IT SPEAKS volumes about how deeply horse racing is ingrained in Maryland's blood that a state authority unanimously agreed to deposit the entire equine industry into the hands of a white knight.
Scratch that. The truth is, the Maryland Racing Commission could not wait yesterday to approve the sale of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park to Magna Entertainment Corp.
"Let's just rock 'n' roll. Let's go," was the verbatim motion to approve the sale of majority ownership to Magna.
"We think this is the dawn of a new era in Maryland racing. We have the owner with the wherewithal to take us to a new level," commission chairman Lou Ulman said.
New days have dawned for Maryland horse racing before, or so the story goes. New days have dawned, then nothing would come of all the talk about upgrading facilities, consolidation and reinventing horse racing as a populist sport again.
But this time it's different. Even the most jaded industry insiders believe that Maryland horse racing is finally going somewhere. Where, exactly, no one knows, but chances are Marylanders better strap into the saddle and hold on.
Remember when you were a kid and you watched the Jetsons and you wondered when you were going to go space age, too? Remember when the Internet boom kicked off 10 years ago and prognosticators said you would never have to leave your house again, that you could perform all of life's business online? Well, what Magna is selling feels a little like that kind of heady stuff.
In fact, if the new owners of Pimlico and Laurel make good on their promises, Maryland will be a big, glitzy player in a global network of racing/wagering/simulcast domination -- and don't forget the sumptuous buffets, dance shows, rodeos and/or shopping mall that might attach itself to a new or renovated Maryland track.
These new facilities will be "racinos." They will be more casino/sports bar/entertainment complex than racetracks, especially now that Maryland is on the verge of legalizing slot machines, just watch.
"There are going to be a few exciting things happening in Annapolis in the next few months and maybe [we can] get together with Magna and lobby the legislature to get this sport to be No. 1 again," commission member Terry Saxon said.
You see, in order for horse racing to burst into the 21st century (it skipped being a player for the bulk of the 20th century) the industry must diversify. Diversify means slots -- as alarming as that sounds, although they should become reality when Robert Ehrlich takes over in Annapolis.
"Like anything else, you have to diversify your business," Alan Foreman, an attorney representing the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said yesterday.
"You have to make these tracks destination centers, and the reality of the society we live in is that this is what people want. In Pennsylvania, when they legalize slot machines, we're going to be at such a competitive disadvantage. And since we can't diversify ourselves, we have to go to the legislature," Foreman said.
If the other sports leagues have called upon "synergy" to generate revenues suitable to sustain those industries, it's about time that horse racing did, too. Slots are one element. So are other forms of entertainment and wagering opportunities. At least that is the vision of horseman Frank Stronach, whose Magna group now has in its stable of 14 North American racetracks both Pimlico and Laurel.
The car parts mogul is a man with a plan. Better yet, Stronach is a rich man with cash. And it must be enough cash to partially dim the sight of state racing commissioners. Otherwise, why didn't concerns about the future of Pimlico, the future of the Preakness and the future of Maryland's racing infrastructure prompt the commission to demand concrete and detailed explanation about what Magna has in mind before it approved the sale? It wasn't part of the commission's legal requirement, but what about a courtesy explanation of specific details?
No, the Preakness won't be moved, Magna officials said yesterday.
Then again, maybe it will be, temporarily in 2005. Or, if for some reason Magna begins to make a case that Pimlico's urban, desolate 140 acres is not a site worthy of a grand new race course and entertainment center, maybe Maryland gets a new "Pimlico" somewhere else. This doesn't seem far-fetched, not in a state that has some of the most bucolic horse country this side of Kentucky.
Does the city of Baltimore have a guarantee that Pimlico will be refurbished? Nothing in writing. And while the state racing commission could try to play hardball with Magna officials, hold them to their 220 live racing days and force them to keep the 132-year-old Preakness at Pimlico, in the end, Magna now owns the race.
Yes, Pimlico will be rebuilt, Magna said. But it will be done "over time," which sounds not so firm and like the kind of wiggle room one must expect from a group that has a vision to make the Preakness a signature, world-class event. Does the concrete blight off Northern Parkway seem like the place to do this?
And, yes, Magna has the capital to finance the upgrades necessary for Maryland racing to succeed in the future, officials said. But Magna was also quick to add that Maryland racing will be part of the global network, which means that Maryland's needs will be considered in the context of that broader, global enterprise.
This landmark sale was a deal executed in good faith. Magna officials said all the right things. They told racing commissioners that "Maryland has an absolutely outstanding tradition that speaks for itself" and that the Preakness is the middle jewel of the Triple Crown that "will become the crown jewel of Magna Entertainment."
Likewise, the racing commission also was gushing about how this sale is in the best interest of Maryland racing.
Then again, what choice was there? Maryland needed a new horse to run its horse racing industry. This should be most intriguing. The future of racing appears to be taking a radical departure from its past. Some of that's good news, some of that should make us wary. But a lot of industry people think and hope Magna can get to the finish line.