Racing Industry

Members of the Maryland Racing Commission yesterday expressed their disappointment with the state legislature for its failure to help the racing industry in the recently concluded legislative session. Congregating at Pimlico Race Course for their monthly meeting, the commissioners agreed to offer to meet with state political leaders to discuss the continuing decline of the racing and breeding industries in the state. "The situation's very dire in the eyes of the commissioners," said chairman Tom McDonough.

In a move that could bring peace to the politically fractious horse racing industry, Gov. Parris N. Glendening announced yesterday he will commit $10 million in state funds to increase racing purses in exchange for new promises of improved track facilities."

MOUNT AIRY -- A town resident hopes to be one of the first to open an off-track betting parlor in Maryland and has targeted the Frederick area as a likely site.But C. William "Bill" Coleman said he foresees problems for himself and others who want to take advantage of a new state law that allows people to bet on horse races without going to the track.He said the law, which takes effect July 1, favors track owners because they must be involved in any negotiations to establish OTB parlors.Coleman, 48, an avid racing fan and owner of a Baltimore computer consulting company, said he and a business associate from Baltimore who coordinates trips to casinos have a group of people willing to invest $2 million in the project.

THEY BURIED the one-armed bandit in Annapolis last week, but the issue may rise, phoenix-like, in January. This year merely marked the opening legislative debate on this troubling question: Should Maryland sanction slot machine parlors to save the racing industry and provide a new pot of cash for hard-strapped governments?Racing officials say slots are critical. Delaware tracks are reaping millions from their slots parlors and will dramatically boost purses. Larger purses mean better horses -- many abandoning Laurel and Pimlico -- and serious bettors lured from Maryland tracks.

For decades it has been a Maryland landmark. Drive out Green Spring Avenue to Worthington Road and feast your eyes on Sagamore Farm, the famed horse center where Native Dancer, one of the equine sport's great performers, once galloped. The white fences surrounding the 400-acre showplace farm and the romping thoroughbreds in the pasture came to signify all that was grand about Maryland's long racing tradition.But in recent years, Sagamore Farm has come to signify all that has gone wrong with Maryland racing.

As Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller prepares to introduce a bill in the next week that would legalize slot machines at Maryland's horse racing tracks, other key senators are crafting fallback plans for assisting the state's racing industry.Miller said yesterday he intended to introduce legislation that would put slots at existing tracks, with the proceeds used both to bolster the racing industry and to make up for some revenue lost to a proposed income tax cut."It's the kind of bill most people would find comfort with," Miller said.

Maryland should undertake an in-depth study of its racing industry in the coming months to assess whether the state should spend money to help the sport, Gov. Parris N. DTC Glendening said in a letter to a key lawmaker yesterday.But the governor reiterated his position on gambling by asserting that any such study cannot lead to the introduction of slot machines at the tracks.In a letter delivered yesterday to Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell, who heads the Senate panel that oversees racing issues, Glendening said that any proposals to help the industry must be coupled with a strengthening of the state law that restricts the ability of track owners to move the Preakness Stakes out of Maryland.

When Affirmed won the Preakness in 1978 on his way to horse racing's most recent Triple Crown, the Maryland racing industry was thriving. Richard Hoffberger, president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, looks back with a mix of envy and appreciation. "Maryland was one of the leading racing and breeding states at that time," he said. "And certainly we ran more days, had more breeding farms. There was more everything. It was one of the top places in the industry nationally."

In horse racing, the term "abandoned" refers to a race that's canceled and all bets returned. Many in Maryland's horse racing industry will be disappointed to find out their abandonment by Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. involves no return on investment. The former governor's recent decision to oppose his successor's plan for legalized slots hit his former allies at the tracks like a thoroughbred owner whose jockey just got called for interference of his own horse. One local racing lobbyist, a man who served time in prison for fraud, told a Washington Post reporter that Mr. Ehrlich's performance marked "a new low in Maryland politics."

Maryland's thoroughbred racing industry has dropped its plan to seek some $35 million in annual state subsidies, but still wants major changes in the laws governing track operations.Joe De Francis, owner of Pimlico and Laurel race courses, said he has abandoned his effort to receive direct state payments in the face of strong opposition from legislative leaders."In talking to legislators, it appeared to be literally dead on arrival," De Francis said of the subsidy proposal.But, industry-backed legislation introduced in the General Assembly yesterday would:* Permit Pimlico to reduce or eliminate its live racing offerings.