Lenny Hale was 12 when he watched his first Preakness from the rooftop of a barn at Pimlico. He was a horse-crazy kid growing up in the non-horsey Overlea section of Baltimore, where his parents still have a family seafood business.
Since graduating from Overlea High School and attending classes at Towson State University and Essex Community College, he's worked his way to the top of the managerial heap in thoroughbred racing, with experience at some of the nation's great racetracks.
In recent years, as senior vice president of racing for the New York Racing Association, he organized numerous runnings of the Belmont Stakes -- the third leg of racing's Triple Crown -- and two runnings of the Breeders' Cup.
Late in 1992, however, at age 47, he returned to Baltimore for a new job -- vice president of racing for the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Pimlico and Laurel race courses. Racing, in one form or another one of Maryland's oldest traditions, has been struggling in the past couple years. Mr. Hale sees a positive future, however.
QUESTION: You have been away from Maryland for quite some time. How is the state's racing industry perceived nationally?
ANSWER: Let me put it in this context. When I left Baltimore, it was considered a dreary, dingy city. It still has problems, but at least it's vibrant and alive. But now, around the country, people say, 'Oh, you're from Baltimore. They're doing so many great things there, like the Inner Harbor." That's changed the city's image.
Well, the same thing happened in racing. Frank DeFrancis [the late owner of Pimlico and Laurel racetracks in the 1980s] took over, stirred things up and created a renaissance in the industry.
But, in the last three years, that trend has been reversed. Drastic changes in the tax laws [the Tax Reform Act of 1986] took away many of the benefits of owning and breeding race horses.
The industry here, like in other areas nationwide, now feels the effects of that legislation. Fewer people own less horses overall. That means fewer betting opportunities and declines in the amount of money being bet.
Couple that with the terrible recession we've been through, and there has been stagnation in the state's industry.
Maryland does very well with the big days like the Preakness and the Maryland Million. But the everyday cards have to become something special, too. There is a tremendous future here, though.
Q.: Why do you say that?
