Racing Days

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- The Maryland Jockey Club has closed its doors for rallies in Annapolis before. But yesterday, when the MJC said it would close next Friday so its employees, horsemen and racing fans could attend a rally in support of slot machines, the situation seemed more desperate. "We're trying to make sure we can save Maryland racing and keep the Preakness in Maryland," said MJC president and chief operating officer Lou Raffetto, who is at Monmouth Park for racing's showcase event, the Breeders' Cup, this weekend.

Maryland-based thoroughbred trainer Dale Mills has received a 45-day suspension from the New Jersey Racing Commission after Testafly tested positive for clenbuterol following a third-place finish to Skip Away in the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 30.A spokesman for the commission yesterday confirmed the penalty, which would begin March 19, the opening of the New Jersey season, and Mills said the New Jersey stewards have informed him.Alan Foreman,...

On one of Maryland's premier racing days, the Maryland Spring Challenge, a Florida colt named Tour's Big Red roared down the stretch yesterday at Pimlico to capture the $163,000 Federico Tesio Stakes.The Grade III Tesio is the state's major Kentucky Derby prep. Although no Derby contenders competed in the 1 1/8 -mile race, Tour's Big Red may return to Pimlico May 18 for the Preakness and then race three weeks later in the Belmont Stakes."This horse can run all day," said Enrique Alonso, the trainer stabled at Calder Race Course in South Florida.

In an effort to beef up the Pimlico spring meeting, Maryland Jockey Club president Joe De Francis last night proposed a 1996 thorougbred-racing schedule that would suspend live racing in the state on 15 more dates.At a board meeting of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horseman's Association in Laurel, De Francis outlined a plan that would convert selected weekday racing dates to simulcast-only days, producing approximately $900,000 in revenue.The money would be used to re-institute the purse bonus for races during Pimlico's spring meet, which showcases the Preakness and Pimlico Special.

Laurel Park has announced a new schedule that will apply for the first three months of 1996.The live racing week will consist of Thursday through Monday, eliminating Tuesday as a live day and making it dark. Simulcast-only betting will continue Wednesdays.Laurel is attempting to glean maximum exposure from the rich meeting at Gulfstream Park, which runs Jan. 3 to March 16. Since Gulfstream is dark Tuesdays, Laurel's revised format allows simulcast betting in Maryland on all of that track's programs.

Maryland Jockey Club senior vice president John Mooney said yesterday that the recent problems encountered by racing fans at the Pimlico simulcast site should begin to ease.Pimlico patrons have complained about their inability to park near the track because the major parking lot adjacent to the clubhouse has been the site of the NAACP's 85th annual Freedom Festival for the past 10 days.The result has been a downturn in business at Pimlico since Laurel's summer meeting opened. The handle declined $400,000 the first eight racing days.

Once again, as far as major sports are concerned, Baltimore is taking it on the chin.Under a Maryland-Virginia interstate business plan unveiled yesterday by Maryland Jockey Club chairman Joe De Francis, live racing at Pimlico Race Course would be cut by a third if De Francis builds a proposed track in Loudoun County, Va.The plan, which wipes out Pimlico's fall meet and beefs up the number of racing days in Virginia by skimming them from the Baltimore track,...

After 13 weather-related cancellations and a recent audit that showed the Maryland mile thoroughbred tracks posted record-breaking losses in 1993, the 52-day live racing meet at Laurel Race Course ended yesterday on a positive note.Betting figures for the first quarter of 1994 showed that total wagering increased 39 percent over a similar period last year and average daily handle on live racing days climbed 24.4 percent.The reason for the turnaround -- which began during the last half of 1993 -- is the addition of multiple signal simulcasting, the opening of six more off-track and inter-track betting outlets and simulcast-only cards presented on Wednesdays.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Maryland thoroughbred horse racing will shut down during the summer starting in 1996, becoming part of an alliance with a new Virginia racetrack.Instead of competing with Maryland, the group chosen yesterday to operate Virginia's first pari-mutuel racetrack has a cooperative agreement with Joseph A. De Francis, operator of Maryland's Pimlico and Laurel tracks. Under the deal, hailed as a boost to Maryland's racing business by some, the Maryland and Virginia tracks won't run live races at the same time.

