After forced closures for two straight Saturdays that likely put a dent in its winter revenue, Laurel Park is shoveling off the snow and will be open for business this weekend.

“It has been a long week but we were open for training this morning and are eagerly anticipating tomorrow,” said Maryland Jockey Club President Tom Chuckas. “The staff worked diligently to get ready for a terrific President’s Day weekend.”

Because of snow removal problems along the extended, one mile chute, the distance for the eighth race has been changed from one mile to 1-1/16 miles. No other races will be affected.

Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has recorded 79.9 inches of snow this season, breaking a record set 14 years ago.

Saturday’s card features nine races.

The weekend will also feature several promotions — Saturday will include several treasure chest drawings, including a spa romance package at Turf Valley Resort. Monday’s treasure chest drawing will be for premium seating to this year’s Preakness Stakes.

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I spoke to Joseph De Francis last night regarding today’s story about his loss of gaming rights to Laurel Park, and the former owner of Maryland’s thoroughbred race tracks said while he was disappointed in the judge’s decision, he was not surprised.

He also added that what he thought was more significant was Magna Entertainment Corp.’s request for the delay of the auction of Maryland’s tracks by nearly two weeks.

“That’s what we’ve all been waiting for,” he said. Now it’s that much longer that the tracks “will be under the cloud of bankruptcy.”

When Magna’s attorney Brian Rosen told the judge on Tuesday they’d like to move the auction back to Jan. 21, I was disappointed (after all, we’ve been waiting for this thing for more than nine months) but not at all surprised. After all Magna has requested to move back just about every date related to the Maryland race tracks, it was only a matter of time before the auction got moved.

On a side note, the auction is closed to the press — which means we’ll get to tell you who the winning bidder is but won’t get to see and relay to you the auction day’s antics firsthand.

The reason for privacy given to me by the New York firm running the auction was that it was for the protection of the bidders — the auction had been advertised as a private affair. Also, the proceedings will be taking place on private grounds, so it’s sound reasoning.

Still, I think Marylanders who are following this story would be curious about how the new owner pulled it off and who came just a hair shy of beating him — a story we won’t get to really know if the auction is closed. Does that disappoint anyone?

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If and when David Cordish’s slots casino at Arundel Mills opens, how will nearby Laurel Park’s business be affected? That seems to be the million dollar question — and we may find out part of the answer next month when Maryland’s thoroughbred tracks are auctioned off.

The Maryland Horse Council sent out an e-mail this week after Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold approved zoning legislation that allows Cordish to move forward at Arundel Mills. In it, the MHC says that the state racing commission’s chair John Franzone estimated that the value of Laurel “would plummet from about $250 to $50 million if Arundel Mills gets the slots license.”

If that’s true, is Laurel Park’s value just as land and not as a race track? But (I can’t resist) hold your horses — the horsemen still say they can block Cordish’s casino project.

Here’s what they say are their options: 1) to take advantage of a county law that allows them to put the issue on the November ballot if they can collect 19,000 signatures in 45 days, 2) campaign in the upcoming legislative session to “hit the re-set button” on slots implementation.

“Nobody intended for the [Video Lottery Terminal] Location Commission to deliver the death knell for Maryland racing,” the e-mail says. “Legislators and the governor can choose to start over if their constituents demand it.”

After the governor implored the county council for months to vote on the zoning issue and the county executive quickly signed the bill, how fast do you think people are ready to do it all over again? If Laurel’s owner, Magna Entertainment, hadn’t messed up in the first place and just filed the $28.5 million application fee for a slots license, the racing industry might not be in this situation in the first place.

But then again, I don’t think anybody wants to see racing decline even more than it has in Maryland, and I agree with the horsemen that many assumed the slots site in Anne Arundel County would be at Laurel Park. But at what point do we have to move on?

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In today’s story about the people lining up to bid on Maryland’s race tracks next year, former track owner Joseph De Francis said he did not believe Cordish’s proposed slots parlor at Arundel Mills could be up and running within the next year.

As former president of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Laurel and Pimlico race tracks, De Francis said he spent years getting the additional permits needed to run a slots facility. He told The Daily Record that all Laurel needs now is a slots license to start building the gambling machines. Cordish’s site, he said, would still require more permits — some which took Laurel years to get.

Below is the list, along with when each was obtained. Take a look, especially if you know something about construction permits and the Arundel Mills area. Do you agree with De Francis that a slots parlor at the site could get bogged down in additional permits? If he’s wrong, tell us why.

