In the wake of the Oklahoma Racing Commission's preliminary decision to award Remington Park 34 days of Quarter Horse racing, Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns the Oklahoma City track, continues to consider the feasibility of doing business in Oklahoma.

The commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday to further discuss next year's race dates with Magna and Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred horsemen. Since receiving the Quarter Horse dates on September 26, Magna has met with members of the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association in the hopes of working out a mutually agreed-upon schedule for 2003 after earlier threatening to shut down the track.

"[Magna] and Remington Park representatives have been pursuing various options with horsemen that would permit Remington Park to conduct a more economically viable race meet next year," Magna Executive Vice President Ed Hannah said in a letter to commission Executive Director Gordon Hare. "We have been working to reach a resolution."

During earlier discussions involving Remington's request to drop Quarter Horse racing from its schedule, Magna told commissioners that Remington had lost more than $4.7-million in 2001, and the track needed a reduction in dates to remain viable.

Recent studies have indicated that Oklahoma's racing industry has suffered while the state's tribal gaming industry has grown. Industry officials and horsemen have argued that the state's three tracks need expanded gaming to remain competitive, and while a letter Magna President Jim McAlpine sent commission Chairman Jim Bowers does not mention expanded gaming, it does appeal to the tracks' need to remain competitive with the tribes.

"Industry members need to work together to effect meaningful change to Oklahoma racing law to allow one of the state's most important agri-businesses to be competitive," McAlpine said in the letter. "If changes are made to allow for the development of additional revenue for horse racing and profitability for racetrack operators, [Magna] is prepared to offer race dates for a Quarter Horse, Paint, and Appaloosa meeting at Remington Park."

"There's a lot at stake for Oklahoma," Hare said. "It's rare for the track and horsemen to come to the table hand in hand, but hopefully some sort of resolution can be reached that the commission can embrace."—Ed DeRosa