The owners of a thoroughbred horse racing track in Texas said the one they plan on building in Lawrence County is strong in the running for a state racing license.

Lawrence County residents Carmen and Ken Shick and their sister, Kendra Tabak, gathered media and local officials last week to detail plans for building Bedford Downs off Route 422 in Mahoning Township. The outline of a one-mile track was mowed into the grass at the 550-acre site.

Their corporation, Bedford Downs Management, has applied for a harness license and a thoroughbred license. Shick said they applied for both types because they would like to have one or the other.

Robert L. Bork, president and manager of Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, and Ann McGovern, vice president of operations, traveled to Lawrence County for the event.

They were hired by Bedford Downs Management as consultants. Bork said the site's acreage should make it a prime candidate when the state horse and harness racing commissions make decisions.

Bedford Downs is competing with seven other applicants for thoroughbred and harness racing licenses and, according to Shick, only one license is available for each.

Frank G. Salpietro of Pittsburgh, Bedford Downs' attorney, said the state cut off the applications for harness racing on July 22 and for thoroughbreds, July 29. The commissions will review the applications, then give each applicant 30 days to correct any deficiencies, Salpietro said. The commissions then will schedule public hearings.

About half of the applicants are proposing tracks for western Pennsylvania, and some are offering a percentage of earnings for other projects or charities. Bork predicts the licensers typically "will look at what has the best potential for raising revenue for the state."

He said he considers Bedford Downs a strong candidate. "They've got the Pennsylvania family, they've got the property and the opportunity for alternative forms of gaming. This certainly would boost every aspect of this county right now."

A hotel, outlet shopping mall and condominiums are also part of the Bedford Downs plan. The plans call for investment of up to $65 million that will spawn several hundred jobs, thousands of dollars in taxes and millions of dollars in commercial development and revenue for Lawrence County.

Bedford Downs' architect, Todd Gralla of Oklahoma-based Gralla Architects, said he also is optimistic about the track getting licensed "because of the incredible amount of land we have to work with." Many tracks are landlocked by other development and there is no room for expansion of related industry, he said.

Shick believes Bedford Downs also has an edge because the property is shovel-ready. If Bedford should get a license, the property would be ready for racing within a year. It's properly zoned, the land is relatively flat, and there aren't many neighbors to contest the plans -- just a few houses, including his family's homestead, Shick said.

Shick and his siblings are the grandchildren of the late mining tycoon Carmen D. Ambrosia, founder of Ambrosia Coal and Construction, Edinburg.

The track would lie between the Ambrosia farm and the coal company's buildings.

"This is literally in our back yard," Shick said.