Approved Master Sketch Plan: Anne Arundel County – 11/21/2008
Approved Wetlands and Floodplain Impact Permit: Maryland Department of the Environment – 1/9/2009
Approved Wetlands Impact Permit: US Army Corps of Engineers – 10/31/2008
Approved Road Network and New Main Entrance:State Highway Administration – 10/31/2008
Memorandum of Agreement for Improvements: Maryland Historical Trust – 7/7/2004
Confirmation of Historic Properties: Maryland Historical Trust – 4/9/2004
Confirmation of Jurisdictional Determination: Maryland Department of the Environment – 10/20/2003
Verification of Jurisdictional Determination and Delineation: US Army Corps of Engineers – 9/16/2003
Confirmation of No Threatened or Endangered Species: Department of Natural Resources- 8/19/2003
Confirmation of No Threatened or Endangered Species: US Department of the Interior – 8/12/2003
Verification of Road Dedication for Widening: renewed 1/6/2004
Grading Permit Approval and Wetlands Grading/Fill: Anne Arundel County – 9/25/2007
Reforestation Agreement and Bond – $278,784.56 – renewed 12/8/2008
Specimen Tree Agreement and Bond – $56,108.00 – renewed 12/8/2008
Grading Completion Agreement and Bond – $186,326.43 – amended 8/7/2008
Approved On-Site Water Usage and Appropriation: Maryland Department of the Environment – 1/1/2005
Approved Wetlands Impact Permit: Maryland Department of the Environment – 10/6/2004
Approved Wetlands Impact Permit: US Army Corps of Engineers – 9/22/2004
Grading Permit Approval and Floodplain Disturbance: Anne Arundel County – 6/21/2004
Approved Floodplain Impacts: Maryland Department of the Environment – 7/1/2004
Afforestation Agreement and Bond – $71,002.80

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In 2010, Maryland will only have two Grade I stakes races. In another display of how the state’s quality of racing has declined in recent years (thanks to better competition and bigger purses from our slots-wielding neighbors), the annual Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash has been downgraded to a Grade II race.

Now the Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown, and the historic Pimlico Special are the only remaining Grade I races in Maryland. Both races are run at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course in May.

“It is disappointing,” said Maryland Jockey Club racing secretary Georganne Hale in a statement. “They look at the races over a four-year period with the number of Grade I winners in the race. Our average was 1.4 but with so few Grade I sprints, how many Grade I winners can we attract?”

The De Francis Dash, named for the Laurel and Pimlico track owner who died in 1989, debuted in 1990 and was first graded in 1992. It became a Grade I event in 1998.

It was one of five races downgraded from Grade I to Grade II. Of the 723 unrestricted U.S. stakes races with a purse of at least $75,000, 487 of them were assigned a graded status this year by the American Graded Stakes Committee.

Fifteen graded races were upgraded and 23 were downgraded, including the De Francis Dash and Pimlico’s Miss Preakness Stakes, which went from a Grade III to ungraded.

Seem pretty clear to me — this is a message from the committee that the only thing really holding up horse racing in Maryland at this point is the Preakness Stakes. This year wagering on Preakness Day made up just over HALF the total wagering done for the spring meet at Pimlico. That’s pretty lop-sided if you ask me.

Also, the Pimlico Special was canceled in 2009 for the third time this decade because of (yet again) a purse shortage. Seems like the only thing going for the race at this point is having the distinction of holding the “Race of the Century” between Seabiscuit and War Admiral more than 70 years ago.

Will Maryland horse racing in the eye of the general public ever again be more than just Preakness?

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With the Anne Arundel County Council scheduled to vote Monday on whether to allow zoning for slots at the Arundel Mills Mall, the Maryland Horse Council has issued an alert calling upon the industry to make its presence known that night.

The e-mail sent out by the council is pretty over-the-top — it implores people to “help save Laurel Park,” warning that the future of thoroughbred racing is in danger if the council votes to approve the zoning for Arundel Mills:

The Anne Arundel County Council will vote Monday on whether to allow the slots that we all expected to be put at Laurel Park Racecourse to instead go to a new non-racing facility next to Arundel Mills Mall. The Maryland Jockey Club predicts that if slots go to Arundel Mills, Laurel Park’s value will immediately plummet, the impending bankruptcy auction will be a disaster, and the land there will be used for a housing development. If zoning is denied for Arundel Mills slots on Monday, the Jockey Club will submit a proposal for slots at Laurel, it’s value will increase, and the track will be given a new future with new ownership.

Wow, talk about glossing over the details — first of all, it’s not even certain the county council will vote because they are hearing arguments before the vote. They have to vote before Midnight so if the hearings go over, the vote gets rescheduled.

Second, if the zoning gets voted down, while the MJC may WANT to submit a new application, there’s no guarantee that could be done. AND if the MJC (which is owned by Magna Entertainment Corp.) did apply for a license, Magna would most certainly take its Maryland tracks off the auction block and we wouldn’t have a new owner after all.

Does anyone else find this a bit too much?

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With all the buzz this week about Magna Entertainment Corp.’s stalking horse bid (being delayed, then pulled altogether), we in the newsroom started wondering where in the heck the term “stalking horse” came from.

In this case with Magna, the term is used to characterize a bid that basically serves at the benchmark bid — it’s one that the company in bankruptcy feels is as a good price for its assets. The stalking horse bid was to be the measuring stick competing bidders should use to form their own offers.

But we wondered why “stalking horse”? Why not something more literal like “starting bid”? So I did a little Internet sleuthing.

