from Harness Tracks of America

Tucson, AZ — Mark Vogel, the Maryland developer who once owned Rosecroft Raceway and would like to own it again, says he now will wait for the property to go on auction, and feels confident he will be able to buy it then.

Vogel told the Maryland Daily Record that he holds the first trust mortgage on the track, which he bought from owner Cloverleaf’s largest creditor, PNC bank, last year, and that gives him priority over all other liens on the property.

Vogel thinks the property is worthless for anything except a track, given its narrow two-lane access road, and says the question really is, “Will anybody bid on it?”

Cloverleaf President Kelley Rogers says it is up to the track to find a buyer the court will approve, which it refused to do on an earlier Vogel offer.

“The bottom line,” Rogers told the paper, “is if we don’t go in with a new deal that’s signed and ready for the judge to consider, then I think it will be converted. It is very much on us to get a deal. Now we go back to the drawing board.”

Cloverleaf has until Oct. 7, when a hearing on liquidation motions is scheduled.

Both Rogers and Vogel agreed that the property is not likely to be attractive to real estate developers, but still is viable for racing.