PA line farms, close to Bel Air, MD

[geowarrior]

Ah I was puzzled by the economics of that pinhooking as well, thanks for clearing that up, Winds.

[winds]

My brother in law is a CPA and when I told him what we did and how much we made he almost fell off his chair..................

He's not to small so that was funny...........

winds

[Barbaro06]

Maryland, overall, is in tight spot. Now that the state is headed towards a Godawful deficit they are bringing up slots again and not in order to benefit the racing industry. What pisses me off is when I hear people say they should let the racing industry die in this state, that it has seen its day. It is said that all equine related assets in the state total $5.2 billion. It's part of the history of this state...and I know, sentimentality gets you nowhere in the halls of government (the joke here is that the Thoroughbred is the state horse and "symbolizes" Maryland). They consistently fail to see the money that is being lost to neighboring states, money that could benefit horsepeople in the state and the state overall instead of asking for more taxes...I know Montgomery County is freaking out over the whole deficit issue and if I am not mistaken, they don't want slots either. Guess they don't have spare change after buying their million dollar homes and Benz's....

[winds]

It is a sad state of affairs of racing in MD. I'm hoping that something can be done to save it. One time it's hero/savior was Frank de Francis, then he passed and his poor excuse of a son took over, Joe de Francis.

I remember when Frank would come out to the backside and talk to the horsemen. He was genuinely concerned about our issues and would do something to help. He loved racing, it's traditions, pagentry and most of all the horse. He also had the vision of how to restore racing in MD to it's glory days and had the means to do it.

If Magna had followed through with it's plans, instead of giving lip service to everyone, maybe racing wouldn't need the slots and it could have been restored. But I for one think that Magna needs to be out of the picture and sold to someone who can do something postive for racing in MD again.

winds

[Barbaro06]

I know winds. A couple of guys and I were chatting at Laurel a few weeks ago and we talked about all the graded stakes that Laurel used to run. I know with the advent of the Breeder's Cup many races lost their luster and fell by the wayside but not every horse gets to the BC. Some of the races here could have been saved rather given up on.

Yeah, too much talk and no action from Magna. Gues they are waiting for the other shoe to drop so they can yank the Preakness out of Maryland once and for all.

[winds]

There has been talk of them wanting to take the Preakness out of MD ever since they knew Magna was thinking of buying the MD tracks. Do you think that the MD gov't will allow that? Even if the tracks go by the wayside they could always move it to Laurel, and have a 2 wk high profile short meet of racing, with everyday filled with stakes, cummulating with the Preakness. I guess the state could own the track, sell off Pimlico (which part of me loves and part of me hates).

That is the best of a worst case scenario.

winds

[Laurierace]

The MD government has no say in the matter as to whether they move the Preakness or not. They may persuade them to stay by getting off their asses and actually getting slots passed, but they can not stop them if they want to move their property elsewhere.
Preakness at Laurel is not feasible, the property itself can not contain it.

[winds]

I always thought the total plant of Laurel was bigger than Pimlico. I know I like the grandstand better. But then I'm really not a fan of Pimlico's, but I do love Laurel.

What ever we want isn't going to be done anyway.......not as long as there are politicians and greedy businessmen involved.

winds

[Laurierace]

Laurel may be bigger but there is a lake in the infield. 90% of the people at Preakness are in the infield, it just wouldn't work. Unless of course they wanted to triple the already insanely high ticket prices and only let in half the amount of people....