David Bailey, a veteran racing official with more than 27 years on the job, has been named the new race secretary at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.
"Dave served the last two years as assistant race secretary to Paul Jenkins," said Mark Loewe, vice president of racing, in a statement. "When Paul retired on April 3, we were in a comfortable position to ask Dave to help us continue the growth of our live racing program. Dave’s resume features many years as a racing official on major circuits across the country, and he has established a strong rapport with the horsemen and our internal team members at Hollywood Casino.”
Bailey, a 58-year old native of Ipswich, Mass., started in racing in 1983 and was named assistant race secretary at Hialeah in 1984. He served in that same capacity in Florida and Chicago until 1997 when he was named race secretary at Arlington Park. In 2000 he took over the racing office at Gulfstream Park and held the role at the Hallandale, Florida oval until 2007.
“I took two years off after the 2007 season at Gulfstream, and like any old warhorse, I benefited from my two-year freshening. I knew Paul and appreciated the opportunity to get back into the game and work with him at Penn National when the offer came in July of 2009.”
One of Bailey's first tasks will be inserting eight makeup cards into the remainder of Penn National’s 2011 calendar. Earlier this week the track and horsemen were granted permission by the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission to add back programs lost to winter weather-related cancellations.
All of the additional opportunities will take place on Wednesday nights, beginning with June 1. Midweek cards have also been added to the regular Monday-Tuesday-Friday and Saturday schedules for July 6 and 27, October 19 and 26, and November 2, 9, and 16. Post time remains at 6:00 p.m.