Trouble follows Frank Stronach around like flies on a dead man walking. Maryland is only the most recent horse racing jurisdiction that has felt the sting of his visionary mien. The auto parts magnate from Austria by way of Canada is, of course, right that the thoroughbred sport can’t go beyond 40 percent of the year without slots. But he disregards collateral damage with a Chris Christie heartlessness that makes you cringe when you credit him for wisdom.
Eventually, Gov. Martin O’Malley will order that the owner, the operators and the horsemen work something out. Horses have raced in the state since it was a colony. At risk are 10,000 jobs, to say nothing about his re-election. The people of Maryland may not support horse racing like they once did, but taking it away from them would hurt almost as much as moving the Colts to Indiana.
Meanwhile, as the haggling continues, the holidays will seem like the end of days for many people, their hopes dashed, their prospects for sustained work bleak. Many of these workers aren’t employable elsewhere. Here’s a wish that Santa creates something to cheer them up soon. Desperation is a mean dog to live with.
Only two more wish to this 12 Days of Christmas series. You can read the previous nine entries by scanning the links to the right under archives.
22 Dec 2010 at 09:39 am | #
these workers are very employable, only not in maryland.
at woodbine, 80% of the backstretch is from jamaico, barbados or some other island.
cal. has all immigrants in their backstretch.
same for all the tracks.
these people will find work at other tracks.
to succeed in the u.s. today, one must re-locate to where the jobs are.
re: the preakness, just a giant excuse for a giant drunk! when the track didn’t allow outside beer, attendance dropped 30%.
ky. derby is worse.
these 2 events attract people who don’t know the front end of a horse from the rear. it’s an event.
you can run it anywere and people will come.
22 Dec 2010 at 10:01 am | #
When I first got into this game, Maryland was producing serious race horses like Cormorant and Spectacular Bid. MD tracks graduated jocks like Kent D and Edgar Prado up to the big time as well as HOF trainers.
MD had more tracks, more breeding, more betting per capita...they had winter racing, a jump meet and more racing history than just about anywhere.
I jumped into it to learn the game- visited all the tracks learned from Dick Dutrow, King Leatherbury and Buddy Delp… cashed in when Dutrow came to AQU and won with 11 of his first 14 starters including Double Edged Sword who took a pair of $100 granders, the first at 60/1 and the second at 2/1- Cordero up!
Loved the innovation of the DC International and thought the Laurel Turf Festival was one of the greatest things ever created and attended every one.
It truly hurts to continue to watch this slow death of MD racing. It’s quite personal to me but overall I have to just put it in the closet with Hialeah, Garden State, Naragansett, Great Barrington, Northampton, Rockingham and Aksarben… a lot of great memories and a vast empty space.
22 Dec 2010 at 10:21 am | #
Maryland’s problems are due to lack of slots.
They can’t compete without them and while it’s very likely a deal will be reached at some point to resume racing,it’ll just be a band aid. The death of the sport there seems inevitable.
22 Dec 2010 at 11:58 am | #
It was worked out this morning.
They’ll race 146 days in 2011.
22 Dec 2010 at 12:28 pm | #
I am furious over this awful situation. Like everyone else, I blame Stronach - but I hold the Democrats who control Maryland politics even more responsible. I despise them for what they’ve done, greedy, piggish, nanny-staters that they are.
When they finally “allowed” us to vote on slots (after killing legislative slots initiatives year after year - for our own good, to prevent us becoming addicted to gambling), we Marylanders voted for slots to save Maryland racing. But the Dems had other ideas - the Dems just wanted a new cash cow to milk. Slots at the racetrack or slots at the mall - they could care less as long as they get their money.
Only now, too late, the Dems are scrambling to save the Preakness because it gets the governor on national TV. They are so utterly, moronically stupid - it never occurred to them through all those many years they prevented Maryland racing from competing with neighboring states that the Preakness has been run in Maryland because Maryland has a horse industry.
22 Dec 2010 at 01:00 pm | #
Gary Walker, see what happens when Santa Claus gets involved. Believe in him.