Infighting, casino competition leave Preakness in turmoil

David Dishneau

Thursday, May 17, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Md. -- Maryland will proudly display its horse-racing heritage Saturday at the Preakness Stakes, but the party and pageantry at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course mask an industry in turmoil.

Infighting and competition from racetrack casinos in neighboring states have left horsemen such as Larry Murray worried about the sport's future in a state with a 260-year-old racing tradition.

"To me, the situation is desperate," said Murray, a trainer at 560-acre Glade Valley Farms near Frederick. "It just seems like everybody is working against each other rather than working together and trying to maintain what I think are very high standards for racing in the state."

Maryland racing is still an estimated $1 billion-a-year industry, but the amount of money bet at state racetracks is declining. Visitors to the thoroughbred tracks at Pimlico, Laurel Park and the state fairgrounds in Timonium, and to the Rosecroft Raceway harness track in Oxon Hill, wagered $530 million last year, down from $548 million bet in 1999, according to the Maryland Racing Commission.

The totals include money bet at those tracks on televised races run elsewhere. They don't include the Ocean Downs harness track near Ocean City because Kenneth A. Schertle, the commission's executive director, said he had not yet compiled the 2000 numbers from that track.

Many insiders blame the decline on the lure of slot machines at Delaware Park, near Dover, Del., and Charles Town Races in Charles Town, W.Va. They say money generated by slots enables those tracks to offer winning horses more daily prize money, or purses, than their Maryland counterparts.

Bigger money attracts better horses, so the quality of Maryland racing is threatened, said Alan M. Foreman, lawyer for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association in Hyattsville and chairman of the National Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

"Historically, we've been in the upper tier of racetracks across the country. That's been eroding over the past five to 10 years," he said.

The industry was stung by another blow last month when the Maryland General Assembly refused to deliver a $10 million subsidy to supplement purses at the tracks. The purse supplement -- similar to subsidies totaling $15 million given in the two previous years -- was conditioned on renovations promised by track owners, who, according to state government leaders, had not kept their end of the bargain.

John B. Franzone, former chairman of the racing commission, spelled out the administration's complaints in a biting letter to Delegate Clarence Davis, D-Baltimore, head of a racing subcommittee in Annapolis.

"The Maryland horse-racing business is in a steady decline, yet the industry continues to pursue the same game plan -- bicker among themselves all year long, then come to Annapolis, get the purse supplement and put off any real change until next year," Franzone wrote.

He was especially critical of the Maryland Jockey Club, owner of Pimlico and Laurel, for making little progress on track improvements, marketing and customer service.

Maryland Jockey Club President Joseph De Francis called Franzone's letter untrue and irresponsible. He said the club spent more than $10 million refurbishing Pimlico and Laurel over the last two years, and contended legal and technical issues have delayed the sale of millions of dollars in bonds to finance further renovation.

Foreman said that without the $10 million purse supplement, the tracks must reduce either their purses or their races schedules.

He acknowledged, however, that track owners and horsemen have been hurt by their quarreling over issues such as revenue sharing between thoroughbred and harness tracks; locations of off-track betting parlors; implementation of a telephone wagering system; and a plan by William Rickman Jr., owner of Delaware Park and Ocean Downs, to build a track in western Maryland.

"There are lot of competing forces that are causing the problems for Maryland racing right now," Foreman said.

Murray said slot machines could save the industry, but Gov. Parris Glendening has ruled out any expansion of gambling before he leaves office late next year. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a likely gubernatorial candidate, has been noncommital on the issue.

New racing commission chairman Louis J. Ulman was appointed to a two-year term after Franzone's term ended, requiring him by law to step down. Ulman said the industry's squabbling factions will have to work together to solve racing's problems.

"I'm hoping they're tired of arguing and ready to settle down and work cooperatively to move the industry forward," Ulman said.