by T.D. Thornton
For the past decade or so, the images conjured up by the phrase “Maryland racing” have been anything but optimistic. The once-proud circuit had bet big and lost on its on-site casino gamble, and outside of the tradition-rich GI Preakness S., Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) tracks Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course were losing money.
So when parent company The Stronach Group (TSG) announced it was attempting a major rebranding and spiffing-up initiative some six months ago, past performances dictated there were reasons to be skeptical the changes would be anything other than cosmetic.
Then Sal Sinatra was hired away from the management team at Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia to become MJC vice president and general manager, and Tim Ritvo, president of chief operating officer of TSG, was mandated to spend a good chunk of his winter away from Gulfstream Park to oversee the overhaul at Laurel and Pimlico.
As 2015 dawned, Sinatra and Ritvo put renewed emphasis on the on-track experience by investing $7 million in improvements: new stables on the backstretch and extensive remodeling in the MJC grandstands and clubhouses. A new racing schedule, revamped wagering menu and lowered takeouts. A plan to incentivize horsemen both at the local level (a turf starter series with bonus money) and on a national scale (actively courting top horses with appearance fees and bonuses for Preakness S. weekend).
“It's a really good feeling right now,” said Tim Keefe, president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “You ask anybody on the backside, even the naysayers who were out there two months ago saying 'this will never work, just enjoy the honeymoon now because it'll be over soon,' are excited. You really get the feeling that we're all in this together.”
Sinatra, reached by phone Thursday morning as he was conducting an opening day walk-through of Pimlico, underscored that TSG's work is only just beginning in Maryland. But he spoke with the refreshing tone of a racetrack executive who–in an era when the sport seems tethered to racino revenue like an intravenous drip–has been given a clear directive to focus first and foremost on live racing.
“I think that Tim Ritvo and myself, just from the short time we were at Laurel, what we noticed was the energy from the fans, and that they kept coming back,” Sinatra said. “We think there's a fan base down here that's been neglected. We're just trying to get everybody back in the swing. With these facility changes and wagering changes, [the live racing experience] just needed to be dusted off a little bit. I'm hoping that these changes will make for a positive atmosphere all around.”
Ritvo agreed: “We don't think it's a dying industry. We think it's an industry that's been neglected. Just small, low-budget changes right now have really moved the crowd. Eventually, once we get everything right, we'll start a strong marketing initiative to get people back out to the game.”
Despite being bombed by bad weather and a simulcast impasse that kept the Laurel product out of a wide swath of betting outlets nationwide, the MJC aspires to build upon the momentum of the recently concluded Laurel meet, where total average handle was up 14.6% and the live product saw a 15.8 % boost over last year.
“Obviously, the betting component is the number one thing that drives the engine,” Ritvo said. “But without a fan base, nobody's going to be interested in it. It means a lot to us whether people are betting on our product or not. Purses, because they're high by being subsidized with slot revenue, don't make us a good meet. What makes us a good meet is when people start betting on our product.”
Keefe and Ritvo both said that not having a casino on-site may turn out to be a hidden reward because the MJC still receives purse subsidies from gaming. Sinatra, based on his racino experience at Parx, is particularly attuned to often-skewed dynamics of racetracks becoming slaves to casino masters.
“At these other tracks that have casinos on the property, management teams there focus on [the casino] and neglect the racing, “Sinatra said. “In my opinion, being from Parx, it's a blessing not having a casino right next to us. The two management teams butt heads. Racing's expensive, we all know that. [The subsidies] help the purses, but here there's no [gaming component] that everybody's glued on. All we see is racing–barns, racetrack and grandstand, you know?”
Ritvo put it this way: “The casino subsidies are nice, but they're not the cure. I haven't seen too many racetracks that have turned into racinos where racing has thrived. Actually, [tracks] become a nuisance to the casino operators. The good thing with TSG, any casino subsidy goes right back into the industry. We're not looking to cut [live racing initiatives] with subsidies, we're looking to create with them. We think that horsemen and everyone else need to look at those subsidies as a short-term crutch, because eventually, I think in all jurisdictions, those are going to be going away.”
Sinatra identified increasing field size as a chief goal going into the Pimlico meet.
“There's no silver bullet,” Sinatra said. “March was a bad month, a transition month. If I can get back on the turf that will help. And the harsh winter has everybody behind on their 2-year-olds. ”
But Ritvo said over the long term, TSG's plan to bolster its live product through across-the-board upgrades is what will make horsemen want to call Maryland home.
“If horsemen see those commitments, they start to think, 'maybe this is a good place for me to raise my family and run my horses,'” Ritvo said. “I just don't think it comes down to the matter of having the biggest purses. That's the Stronach initiative: Give them good backsides, good stabling, a safe place to live, and they stay with you and race with you. And that's how we compete for horses.”
Keefe said he can already sense momentum swinging back to Maryland.
“For many, many years, Maryland-breds were sought after,” Keefe said. “But compared to what Pennsylvania's done with their program in recent years, Maryland's just been straight down the tubes–until this past year. You talk to people in the breeding industry, we've now got more mares coming to Maryland to foal. I've got owners that want me to go to the sales to look at Maryland-breds. So it's really an exciting time to be in racing here in Maryland.”
Given the amount of money spent on MJC upgrades, year-round racing in Maryland–or at least a shared system that involves getting the region's racetracks to commit to a circuit–might be in the cards. But Sinatra and Ritvo both said it's too early to speculate on what a retooled mid-Atlantic schedule might look like.
“Laurel has a gorgeous turf course and we don't run in June or July. We're building barns, and if I have horses that want to run on my nice turf course at Laurel, if I can provide decent-sized fields for handicappers, I want to run those dates,” Sinatra said.
“The short answer is we would love to increase race dates when it makes economic sense,” Ritvo said. “The more days TSG runs in California and Florida, the more profitable we are. We need to get to that position in Maryland by increasing field size, getting more eyeballs on our product, and then we will increase the number of days that we run. And if we can do it cooperatively, by working with Virginia and Delaware to put together one racing schedule that makes sense for everybody, then all of a sudden your field size issues go away. Those things will be looked at from a long-term perspective, and hopefully within the next couple of years we can iron those things out.”
Keefe said the idea of a “central racing office” that handles entries for Pimlico, Laurel, Delaware Park and Colonial Downs in Virginia (which did not run a meet in 2014) could be an option, with dates split up among the various tracks.
“With a shrinking horse population and, as you say, a glut of racing here in the mid-Atlantic in the summer, we would like to do a circuit with Delaware, and even throw Virginia in there somewhere,” Keefe said. “Whether Virginia runs their dates here at Laurel or we figure out a different scenario, we've got actually a tentative circuit that we've worked out without overlapping dates. From the Maryland horsemen's perspective, we certainly need to utilize our turf courses more than we ever have before, and I think you'll see that this year when we add the August dates [at Laurel].”
Keefe said the future of Maryland racing hinges on the present.
“Obviously, the MJC is not going to be able to stay in business unless they turn a profit,” Keefe said. “So they've got to fix the model or find a model that works. The cooperation that the horsemen have had with the ownership here, it's like never before. We really feel like we're true partners in this.”
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