Further diminishing an already struggling industry, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association plans to discontinue the financing of six stakes races this fall, virtually eliminating some of the state's most prestigious races, The Sun has learned.
Additionally, the stricken industry is expected to hear today that the Maryland Jockey Club will close the Pimlico Race Course barn area until the spring meet, evicting all horses, horsemen and backstretch workers from the racetrack.
The six affected stakes - the De Francis Dash, the Safely Kept, the Laurel Futurity, the John Schapiro, the Sonny Hine and the Selima - have combined purses of $850,000 and attract some of the largest crowds and best horses of the fall meet at Laurel Park. The De Francis Dash is one of just three Grade I races in Maryland (the others are the Preakness and Pimlico Special), and the Laurel Futurity has drawn the likes of Secretariat, Affirmed and Barbaro.
"We're not financing them," said Wayne Wright, executive secretary of the horsemen's association. "If the MJC wants to find sponsorship or Joe De Francis wants to fund the race that honors his father [Frank De Francis], then they'll run. We don't have the money to pay Magna to keep the barns open, and we don't have the money to pay for the stakes purses. Even with all the cuts, we'll still be from $500,000 to $1 million in the red. The purse money we have will be used to fund the overnight purses for live racing."
The cuts could flow into next year, Wright said, when it would "depend on the legislature" and the outcome of the Nov. 4 slots referendum.
"Our program is in the tank," he said. "We're just hanging on."
Richard Hoffberger, president of the MTHA, and John Franzone, chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, confirmed the barn closings. MJC president and chief operating officer Tom Chuckas is expected to announce the closings today.
Said Hoffberger: "[The MJC] came to us and said, 'We're going to [close the barns] unless you pay us to keep it open.' It's like someone walking into a bank with a pistol and [you] give [him] the key and say, 'Here, you can have everything that's in the vault.' There is nothing in the vault.
"What are we going to use for money? We'd have to use purse money, and if we did that, we'd have to cut the purses and no one would run in our races, so what good would it do to have stabling with no races?"
