ALL'S FAIR IN GAME OF TRACK EXPANSION

Fairplex Park. Horse racing, up close and personal.

Neil O'Dywer. A hands-on executive who is helping to shape the future of the biggest little track in the country.

For 59 years now, Fairplex Park -- nee Pomona -- has presented racing, country-style. The 5/8-mile track, known as a "bull ring" in racing circles, has given fans an opportunity to snuggle close to the fence and watch horses and jocks thunder through the stretch. Sure, they can do that at what's left of the upper echelon tracks, like Hollywood Park and Santa Anita, but at Fairplex, they can get close enough to identify the riders by their facial features and not the color of their silks.

The physicality of Fairplex remains the same, but with the advent of simulcasting and thousands of fans watching those races on television monitors miles removed from Pomona, California, the perception from the TV tube presents a virtual reality version of racing from the bigger tracks.

And therein lies the rub. Fairplex Park set a record for the greatest handle in its history last year, more than $100 million. Not too shabby for a 19-day season that offers racing on quarter horses, Arabians and appaloosas, in addition to thoroughbreds. It couldn't have done it without simulcasting.

Now Fairplex is in the midst of trying to gain favor with legislators and raising $25 million to expand its main track to one mile and add a 7/8-mile turf course. Sure, Fairplex would lose its Jim Nabors and Cheech Marin persona, at a track where a fan's idea of dressing up is wearing socks with his sneakers, but it would take one giant step towards racing in the millenium.

"We still need the legislation to get the expansion done," O'Dwyer said. "The bill (SB 281) we have in Sacramento is now a two-year bill. (It reached the California Assembly Government Operations Committee on July 14, but was taken off the calendar before a vote was taken). We are continuing to work on various elements of the bill. What we really need is Hollywood Park's support, and we're going to be working with them on that. Hollywood Park is the only one we're aware of that is opposing the bill. Everybody else has supported it. We're going to attempt to find a way to modify the bill so it can provide something both Hollywood Park and Fairplex can live with. We feel it would be better to bring the bill back next year after some issues have been worked out." The bill can be brought back in January, 1998.

O'Dwyer says an overlap in racing dates between Fairplex Park and R.D. Hubbard's Vegas-style plant in Inglewood is not an issue.

"Hollywood would like us to make a commitment that we will never under any circumstances look for additional racing dates, and we can't live with that," O'Dwyer said. "We're prepared to allow language to go in the bill that would say, 'As long as the racing calendar is pretty much what it is today, we certainly have no intention of going after anybody's existing dates. But if dates became available down the road, for whatever reason, and Fairplex has its expansion, we certainly would want to be a candidate to run those dates ourselves, which we're not in a position to do now."

And why does Hollywood oppose Fairplex's expansion? "The last time he was in Sacramento, Don Robbins (Hollywood Park president) was quoted as saying it was 'un-American,'" O'Dwyer said. "We'd be using public funds to improve a private facility. Hollywood Park really wants our dates, and perceives us as a nuisance.

"If Fairplex were to run additional dates, there would have to be a change in the law. But, if dates became available and someone wanted to come in and run here, we'd like to be in a position to accommodate them."

O'Dwyer said the total project, which would also position Fairplex as an attractive year-round training center, would cost about $25 million. "What we're probably looking at is a $15 million bond to get it done. Since it's a two-year bill, assuming a bill goes through that enables us to do the project, it won't go through until '98. So we would not be able to even begin to do the project until after the '98 Fair. That would mean an opening in the year 2000, at the earliest.

"We've been here a long time and we believe that through the traffic at the fair, we have an opportunity to introduce new people to the game. But we need the whole industry behind us. If legislators perceive something to be revenue-negative, however, it's going to be tough. Our problem is that we have no collateral to offer a lender and would need the state to guarantee a loan."