Monday Morning News

- Ramon Dominguez started off the first two days of the Delaware Park meet with a bang. He had 14 mounts with 4 wins, and 5 second place finishes. Jeremy Rose returned to Delaware to for 5 mounts this weekend. He also did alright with 1 win, and 2 second place finishes. Rosie Napravnik, now riding at Delaware under the name "A. Napravnik" returned to the irons after her injury with 4 mounts and 2 third place finishes.

- While Maryland's last two meet winners, Jeremy Rose and Anna Napravnik were riding in Delaware this weekend, the door to opportunity was left open for some new talent to shine in Maryland. Luis Garcia Stepped up with 6 in the money finishes. If Rose continues to ride weekends in Delaware, Luis Garcia should be the guy at the Pimlico Spring Meet.

- 600 Friends of Barbaro attended the 2006 Kentucky Derby winners birthday celebration at Delaware Park. More information on this event can be found at Tim Woolley Racing

Sunday - Quick Hits

- Nice story from the DRF about Rock Slide and the Maryland Stallion Station. This is a feel good story!

- The Baltimore Sun had a full page article about Gulfstream Park. The article really concentrated on the fact that you can have slots and horse racing. To me this seemed like a very expensive advertisement in the Sunday paper. Did Magna pay for this?

- Dr. Dean Richardson and jockey Edgar Prado will be presented with the Special Award of Merit as part of this year's Preakness media awards during the annual Alibi Breakfast at Pimlico Race Course on May 17.

- Stay Close wins the Henry Clark Stakes at Pimlico yesterday.

- Your Flame In Me wins the Xtra Heat Stakes at Pimlico yesterday.

The Barbaro Documentary

Tonight NBC airs "Barbaro: A Nation's Horse" at 5pm. It will be interesting to see which way they go with it. Will they provide an interesting story with people and horses that engage new fans and draw them to the sport, or will it push viewers into the camp that believes racing is a gruesome game that tortures horses?

The trailer suggests that there will no new ground broken for fans that have followed the story, but the interviews with Gretchen and Roy Jackson, Dr. Dean Richardson, Mike Matz and Peter Brette may be interesting.

Come back and leave a comment with your thoughts on the show.

I am anxious to see "The First Saturday in May" by John and Brad Hennegan. This will likely be the definitive fan's view of the Barbaro story.

Double Duty

Here's something you don't see every day. A winner trained and ridden by the same person. Fancy Runner won the first race at Aqueduct on Wednesday. He is trained by Clyde Martin and his jockey is also Clyde Martn. Very unusual. The Equibase chart is here.

Mr. Martin recently earned his trainer's credential and is looking forward to transitioning his career from a jockey to a trainer:

Martin does double duty
Jockey Clyde Martin recorded his 1,892nd victory as a rider Wednesday at Aqueduct. What is notable about that is it was also Martin's first victory as a trainer.
Martin, 49, received his trainer's license last week and won with his first starter as
he guided Fancy Runner to a head victory over Fit Faze in Wednesday's
opener. Fancy Runner is one of 12 horses Martin has in his barn at Fair
Hill, a training center on the Maryland-Delaware border. "I found this
horse for the owner last year in Florida and he just rode me on him the
whole time," Martin said, referring to owner John Grossi. "I get on him all
the time, I gallop him, so I guess he felt [compelled] to give him to me to
train.'' Martin said "old age" is the reason he is looking to wind down
his riding career. However, Martin is 7 for 19 as a jockey this year. He
said he will continue to ride "as long as I can." He will only be permitted
to ride horses he trains, however. (CBS Sportsline)

Carlos Quinones

- After the first week (actually 4 days) of the Pimlico Spring Meet, apprentice Carlos Quinones is leading the jockey standings. Last Friday, Carlos won the last four races on the card. I believe he has become the first call rider for Dale Capuano. I really enjoyed watching Quinones ride at Laurel during the winter. He is an excellent jockey, and rides every mount from gate to wire. Keep an eye on this guy.....I think he will be something special.

- Anna Rosie Napravnik has been named on a number of horses this weekend at the opening of Delaware Park. I guess she has fully recovered, and we wish her the best!

Blackberry Blogging

I have never posted to our blog from my Blackberry, so this is my test to see if it works! If it does I may do some live blogging from Pimlico today.

