Now that the Kentucky Derby has been concluded, the eyes of the horse racing world turn to Baltimore and the Preakness. During the second week of May, the racetrack at Old Hilltop will take it's place in the limelight as the Kentucky Derby champion will try to duplicate the victory at Louisville on the tight turns at Pimlico. Politicians will take their turns at the microphone talking about how special the race and horse racing industry is to Maryland.
And then after the race... the horse industry will disappear for the next 51 weeks in the Old Line State.
It is a story that has repeated itself over the last 10+ years in Maryland. The same politicians who profess their undying loyalty to Maryland's horse industry will go back to berating the horse track owners almost immediately. But what many politicians fail to realize is that horse racing in Maryland is already dead. The horse industry has abandoned the state for greener pastures in West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Those that are left can't leave. And except for the day before and the day of the Preakness, average attendance at daily events in Pimlico are announced in the hundreds (more like single digits), not the high five and low six figure totals for the second jewel of the triple crown.
Pimlico is in pitiful shape as well. No other track in Maryland is equipped to handle Preakness crowds. Track owners haven't had any support from the state to help maintain the track. The grandstands are in such terrible shape (I speak from personal experience after injuring my knee on the grandstand steps back in 2003), the best thing that could happen to them are if they were demolished and rebuilt. The neighborhood that once was home to the elite now is run-down. The best that the owners could do every spring is re-paint, and add some pretty Black-Eyed Susans.
The current owners, MID (parent company of the former owners, Magna Entertainment), have pledged to keep the Preakness in Maryland. But I wonder how long they will keep that promise when the Maryland legislature starts criticizing their operations (which should start around the 2011 General Assembly session). When Magna was rudely greeted by the Maryland legislature in 2004 for their push to legalize slots in the hopes of saving Maryland Horse Racing, Washington Post's legendary horse racing columnist, Andrew Beyer, suggested Magna should threaten to move the Preakness to another Magna track like Santa Anita in California or Lone Star Park in Texas. I know the Dubai folks were looking to have the Kentucky Derby move to Dubai for one year when they had money. For the cost of one Kentucky Derby, they could have bought the Preakness forever.
Horse racing in neighboring Delaware and West Virginia is drawing horse racers to their states and now Pennsylvania is getting in on the act. The reason those states are doing better is simple: slot machines are already there to support horse racing. Maryland only recently passed slot machine legislation in 2008, but the way it was done was so messy and complicated that by the time Maryland's first slots parlor become operational, Delaware will have full gambling to help their horse racing industry (including sports booking). Also, it will only be a fraction of help to the horse racing industry, as slots will be used to fund education, unions, and the usual array of government interest groups as well. Maryland is also playing catch-up at a time when the economic situation is much worse than it was when the final push for slots began. The person most to blame for this is Maryland Speaker of the House, Michael Busch, who opposed slots and who wouldn't even bring a slots bill to the floor because he didn't want to potentially hand a victory to a political rival, former governor Bob Ehrlich. Even when a more favorable governor in Martin O'Malley came in, Busch couldn't bring himself to push the legislature to vote in favor of slots, so he allowed passage of a bill to make the voters do the dirty work and add it to the state constitution.
In addition to the political upheaval for slots, the Preakness Saturday rules make you wonder if they are trying to kill interest in horse racing. For many years, the Preakness has been divided into two areas: those watching the race in the grandstands and the infield. The infield is basically Baltimore's version of Blue Collar Spring Break. Up until recently, beer was allowed from outside in the infield as long as you could carry it in. And believe me, they could carry it in by the garbage can load. It set up a raucous situation where portajohn racing mixed with wild partying complete with young women going French Quarter and showing their goods for liquor and jewelry. Thanks to the infield parties, the Preakness attendance totals would go well over 100,000 for many years.
Then last year, the Preakness barred outside beer. The college kids revolted and the infield, though much tamer, was a shell of its former self. Even though the race tried to add more family-friendly activities, beach volleyball, and concerts which included ZZ-Top, the actual attendance fell by over 31% from 2008 to just under 78,000-its smallest crowd since 1983. Despite race officials spinning that the race was a success because betting had increased by $18 million (likely due to OTB and interest in Rachel Alexander), the loss of about $2 million of just gate revenue clearly hurt. So, this year in an attempt to bring the crowds up, the infield is instituting an all you drink beer promotion, cutting the price of admission, and bringing in acts like the Zac Brown Band. A new promotion, where they are encouraging the 20-somethings to "Get Their Preak On" is also occurring. The hopes of getting the attendance back over 90,000 is the goal. Of course, the all-you-can drink policy may have an ulterior motive: the city of Baltimore may use the mugs used in the promotion as a way to identify intoxicated people to pull over, check, and fine for public drunkeness to help their budget woes.
With MID pledging to keep to Preakness in Maryland, everyone feels good that the Preakness will remain a long time in Baltimore. People used to think that way about blue horseshoes. But if the Maryland legislature uses Maryland Horse Racing as its own personal piggybank and not support what's left of the horse industry, I'd be on the lookout (particularly on cold snowy winter nights) for any Mayflower trucks hanging around Old Hilltop.
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