SCARBOROUGH – Horse owners and race patrons alike said this weekend they would be sad to see harness racing leave Scarborough should a Biddeford racino proposal prove successful. But, they agreed, the relocation of Scarborough Downs and the addition of slot machines could help save what many see as a dying industry.

“I’ve been coming here for 25 years,” Jack London, a former racehorse owner, said while taking in the action Saturday at Scarborough Downs. “I don’t want the place to move, but perhaps [owner Sharon Terry] can build a bigger and better place in Biddeford.”

London said he is all for adding slot machines to the racing operation, seeing how well its worked at other venues he has gone to such as Dover Downs and Harrington, both in Delaware. “They are both such nice facilities,” he said. “The difference in the quality of horses and purses is amazing.”

It is the pursuit of that kind of reversal of fortune that moved Scarborough Downs officials to seek the relocation. The Biddeford City Council, in a surprise move, voted Aug. 17 to place a referendum question on the November ballot asking residents to approve a racino in the city, a proposal that has previously failed in Scarborough, the latest in November 2008.

According to officials, the addition of gambling machines is crucial to the future of Scarborough Downs.

Scarborough Downs Marketing Director Susan Higgins said the track has had a hard time keeping owners and drivers racing at the track because other venue in the northeast – ones who have casinos – can generate more revenue and offer larger purses to the race winners.

Downs attorney and spokesman Edward MacColl said the addition of slots would help Scarborough Downs President Sharon Terry save the horse racing facility, previously owned and operated by her late husband, Joe Ricci.

“Mrs. Terry has been trying for over a decade to put into place a plan to save the horse racing industry as set out by a task force appointed by Gov. King 15 years ago,” MacColl said. “The task force recommended gambling machines at both horse tracks in the state.”

MacColl said Terry began looking at Biddeford earlier this year. For the Downs to successfully move to Biddeford, the measure would not only have to get approval from city voters, but also either state voters or the Legislature.

In 2003, through a statewide referendum, voters approved adding gambling machines to the state’s commercial race tracks in Scarborough and Bangor, providing the facility is no more than five miles from the location of the existing horse track and a portion of the revenues generated go toward lowering prescription drug costs for the elderly and disabled and toward scholarships to state universities and technical colleges. The state law called for local approval of any racino proposal.

The Biddeford project would also have to get an exemption due to a proposed casino in Oxford County, which would bar other new gambling facilities from being located within 100 miles. That project’s approval is up for a vote in November.

MacColl said track officials believe Biddeford is a prime location for the racino if the idea ends up getting the necessary approvals.

“We think Biddeford will be a great home for horse racing. We have a number of horse farms associated with the race track in the region close to Biddeford,” MacColl said. “Biddeford provides us with an excellent location in terms of demographics, in terms of transportation access. It is a great location and a city we have a lot of respect for.”

Fans weigh in

Racing fans on Saturday said they would have no trouble supporting the move to Biddeford.

Pat Leavitt of Buxton, who has owned and raced horses all over New England for 20 years, said he sees Scarborough Downs as a place where people of all ages mingle and share a sport they all love.

“[Horse racing] is a wonderful tradition,” he said. “It is a wonderful family thing. My grandchildren love to see the horses race. It is something we can do together and share.”

Leavitt said he has been to Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Harrah’s Chester Casino and Racetrack, outside of Philadelphia, both sites that have coupled horseracing with casino gambling, and has seen first hand how successful such an endeavor can be.

The racino in Biddeford, he said, could also be a success story.

“I think it would be a significant boost to jobs and economy in the Biddeford area,” he said.

Leavitt, who comes to Scarborough Downs a couple times a week, said the current location of the Downs is the perfect site for further development because of its access to heavily traveled Payne Road and the Maine Turnpike.

“We need to have it be a destination point for people to come to Maine,” Leavitt said of the Downs, “whether it is here or in Biddeford.”

Horse owner Robert Larkin said he would continue racing his horses at the track, whether it is in Scarborough or Biddeford.

“I’ll go to Biddeford,” he said. “I got 12 horses. I’ve got to race them somewhere. Wherever it goes I’ll race.”

Biddeford resident and horse racing enthusiast Joseph Kilka, who has been coming to Scarborough Downs for nine years, particularly to see the Sunday races, said adding the slot machines to the racetrack, in his estimation, would help each entity, with people coming to gamble checking out the races and people coming to the races trying their hand at the slots.

But Kilka isn’t so sure the measure will pass in the November referendum.

“Honestly, I don’t think it will go through,” he said. “I don’t give it much of a chance. There seem to be too many people against gambling around here.”

He, however, will be voting in favor of it.

“I would support the track moving there,” Kilka said. “It would save me a trip.”

Mixed feelings

The move could mean huge financial gain for the city. Biddeford Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson said Scarborough Downs in proposing a $250 million racino, which would add 900 jobs and put about $5.7 million annually into the city coffers and add more than $1 million a year to the tax base.

So far, he said, the Downs has not asked for any public financing for the project.

A proposal to bring a casino and resort to the city has previously been defeated by Biddeford voters. In 2002, residents rejected the plan by a vote of 4,761 to 2,964, according to City Clerk Carmen Lemieux.

If the racetrack does move to Biddeford, it would mean a loss for Scarborough. Scarborough Downs pays roughly $4,250 in personal property tax and $118,000 in real estate tax.

“Scarborough Downs has been in town for a long time. I, personally, would be sad to see it go,” said Harvey Rosenfeld, executive director of Scarborough Economic Development Corp. “It’s been a fixture in town, but they have to make a business decision.”

Rosenfeld said his group has worked with Scarborough Downs to keep the operation in town and will continue to do so, but whether the track stays there or not, the property will remain prime real estate in town.

“It may be in the best interest of the Downs to move the track and develop the property in other ways. I am sure they will make a decision on what’s the best choice for them,” Rosenfeld added. “It is a very well positioned piece of property capable of attracting other types of development as well. I anticipate it will become a very attractive piece of property when and if it becomes available.”

MacColl said Biddeford locations being considered for the racino are not being made public. Neither, he said, is the name of the group that would be operating the racino. He would not say whether Penn National, which operates Bangor’s Hollywood Slots, would be involved.

But he did say the decision to move out of Scarborough was a bittersweet one.

“It is with mixed feelings,” MacColl said of the potential move. “The track has been in Scarborough for 60 years. That’s a lot of history, but on the other hand we are very excited about the prospect of moving to save harness racing. It really, really, really needs gaming machines if it is going to survive in the long term.”

A bettor watches the horses come down the homestretch toward the finish line at Scarborough Downs on Saturday. Track officials are seeking to move to Biddeford, where a November ballot question will ask residents to allow a racino. (Photo by Rich Obrey)Pat Leavitt, a horse owner from Buxton, watches the pacers come down the homestretch during an early race at Scarborough Downs on Saturday. Leavitt said he has seen how well racinos work in other parts of the country. “I think it would be a significant boost to jobs and economy in the Biddeford area,” he said. (Photo by Rich Obrey)