The past few weeks I have spent many hours looking critically at the present state of the Thoroughbred industry in Maryland. At first glance, I see a state with a great racing and breeding history fading away like an old soldier, the memorable victories being several years ago. Upon closer examination, I find myself staring into the landscape, unable to extricate myself.

Like Alice in Alice In Wonderland, Mike fell into the Rabbit Hole and when I tumbled out I saw a dream world of Maryland racing and breeding that was so good I had to write about it. Imagine an 850-acre Maryland horse park, with a brand new Pimlico Race Course (with comfortable seating for 25,000 people, NASCAR-style seats for another 100,000 folks and a safe paddock), state of the art Marge Finney (Dance) Sales Pavilion (with well-ventilated barns and walking paths to show the horses on level ground), Stuart S. Janney Jr. Maryland Racing Museum (with interactive exhibits as well as ponies and horses to ride on specially designed trails, depending upon the experience level of rider) and a four-star hotel and spa.

The new Pimlico features turf and dirt surfaces similar to Colonial Downs, except it’s located in a suburban setting, within a three-hour drive of 15 million people. Imagine the quintessential Maryland day sailing or crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay in the morning, lunch at an early afternoon Orioles game at Camden Yards and the Preakness Stakes being run on prime time (7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on either Saturday or Sunday night) to maximize simulcast and in-home viewing and wagering.

Each box contains a betting terminal no waiting in long parimutuel lines. The paddock is less than a minute’s walk from your seat. From our Camden Yards-style skybox, we can see windsurfers and turf surfers. Discarded tote tickets and debris are removed before they hit the ground.

Who pays for this $350 million Shangri-La? (Hint, not one dollar comes from state revenue.) Unlike other Maryland stadium projects, this facility will be used 12 months a year (not quite 24/7, but close). It will generate thousands of jobs (many with benefits) and have an economic multiple (every dollar being reinvested again and again in the local economy) of perhaps 12 to 15 (compared to a casino with a negative investment multiple).

Well, by now I am sure that you have guessed that VLTs or slot machines are one possible way to finance this dream. The net win off the video lottery terminals could bring Maryland racing from the middle ages to the modern one. Within five years, the project might be free of debt. However, the renaissance of the local landscape would not stop at the track. The profits from the races and slots will generate more than $100 million in purses annually and swell the Maryland Fund to $30 million.

Continuing the dream: This fall the Maryland (Five) Million will be having its 20th running. A few weeks later, the Microsoft Washington, D.C., International will be brought back from the grave. The lucrative purse has attracted entries from every continent but Antarctica. A variety of races from five furlongs to a mile and a half on the turf will be contested. More than 300,000 people are expected for the four-day festival. My Alice In Wonderland stare has shifted its focus.

Now I see the great horses from Maryland’s past and present. The top sires Northern Dancer, Native Dancer, Nearctic, Discovery, Rollicking, Lord Gaylord and others (Two Punch and Allen’s Prospect) who stand proudly in the windswept green grass of our state’s rolling hills beckoning us to pursue this dream. Leaning on the four-board white fence admiring them are the great Maryland breeders, trainers, jockeys and horsemen of ages past and present (many who have had farms with homes or second homes here) Humphrey Finney, E.P. Taylor, Alfred Vanderbilt, Henry Clark, George Woolf, Nick Shuk, (Hard) Guy Bedwell, Ed Christmas, Joe Thomas, Harold Ferguson and others (Allaire du Pont, Betty Miller, Jim McKay and the two Joes, Kelly and Pons).

Running at full speed down the stretch are all the great horses who have ever run in Maryland. They are spread out in a glorious cavalry charge. The horses span the entire width of the track (from rail-to-rail), a reincarnation of stars past and present. Into the stretch, the sprinters Safely Kept, Dave’s Friend, Bold Ruler, Artax, Dr. Fager and Xtra Heat are about to be overtaken by Native Dancer, Man o’ War, Seabiscuit, Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, with Skip Away and Cigar boldly challenging from behind.

The finish looks like the Ruidoso Downs Futurity with noses and heads separating the entire field. (It’s too close to call and every replay has a different winner.) Men in boater hats and women in long dresses jam-pack the home stretch. Guess what’s for lunch? Lightly broiled crabcakes made from the best jumbo lump crabmeat known to man, garden-fresh salad and apple pie for dessert. Think about how much fun and enjoyment this dream could bring to die-hard horse racing and breeding fans.

(How much longer should I continue writing about this fantasy?) Lights. Camera. Action. . . Like most good things my dream comes to an abrupt ending. Mike tumbles out of the rabbit hole again, this time heading toward my old box on the finish line against the glass at Laurel Park. It’s empty now cordoned off by plywood with the seating area covered by green paper.

I am another displaced racing fan, no longer able to sit in my own seat at one of my favorite race tracks. Following the live races, I meander through the maze of wire, metal supports and homemade concrete footers to drive home in my 10-year-old van (with Maryland racing bumper stickers plastered on the back).

Lots of folks have dreams more fanciful than mine. Camden Yards and Disney World were once fantasies too, but every year millions of people walk in and out of their gates. What would it be like to have a new Maryland Horse Park with state-of-the-art equestrian facilities? I hope to see you standing beside me in the new Pimlico winner’s circle. Soon.

Michael Pons is president of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.

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