Angelos family may buy track

Major League Baseball rules generally prohibit Angelos’ involvement in gambling while he is a team owner. But a group that includes Angelos’ wife, Georgia, and sons Louis and John has received preliminary approval to buy the Rosecroft track near the Capital Beltway, several sources with knowledge of the transaction told The Sun yesterday.

The final selection could be made tomorrow when shareholders of the group that owns the track meet to review purchase terms.

“I haven’t been told officially, but I’m assuming it’s Angelos,” said George Bartlett, a member of the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association’s board of directors.

The Angelos family has offered between $10 million and $15 million for the Oxon Hill facility, sources said. Rosecroft is considered the most lucrative racing venue for slot machines in Maryland because of its proximity to Washington and Northern Virginia.

Peter and Louis Angelos did not return telephone messages yesterday, nor did Tom Chuckas, Rosecroft’s executive director.

A heavy donor to Democratic candidates and causes and a more recent supporter of Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Angelos commands deep respect in Annapolis, where lawmakers have debated the legalization of slot machines at racetracks and other locations for the past two years.

‘All in the family’

One of many roadblocks in the gambling debate has been the fate of the financially strapped Rosecroft. Lawmakers have watched closely as track owners negotiated with out-of-town casino companies and developers. Angelos’ involvement could bring stability to the track, as well as deep pockets for improvements that would be needed if slots are legalized.

His considerable influence in the capital is likely to affect the debate over whether to move forward with slot-machine legalization.

“It can’t hurt us; it can only help us,” Bartlett said of Angelos’ political power. “I think if slots come to Maryland, it should come to Maryland people.”

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a slots supporter, also suggested that bringing in Angelos is a smart move by Rosecroft.

“All anybody has to do is see the commitment Mr. Angelos has made to downtown Baltimore and urban renewal in particular to realize what benefit a potential owner like that could mean to Prince George’s,” Miller said.

The Angelos family has sought twice previously to acquire Rosecroft, losing to other bidders in October 2002 and December. Last year, track owners selected instead a group led by Laurel veterinarian Mark Ricigliano.

On both occasions, Peter Angelos took the lead in negotiating with Rosecroft’s owners, although he said his son and others would be the owners.

“Peter’s the lawyer,” Bartlett said. “He is advising his client on how to proceed. I think his son would do the actual purchase. But in effect, it’s all in the family.”

Last month, the Maryland Racing Commission rejected the application from Ricigliano’s Northwind Racing — of which Greenwood Racing Inc., owners of Philadelphia Park, controlled 90 percent — because it relied on revenues from simulcasting racing from the rival thoroughbred industry.

Since then, Rosecroft owners and managers have warned that the track might soon close as they negotiated with other potential purchasers.

The three main bidders in the current talks have been Canada-based Magna Entertainment Corp., the majority owners of the Pimlico and Laurel thoroughbred tracks; politically connected Prince George’s County businessman Carl Jones; and the Angelos family, said John P. Davey, the general counsel for Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., the corporate entity that holds the racing license and is the owner of the track.

“All three of them have expressed interest [during the past two years], and all three of them have inquired this time as well,” Davey said yesterday.

Rumors in the industry

Davey said the Cloverleaf Enterprises board met this week and recommended a purchaser, but he would not confirm the selection of the Angelos group. “I’m not authorized to tell you the recommendation,” he said.

But a standardbred horseman and others who requested anonymity said yesterday that word is that the choice is Angelos.

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Jones said in an interview yesterday that he had been told that he and the Angelos group were finalists. He said he did not know of the executive board’s recommendation. “Certain things may be a fait accompli,” he said.

Maryland Racing Commission member John Franzone said yesterday that he has heard rumors about the Angelos deal but does not know the status of the negotiations.

“With Rosecroft, even the signed deals don’t happen,” Franzone said, noting that the track’s owners have taken on several partners only to see the deals fall apart. “Just going back with the history of that track, it’s just been one blow up after another.”

But enlisting the Angelos family as a partner would be shrewd, Franzone said, because Angelos is already a sports franchise operator, and owns and races thoroughbred horses.

“With Peter being a local guy, someone who has raced horses and knows the economics of racing, of the list of candidates, who’s better?” Franzone said. “At least he knows what everybody is up against.”

Angelos would also be better able to resolving longstanding disputes between standardbred and thoroughbred horse owners, he said.