Pimlico - Notes

While checking out the entries for Pimlico's Thursday card, I noticed a few interesting things. The most promising, is the number of horses entered. Every race had at least eight horses, and most races had a hand full of AE. I was shocked to see all these horses entered in both turf and dirt races. I was also shocked to see that Pimlico has carded two $5K-$4K claiming races. In the past the bottom has been $7500. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but at least it gives more horses the opportunity to run in Maryland. In the past you would need to send your $5K horses to Charlestown or Penn National. Both the 2nd and 9th races are $5K-$4K. Finally, The first race is a 2yo MSW. Out of the eight entries, there are 6 colts, 1 gelding, and 1 filly. I am curious to see how many of these first time starters come back as colts. I will bet that at least half of them are geldings next time out.

Saturday Wrap Up.

Saturday was a perfect spring day in Baltimore and 8,997 people showed up at Pimlico to enjoy the Spring Festival of Racing. The highlight of the card, the Tesio Stakes had odds-on local favorite Etude fall back out of the money, and jockey Ramon Dominguez brought Xchanger across the line first in the 1-1/8 mile race. Xchanger is trained by Marc Shuman, who also saddled two other stakes winners on the 11-race Pimlico card. Shuman scored with Talent Search in the Jim McKay Sprint and My Girlie in the Northview Stallion Station Stakes.

Saturday at Pimlico

Tomorrow is the Spring Festival of Racing at Pimlico. Five added-money races will be on the card, highlighted by the $125,000 Federico Tesio. The winner of the Tesio is usually pointed to run in the Preakness. This year we will be rooting for hometown favorite Etude. In addition to the Tesio, the following added money races are:
- $125,000 Northview Stallion Stakes for fillies and mares
- $125,000 Maryland Stallion Station Stakes for 3-year-olds
- $95,000 Jim McKay Sprint for 3-year-olds and up
- $55,000 Old Hilltop Overnight Stakes for 3-year-olds and up.
A sixth added money race, the $125,000 Country Life Farm Stakes was not carded becasue it had only four entries. (This blows my mind?????).

I encourage all my friends locally to get out to "Old Hilltop" tomorrow for these races. It will be seventy-five degrees, and a great day of racing. Maryland can use every fan possible in the grandstands, as the Tesio will be broadcast on ESPN.

Nice Start for Rigattieri

- Trainer John Rigattieri started the Pimlico Spring Meet with a bang. He saddled three winners in the first five races. Marty’s Joia ridden by Brittany Arterburn started the day off right with a win in race number one. Sora won the third race an Love the Dawn crossed the line forst in the fifth. Both Sora and Love the Dawn were ridden by Dyn Panell.

- The Maryland Jockey Club website has reported that the winter meet total wagering figures are 9% lower than the same dates from a year ago. All-sources handle totaled $291.8 million for the 2007 winter meet, compared to $321 million for the first 15 weeks of 2006.

- The Pimlico Website is reporting that Anna Rosie Napravnik has been cleared by doctors to start ridding again. She worked three horses for trainer Dickie Small today. This is the first time she has been back on a horse since suffering 3 compression fractures in her back during a spill on January 26.

Opening Day at Pimlico

The Pimlico spring meet starts today. To the rest of the horse racing world, this is no big deal, but to the horse racing fans in Baltimore, it is OPENING DAY. The Pimlico meet, the start of spring, the lead up to Baltimore/Maryland's biggest day of racing, the Preakness. I just can't contain my excitement! Check Out the complete stakes schedule and details on this link to Brisnet.

To help get your day started right, check out This story in the Washington Post. This is a great story about a trainer, owner, and Maryland racing.

Yesterday it was brought to my attention that I don't always give the proper credit when linking, or taking quotes from news reports. I apologize to all the great turf writers, and will do my best to give credit to my source.

News Hits 4/18

- A rule barring trainers not stabled at an authorized Maryland Jockey Club training center from claiming horses at the upcoming Pimlico Race Course spring meet was passed Tuesday on an emergency basis by the Maryland Racing Commission.

“It’s going to be similar to the New York rule for an owner or trainer to claim a horse in Maryland,” said Lou Raffeto (President of the Maryland Jockey Club). “They must be assigned stalls in one of the three Maryland Jockey Club facilities. The exception is going to be if a trainer who does not have a horse on the grounds loses one here; he can replace a horse for that particular owner.”

Trainers who do not have stalls at Pimlico, Laurel, or Bowie Training Center would only be allowed to claim the exact number of horses lost to claims at the track for the same owner. A licensed trainer without stalls will have 12 months after losing a horse at the claim box to make a replacement claim at a Maryland track.

“We’re a little tired of guys coming in from West Virginia and Pennsylvania at the end of the Pimlico meeting and taking horses out of state,” Raffetto said.

