Absolutely wrong, 's racing was alive and well til west va and Delaware passed their slots bills in the early 90s.They started to draw horsemen from New York down, then their purses started getting bigger from the revenue of slots. Then the dagger, Delaware and west va seen Maryland still dragging their feet and went to the md horsemen and said bring your horses to our tracks and they would provide free horse transportation to and from Delaware and Charlestown, Now you had 's horses leaving which in turn led to less horses running at laurel and Pimlico which in turn led to fewer fan turn out which in turn led to races with only 4 horses running, a horse gambler won't even bet a race with 4 horses running. Md used to race approximately 200 days a year, with the loss of horses and races it is down to 125 days a year. Pimlico used to open in March and run thru June. I'm pretty sure they don't open now til 2 weeks before the preakness. All this was done with just revenue from the slots. Charlestown and Delaware did not get table games til the 2000's. And by then the damage was done. Then throw Pennsylvania into the mix with gambling bills passed. And it's the demise of md racing. And as long as they have Pimlico standing, let's face it, it's an eye sore, and continue to try and run a successful preakness they will be embarrassed. There is only so much lipstick you can put on a pig.