More Bad News

Maryland's struggling horse racing industry took another hit Tuesday when the Maryland Jockey Club and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association said it would reduce purses and "slash" its stakes schedule for the remainder of the 2007 racing season.

The purse account for Maryland racing is facing a $3 million shortfall for the remainder of 2007, officials said in a release. To make up for this, purses will be reduced by $2,000 at every level. In addition, they will also reduce the number of races during the remaining 78 live days this year. The stakes schedule will be reduced by $1 million, the release said. More details will be announced after the Maryland Racing Commission's July 17 meeting.

"We have been saying for a number of months that we were going to run into a problem with purses and we had to react to the situation at hand," said Maryland Jockey Club President and Chief Operating Officer Lou Raffetto in a statement.

At this point, slot machines would help, but we need a whole lot of things to turn this dying industry around.