Race Officials

Baltimore and Annapolis will again play host to the Volvo Ocean Race Round the World when the racing vessels set sail to circle the globe in 2001-2002, Volvo and local race officials will announce today.Propelled by the success of the 1998 stopover, the region beat out New York, Boston and Newport, R.I., to be the second U.S. stopover port next race. Competing to be the first U.S. stop are Charleston, S.C., and Miami. The selection of one of those cities is to be announced tomorrow. Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which played host to the racers in 1994 and 1998, is no longer in that competition.

Edgewater resident John McCary is looking forward to a three-day bicycle ride in sub-zero temperatures, toting a stove and other gear.On Feb. 16, McCary will join about 200 hardy souls in the fifth annual Iditabike Race, a spin-off of the Iditarod dog-sled races.McCary, the president of the Annapolis Bicycle Club, will attemptto conquer Alaskan landmarks such as Knik Lake, Big Susitna, Rabbit Lake and Big Su during the 200-mile race.Athletes from Europe, the Soviet Union, Canada and the United States will test their mettle in three separate categories -- the triathlon (biking, skiing, and running)

Delaware Park has offered an aggressive purse schedule for the thoroughbred meet that starts in April, and Maryland racing officials say it confirms their fears that their competitor could divert horses and dollars from the local tracks.The Stanton, Del., track has sketched out a racing program for the first few weeks of its meet that offers an average of nearly $190,000 a day in purses if all its races fill with entrants. That would be a whopping increase from the $144,000 the track gave out last year, and surpass the $177,000 paid by Maryland's tracks last year.

The top three executives of the Maryland Jockey Club -- whom critics have accused of taking too much pay during money-losing years -- received nearly $1 million less in compensation last year than the year before, due in part to an agreement with a lender.Martin Jacobs, general counsel and treasurer of the Maryland Jockey Club, corporate parent of the Pimlico and Laurel Park thoroughbred racecourses, received $200,000 in salary last year, according to documents submitted to the Maryland Racing Commission this week but not included in packets the tracks provided to reporters on Wednesday.

In the wake of Monday's devastating fire that killed 27 horses at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., officials at Maryland's thoroughbred tracks said they are confident that the barns at Pimlico and Laurel and the Bowie Training Center are safe."

The Maryland Racing Commission yesterday gave preliminaryapproval to amendments that will expand the discretionary powers of the stewards, harness judges and commission in cases of drug and rules infractions.If the measures gain final commission approval -- which could happen by early next year -- the officials would have more latitude inmeting penalties.Another feature of the proposals is that the stewards' and judges' maximum fine will rise from $500 to $2,500.In appeals of stewards' or judges' decisions to the commission, the same discretionary powers also may apply to the panel.

ANNAPOLIS -- A legislative review committee has ordered Maryland Racing Commission officials to meet with black lawmakers before the panel approves regulations for off-track betting parlors.Black legislators are concerned by the commission's failure to propose a regulation providing for equal opportunities for minorities, said state Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, a Pikesville-Randallstown area Democrat who chairs the review committee.The Racing Commission has drawn up rules for a new state law legalizing sports palaces, facilities where people can bet on horse races simulcast from the tracks.

Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Bishop L. Robinson said yesterday that he will likely become a candidate for mayor if he can muster the necessary political support. After retiring as state public safety director two years ago, Robinson, 72, serves as a business development consultant for New Jersey-based Lockheed MartinIMS. Robinson, city police commissioner from 1984 to 1987, is being recruited to run by state politicians who say they are dissatisfied with the city's forming mayoral field.

It is rare for officials in any sport to rectify a lingering, embarrassing mistake. It is even rarer when a silver-lined opportunity presents itself to correct the error, especially when it would benefit everyone connected to the sport.That is precisely the opportunity Maryland racing officials have this week as they salute the 25th anniversary of Secretariat's spectacular Triple Crown sweep in conjunction with the 123rd running of the Preakness.You see, 25 years ago, while the great horse was winning the hearts of millions in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, Maryland racing officials failed to honor him with their best effort - robbed him, in fact, of the singular most amazing feat in Triple Crown history.

Late last week, as EF Language began to pull away from the leaders in the Whitbread Round the World Race for the Volvo Trophy, skipper Paul Cayard said in an electronic mail report to race headquarters in England: "This is the real Whitbread now. No more Princess cruises . . . We are flying."Cayard of San Francisco and EF Language (Sweden) won the first leg of the race from Southampton to Cape Town, South Africa, yesterday, and the 31-day, 7,350-nautical mile journey was an eye-opener."I have been thinking about how to describe this to my friends and family," Cayard reported, while EF Language surfed through 15-foot seas in 30 knots of wind on the sprint from the island of Trindade across the South Atlantic Ocean to Cape Town.