view raw text
Marylands Governor To Veto Racing Bills PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 5. — Governor William Preston Lane, Jr., of Maryland, made known this morning that he intends to veto three bills passed by the recent session of the Legislature relative to racing in the state. The bills would give Laurel and Bowie 10 additional days, allow Maryland half-mile tracks two days additional each and increase trotting days from 20 to 25 at each of the three recognized tracks. In his veto message the governor explained that "it now appears unneccessary from the standpoint of state revenues to have an additional 20 days of mile-track racing." He also said that the racing commission reported that the mile-track operators are agreeable to an effort to meet competition from nearby states "through a rearrangement of schedules, possibly eliminating split meets and the running at one meet of the full allowance of racing days for each track." The three rejected bills would have increased Marylands racing season from 210 to 280 days, including harness meetings. The four major tracks — Bowie, Pimlico, Havre de Grace and Laurel — now have 100 days of racing, the half-milers 50 days and harness tracks 20 days each.
