Wow, I knew infield attendance would drop significantly this year (I didn't go) but I was speechless after seeing overhead shots with huge, open plots of grass.
I'm not sure there was more than 20,000 people in the infield. The Maryland Jockey Club should be ashamed of themselves.
Baltimore Politics Examiner Adam Meister wrote an outstanding piece about the conditions in and around the track on raceday, and it really paints a grim picture that shows a whole lot of people suffered by the decision to ban fans from bringing in alcohol.
I hope everyone learned their lesson from the embarassing attendance at this year's Preakness, but I fear that there will be no future changes.
WBAL interviewed the Maryland Jockey Club president and he sure seemed to think that the atmosphere was much better this year. I'm not sure what planet he's from. Governor Martin O' Malley was interviewed by NBC and said that he believes more people will show up in the future, but I doubt it.
One man disagreed with those assessments, and I happen to think he would be considered one of the faces of horse racing. Renowned trainer Bob Baffert said he was saddened by the lack of excitement surrounding the Preakness this year and hopes the people in charge think long and hard about the alcohol rule for next year. He mentioned that the absence of the neighborhood kids running around with shopping carts trying to make some money really struck him hard and hurt the overall atmosphere.
O' Malley also tried to take credit for helping to keep the Preakness in Maryland and ending the party politics that have kept slots out of the state. What a joke. The democrats screwed over former Governor Bob Ehrlich, who wanted slots in Maryland, voting it down and tying his hands so that they could later take credit for approving slots when a new leader was elected into office.
All in all, it was a pretty depressing day for horse racing fans and former Preakness revelers who spent this year doing something less expensive and more fun than sitting in the new infield at Pimlico.
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