Bomb Scare Interrupts Card

A bomb scare Wednesday during the horse racing meet at the Los Angeles County Fair forced track officials to evacuate the grandstand at Fairplex Park in Pomona.

The third race on the 11-race card was canceled. After a grandstand search by track security led to no sign of a bomb, spectators were invited back for the remainder of the program, which was completed without incident.

Other activities at the fair were not affected, a track spokeswoman said.

Wendy Talarico, public relations manager for fair racing, said the bomb threat was phoned in to the track switchboard shortly before 2 p.m., which was post time for the third race. The horses had not left the paddock for the post parade.

“We feel that the call was a hoax,” Talarico said. “It did not sound credible. But we needed to check to make sure. Better to err on the side of caution.”

A track spokesman estimated that about 1,500 fans were evacuated from the grandstand. He said that about 1,000 returned. The next race was run at 3 p.m., as scheduled.

Except for Danny Sorenson, all of the Fairplex jockeys rode in the rest of the races. Sorenson did not ride his mount in the eighth race, which was the only race he was scheduled to ride after the bomb scare.

The Fairplex crowd was announced as 4,002, which was about 1,000 less than Monday’s attendance. Wednesday’s handle, counting off-track wagering, was $2.2 million. The track normally handles about $4 million on a mid-week day.

Fairplex, which runs an 18-day meet that ends Sept. 24, canceled Tuesday’s racing after the terrorism attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. Fairplex was one of only a few tracks that resumed racing Wednesday. There was also racing at Albuquerque, N.M., at Delaware Park in Stanton, Del., and at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.

The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., and Belmont Park in Long Island, N.Y.--the tracks closest to the World Trade Center, which had its 110-story twin towers brought to the ground when hijacked airliners crashed into them in New York City--were closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Belmont officials said their track would not re-open until Saturday. Belmont Park and its sister track, Aqueduct, are using their parking lots for emergency staging areas for the victims of the Trade Center crashes. Aqueduct is not racing at this time of year.

The Meadowlands, following a request from Verizon Wireless, has established an 80-foot antenna as a temporary cellular site to help New York with its telephone overload.

Bay Meadows, the track in San Mateo, Calif., wasn’t scheduled to race Tuesday but canceled racing Wednesday. Among the other tracks that didn’t run Wednesday were Arlington Park in suburban Chicago and Pimlico in Baltimore. Bay Meadows officials said they would resume racing today.

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At Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., the September horse auction resumed Wednesday after the sale was suspendedTuesday.

Sheik Mohammed al Maktoum, known for making expensive purchases, was buying high-priced yearlings before Tuesday’s terrorist attacks and continued to spend freely Wednesday.

The sheik, who is defense minister for the United Arab Emirates and crown prince of Dubai, bought two horses for $6.1 million.

Asked to comment about the terrorists, he said: “We think this is a cowardly act against civilians. We are 100% against it and 100% with America to get those people to justice.”

Another Arab, Prince Ahmed Salman of Saudi Arabia, said he had been advised to leave the sale, but stayed Wednesday and bought two horses for $1.2 million.

“America is home to me,” Salman said. “I am a businessman. I have nothing to do with the other stuff. I feel as badly as any American and I am extremely astonished by [the terrorism]. We have had terrorism in Saudi Arabia and we know how painful it is, but I have great confidence in the American government and the American people.”