Magna Fires Raffetto, Screws Up Again

John Scheinman has a great story in The Thoroughbred Times on the reaction to Magna's firing of Lou Raffetto, President and CEO of The Maryland Jockey Club.

Raffetto is the guy who got slots on the ballot for next year, negotiated revenue-sharing with the harness industry (after years of an bitter relationship), experimented with reduced takeouts, got twilight racing on the card, upgraded Laurel Park, and was generally seen as a refreshing change from former MJC head Joe De Francis. But instead of a year-end bonus, he gets a pink slip.

John Franzone, Chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, is probably the most notable person who reacted unfavorably to the news of Raffetto's firing -- giving Scheinman a great collection of quotes.

From The Thoroughbred Times:

"I think they're toast," Franzone said of Magna. "I think they have made so many management faux pas and are losing money at such a high rate, I don't think [there is] any way anyone on the [State Lottery] Commission can say we should give slots to Magna."

Franzone said that when he heard Raffetto was going to be fired, he called Frank Stronach, chairman of Maryland Jockey Club, which runs operates Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, and pleaded with him to change his mind.

"I called him and I said, 'Frank, this is without a doubt the dumbest decision you will ever make, and you guys have made a lot of dumb moves,' " Franzone said. "Everybody likes Lou. Lou is liked down in Annapolis. I'm not saying he can run a slots parlor, but we've got an excellent racing program and the horsemen love him.

"I said, 'Not only that, Frank, you guys have such a bad reputation with turnover, you will be sealing your fate with this slots license.' And he doesn't listen. I said, 'Frank, Magna is losing about $25-million a quarter, and Laurel and Pimlico break even. Why don't you send your henchmen after the guys losing money?’"

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that when the chairman of the state body that is in charge of oversite and regulation of your industry calls you and says that this is "without a doubt the dumbest decision you will ever make," you should go ahead and TAKE THE FUCKING ADVICE. But Frank knows best, which is proven by his $1.42 stock price.

Richard Hoffberger, Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President says this is just another example of bad decision making by a failing company: "It appears they're developing a plan that is as successful as what they have at Gulfstream, where they took a wonderful winter meet and developed it into one of the worst race books on the East Coast. Their reputation is bad because they haven't been successful. Everything they're doing runs contrary to what the industry believes is the right thing to do."