Harlingen race track won’t have to go up for sale

AUSTIN — The Houston company that owns Valley Race Park won’t have to sell the Harlingen dog track, as its owners previously thought they might.

Responding to a law passed in the Legislature this year, the Texas Racing Commission on Wednesday approved an application by MAXXAM to open a horse racetrack in Webb County called Laredo Race Park. MAXXAM already owns Valley Race Park in Harlingen and Sam Houston race Park in Houston.

Current law says any one person or company can have a 5 percent or greater share in just two Texas tracks. Since the company already owned two tracks, it was ready to sell the Harlingen track to open the one in Laredo.

But the Legislature changed the law to allow ownership in three tracks beginning Sept. 1, which will allow MAXXAM to keep the Harlingen track.

The application for the Laredo track is valid beginning Sept. 1.

The measure changing the law was added as a Senate amendment to a racing bill state Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores, D-Palmview, authored

Flores said the change gives companies more flexibility to succeed at a time when Texas racing has taken some hits from competition in surrounding states.

The law will give owners with state licenses more freedom to move their racetracks and prepare for a time when video lottery terminals, or electronic slot machines, might be legal in Texas, he said.

“It just helps the industry while they await the machines,” said Flores, whose push for legalizing slot machines has yet to win approval in the Legislature.

He said he did not know if the Harlingen track would move to another location.

Charles Hurwitz, president of Houston-based MAXXAM, did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

With MAXXAM in the Valley, the chips are in place for two companies to compete for gamblers in two border markets.

MAXXAM and a group of investors led by the LaMantia family are set to each have a racetrack in the Valley in 2009, when the Tesoros Race Park is expected to open south of McAllen.

The LaMantia application for a horse track in Hidalgo County drew sharp protests in recent years from MAXXAM and Harlingen officials who said it would unfairly compete with the Harlingen dog track. But the Texas Racing Commission approved the Hidalgo County application in March.

Each group has also been approved to build a racetrack in Webb County.

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Elizabeth Pierson Hernandez covers the state capital for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Austin and can be reached at (512) 323-0622.