- The Maryland Racing Commission yesterday approved twilight racing at Pimlico during the spring meet that begins tomorrow. The commission OK'd six twilight days, May 24-25 and 31 and June 1 and 7-8, when racing will begin at 3:15 p.m.

"We experimented with twilight racing at Laurel last August, It was extremely successful. We found a different demographic, with families and young people coming in after they'd finished work. While that was August, when kids were out of school, we're hoping to see the same change in demographics at Pimlico." (Lou Raffeto)

Frank Stronach

Business Week magazine did a story on Frank Stronach and the various Magna companies in its April 16, 2007 edition. We horse racing types pay little attention to the fact that Frank Stronach is the founder and Chairman of a major auto parts manufacturer. Mr. Stronach has been receiving a lot of attention lately as a leading candidate to buy Chrysler. Here are some of the facts from the article:

- On February 26, 2007, Magna International (the parent company) cut its dividend in half. During the the 9 prior months, Magna International bought two golf courses from Magna Entertainment Corp. (the horse racing and other entertainment subsidiary also run by Stronach) for $84 million. This was more expenditure than what was saved by cutting the dividend. This did not sit well with certain large shareholders.

- Effective this May, 4 of the 12 Magna Board members are resigning for the reason rumored to be that they are tired of trying to keep Stronach from straying away from the core auto parts business and making moves that upset shareholders.

- Stronach is also Chairman of MI Development, which owns many of Magna's factories and offices. This is a separate public company but Frank is the controlling shareholder. MI Development has collected $425 million in rent payments from Magna since 2003, and you-know-who gets the lion's share of the profits while bypassing the Magna International shareholders.

- Stronach has paid himself $168 million from Magna International since 2002, an average of $34 miilion per year. I read somewhere else that he does not receive a salary from Magna Entertainment because the horse racing operations are a "labor of love".

Now, I respect that Frank Stronach created a company in his garage 50 years ago that is now a $25 billion enterprise. I respect even more that the company is very profitable, making $528 million last year. He is a visionary and a remarkable businessman. However.... as the Chairman of several public companies, he has to act more responsibly and in the best interest of the shareholders. He only owns 5% of the stock but retains 67% of the voting rights. He is using these companies to further his personal interests and this is a Sarbanes-Oxley nightmare. At 74 years old, I would think that he would head down to Adena Springs and enjoy life with the horses. That's what I would do, but that is probably why I didn't create a major company.

Magna has all the makings of another Enron. I will not own stock in the company, nor do I want them anywhere near the New York racing franchise. Pimlico is falling apart and Gulfstream seems to be a disaster. Please Mr. Stronach, please don't buy Chrysler. That company has enough to overcome without you being one of the impediments.

Laurel (Winter) Meet Comes To A Close

Real busy racing weekend here in Maryland. The Laurel winter meet wraped up, and I think I am the only person excited for the Pimlico spring meet (starts Thursday). Here are a few updates from this weekend:

- Trainer Rodney Jenkins filly High Moment, pulled off a nice upset win in the 60,000 Dahlia turf stakes at Laurel Park. High Moment paid $36.60 on a $2 bet. Jenkins plans High Moment's next start will come in the Grade III $100,000 Gallorette Handicap on May 19 (Preakness undercard).

- Horacio Karamanos recorded his 1,000th win of his North American career. Karamanos, 33, won nearly 1,500 races in Argentina before moving to South Florida in 2001. Congratulations Horacio!

- The 15-week Laurel Park winter meeting ended Saturday (racing was cancelled on Sunday due to a crazy storm) with Jeremy Rose (jockey), Scott Lake (trainer), and Robert Cole (owner) winning individual titles. The 71-day meet started on January 1.

No Help

- The "Maryland General Assembly concludes with no financial support for state’s racing industry" is the title of the John Scheinman column in the Thoroughbred Times. Well, the title pretty much sums it all up. 90 days of the legislative session, and no help for the horse industry. Great job guys, I hope the new Governor is proud of his first session!


- Delaware commissioned a study on the "Economic Impact" of sports gaming, and the big winner would be the people. According to the study, sports betting alone would generate $26 million annually but also would create an additional $169.3 million in slots revenues and about 250 new jobs. I wonder if any of that additional money will be funneled back to the ponies?

