Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
“None of the above” apparently is no longer an option for the New Mexico Racing Commission on whether to award a sixth horse-racing license.
Rosemary Garley of the commission sent an email Friday afternoon, stating the agency’s board adjourned from its meeting in Albuquerque earlier that day “with a vote to move forward on the 6th Racetrack License.”
License applicants from Tucumcari, Clovis and Lordsburg will make a final pitch Nov. 28 before the commission. Native American tribes that own casinos in New Mexico also are expected to weigh in on the proposals.
After that hearing, the racing commission likely will announce its decision Dec. 6 on who gets the license.
The decision Friday ended weeks of speculation the commission wouldn’t award a license at all.
State Rep. Randal Crowder, R-Clovis, noting opposition to a horse-racing track and casino in Clovis, said in late October it wasn’t a “foregone conclusion” the racing commission would award a license. Izzy Trejo, the commission’s executive director, also told the Albuquerque Journal earlier this month it may decide not to offer a license to any of the bidders.
Warren Frost, one of the principals for the Coronado Park proposal that would bring an $80 million horsetrack and casino and about 400 jobs to Tucumcari’s east side, had scoffed at the notion the racing commission wouldn’t award a license.
“Now we get a chance to present our case,” he said Friday.
The Nov. 28 meeting will be at 1 p.m. at the Albuquerque Convention Center.