Laurel Park delays extract a toll on those who can least afford it

How much worse can the situation in Maryland get? No one really wants an answer to that question, but apparently we are about to find out, as Maryland racing limps into the fall season without any immediate hope for slots, and with one of its two major Thoroughbred tracks out of action for the foreseeable future.

It’s anyone’s guess when Laurel Park will reopen for live racing (although the tentative date is November 4). The track rebuilding project, launched in June over the vociferous objections of many, including the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, is nowhere near completion as of mid-September.

Racing will remain at Pimlico until Laurel is ready. Which means that the popular fall turf racing season at Laurel will be scratched from the calendar, and overall wagering figures are likely to dip.

Still worse, it means that a large chunk of Maryland’s horse population may not have an acceptable place to live or train. That’s because Timonium race track, which housed approximately 450 horses throughout the summer, is unavailable for several weeks this fall due to prior commitments, including the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling sale on October 4 and 5.

Most of the horses stabled at Timonium will have to relocate. Their options, at this point, are appalling.
Pimlico has set up three huge tents on a section of the parking area on the Hayward Avenue backstretch. Packed inside the tents are a total of 400 temporary stalls, with health and safety hazards to boggle the mind.

It’s hard to believe that any owner or trainer will seriously consider placing a race horse in one of these stalls. But right now horsemen are being asked to choose between the temporary stalls at Pimlico, where there is a track available for training, or stabling at Laurel and training under a shedrow. (Will the betting public be informed as to which horses have used the shedrow method vs. conventional training?)

Hopefully, for many there is a third alternative—nearby farms with training tracks. But nearby is a relative term, and there aren’t enough of them to accommodate everyone.
This situation could have been averted, had Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns Laurel and Pimlico, not been intent on pushing ahead with its $16 million overhaul of Laurel’s dirt and turf surfaces within an impossibly tight time frame.

Now Maryland owners and trainers, many of whom can least afford it, are being forced to bear the consequences.