Kevin Plank - Sagamore Farm

On March 14, I wrote a post titled Maryland Horse Stuff. The second paragraph was a quick blurb about Under Armour (NYSE: UA) CEO Kevin Plank purchasing Sagamore Farm. I found the information in a small section of the Baltimore Sun called Sports Digest. Since that post, I have received a number of e-mails asking for more information. It seems that people want to know if Kevin Plank will continue the historic horse operation at Sagamore, or turn it into his weekend manor house. I thought about picking up the phone and calling the Under Armour CEO, but figured that I would just be wasting his time.

Hopefully John Scheinman (Washington Post) will read this and write the proper, well researched, and grammatically correct story that I am too lazy to pursue. And when your up in Baltimore, let me know if you want to catch up at Pimlico.

Aqueduct Observations

I noted a few interesting things while at the track on Saturday:

- The winner's needs to be relocated. It was bad enough when they have the circle down in the paddock, but now they moved it back up to its normal spot at track level in front of the paddock. The problem is all the crowd sees is the back of some heads and a big horse's ass (Don't go there... I mean the rear end of the horse. ) It is impossible for the fans to be engaged in the winner's circle festivities when they can't see anything. The video screen coverage helps, but you might as well be watching at home.

- In the post parade before the Pleasant Colony Stakes, jockey Channing Hill, on Malibu Moonshine, jerked his head to the left and was taken out of his rhythm before steadying himself and continuing along. I realized that he was passing the ESPN stage and must have said to himself, "Holy crap, that's JERRY BAILEY!". I know I had the same reaction when I saw him.

- Why is it that Mets games are continuously interrupted by aircraft flying overhead at Shea Stadium, but you barely hear any jet noise at Aqueduct with JFK airport next door? Kennedy has more volume and much larger planes, but the flight patterns must divert them out to the water. Just wondering.

- On my way out, I stopped to look at the wall of Wood Memorial winner's circle pictures. I scanned the impressive collection and took particular interest in last year's picture because I braved the bad weather to watch that race from the rail. I was thrilled to see that I was in the periphery of the picture of Bob and John being led to the circle. You can't miss me with my bright yellow rain coat. The picture was published in The Bloodhorse so I knew it was out there, but I didn't know that it was preserved in perpetuity on the wall at Aqueduct. My kids will get a kick out of seeing Daddy on the wall (and maybe my grandkids if the VLTs get installed).

J. Rose

If you are a Jeremy Rose fan (or hater), you need to read this article in the Baltimore Sun. It is very thorough, very detailed, and addresses almost every rumor I have heard about Rose.

I also wanted to point out to everyone that the Baltimore Sun has been doing an excellent job covering horse racing lately. About three months ago, they started writing actual stories about horse racing, and they have only continued to get longer, better, and more frequent. Thanks top the Sports Editor of the Sun.

Weekend Wrap Up

- Ah Day, far back most of the way, rallied on the turn and finished third behind Silver Wagon and Diabolical in the Grade I $300,000 Carter Handicap on the Wood Memorial undercard. Silver Wagon, who won the General George Breeders' Cup Handicap at Laurel Park in his prior start, ran the seven-furlong race in 1:21.46

- My Sister Sue beat the favorite and then survived a claim of interference on her way to a driving victory in Saturdays feature at Laurel, the $100,000 Primonetta Stakes for fillies and mares. My Sister Sue ridden by Katie Lee crossed the finish line first by 4-1/4 lengths and Homesteader rallied to nip Coli Bear by a head to take second. After reviewing the race replay and interviewing the riders, the Laurel Park judges allowed 1-2-3 order of finish remain as it was. The winning time for the six furlong distance was 1:10.71.

“She has a lot of idiosyncrasies but with Katie’s help we got it worked out,” said winning trainer Flint Stites. “She’s on the top of her game right now. She doesn’t like the whip and she doesn’t like to get caught behind horses. She’s got to be outside.”

The win was the first stakes victory for Lee.

“Very exciting,” added Lee.“Flint has helped me out so much ever since I had the bug at Penn National. He has taken good care of me. This is wonderful."

The stewards also entertained a claim of foul against La Chica Rica, the fourth place finisher, who was disqualified for interference and placed fifth behind Scheing E Jet.

This win is a shock to me. When I see a Flint Stites horse ridden by Katie Lee, it is almost guaranteed not to win. We'll I guess they caught lightening in a bottle yesterday. Enjoy....It will probably be another 200 races before you two see the winners circle again!