According to word-detective.com, the term comes from horses used in hunting. “‘Stalking horses’ were trained to allow a hunter to dismount and then use the horse as a blind to conceal his presence as he ‘stalked’ the game (which apparently did not notice that it was being approached by a six-legged horse),” the author writes. “The term was expanded fairly quickly to cover any sort of portable blind.”

The explanation makes sense for the use of “stalking horse” in the context of being a decoy, such as a stalking horse candidate entered into an election to conceal the candidacy of another or to divide the opposition, as thefreedictionary.com defines the term.

But how did the term get linked with auction proceedings? That connection is provided by Ken Naglewski in his 2006 article in Financier Worldwide:

“It appears that the tactical leverage…dissuades other qualified bidders who might have bid more from even entering the fray,” he said. “There have been cases where other potential bidders choose not to participate rather than spend more time and effort trying to overcome the bidding advantages offered to the stalking horse.”

Although the stalking horse bid has been an increasingly common process in bankruptcy auctions over the last few years, Naglewski says a stalking horse bid is not required. He also says it’s typical for the stalking horse bid to wind up as the winning bidder, which also backs up that “chilling effect” theory.

So now that we know the history, do you think it matters that Magna is going ahead without a stalking horse bid? Without a leading bid, is anyone at a disadvantage?

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For the first time in a while, I’ve been hearing ads for Laurel Park on the radio as I drive in to work this week. This particular round of spots is promoting the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash this Saturday and it really does makes me glad for horse racing that the track owners are spending the money for some real advertising.

With that said, the ad is just plain weird. It tells a short father-son story about an afternoon at Laurel Park. But the way it’s told and the low timbre of the voiceover makes me think I’m listening to a horse racing version of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” only without the violins.

I was also so distracted by the odd voice that I only caught what the commercial was actually about the second time I heard it. And I still don’t really get the point of the story…if there was one. It kind of rambles for a bit, then ends abruptly. I always like a good “and the moral of the story is…” kind of ending. This is definitely not an example of that.

Anyway, check out Laurel Park’s Facebook page to hear the ad (posted on its homepage in the left column). Is this doing a good job of appealing to a younger audience? You be the judge.

I’ll just say this: compare this ad to the Charles Town Races & Slots song (…they’re right down the road, where the action is hot!) and it’s like night and day in terms of appeal and memorability.

Laurel Park’s ad was produced by Elevation, a marketing company in Washington, D.C. The Leffler Agency in Baltimore is still the track’s agency of record and did the media buys for the ad.

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It may not look like it (OK, it doesn’t look like it), but Laurel Park has got some character. Or at least the marketing folks are having fun with the place.

On the thoroughbred track’s Facebook page, an album called “The Rody’s are Coming to Laurel Park on August 22″ highlights the new addition to the track’s “Picnic at the Park” day on Saturday. (A rody is that inflatable orange horse you see in the photo to the left. To view the rest of the album, click here.)

Laurel’s family event features rides, games, a petting zoo, face painting, a barn area, an Anne Arundel County Fire Department exhibit, crafts and picnic fare.

I highly encourage you to click through the photo album — at least half of the images had me giggling. And this kind of fun-loving spirit is one that many have been saying would be attractive to bring back to Maryland’s tracks, which for the most part are cacophonous reminders of days gone by.

At the Maryland Horse Forum earlier this month people talked about how to improve horse racing’s exposure. Cute stunts like this are an example of how that can be done.

The only problem is, I haven’t heard or seen ads for Laurel’s Picnic at the Park at all over the last few weeks. In fact, the only reason I know about it is because I read all the way to the bottom of a press release — the last two sentences mentioned the event.

If word isn’t spreading — beyond the close-knit horse racing community — about the nice things tracks are doing, it seems we need to  find a better way to advertise, before more money is spent on fun events that nobody knows about.

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The first time I visited Laurel Park during racing season it was a bright Friday afternoon in April — the sky was gorgeous, the air was crisp and I was happy because I had the day off.

My mood changed when I walked with a friend into the darkened and practically barren grandstand. There was a eerieness about the place and — no offense to the older gents reading this — we were the youngest folks there by two generations. Thank goodness for the friendly betting agent at the counter who had the time to give us a brief schooling on how to bet on races, otherwise we would have walked right out.

The experience is not unusual as one attendee pointed out at the Maryland Horse Forum this week in Upper Marlboro. After she gave visitors a tour of her horse farm, she found out that none of them had been to the tracks because they didn’t know what to do once they got there. The problem is indicative of a theme that was talked about at length at the forum — what can horse racing do to become a part of younger people’s sports repertoire again?

(To read about how racing got to this state, click here for my story on the evolution of racing in Maryland.)

Some people suggested having roaming agents who greeted people at the door and assisted newcomers in placing their bets for the first time. Others said tracks should use more technology to hook the younger crowd such as allowing people to place bets from their seats via mobile phones or jumping on the Twitter and Facebook bandwagons to market the tracks. Or, like many pro athletes now, jockeys and trainers could have Twitter feeds.

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