BloodHorse.com | Horse Racing News

Ridiculous Predictions for the New Year

Here are 10 off-the-wall predictions for 2011. The way things go in horse racing, there's probably a chance one or two of them will come to fruition.

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Maryland Racing Deserves Better Than This

Maryland racing may seem like a comedy of errors, but it's no laughing matter.

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Pimlico Spring Meet to Open April 20

Live racing shifts to historic Pimlico Race Course April 20 for the spring meeting. The headline event of the eight-week stand is the 131st running of the $1-million Preakness Stakes (gr. I), the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, set for May 20.

Laurel Park Opens Thursday

Racing in the region returns to Laurel Park Thursday and offers patrons free admission and programs to celebrate opening day.

Timonium Reduces Dates, Cuts Open Stakes

For the first time since the mid 1980s when Timonium began running 10 days during the Maryland state fair, the festive, open-air track will operate only eight days this summer.

Sun and Fun at Pimlico Belie Industry Problems

For one day, the sun shone on Maryland racing. On July 7, closing day at Pimlico, kids frolicked in the infield, nearly 6,500 patrons risked their dollars on the horses, and Joe De Francis, president and CEO of the Maryland Jockey Club, got dunked in the dunking booth.

Lack of Unanimity Costly to Maryland Racing Industry

The public got its first glance Wednesday, June 27, at what in-fighting has cost the Maryland racing industry. The Maryland Jockey Club slashed 22 stakes races worth $1.7 million from its racing program the rest of the year at Pimlico and Laurel Park. The Maryland Racing Commission approved the drastic cuts at its monthly meeting in Timonium north of Baltimore.

New Maryland Track Granted Preliminary Approval

After the Maryland Jockey Club agreed to drop its opposition, the Maryland Racing Commission granted preliminary approval March 30 to William Rickman Jr.'s bid to build a horse track in Western Maryland. Representatives of the MJC stopped fighting the proposal after Rickman, owner of Delaware Park and Ocean Downs, secured a $20 million line of credit for Allegany Racing Association. That is the entity composed of Rickman and his father, William Rickman, that proposes to construct the track at the eastern edge of Allegany County.

Battle Brews Over Maryland, Virginia Dates

Colonial Downs has received approval to race in June and July this year, but the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association voted earlier in January to maintain the status quo: race in Maryland in June and July, and in Virginia in September. The head of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association says that position hasn't changed, but a board member contends the majority of Maryland horsemen wouldn't mind spending June and July in the Tidewater region.

Pros, Cons of New Track Aired in Maryland

Residents of Western Maryland jammed a ballroom Wednesday at their local Holiday Inn to speak their piece about a horse track proposed in rural Allegany County.

Wednesday Hearing On New Maryland Track

The Maryland Racing Commission will conduct a public hearing Wednesday on a proposed horse track in western Maryland.