More Saturday Aqueduct Photos

Randy Moss arrived to tape some pre-race segments and came out to chat with those of us at the rail for the Pleasant Colony Stakes. He seems to be a great guy. He told us how bummed Kenny Mayne is about not being out covering the Derby trail.
Here is Malibu Moonshine (#1) pulling ahead and winning the Pleasant Colony over Monopoly Pricing (#7)and stablemate Successful Affair (#1a). The people from Steve Sigler'sWinning Move Stable seemed to be involved in a lot of the action on Saturday.

The one and only Jerry Bailey signed autographs before he went on the air.

Wood Memorial Photos

A great day at the Big A today! Lots of great racing and a nice crowd too. To the right we have Wood Memorial winner Nobiz Like Showbiz and Cornelio Velasquez in the post parade.












The popular Any Given Saturday with John Velazquez aboard in the post parade before their 3rd place finish. Have you ever seen a more beautiful lead pony than the one in this picture?

My rail view of Nobiz holding off Phipps longshot Sightseeing for the win.

Maryland Update 4/7

Jeremy Rose will also be out of town Saturday as Laurel’s leading rider will ride a pair of stakes races at Keeneland. He will be riding Call Me Clash, who won the Horatius Stakes at Laurel last month, in the Lafayette Stakes for trainer Scott Lake and Silver Knockers in the Grade I Ashland for Hall of Famer Nick Zito. Rose leads the jockey colony with 69 trips to the winners’ circle, 20 more than Pino with six days remaining in the winter meeting.

King Leatherbury has registered 6,184 victories but just two have been of the Grade I variety. On Saturday, the 74-year-old conditioner will send Ah Day to Aqueduct for the $300,000 Carter Handicap. The Grade I test has attracted six other top older horses at seven-furlongs.

In his last start, the son of Malibu Moon finished a game second in the Grade II General George Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Laurel to Silver Wagon, the likely favorite in the Carter. The race also features Diabolical, who was second in the Grade I De Francis Dash, multiple graded winner Latent Heat and Keyed Entry from the powerful Todd Pletcher stable. Ah Day has won nine of 19 career races for more than $560,000. After capturing six added money races as a three-year-old a year ago, the Leatherbury homebred was an impressive winner of the Fire Plug Stakes on January 20 with Mario Pino, who will accompany the gelding to New York.

Tommy Bromwell

Opponents of legalizing slot machines in Maryland are pointing to taped conversations with former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell Sr. as evidence that legalizing slot machines would lead to casinos all over the state.

The former state senator (currenty awaiting trial on corruption charges) was recorded by the FBI back in 2001, before he left the state senate. At the time, he chaired the Senate Finance Committee, which Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller had assigned to oversee gambling legislation.

It is being reported that Bromwell was taped while bragging that once slots came in, there would be off-track betting locations all over the state as well as full-blown casinos in Baltimore, Owings Mills and Cambridge.

House Speaker Michael Busch said Bromwell's remarks will reinvigorate opponents of slots.

At one time Tommy Bromwell was considered the second most powerful Democrat in the state. He and his wife are now both awaiting trail for receiving kickbacks, form companies awarded state work. His wife also had a no show job with a contractor.

This can't turn out good!

Bye Bye Rosie

Jockey Anna "Rosie" Napravnik has announced that she will be leaving the Maryland jockey colony for greener (money green) pastures in Delaware. Napravnik, who has been sidelined for the last 10 weeks with a back injury, will return to riding in about a month. When she returns, things will look a whole lot different. First, she has hired a new agent. Super agent Steve Rushing (has represented Edgar Prado, Ramon Dominguez, etc.) will replace current agent John Faltynski.

I guess Rosie jumped on the opportunity to ride for bigger names and more money. Delaware seems to be the next logical step for her career. From her centralized location, she could ride at Philly Park, Delaware, and also Maryland. We wish her the best, and hope to see her elevate her game to the next level.

With top rider Napravnik gone, I wonder if Jeremy Rose will plant more permanent roots her in Maryland?

Wood Memorial Day

- A great day of racing has been carded for Aqueduct on Saturday. Featured of course is the $750,000 G1 Wood Memorial. Nobizlikeshobiz takes on Any Given Saturday (not Circular Quay), Summer Doldrums and Cowtown Cat. All-world jock Fernando Jara gets the mount on Cowtown Cat.

Corinthian comes back to New York to run in the $200,000 G3 Excelsior Breeders Cup Handicap. I'm looking forward to seeing Corinthian in person for the first time and I hope he and Magna Graduate fight it out for and exciting stretch run.

A big day for us as the Bugboys' favorite stallion, Malibu Moon, has two entries on the card. Ah Day runs in the $300,000 G1 Carter Handicap at against tough competitors Keyed Entry, Diabolical, Silver Wagon and Latent Heat. And Malibu Moonshine competes in the ungraded $75,000 Pleasant Colony Stakes.

