The barn at Laurel Park, open for less than two weeks, still sits in the middle of a construction site. But you wouldn't know it looking at Linda Gaudet's horses, relaxed and content as can be.
The longtime Maryland trainer and fellow horsemen waited years for this 150-stall facility to be built, viewing the project as a test of whether the Stronach Group was committed to improving Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, the tracks the Canadian company owns in Maryland.
"We were just treading water, holding our noses above the waterline," Gaudet said. "Because nothing was happening."
That has changed over the past six months, and as fans prepare for the 140th Preakness on Saturday, they'll do so against a backdrop of great optimism — and some uncertainty — for the state's 272-year-old racing industry.
The uncertainty lies in Stronach's long-term plans for the tracks, with a possible shift of the Preakness to a revamped Laurel Park one of many scenarios under discussion.
The future of Pimlico, an outdated facility that would be difficult to renovate, has long been in question. And as Stronach looks to make its Maryland operation profitable, Laurel's proximity to the Washington market makes it a potentially attractive spot in which to consolidate racing. But the Preakness' long, lucrative history at Pimlico would make that difficult for many to swallow.
Asked if the Preakness could move, Stronach Chief Operating Officer Tim Ritvo said, "Obviously, it stays in the state of Maryland. If we moved it from its historic site, we would get beat up a bit. But could we pull off a good event at Laurel? Yes."
Since the Stronach Group dispatched Ritvo and longtime Pennsylvania track executive Sal Sinatra to take the reins of the Maryland Jockey Club, the company has pumped $8.5 million into track improvements at Laurel and Pimlico. With bigger projects potentially on the horizon, Ritvo and Sinatra say Stronach's focus is firmly on Maryland after years spent revamping its tracks in Florida and California.
"It is Maryland's turn," Ritvo said. "The state has been kind of neglected, but now, it's our No. 1 priority."
By backing those words with action, Ritvo and Sinatra have won over doubters.
"Is there skepticism?" Gaudet said. "Not from me. Not anymore."
Stronach Group founder Frank Stronach, long one of the sport's leading owners and breeders, deliberately tabbed racing die-hards as his top executives in Maryland.
"We're passionate people," Sinatra said. "You work seven days a week because you love the game. … Our decisions are going to be based on racing, and whether they're right decisions or wrong decisions, the intent is what [Stronach] wants."
Relations between track executives, horsemen and breeders are the most stable and collegial they've been in recent memory, governed by a 10-year operating agreement reached in 2012. Race purses, foal production and betting handles are all on the rise. Perhaps most importantly, the Stronach Group has made good on promises to build barns at Laurel and spruce up the grandstands at both tracks.
It's common now to hear stakeholders speak of Maryland as the ascendant centerpiece of the Mid-Atlantic racing scene.
"There's no question the sense of optimism here is the highest I've seen in at least two decades," said Alan Foreman, general counsel for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.
But as Stronach officials discuss a master plan for the tracks, seismic changes could loom in the near future. Though its direction remains uncertain, the company could make Laurel Park its Maryland centerpiece — the kind of multifaceted entertainment complex that has proven wildly successful at Gulfstream Park in Florida. That could leave Pimlico as an expensive albatross and raise the possibility of the Preakness — Baltimore's largest annual event — moving to Laurel.
"Everything is on the table," said Ritvo, who has been based in the state most of the year. "But Maryland should feel at ease that the corporate focus is all on Maryland and how to secure racing here for the next 20 years or more."
Still, the possibility that the Preakness could move is sure to be a troubling thought for Baltimore officials and racing traditionalists.
"The Preakness is one of Baltimore's signature events, and each year we are thrilled to welcome tens of thousands of people to our city to celebrate Maryland's rich tradition of horse racing," Howard Libit, a spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to work with the owners of Pimlico to ensure that the Preakness is run in Baltimore on the third Saturday of May for many years to come."
Others said the idea is understandable given economic realities, but a difficult sell given the state's tradition.
"If you look at it from a purely economic standpoint, maybe one track makes sense," said Bruce Quade, chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, the government-appointed panel that regulates the industry. "But if you look at it in the scheme of the state, how long the Preakness has been at Pimlico, it's not as simple."
