Today, November 20, 2012, is the funeral for the late, great Maryland race writer Joe Kelly.
Today is also the deadline imposed by the Maryland Racing Commission for the Maryland Jockey Club, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the Maryland Horse Breeders Association to finalize terms for a 10 year agreement on how Thoroughbred racing will be run in our state. (Baltimore Sun, November 26, 2012)
The Baltimore Sun‘s editorial page endorses the proposed agreement as the best hope for Maryland racing:
This agreement, if it is approved by all relevant parties, will not save Maryland horse racing, and neither will the millions flowing from slot machines into purse subsidies. The Jockey Club and horsemen still need to figure out a way to attract more paying customers to the track and to get them to bet more on the races. But the slots subsidies are already producing larger and better fields, and this deal offers the promise of predictability and stability for the next decade. If the industry can’t use that time to find a way to make itself relevant, it probably never will.