In the $150,000 G3 Bay Shore Stakes, Les Grands Trois tries to stay undefeated against Wollaston Bay and Bill Place.

All of this excitement and Belmont isn't even open yet. Last year on Wood day you could see me from behind along the rail on the ABC coverage. I also was peripherally in a picture of Bob and John being led to the winners circle that was published in the Bloodhorse. This year I just hope to cash a ticket.

- The State of New Jersey will be hiring a consultant to analyze the effect on Atlantic City if they allow Video Lottery Terminals at the Meadowlands Racetrack. The State has previously not seriously considered permitting gambling elsewhere in the state because it may take revenue away from A.C. The problem in northeast New Jersey is that Yonkers Raceway in New York opened a VLT parlor last year and it has been pumping big dollars into purses at the harness track. All of the best horses and trainers are moving to Yonkers for the big purses, to the detriment of the Meadowlands. The State of New Jersey has to move quick to increase their purses too, or harness racing will be decamated like thoroughbred racing previously was. I wonder how many slots facilities can be sustained in the area. They are opening up all over Pennsylvania, the on-again-off-again Aqueduct project seems to be on again, and the bidders for New York racing are discussing VLTs at Belmont.

The Kill Pen

Monday morning, the start of a new week. After a great weekend of racing, I was planning a post on the Triple Crown and the Maryland connections. With spring in the air, I was planning a trip out of the office, maybe to see some of my clients at breeding and training farms. Unfortunately, my mind turned from Preakness in Maryland, to horse slaughter in Pennsylvania. While enjoying the morning paper, I came across an article by Brook Gunning in the Examiner titled Mondays at the kill pen. Reading this article took the Monday morning wind right out of my sails. The opening paragraph:

What are your plans for this morning? If you’re a Killer/Buyer, and it’s a Monday, then you’re off to the infamous sales at New Holland, Pa., to purchase horses. After buying them, you will ship them cross country to a foreign-owned plant and butcher them to sell for human consumption outside U.S. borders.

The article then goes on in horrific detail about how the horses are bought and slaughtered.

The bright side of the article is the feel good story about Tracy Young and his wife Kelly who founded the nonprofit Lost and Found Horse Rescue. With locations in Pennsylvania and Maryland, they rescue about 100 horses a year, 60 percent of which come from the kill pen. Every Monday Kelly goes to the livestock auction at the New Holland Auction Stable to try to rescue as many as she can.

My friends and I with theThoroughbred Bloggers Alliance are doing our part by donating to Old Friends, but I encourage all readers of this blog to get involved with either a local or nation horse rescue. These horses give everything they can for our entertainment, I think we can all give a little something back to them!

Fasig Tipton leaving Maryland ???

Just when you think things in the Maryland horse industry can't get any worse......BANG now the state may lose the regional sales. Both the Baltimore, and Lexington Business Journals are reporting that Fasig Tipton may move its Mid Atlantic sales to another state. Fasig is mulling a move because the state fairgrounds doesn't have the space and facilities it needs to show horses during an auction. The company's lease with the fairgrounds ended in December 2005. Executives from both the fairgrounds and Fasig say they have been in talks for about 18 months to reach a new lease agreement. Howard M. Mosner Jr., president and general manager of the Maryland State Fair and Agriculture Society Inc., said Fasig has been operating its Timonium auctions on a "hand-shake" deal since the lease expired.

Fasig's rental arrangements in Timonium require the company to allocate 1 percent of its total sales to the State Fairgrounds, according to a 2006 economic impact analysis report from the Maryland Stadium Authority for a proposed new horse park. The auction house's mid-Atlantic sales from Timonium are said to be between $40 million and $50 million, according to the report and sources in the industry.

Now I may not be the brightest economist in the world, but the way I see it....They say the fairgrounds needs $2.5 million in improvements. The sales have and economic impact of $40 to $50 million annually.....This math makes sense. Baltimore County and the state should put up the cash.

Now on a personal level, I would hate to see the sales leave Timonium. I go every year to check out the horses, bloodstock agents, and spend a few hours in the sales pavilion. The auction house is way more exciting than a Wednesday card at Laurel. The May two year old in training sale is the week before and after Preakness, so all the big "Players" are in town. Last year I was able to chat it up with Nick Zito for a little while.

I really hope the sate and county don't blow this one. This would just be one more nail in the Maryland horse racing coffin.