Rosecroft Raceway Can’t Afford Messenger Stakes

The operator of financially strapped Rosecroft Raceway says the facility does not have enough money to run the Messenger Stakes, the first leg of pacing’s Triple Crown.

Colt Enterprises said funds would not be available to cover purses for the July 1 event and four other races with more than $1 million in purses.

The stakes are partially funded by horse owners, but the track is responsible for about $300,000 of the total for the five events.

“I am sure another home will be found for the Messenger Stakes,” John Pawluk, director of public relations for the U.S. Trotting Assn. in Columbus, Ohio, said Friday.

“It’s one of harness racing’s premier events. It’s just a matter of other tracks learning that the race won’t be at Rosecroft.”

Colt is threatening to file for bankruptcy unless a deal to sell Rosecroft and Delmarva to a harness racing owners and trainers association is completed.