Kelley Rogers, the president of Rosecroft Raceway owner Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., announced yesterday that the Maryland track will be closing July 1. “It is what it is and I’m sad,” Rogers said. “But there’s not a lot I can do. It just makes me sick. It really does.”

In an article by The Daily Record, Rogers explains that it is no longer financially viable to keep the track open. Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc. declared bankruptcy a year ago.

The report states that Rosecroft will convert from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7 and liquidate its lone asset, the race track. The article also cites Rogers as saying that he notified the track’s approximately 200 employees about the closing and layoffs on Tuesday (June 15). Although about half the employees are full-time union workers, he said Rosecroft did not have enough money to offer them a severance package.

“My worst fear is for our employees, who have worked here for so long, worried about getting jobs, making mortgage payments — that’s my worst fear,” Rogers was quoted as saying in the article. “You can’t lose sight of the people. That’s what this is all about.”

The future of Rosecroft had been tied to legislation which was seeking expanding gaming at the five-eighths mile track. The bill passed the Senate and died in the House.

The article concludes with a pointed comment from Rogers.

“They moved heaven and Earth to save the Preakness, which is a great event,” Rogers said, referring to swift legislative action last year that protected the state’s first right of refusal to the race. “But you have 200 jobs in an African-American community and nobody gives a damn.”

(With files from The Daily Record)

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