By: Liz Farmer

I spoke to Joseph De Francis last night regarding today’s story about his loss of gaming rights to Laurel Park, and the former owner of Maryland’s thoroughbred race tracks said while he was disappointed in the judge’s decision, he was not surprised.

He also added that what he thought was more significant was Magna Entertainment Corp.’s request for the delay of the auction of Maryland’s tracks by nearly two weeks.

“That’s what we’ve all been waiting for,” he said. Now it’s that much longer that the tracks “will be under the cloud of bankruptcy.”

When Magna’s attorney Brian Rosen told the judge on Tuesday they’d like to move the auction back to Jan. 21, I was disappointed (after all, we’ve been waiting for this thing for more than nine months) but not at all surprised. After all Magna has requested to move back just about every date related to the Maryland race tracks, it was only a matter of time before the auction got moved.

On a side note, the auction is closed to the press — which means we’ll get to tell you who the winning bidder is but won’t get to see and relay to you the auction day’s antics firsthand.

The reason for privacy given to me by the New York firm running the auction was that it was for the protection of the bidders — the auction had been advertised as a private affair. Also, the proceedings will be taking place on private grounds, so it’s sound reasoning.

Still, I think Marylanders who are following this story would be curious about how the new owner pulled it off and who came just a hair shy of beating him — a story we won’t get to really know if the auction is closed. Does that disappoint anyone?