Texas racing dates overlap

Hammering out a 2005 racing calendar for Texas might take some work after requests for overlapping Thoroughbred dates were submitted to the Texas Racing Commission on Thursday.

Lone Star Park has requested 69 dates for Thoroughbreds, from April 7 to July 17. Sam Houston Race Park has pitched two Thoroughbred meets: 50 days from Jan. 7 to April 10, and 31 days from Oct. 28 to Dec. 23.

Retama Park is asking for its Thoroughbred meet to be pushed back by more than a month next year. It has requested a 43-day season from Sept. 8 to Nov. 19.

Under the proposed calendar, the close of Sam Houston's first Thoroughbred meet would overlap with the opening of Lone Star, and a portion of the Retama meet would conflict with the second Thoroughbred meet at Sam Houston.

Requests for conflicting race dates for the same breed at the state's major tracks cannot be granted unless the overlap is agreed to in writing by the tracks. An agreement had not been submitted to the commission as of Friday.