Maryland Business

By: Liz Farmer

The owners of Rosecroft Raceway filed their financial statement of affairs in bankruptcy court this week and it’s a 127-page doozy.

I won’t bore you with the details (most of it is a long list of creditors, ranging from standardbred horse owners to financial institutions) but here’s the meat of it:

• Rosecroft Raceway is valued at $9.9 million. If you remember, Mark Vogel just bought the property for a total “in excess of $10 million” so I’m guessing about $1 million or so from that deal will go toward subsidizing live racing.
• Wells Fargo (the only secured creditor) is owed: $6.8 million
• Total amount owed to all creditors: $8 million
• Total assets: $12.3 million

Here are a couple other tidbits I found worth noting.

•  On May 3 at 3:30 a.m., more than $79,000 was stolen from Rosecroft when two men pried loose an ATM machine and took it. Rosecroft has a claim pending with Travelers Insurance. This was days after its simulcast signal was shut off by the Maryland Racing Commission. Talk about salt in the open wound…
• Tom Chuckas, former general manager of Rosecroft, was paid $312,688 for his severance upon leaving the track to become the Maryland Jockey Club president and he got to keep his 2000 Lincoln Town Car. I’m wondering who picked out the Town Car.
• This year, Rosecroft has given more than $17,000 in political donations within the county: $10,000 to the Prince George’s County Presidential Inaugural Committee, $1,150 to Citizens for Melony Griffith, $1,000 to Friends of Anthony Muse, $500 to Friends of Carolyn Howard, $3,500 to Friends of Jay Walker and $1,000 to the 23rd District Team Slate.