The Maryland Jockey Club has its share of homegrown employees who will be working behind the scenes at the 131st Preakness.
Kristen Barth, from Eldersburg, does all the graphic design work for the Maryland Jockey Club.
“I have known about Preakness my whole life,” said Barth, a 1986 graduate of McDonogh School. Barth?s family owned horses, and she rode as a child, but her first time at the Preakness was in the infield in 1989. That was a year before her graduation from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel University).
Barth said what amazes her about the Preakness is “how many people who are not racing fans come out and have a great time but don?t come back the rest of the year.”
Dennis Smoter has worked for the Maryland Jockey Club for 20 years and now serves at the Vice President of Wagering and Simulcast Operations. “As a kid you didn?t go (to the Preakness) for the horse racing, you went for the party,” he said. Baltimore-born Smoter graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1969 and from the University of Maryland in 1974.
“I started going to the track more when I was in my 20s,” said Smoter, who eventually became the manager of the Sports Palace at Pimlico. “The connection was the Preakness. It served as an introduction to horse racing for me.”
Even though the Preakness is a national showcase, Smoter said “you feel more entitled as a Baltimorean.”
