Stronach Group's Ritvo Addresses Media at Preakness

The Stronach Group CEO Tim Ritvo took a few minutes to answer questions from the media at Pimlico Race Course during the May 18 Preakness Stakes Day card, speaking on subjects from the state of Pimlico to TSG's battle with the city of Baltimore to equine safety issues.

The city of Baltimore has filed suit against TSG in an effort to grant the city ownership of the track and the Preakness Stakes (G1) name. There has been talk for years of TSG moving the race to its other Maryland track, Laurel Park, about an hour south of Pimlico.

"We're focused on today, and we are trying to work with the city and the state on options to have an experience that the people deserve of a great race like this," Ritvo said. "Nothing is final until it's final. We continue to work through what solutions we can come up with. It makes it a little bit harder when we're dealing with a pressing lawsuit from the city, which we think has no merit, and we have to wait until that is played out or dropped before we can move forward and negotiate to see what the bigger picture looks like.

"If it doesn't move forward, it's the worst—it's status quo—and I don't think anybody wants that. The good thing is when we engaged with the Maryland Stadium Authority study a few years ago, it was decided to stop kicking the can down the road and address these issues. There is really no recourse other than business as usual, which isn't good for any of us."

As for the status of the suit, Ritvo said: "We don't believe they have any merit. You have to address it, and we have asked them to dismiss it."

Ritvo was asked about the condition of Pimlico, whose 6,000-seat wooden grandstand was closed, and the track's ongoing plumbing issues. A water main break occurred Tuesday directly in front of the grandstand entrance, and there were issues with water pressure throughout the track's restrooms both Friday and Saturday.

"It gets tougher every year to give the customers the experience that they deserve for an event like this," he said. "A pipe broke about two days before the race, and we had one break two years ago. We go in and repair it, and I guess, with all of the pressure, it takes time to build up. It's old infrastructure. We are doing everything we can to keep it up, but when you don't have anybody here all year and fill the place up, you have all sorts of problems.

"We're positive this place is safe. We've done the reports. The portion (of the grandstand) we closed down, we thought it wasn't worth taking the risk, so we closed it down. We only did that after the Maryland Stadium Authority's study where they found that the building has lived its lifespan.

"We spend millions of dollars every year on the facility, and obviously upgrades for the event are different. The day-to-day operations to keep this place going—the electricity and plumbing—we spend millions, and it doesn't make a dent in what you see here."

As for safety issues, Ritvo addressed recent equine fatalities at TSG-owned tracks. Santa Anita Park was the site of the 24th equine fatality in the past five months at the California track Friday when the unraced Commander Coil injured his shoulder while training. Another horse, Congrats Gal, died the same day from an apparent heart attack while racing at Pimlico.

"We are looking at ourselves all the time to see what we can improve and what the sport can do to improve," Ritvo said. "The percentages at Santa Anita the last few weeks were really good, but yesterday was an unfortunate incident. We'll continue to study and see what we can do better all of the time.

"We plan to work with the industry stakeholders and try to continue to improve the sport—not just in one jurisdiction but all jurisdictions.

"There was a lot of news coverage (at Santa Anita) this morning, but we worked 240 horses (there) this morning without incident. We will be running today. We're on top of it. We have one of our top guys there on the ground. It's critical to us. We understand the position we're in and the position the industry is in. We take everything very seriously."

Ritvo was asked about Maryland horsemen's response to a recent coalition of tracks including TSG, Churchill Downs, the New York Racing Association, and others on announced safety plans that include the elimination of race day Lasix.

"We continue to work with them and help them realize what an important issue it is and to coordinate in California and in other regions who didn't feel it the same way as we felt," he said. "We were really devastated and close to watching racing go away in some jurisdictions. You know, legislatively, it would have been an uproar. It they got a constitutional amendment, we'd be in trouble like dog racing in Florida.

"As I've said, it's multi-factorial. There are a lot of issues. It's not just on the horsemen. We have to look at everything—every aspect of the sport to see how to improve it. We need to continue to do that.

"We had a meeting the other day with some coalition partners talking about how to roll out a lot of these changes. All jurisdictions have differences. Some require regulatory changes, some require statute changes. There is a lot of work to be done. (TSG chairman and president) Belinda (Stronach) is steadfast in what she can do to improve the welfare of horses, the jockeys, and the entire business. There is a lot of burden and weight on us to make sure it happens."

 As for the Breeders' Cup slated for Santa Anita in November, Ritvo said, "We feel Santa Anita is one of the safest tracks in America right now with the protocols in place and the materials and being as cautious as we are. We're looking at everything with our partners. The Breeders' Cup is very comfortable from all of the talks that we have had, and we look forward to getting there."