Angelos prepared to save Preakness..
 

Angelos says he's ready to help keep Preakness
Orioles owner seen as possible investor to retain race for Md.

By Laura Smitherman and Gadi Dechter
March 20, 2009

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,2853903.story

Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos said yesterday that he or his family are poised to help Maryland keep the Preakness Stakes, a storied horse race whose fate has been imperiled by its owner's recent bankruptcy.

The wealthy Baltimore lawyer met last evening with Gov. Martin O'Malley and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller at the State House. They said they discussed concerns that a buyer could move the Preakness out of state and the possibility of Angelos stepping forward as an investor.

That might be the first time in a long time people in Maryland might actually be happy with Peter Angelos.

You certainly won't curry favor from me with this kind of BS.

I laughed

OK, Pete - you are going to save the Preakness but what about the other 150 days a year the rest of us race here in MD?

OK, I'm biased, but it's safe to say that Peter Angelos is commited to Maryland and IMO can only be a positive influence on racing down there.

At least they have someone, and not just anyone, fighting for them.

biased - well at least your honest

if the family took over md racing is it safe to assume that you would get the racing secretary's position - how many grass races could we expect per day andy?

I'm happy with my current job.....but thanks for thinking of me.

Racing secretary in Maryland? Have you seen the O's? He'd be even more valuable pitching middle relief out of the bullpen.

yeah , they could use help too

this is kind of funny because miller is helping to kill racing in the state. he's the one that held slots hostage for all these years.

Sorry, but you've got your legislators mixed up.

Miller was always able to get a slots bill through the Senate in MD.

Michael Busch, Speaker of the House, has always fought against slots. In fact, if you trace back the origination of the screwed up mess that is the slots referendum, it falls right in Busch's lap.

My only beef with Miller is that he didn't support the Horseracing Heritage Act, whereby a portion of the proceeds from the Keno game entitled "Racetrax", a computer generated horse racing game that's in bars and restaurants throughout the state, were targetted to go to fund purses at MD tracks.

And make no mistake, the only thing Pete Angelos is interested in helping is Pete Angelos.

Feel free to expound on this.

to hear the reps from western md. tell it, miller helped tie it up too.

i will have to say the steinbrenner family whether love them or hate them at least spend the $$$$ evey year to at least put the best team on the field

for a while the balt did that but , i am not so sure the family goes all out to compete against the yankees and red sox anymore

they have every right to do that as they are businessmen , but, the product the last few years has been pretty awful

Andy would fill the card with 5 and 6 furlong turf races. :D

He's an asbestos lawyer - need I say anything else? :)

In my world.....yes.

Your reps would have a better handle on this than I so I'll take their word for it. Public word throughout the Ehrlich administration was that Miller essentially pushed through Ehrlich's slots bill each year, with a few minor tweeks. The only year Busch let a bill come out of House committee, it was a poison pill. It passed the House and Miller was ready to negotiate a compromise bill and Busch wouldn't negotiate.

Miller continues to be the most vocal regarding Magna's failure to submit the cash with their slots proposal. Miller also revisited the idea of the state building a "supertrack" in Baltimore to replace Pimlico. And now, he's meeting with Pete - so I think he's motivated to assist MD racing. And if he's not genuine in his claim of helping, then he's got a hell of a PR dept.....

If only Western MD had re-elected Cas Taylor years ago, we'd have slots.

Are you familiar with Pete's attempt to buy Rosecroft Raceway in an attempt to save harness racing?

To be more precise, since Pete is prohibited from owning a gambling enterprise since he's a MLB team owner, the attempted Rosecroft purchase was done through his son.

Yes.

Why is this relevent.....and what was wrong with that anyway?

If you are familiar with it then you answered your own question.

I am extraordinarily familiar with it. What I would like is you to explain, since you seem to have a problem with Peter Angelos, yet every time I ask you to elaborate you refuse to.

It's only fair.

In my opinion, it would be great for Maryland racing if the Angelos family was involved.

In what way are you so familiar with it?

Most of my knowledge comes from the media, with a sprinkling of info from a member of Rosecroft's racing community.

Essentially, my understanding is that "the family" made pronouncements that they wanted the track regardless of getting slots. Then when it became more obvious that the PG pols didn't want Rosecroft included as a slots site, there was a very quick withdrawal.

If that's wrong, please correct my bad information.

I don't remember the public announcements so I can't comment.

To be fair, they are close friends of mine. But, I wouldn't defend their involvement unless I also felt it was a very positive thing.

Do you think they will become involved in MD racing if they can't get slots at the tracks?

I wouldn't want my personal opinions to be misconstrued as something other than that.

I think you and I are different in that you said you are a conspiracy theorist and I'm not.

Anyone who is willing to involve themselves in MD racing is a positive IMO. The fact is, no one can run it much worse than Magna has, and the circumstances may not be as trying as they have been the last decade or so if slot money becomes involved. A smart, focused group or owner can do things right down there with better competitive circumstances coming in to play.

Only for the sake of opinions and discussion.... ;)

Any chance that you can get some O's tix in one of the suites for me? :)

It wasn't too long ago that most of us owning horses in Maryland said the exact same thing when we heard Magna was buying out Joe.

"Geez, no one can screw things up worse than Joe has." Well, we were wrong.

IMO, it's is going to take a true lover of horse racing and a person with real deep pockets to get involved. If their goal is to make their money by using racing as a tool to get slots, then we'll remain in big trouble.

If, and that's a big if, slots in MD ever get up and running, a racetrack owner who knows how to run the business can prosper from racing in MD. Slots revenue will help the purses. Grants from slots revenue will be in place to help fund facility renewals.

It is also going to take some willingness on behalf of the horsemen to work with the track owner on developing a new business plan so that we all can prosper.

So, you are smack dead on that the pieces of the puzzle are sitting there and it is going to take a smart and focused individual or group to put those pieces together. It can work!!

Please he doesn't even get free parking..

I hope it does work. I usually am down there for a week or so a year and always a make a point to get over to whatever track is open. I was at Pimlico last May (post Preakness) and it's tough to see how far back PIM has slid back and how the overall attitude on track was pretty depressed.

Personally, I had a decent day at the windows, spent the afternoon out on the apron boxes drinking cold ones, but you could tell the overall attitude was damp across the board. Hard to blame folks.