DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170515

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   63 lines

COLONIAL DOWNS RACES DOWN FINAL STRETCH

Colonial Downs is still at least two weeks away from seeing horses gallup and trot upon its oval track, but when the bugle blares Sept. 1, Virginia will be off to the races.

Colonial Downs President O.J. Peterson reported to the Virginia Racing Commission this week that construction is on schedule.

``Everything will be ready,'' Peterson said Tuesday. Although, he added, ``The paint might not be dry.''

Everything includes the corporate suites in the building that will hold 6,500 people.

The track's 10 suites - akin to luxury boxes in major league sports stadiums - are close to selling out, with firms signing three-year leases at $50,000 per year, said Shannon Mera, Colonial Downs Marketing Coordinator.

The track is also arranging partnerships to share the 25-person suites.

``We're also leasing one of the suites on a daily basis,'' Mera said. The price tag is $600 per day, Monday through Thursday, and $1,000 per day Friday through Sunday.

In addition to a covered deck, each suite has three televisions with satellite transmissions of races and a pari-mutuel machine to take bets.

Owners can customize their suites to include features such as a sound system.

But the Colonial Downs president is interested in music of a different kind. Although a bugler hasn't been hired yet, Peterson said the horn, like the races, will be live.

Despite a lack of applications for the bugler position received last weekend when Colonial Downs held a job fair, about 1,500 people applied for the other 350 seasonal openings, Peterson said.

When the new employees are hired, Colonial Downs will have 500 workers - not including those staffing off-track betting facilities.

Licensed to operate six in Virginia, the track has betting operations in Richmond and Chesapeake, and two under construction in Hampton and Brunswick, near Danville. Sites in Fredericksburg and Martinsville are being considered for the last two facilities. Each will employ 100 people.

The first season of thoroughbred racing begins Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 12. A standardbred (harness) season is scheduled to begin in April.

For the 1998 season, Colonial Downs will host 50 dates of harness racing and 30 dates of thoroughbred races. It's located near Interstate 64 in New Kent County, halfway between Richmond and Williamsburg.

To accommodate the horses, Colonial Downs will have 15 barns, eight of which are built. Each barn takes about eight days to build, Peterson said.

An Aug. 30 open house will feature live performances by the Little River Band, the Platters, the Embers and the Association on the track's concert green, which holds 7,000 people. The event, two days before the first race day, is designed to show off the facility and acquaint prospective race-goers with the route to the track, Peterson said.

Festivities are planned for the first day, but Peterson declined to give details.

Except that there will be a bugler. Other tracks might make do with recordings, Peterson said, but ``That's too gauche for Virginia.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

STAFF/File photo

The first season of thoroughbred racing begins Sept.1 and runs

through Oct. 12. A standardbred (harness) season begins in April. KEYWORDS: HORSE RACING RACE TRACKS

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