Magna Bankruptcy Casting Doubt Over Preakness Stakes' Future

Many Marylanders Fear Saturday's Preakness Stakes Could Be Last One In Baltimore

HOLES IN THE SCHEDULE: ESPN's T.J. Quinn noted "just eight years ago, Pimlico played host to a hundred racing days," but this year "there are only 20." Maryland Jockey Club President & COO Tom Chuckas, whose organization operates Pimlico, said it is a "nonfunctioning facility for today's market." Chuckas: "It's way, way too big. ... It's difficult to heat, it's difficult to cool, it's difficult to upkeep." But Quinn noted O'Malley and the Maryland state legislature "made themselves clear that the race would not leave Maryland without a fight," as the state "was burned before." O'Malley: "The memory of the Colts, and the way that those moving vans is seared into the memory of all of us who love Baltimore ... had a big impact." Quinn: "But whoever ends up operating the race, whether it's Magna, another buyer or the state itself, the racing industry in Maryland still has major problems." Chuckas: "Racing has done a very, very poor job. We have to take the blame for this. Most of our customers are in their 50's or older. We haven't been able to reach out to the younger demographic" ("Outside The Lines," ESPN, 5/10).

TALE OF TWO TRACKS: In DC, Andrew Beyer wrote the "indifference" of Maryland state politicians -- "coupled with the ineffectiveness of the tracks' management -- helped bring the sport to its present sorry state, with the quality of racing, the physical facilities and the fan base all deteriorating." If Maryland had "legalized slot machines at the state's tracks while the sport was still reasonably healthy, the revenue might have boosted Pimlico and Laurel to the top tier of U.S. tracks." But the survival of the Preakness, "despite all of the current angst, ... is not in doubt because the event is enormously profitable," and even if a new owner buys Pimlico and Laurel from MEC, "nobody in his right mind would move the race from a location where it has deep roots and draws more than 100,000 people each year." Beyer: "Because the Preakness will survive, Pimlico must survive." But Beyer wrote there is "little reason for Laurel to do so," and live racing at Laurel "should be ended, with the property used strictly as a simulcast operation -- ideally in a new, clean, comfortable facility that is up-to-date technologically" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/11).

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