Here in Maryland, where “racing to the bottom” probably ought to be the official state sport, there’s bad news and, courtesy of our pal John, really bad news.
Other than the potential shutdown of Maryland racing, how are things going? How did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
I, myself, however, will carefully put my hands over [...]
In the “you can’t make this up” department, we have this: at the exact moment when Maryland racing’s future seems the brightest it’s been in years — because of the impending arrival of slots — it’s also distinctly possible that Maryland racing has no future at all.
As has been amply documented seemingly just about everywhere, [...]
Protecting the health and safety of claiming horses poses two significant challenges that differ from protecting the well-being of stakes and allowance horses. Unfortunately, a series of recent proposals by a prominent group of veterinarians would make life worse for the claiming horses of the world.
“Putting the Horse First,” the white paper recently issued by [...]
When True Quality (Elusive Quality-Louve Mysteriuse, by Seeking the Gold) snuck off to win yesterday’s Grade II General George at Laurel, he not only earned his first graded stakes victory but also struck a blow for that hoary old chestnut of name type: the aspirational name.
There are several common name types, and the aspirational one [...]
It took Maryland racing more than a decade of work to convince the state to allow slot machines.
It took Magna Entertainment, parent company of state track owners the Maryland Jockey Club, several million dollars to support the pro-slots campaign.
And it took Magna just a week to get itself disqualified from the bidding for a slots [...]
If you’ve been following the racing blogosphere, perhaps through the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance, you’ve probably seen more than a little discussion of Animal Planet’s new reality series, “Jockeys.”
I watched about half of the first episode and found it mildly diverting — but not so much so that it prevented me from shuffling off to bed [...]
The Maryland Racing Commission yesterday granted unanimous approval to the Maryland Jockey Club’s proposal to increase the takeout on Pick-3 and Pick-4 bets from the current level of 14 percent to 25.75 percent (here). It did so without discussion.
The MJC’s case, essentially, is that some simulcast facilities had balked at the lower rate, which consumed [...]
Hot streaks and cold streaks are part of the racing — in fact, the sporting — landscape. Don’t put too much faith in your big winning streak, in other words, because a losing streak’s just around the corner.
That’s the part of racing that no one tells you about when you enter it. You imagine yourself [...]
For a competitive process, the bidding for slot machine licenses in Maryland is not going to involve much actual competition. On Monday, just six bidders applied for the five available licenses. As a result, in just one of the locations will there be actual competition.
Of course, in a development that has to be causing headaches [...]
