As we draw ever nearer to the Racing Commission hearing downstate to determine if a new horse track license will be issued in Allegany County (thanks to Cas Taylor, who decided with no input from the public last year that a horse track was a swell idea, and rammed it through the General Assembly), we thought we’d point out a few facts that may be of interest to Allegany County citizens.
 
 Perhaps most important is the fact that this county does not have the demographics to support a horse track, regardless of its location. Equally important is the fact that the Little Orleans track will have no market beyond Allegany County.
 
 Don’t believe us? Then consider the following: the market Mr. Rickman is counting on to make his track viable is the Baltimore-Washington market.
 
 However, the Baltimore-Washington horse track market has Pimlico and Laurel, two tracks located right smack in the midst of that corridor. So forget that market - why would people drive over an hour to do something they can do 20 minutes from home?
 
 What about the Washington County market, you say. Good point, except for the fact that Hagerstown - the Washington County population center - is actually closer to the Charles Town, W.Va., track than it is to the Little Orleans site. Plus, Charles Town has slots.
 
 Again, if it’s a shorter drive to Charles Town, why go to Little Orleans?
 
 So that leaves the Allegany County market. We don’t have the population to support a horse track, no matter where it’s located. We just don’t. Maybe that’s why Mr. Rickman is hedging his bets with the creation of additional Off Track Betting Parlors elsewhere in the state.
 
 In spite of the fact that the Little Orleans track has no market, the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce, always on the cutting edge, recently endorsed Mr. Rickman’s track (without checking with the Chamber membership, we might add). It was a bold display of their keen business acumen. Well, that, and Mr. Taylor probably told them to endorse it. But in spite of the support of such heavy weights as the Chamber, Mr. Rickman’s track has a very dismal future. It may be a tough go even if Mr. Rickman gets his OTBs in Frederick and Cambridge.
 
 We suspect that what Mr. Rickman really wants is to get his foot in the door of Maryland thoroughbred racing. Which is fine, but why let him use us to do it? Especially given the likelihood that this facility could be abandoned five years after it’s built. Once Mr. Rickman gets his foot in the door and perhaps makes a move on purchasing the Maryland Jockey Club, do you really think he’s going to keep that facility open when it has no market?
 
 Of course not.
 
 Bill Valentine and the people of Little Orleans are right. This facility is a loser. Sorry, Cas.