Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.
RATON, N.M. -- A former horsetrack owner has applied for a state license to build a $35 million racetrack and casino in this northeastern New Mexico town.
Eric Culver and his partners -- the Horse Racing at Raton Limited Partnership -- want live horse racing in Raton by the summer of 2007. The track would be the state's sixth.
The track needs the approval of the New Mexico Racing Commission and the state Gaming Control Board.
The Racing Commission still has not formally considered a seven-month-old application by Pojoaque Pueblo to reopen the Downs at Santa Fe. Culver filed his application Wednesday.
Culver said he owned La Mesa Park in Raton in the 1960s and 1970s. That track went out of business in 1992.
The proposed track and casino would employ about 300 people year-round, with more workers during the racing season, Culver said.
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