A Livelihood Could Be on the Vine

Yet in the past few years, as horse racing revived in Delaware, West Virginia and, most recently, Pennsylvania with the legalization of slot machines, the Maryland legislature has failed to take steps to protect what once was the leading thoroughbred state in the mid-Atlantic.

In 1992, Maryland produced 1,470 registered thoroughbred foals, 4.2 percent of the country's entire crop. In 2004, there were just 900 registered foals, or 2.6 percent of the nation's crop. Stallion numbers declined even more dramatically: 110 stallions stood in the state in 2001; this past year, there only were 64.

Boniface has room for six horses in his stallion barn, but right now he only has two: 1994 Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin and Mojave Moon.

"This year, we probably covered about 42 mares, and in a good year, maybe five years ago, that number would have been 150," Boniface said.

This year, the farm cut Go for Gin's stud fee from $7,500 to $4,000, and he has attracted 38 mares. Few breeders, though, were interested in Mojave Moon.

Boniface sold another stallion, Swear by Dixie, to a farm in Chile. Deputed Testamony is just like an old relative living out his final years with the family.

"It's real sad," said Stephen Quick, a breeder who owns the 130-acre St. Omer's Farm in Forest Hill, Md. "We've been around here around 31 years and the Bonifaces have been in it forever. Boniface is doing grapes, trees. I heard he might do some cattle. Another farm, a big breeding farm, has started to do some breaking and training. Our clients, we were going to lose them all. They were going to Pennsylvania."

Instead of diversifying on his property like Boniface, Quick bought a piece of land in Pennsylvania for clients who wanted to qualify their foals in a state with a healthy bred-fund program that rewards breeders whose horses succeed on the racetrack.

Meantime, on Wednesday, the Maryland Racing Commission approved cuts in breeder incentive rewards from the Maryland bred-race fund, which distributed approximately $4 million this past year. The Pennsylvania bred fund, by contrast, is expected to grow to be 10 times as large in the coming years.

Cricket Goodall, executive director of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, sees the farmers scrambling, and said it is better than them moving out of state.

"I'd rather see people diversify than leave," Goodall said.

Goodall said the only part of the Maryland thoroughbred breeding business that remains strong is the stallions. Yet leading sires Not for Love and Two Punch are 17 and 24 years old, respectively, and while there are promising stallions getting their careers underway, none command the $20,000-plus stud fees those two attract.

"Once those stallions start leaving, the breeding business will be severely compromised," Goodall said. "If Pennsylvania improves its stallion ranks, and they will, they'll get more money flowing. If nothing happens here, you'll see the stallions start migrating. If nothing happens in Annapolis, and they say we don't need the horse business, you'll see people moving lock, stock and barrel."

Boniface and others, however, are trying to hang on, hoping help arrives.

Rob Deford, who runs Boordy Vineyards, a 230-acre winery in northeastern Baltimore County, believes a well-known name such as Boniface could be a boon to Maryland's tiny wine industry. When Deford first met Boniface, who had come by Boordy looking for information, he didn't know who he was. But the winemaker's wife, Julie, came from a background steeped in Maryland steeplechase racing.

"She said, 'Let me tell you who he is,' " Deford said. "To have a man like Bill Boniface take an interest in [the wine business], it's momentous. But this is just a very nice sideline for Bill. I have very mixed feelings. I'm delighted Bill's in our industry, but I don't want his to go away."

Boniface recently returned from a trip to California, where he visited the winery of a friend and asked for advice on how to make his grapes grow well enough for a demanding winemaker to want to buy them. What Boniface would like most is to get back to what he already does know as well as anyone in the country -- how to raise horses.

"It's just a diversionary tactic," Boniface said of his immersion in grape growing. "If the horse business comes back, it will fade down."