Other changes on the table
Beyond a possible consolidation of tracks, Stronach officials are looking to establish a regional circuit with Delaware and possibly Virginia that would reduce scheduling conflicts and, they hope, create larger, more talented pools of horses to attract bettors. They're contemplating switching racing dates in Laurel from the winter to June and July, and they're hoping to attract star horses to run on major cards with lucrative new bonuses.
Sinatra hopes to attract families by adding an arcade, a billiards room and a sports bar to Laurel Park and by creating a weekly twilight racing series accompanied by barbecue and live music. He hopes to market Maryland Million day to a younger audience using video game tournaments and college scholarship raffles.
Many of these concepts are inspired by Stronach's success at Gulfstream. Sinatra recalls how amazed he was when he visited the Florida track and saw people of all ages milling about from morning until night.
"You have to give the fans something else to do," he said. "You have to give them a good experience. You have to give them good food."
The state's horsemen were uncertain what lay ahead last November, when Stronach announced leadership changes in the Maryland Jockey Club. Tom Chuckas, who'd revamped the Preakness and earned respect with his candid approach, stepped down as president. In came Sinatra, a longtime executive with Parx Racing in Pennsylvania, and Ritvo, a member of the company's inner circle.
As it turned out, the moves signaled a ramped up commitment to change, beginning with the $8.5 million investment in the tracks. The symbolic power was greater than the tangible. Maryland horsemen had been skeptical for years that Stronach would break ground on even modest projects like the barns at Laurel.
"I think the feeling was that when the shovel went in the ground, it would be a sign they were really committed to the future," Foreman said. "So the mere fact it happened, and horsemen are now in new facilities, is a terrific development."
Sinatra and Ritvo, the men behind all this change, fancy themselves pure racing guys at heart.
Sinatra grew up in central New Jersey with a mother who served as the statistics guru for the Daily Racing Form and a father who taught him handicapping on regular Saturday trips to Monmouth Park. Sinatra baled hay and cleaned water tubs for a few bucks an hour at a local breeding farm and later designed computer software for dozens of tracks around the country.
Ritvo, a Massachusetts native, was a jockey and then a trainer. His wife, Kathy, still trains — she ran Mucho Macho Man in the 2011 Preakness — and his son, Michael, rides.
New approach
Their approach has helped change the tone around Frank Stronach, who took criticism almost from the moment he agreed to buy the Maryland tracks in 2002 under the banner of Magna Entertainment Corp.
"I know a lot of people want to throw Stronach under the bus," said Quade, who meets regularly with him. "But based on the last few years, I have no complaints. … My God, they've literally come in and done everything they said they'd do."
State gaming revenues have helped fuel improvements to purses (up 5 percent from 2013 to 2014) and breeding numbers (2.1 percent of the U.S. foal crop in 2013 compared to 1.7 percent in 2012).
But the tracks continue to operate at a loss, and that has Stronach executives contemplating the sort of large-scale change they implemented at Gulfstream, which went from losing money to generating millions in profits.
Because the Maryland plans won't be bolstered by a casino license, the $100 million or more required for such a project could be hard to come by, said Tim Capps, a former Maryland Jockey Club executive and now a professor of equine studies at the University of Louisville. He suggested Stronach might consider taking on partners to raise money.
"I don't know that you can go to a bank and ask for that kind of money to redo Pimlico or Laurel when they're losing money," Capps said. "And creating a state-of-the-art facility remains the big issue in Maryland, regardless of how well things are going in the short term."
Capps has heard any number of potential schemes for revitalizing the tracks over the years but said he's been struck by the boldness of Ritvo's statements about potentially consolidating Laurel and Pimlico.
"It's interesting to me they've opened the door on that conversation," he said.
For Maryland horsemen, the immediate excitement around Stronach's attention to the state seems to outweigh concerns about Pimlico's future. Foreman is encouraged the company's top executives care enough to pose serious questions about the best path forward.
"Laurel seems to be their destination facility, and I'm not sure it shouldn't be, given the location between Baltimore and Washington," he said. "I don't think it's feasible to consolidate Maryland racing at Pimlico. But for the Preakness, they'd have a much easier decision on their hands."
Ritvo said the company's path should become clearer in a few months but added that all the good vibes around Maryland's racing industry are warranted.
"This is the perfect time to walk into this place," he said.
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