No De Francis Dash this year

[my miss storm cat]

I think this sucks.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...e-francis-dash

[ateamstupid]

Really a shame. There aren't many meaningful sprint races after the BC and this was the only big one.

[phystech]

I agree - no Dash really sucks.

Given the fall meet is only a few weeks away, and we have no condition book yet, we weren't even sure there'd be a fall meet - at least this is some word that says we'll be racing in the fall. We still don't know which days, or how many days each week.

Frank is too busy spending money on the local slots referendum in Anne Arundel County to pay for the DeFrancis Dash.

And everytime I see Chukass's name in print, I cringe. Afterall, he ran Rosecroft (harness) right into the ground and seems to be headed in the same direction with MJC. He'd rather race on Wed/Thur than run on Sunday and put a couple nice TV's in to show football on. His mantra is "...we can't compete against football..." instead of "...let's add football, some beer and wing specials, to our Sunday menu - come on out and bet the races while rooting on the 'Skins or Ravens". What a moron......

[Port Conway Lane]

http://www.drf.com/news/charles-town...been-marylands

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. – Charles Town Race Track has operated since 1933 and it introduced slot machines in 1997, but it had never experienced a gambling frenzy like the one that occurred last month.

Table games – including blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker – were made legal as of July 1, and it took some 24 hours to truck in the equipment, set up the tables, and get some dealers licensed. Charles Town’s casino was packed with customers playing its 5,000 slots, but shortly after midnight on July 2 almost everyone was impatiently eying the tables.

“When we finally opened 10 games at 12:45 a.m., there was a deluge,” general manager Al Britton said.

Casinos typically set the size of minimum bets according to demand, and the demand was so frantic that Charles Town established a minimum of $100 at the tables. There are few casinos on earth (not even Monte Carlo) where a customer must spend $100 to play a hand of blackjack, and the figure seems incredible for West Virginia. But it did not faze the patrons at the newly renamed Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.

“For the entire weekend,” Britton said, “people were standing four and five deep at every table, trying to get a chance to play.”

(Now that it has 85 gaming tables available for use, the casino can accommodate its customers more easily, but the minimum bet is still a substantial $25.)

Anyone who cares about Maryland racing will feel a sharp pang of regret visiting Charles Town. Its facilities are worthy of the Las Vegas Strip, and it is packed with the very customers who would have packed a Maryland racino if it existed.

“We have access to an affluent market,” Britton said. “Eighty percent of our customers come from Baltimore, Washington, and Northern Virginia.”

Nice job Glendening.

[clyde]

Oh poo.

[tanner12oz]

maryland did this to themselves...ive done the preakness the past 7 years and ive watched it crumble. im not a business man, college educated etc etc and it was EASILY apparent to me that nothing was being done to correct there ills...they are surrounded by slots, the PIM meet is what like 12 freaking days...who knows about the laurel meet....the stupid races from south america are a waste...

[my miss storm cat]

Glad it's back!

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...aurel-calendar