnie Brown claimed his third straight trainers title in 2003 at Charles Town Races & Slots, while Anthony Mawing captured his first jockeys' championship. According to statistics provided by Charles Town publicity director Jeff Gilleas, trainer Brown led the way at the West Virginia thoroughbred oval with 139 wins, while Mawing won 203 races. Brown had 750 starters in 2003 and finished with a winning percentage of 19. He won two of the four meets, tied overall second-place finisher Jeff Runco once and lost to Runco on another occasion.

Six states in the Mid-Atlantic Region have discussed the process of banning anabolic steroids in thoroughbred race horses. "It looks like April is the likely starting date when the various states will implement the ban," said Michael Hopkins - the Executive Director of the Maryland State Racing Commission. "Some will start April 1, others on April 15. Here in Maryland, we are shooting for April 17, the opening day of the spring meet at Pimlico. " The Mid-Atlantic Racing Commissions include representatives from Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Virginia.