By John Scheinman
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Maryland Jockey Club President Lou Raffetto, who ran Laurel Park and Pimlico and helped negotiate a comprehensive profit-sharing agreement with the state's harness racing industry, was fired yesterday by Magna Entertainment, the Canadian racing conglomerate that owns the tracks.

Chris Dragone, 48, who worked for eight months last year as a senior vice president and general manager for the MJC before leaving to become executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, will replace Raffetto. Dragone has been named president and general manager.

Magna announced in a news release that Raffetto would leave immediately to pursue other opportunities. Raffetto could not be reached to comment.

"Lou worked very hard during his tenure with the MJC to manage the day-to-day operations and improve the future of thoroughbred racing in the state of Maryland," Magna Chairman Frank Stronach said in a statement. "We wish him well in his future endeavors."

Raffetto's firing evoked immediate outrage and dismay among leading members of the Maryland racing industry, who saw him as a hard-nosed executive willing to compromise during a time in which Maryland racing struggled to compete with racetracks in neighboring states that grew powerful through the legalization of slot machines.

Maryland Racing Commission Chairman John Franzone said the firing of Raffetto jeopardizes Magna's ability to secure a slots license for Laurel Park if the state referendum on the legalization of slot machines passes next November.

"You talk about bad decisions in politics and industry; this is like the Bay of Pigs," Franzone said. "That's how bad it is. I think Magna is out of the running for slots at Laurel."

Franzone said that when he heard Magna would fire Raffetto he called Stronach in Austria and pleaded with him to change his mind.

Franzone pointed toward massive losses at Magna -- $288.3 million between 2004 and 2006 -- heavy turnover in management and poor performance at the company's Gulfstream Park racetrack in Florida and called the firing of Raffetto another example of the company's incompetence.

"Lou Raffetto gave credibility to Magna that it lacked otherwise in the state," said Alan Foreman, general counsel for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

Dragone, who ran two minor Magna tracks, Great Lakes Downs in Michigan and Portland Meadows in Oregon, between 2002 and 2006, said he understood the decision was unpopular.

"I would hope people would give me a chance," said Dragone. "It's not exactly like I'm a babe in the woods coming to this job."