No Timetable for Maryland Racing's Return From COVID-19

During an informational webinar April 16, a Maryland track executive and state horsemen leader declined to speculate on a firm date when racing would resume in Maryland following a shutdown caused by COVID-19.

Thoroughbred racing there has not occurred since March 15 at Laurel Park. Shortly thereafter, the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, suspended live racing following tighter restrictions imposed on public gatherings and events by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. Laurel had briefly hosted spectator-free racing before its suspension.

Steve Koch, the senior vice president of racing for The Stronach Group, which owns the Maryland Jockey Club tracks and other tracks across the country, was sympathetic to the uncertainty facing horsemen but said that following state and local health orders and guidelines take precedence.

"We don't want to go against the grain for what is safe for our horsemen or our participants," Koch said. "We don't want to go against the CDC or state or local government directives. So we're kind of at the mercy of how all of this evolves. 

"In the meantime, what we can be doing and are doing is making sure we are doing lots of homework, planning for what are the options for the earliest possible relaunch."

When racing does resume, it could return with a different purse structure. Maryland racing is heavily subsidized by casino revenue, which contributes 65-70% toward the tracks' average daily purses of $230,000-$250,000, said David Richardson, the executive director of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. State casinos have been shuttered because of COVID-19.

"So regardless of how much buffer we have in there … we will very quickly deplete those reserves," Richardson said. "That is sort of, should I say, the quandary we have in racing, and it really affects when we are going to start."

The casino shutdown has also made a stimulus program for horsemen provided from purse funds impractical.

"Based on the fact we have currently a little over 1,100 horses stabled between Laurel Park and Pimlico, the amount of money that you would need to do an effective stimulus program really doesn't even come close to the amount of money that's available," Richardson said.

Currently, no horses are allowed to ship into Maryland from out of state, leaving horsemen who winter their horses in the south, at a track such as Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, uncertain when they can eventually bring horses to Laurel or Pimlico. 

A new date for the postponed Preakness Stakes (G1), the second leg of the Triple Crown, was not discussed during the Thursday webinar. The precise scheduling for the race at Pimlico is still to be determined, though the first leg of the series, the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs, is set for Sept. 5.

Richardson assured a frustrated caller during a Q&A session that when Maryland plans are clarified, they would be quickly disseminated.

"We will give as much notice as to when we are going to resume racing again," he said. "We definitely know we cannot throw the switch on and begin racing. People have to plan."