The Maryland Racing Commission is the official governing body that oversees the horse racing and off-track betting in Maryland. Based in Towson, Maryland, it was formed on 1920. The commission is a division of the Maryland Department of Labor.
The commission operates under Title 11, Business Regulation, Annotated Code of Maryland, Horse Racing. and operated the following sub-committees; Maryland-Bred Race Fund Advisory Committee, Maryland Standardbred Race Fund Advisory Committee and the Maryland Jockey Injury Compensation Fund.
In 1967 Kathryn Kusner applied for a jockey license through the commission but was denied because she was a woman. [1] However, in 1968 Judge Ernest A. Loveless of the Circuit Court of Prince Georges County ordered her to be granted the license. [2] Kusner thus became the first licensed female jockey in the United States. [1]
In 1992, the commission introduced off-track betting. [3]
The current head of the racing commission is Bruce Quade. [4]
The commission is required to have five board members without a financial interest and four members with a financial interest in racing who serve four year terms. [5]
Mike Hopkins (Executive Director 2003–present) [6] Bruce Quade (Director 2011-), Tom Winebrener, John Franzone, David Hayden, Charles Tildon, Ernest Grecco, Mary Louise Preis, Louis Ulman, John McDaniel, Bruce C. Spizler (Senior Assistant Attorney General) [7]
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100–120 lb. (45–55 kg), and physically fit. They are typically self-employed, and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer, whose colors they wear while competing in a race. They also receive a percentage of the horse's winnings. The job has a very high risk of debilitating or life-threatening injuries, not only from racing accidents but also, because of strict weight restrictions, from eating disorders.
Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London. The racetrack is nicknamed "Old Hilltop" after a small rise in the infield that became a favorite gathering place for thoroughbred trainers and race enthusiasts.
Laurel Park, formerly Laurel Race Course, is an American thoroughbred racetrack located just outside Laurel, Maryland which opened in 1911. The track is 1+1⁄8 miles in circumference. Its name was changed to "Laurel Race Course" for several decades until returning to the "Laurel Park" designation in 1994.
Guy Joseph Guzzone is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland Senate representing District 13 since 2015, and as its majority leader from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007 to 2015, and as a member of the Howard County Council from 1998 to 2006.
Kenneth Samuel Ulman is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who has served as the chair of the Maryland Democratic Party since 2023. He previously served as the county executive of Howard County, Maryland from 2006 to 2014 and represented the 4th district of the Howard County Council from 2002 to 2006. Ulman was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Maryland in the 2014 Maryland gubernatorial election, in which he and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown were defeated by Republican businessman Larry Hogan and Boyd Rutherford. Following his defeat, Ulman founded his own consulting company, Margrave Strategies.
Harvey Guy Bedwell was an American Hall of Fame trainer and owner of Thoroughbredracehorses who was the first trainer to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
William J. "Bill" Passmore Sr. was an American jockey and racing steward who raced thoroughbred horses for 38 years, including at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes, winning 3,531 races and $23 million in prize money before spending 20 years as a steward.
The Hart–Agnew Law was an anti-gambling bill passed into law by the Legislature of the State of New York on June 11, 1908. It was an amalgam of bills enacted as Chapter 506 and 507 which were sponsored by conservative Assemblyman Merwin K. Hart and Republican Senator George B. Agnew.
Rosecroft Raceway, nicknamed the "Raceway by the Beltway" for being close to Interstate 495, is a harness racing track in Fort Washington, Maryland. It first opened in 1949 and was owned by William E. Miller, a horse trainer and breeder. Rosecroft quickly became Prince George's County's political and social center, drawing thousands of people there each racing day. In the early 1950s, average attendance was more than 7,000 per day. After Miller died in 1954, his son John owned Rosecroft until his death in 1969. Rosecroft hosted memorial stake races annually for both William and John until 1995. Following the death of John Miller, Earle Brown controlled operations until he moved to a different position in 1980; William E. Miller II took over following Brown.
The 2014 Maryland gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Maryland. Incumbent Democratic governor Martin O'Malley was term-limited and could not run for re-election to a third consecutive term.
Diane Crump is an American jockey and horse trainer. Crump was the first woman to ride in a pari-mutuel race in the United States; her participation in the event was so contested that she required a full police escort through the crowds at the Hialeah Park Race Track. She went on to be the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Crump briefly retired in 1985 to become a horse trainer, but returned to riding and was a professional jockey until retiring in 1999. She now runs an equine sales business.
Kathryn Hallowell "Kathy" Kusner is an American equestrian and Olympic medalist in show jumping. She was one of the first woman who rode for the United States Equestrian Team (USET), the first licensed female jockey, and the first American women to win an Olympic medal in equestrian competition.
The Duvall Farm was a historic farm located in North Laurel, Howard County, Maryland, United States, now the site of Coastal Sunbelt Produce.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Maryland took place on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Maryland, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Maryland were held on November 8, 2016, to elect the eight U.S. representatives from the state of Maryland, one from each of the state's eight congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on April 26.
The 1928 Preakness Stakes was the 53rd running of the Preakness. The race took place on Friday, May 11, 1928, eight days before the Kentucky Derby making it the first leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series. A horse race for three-year-old thoroughbreds, it carried a total purse of $71,370. It was run on a track rated fast in a final time of 2:00 1/5. Ridden by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Raymond Workman, Victorian won the race by a nose over runner-up Toro. Nassak, the betting favorite from the powerful Rancocas Stable finished a distant 11th. The fifth-place finisher, Sun Beau, went on to a brilliant racing career and was voted U.S. Champion Older Horse in three straight years culminating with his 1996 induction into the U.S. National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Donald "Donnie" Andrew Miller Jr. is a retired thoroughbred horse racing jockey who competed from the 1980s to mid 1990s. Miller started racing in the early 1980s and had the most wins as an apprentice jockey in 1981. As a jockey, Miller won twenty three graded stakes races from 1982 to 1992. Of his wins, Miller won the 1983 Preakness Stakes with Deputed Testamony as part of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
Eva Ring (1911–1989) was among the first female jockeys to ride and train winning race horses in Canada in the 1930s–1940s. It was a time in North American history when women were not permitted to obtain a jockey license or ride in flat races alongside their male counterparts, but Ring was a trailblazer and managed to overcome many of the obstacles of her time. Discrimination was not a situation unique to North America; rather, it was a global issue in the male dominated sport of Thoroughbred racing, the "Sport of Kings".
Barbara Jo Rubin is an American jockey. She was the first woman to win a professional horse race.
Terry A. West is an African-American equestrian from Maryland, former jockey and member of the state's Racing Commission. She is notable as one of the first black female jockeys in the United States to have a racing license. After retiring from racing, West continued in the horse industry as a competitor in hunter and jumper shows. In 2022, she was inducted into the Maryland Horse Show Association Hall of Fame.
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