The Maryland Racing Commission rejected business proposals from the owners of Pimlico and Laurel race tracks on Tuesday that would have ensured Maryland’s tracks stay open for live racing into 2011. The commission unanimously sided with Maryland’s horse owners and breeders — hundreds of whom attended the commission’s four-hour hearing and voting session — in voting down the proposals pitched by the tracks’ joint owners, Penn National Gaming and Magna International Developments.
The decision indefinitely derails live racing in Maryland, depending on when the track owners submit another plan that is agreeable to groups representing the state’s horse owners and breeders — which include the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the Maryland Horse Breeding Association.
“All of us have suffered long enough with the mismangagement of the racetrack under Magna over the last [eight] years,” said commissioner David Hayden. “For the long-term betterment of Maryland racing, we need new ownership and I think the time has come for that to happen.”
The commission rejected the track owners’ initial business proposal in November that would have slashed two-thirds of the 146 live racing days in Maryland.
Penn National Gaming submitted another proposal Tuesday that would provide 77 days of live racing. The commission rejected the proposal.
“I just don’t understand how the hell people can live on 77 days [of live racing],” said commissioner Ernest Grecco.
Ontario-based MI Developments — the parent company of the tracks’ former owner, Magna Entertainment — submitted a proposal with Penn National on Monday night that would restore the 146 days of live racing provided this year, but with several caveats including a $1.7 million infusion from the horsemen’s association.
The group is willing to pay the fee, said Alan Foreman, an attorney representing the association. But the group won’t support legislative changes the proposal needs that would charge patrons more money to place bets and reduce the horsemen’s share of profits, Foreman said.
“This agreement is unacceptable,” Foreman said. “Whatever the consequences that flow from that we are sincerely sorry, but this is not a mess of our making.”
