Manfuso Brothers to Step Down as Executives at Pimlico, Laurel

Like sculptors stepping back and finding their work good, Bob and Tom Manfuso have relinquished the leadership of Maryland racing.

The co-owners of Laurel and Pimlico will withdraw from active management, effective after the Preakness on May 19.

Holders of 50% equity in Laurel and 47% of Pimlico, the brothers are stepping down as executive vice presidents. Bob Manfuso will remain co-chairman (with Joseph A. De Francis) of the boards and Tom Manfuso will remain vice chairman.

Both offer their continuance as policy makers “as needed.”

As members of the team that bought Laurel in 1984 and Pimlico in 1986 in partnership with the late Frank De Francis, the Manfusos in a statement took a bow for the “solid foundation” they leave under Maryland thoroughbred racing.

“Our success has restored pride in the industry and its many participants,” Bob Manfuso’s valedictory said. “And (it has) won the admiration of racing enthusiasts throughout the United States and abroad.”

When the team bought Laurel, the track had just completed a meeting in which the mutuel handle averaged not quite $1.1 million. In the current meeting it is averaging more than $1.7 million.

The new total includes intertrack betting at Pimlico, one of the team’s several successful innovations. It includes Sunday racing, which was another.

The admiration from abroad cited by Bob Manfuso was a reference to Laurel’s Turf Festival, an elaboration of the classic Washington, D.C., International grass race instituted by former owner John Schapiro in 1952.