LAUREL -- Attendance and handle were slightly off from last year for the last 35 days of the Laurel Race Course meet, which concluded yesterday.Those 35 days originally were scheduled to be run at Pimlico Race Course, but were shifted to Laurel so that track repairs could be made.The handle was down 2.9 percent, to an average of $1,623,766, and attendance dropped 1.6 percent, to an average of 10,530, reflecting the trend in racing during the recession.Action shifts to Pimlico tomorrow for 71 racing days (through June 30)

There is no bigger day on Baltimore's calendar than tomorrow, when large crowds will descend upon Pimlico Race Course for the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes. With a strong favorite, Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown, whose trainer is a Hagerstown native and whose jockey is a veteran of Maryland tracks, the excitement at Old Hilltop should be running high. These are difficult times for horse racing. Attendance at races, wagering, the number of racing days all have been in serious decline at tracks all over the country for years.

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- The Maryland Jockey Club has closed its doors for rallies in Annapolis before. But yesterday, when the MJC said it would close next Friday so its employees, horsemen and racing fans could attend a rally in support of slot machines, the situation seemed more desperate. "We're trying to make sure we can save Maryland racing and keep the Preakness in Maryland," said MJC president and chief operating officer Lou Raffetto, who is at Monmouth Park for racing's showcase event, the Breeders' Cup, this weekend.

The Keep It In Maryland task force yesterday called on the state to assist in providing new facilities for the horse racing industry to help "level the playing field" between the lottery and racing and to help find a way to increase purses. Representatives of the KIM task force, the Maryland Racing Commission and various segments of Maryland's horse industry will present their case to the Maryland Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 25. Some of what state legislators will hear was voiced at yesterday's racing commission meeting.

NATIONAL Debating science class Testimony concluded yesterday in a six-week trial that will determine whether a central Pennsylvania high school may introduce "intelligent design" to students, a case that could also influence science curriculums nationwide. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, who heard from 34 witnesses including scientists, school officials, board members and scholars during the nonjury trial, said yesterday he hoped to rule by year's end. pg 1a Torture ban added to bill At the urging of Sen. John McCain, the Senate added the ban on torture of prisoners of war by U.S. interrogators to a related defense bill as a backup yesterday.

Lou Raffetto, chief operating officer of the Maryland Jockey Club, said yesterday he believes horsemen and Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns Maryland's thoroughbred racetracks, will reach an agreement by December on racing dates. But not everyone is quite so optimistic. "We are making a general request for dates at this November meeting and then will ask for specific dates for Laurel and/or Pimlico at the December meeting," Raffetto said. "I think we will reach a compromise on the number of days at between 170 and 180."

Frank Stronach's voice thundered through the $4 million vocational training center he opened yesterday morning on Park Heights Avenue, just down the street from Pimlico Race Course. "The Preakness will always be in Baltimore," said Stronach, the Austrian-born, gray-haired founder and chairman of Magna, the Canadian-based company that owns Laurel Park and Pimlico. Could his definition of Baltimore include Laurel? "No. What I mean is the Preakness will remain right here, on the hilltop," he said, using Pimlico's nickname.

A day before their plan for cutting the number of live racing days in Maryland nearly in half was to be voted on by the Maryland Racing Commission, Magna Entertainment Corp. and the Maryland Jockey Club withdrew their original plan and submitted a new one that added 17 days to their proposal. When the commission convenes this morning, it will be to consider the new proposal that Jockey Club chief operating officer Lou Raffetto said honors a previous agreement with Maryland horsemen "as we interpret it" for racing from Jan. 1 through Belmont Day 2006.

MARYLAND'S SHRINKING horse racing season has prompted much talk about the need for government intervention. One imagines there may even be average citizens who, upon reading of these events, decide that they really ought to patronize Pimlico or Laurel racetracks some evening soon. The trouble is, they can't. Maryland bans thoroughbred racing at night. That's right; the Average Joe, who generally finds himself working at 1 p.m. on weekdays, is out of luck. Is this any way to run a business?

Leaders in the House of Delegates are working on a plan to subsidize horse racing in Maryland without legalizing slot machines, an idea that gained credence this week when the company that owns the Pimlico and Laurel Park racetracks unveiled its own proposal to boost profits without expanded gambling. Canada-based Magna Entertainment Corp. said it would slash the number of racing days at its two Maryland tracks, arguing that by reducing costs it would increase purses and attract better horses and more bettors.

The Canadian owner of Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course said yesterday that it would operate the famed track for just 18 days next year as a way to cut costs and boost purse money, but some politicians fear the reduction could be a prelude to closing the facility and moving the Preakness Stakes out of Maryland. Magna Entertainment Corp. officials insisted that cutting the number of racing days at Pimlico and Laurel Park, its second Maryland track, from 196 to 112 is not a retreat from the state but a move to strengthen the sport.