The thoroughbreds tore around the track like they were racing for their lives, snorting noisily, their quivering
flanks gleaming in the first rays of sun. Peering from beneath his ball cap, Eddie Plesa Jr., a
second-generation trainer at Calder Race Course, surveyed the morning exercise gloomily. Calder does not
open for another month, but its trainers, jockeys and groomsmen already are reeling from a staggering,
shared loss.
When Miami-Dade voted against allowing slot machines at racetracks last week, it effectively killed hopes
that Calder could increase its average purse, or per race winning, and in so doing better its horsemen's lots.
Calder is tucked between Dolphins Stadium and Florida's Turnpike, and leans up against County Line Road.
A couple hundred yards north and it would be in Broward, where voters approved the marriage of racetracks
and slots. Not only did the Broward vote promise more lucrative winnings for its thoroughbred winners, but it
left Calder in particular in the dust.
''The day after, it was like a wake here,'' Plesa said.
Calder has long been the workingman's racetrack, the ''meat and potatoes'' of South Florida racing,
according to Linda Mills, president of the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, or
FHBPA. It is considered a solid B track, partly because its average purse size of $19,000 is smaller than
those of A tracks like Gulfstream Park, which sits six miles due east, has an average purse of $25,000, and
attracts top-tier horses and riders. And though its season lasts from April to January, Calder stables and
trains horses year-round, making it a comfortable home base.
DIFFERENT MARKETS
Gulfstream straddles the county line -- some of its races actually start in Dade and end in Broward -- but it is
a Broward business. If Calder is the blue-collar track, Gulfstream is ''glitz and glamour,'' said Mills. This is
partly because Gulfstream is open from early January to early April, when the rest of the country is deep in
winter and when big owners from Kentucky and New York are reluctant to run their top-tier prizewinners on
frozen home tracks. Gulfstream also hosts the Florida Derby, a major precursor to the Kentucky Derby,
drawing flashy, Gatsby-esque owners.
If the Florida Legislature signs Broward's slots bill into law, Gulfstream expects to add more than 2,000 slot
machines and at least 3,000 jobs, track president Scott Savin said, and perhaps double its current purse to
$50,000.
Despite their proximity, the two tracks are not directly competitive. Under a mutual agreement, Gulfstream is
open during the four months when Calder is closed.
But insiders say that adding slots will not only make Gulfstream more attractive for horse owners, but will
likely pull business away from Calder. Because Gulfstream's purse is sure to mushroom if Broward's slots
become law, owners that normally ship their horses down in November to race at Calder before the opening
of Gulfstream might hold off altogether and wait.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
''A horse has so many races,'' said Michael D'Angelo, who trains four horses at Gulfstream, as he doused a
chestnut colt with water one recent sun-filled morning. ``If a purse is $37,000 at Gulfstream in January or
$20,000 at Calder in December, where are you going to race?''
And if Calder had a bigger purse, D'Angelo said he might have stayed on after the Gulfstream season. ''But
I'm going north,'' he said. ``Because I can't afford to stay.''
Another pervasive fear is that Gulfstream will stay open longer than four months, sucking away Calder's
business. Gulfstream president Savin denied such a plan, and Mills said the FHBPA would pull out all stops
to prevent the two tracks from simultaneously opening. ''Everyone agrees that having two tracks race head to
head is not a good thing,'' she said.
IRONIC TWIST TO SLOTS
One of the ironies of the slots outcome is that Gulfstream was late in joining the pro-slot lobby, and Calder
was among the first. Adding slots was seen as a clear way to give Calder a sorely needed competitive edge.
According to Mills and several trainers, Calder has been losing horses to out-of-state tracks, especially ones
in West Virginia, where racetracks were rescued from near bankruptcy by income from slots.
For Plesa, adding slots would have also improved the lot of the scores of people in his employ. Racehorses
cost a fortune to maintain. On top of their purchase price, which can range from mere thousands of dollars to
millions, a racehorse costs around $25,000 a year to train. And behind every racehorse is a team of
veterinarians, exercise riders, groomsmen, blacksmiths, even horse dentists, acupuncturists and
chiropractors.
Indeed, some workers at Gulfstream are already anticipating higher wages. ''There'll be better horses, better
trainers, more money, and if the slots go year-round I can go full time instead of seasonal,'' said Joe Retcho,
a Gulfstream security guard, one recent midday between bites of a sub.
Better stakes at Calder would have a ripple effect around the state, Mills said. The track is where many
2-year-old horses from Ocala first race. These Florida horses tend to outrun their pedigree, or be sturdier
stock than expected, and attract buyers from across the country.
The enduring hope at Calder, and even among trainers at Gulfstream, is that Miami-Dade residents will see
how much slots benefits Broward and approve them should the issue come up for another vote in
2007.
`A HUGE INDUSTRY'
''People don't realize that we're a huge industry that supports 42,000 people, and creates green space, and
promotes quality of life in keeping development out,'' said Mills. ``I believe in my heart that after two years,
people will see how well it is working in Broward, and will make it happen.''
Until then, C. Kenneth Dunn, president of Calder, is concentrating on the immediate task: moving forward
with the 2005 season. As Dunn noted, the slots decision won't impact Broward racing purses for at least
another two years, and by that time, Miami-Dade will be up for a slots revote.
Dunn also said that horsemen are pushing on legislators to do a little tinkering with the county line. ''They're
on it,'' he said. ``We're having them move a little south.''
He might not have been joking. A bill being introduced in the Florida Legislature proposes just that.