BALTIMORE — Having unlimited beer for a day for only $20 sounds like a good deal to a lot of people, but for some, the deal that the Maryland Jockey Club is offering at Saturday’s Preakness Stakes is not a good idea.
For $20 dollars, patrons to the Pimlico Race Course will receive a 16-ounce beer mug that entitles them to unlimited free refills for the entire course of the Preakness Stakes, The Washington Post reports. The promotion is part of a new advertisement campaign for the event headlined by the catchphrase “Get Your Preak On.”
Some people feel the catchphrase bemoans the storied event and the free-flowing booze is asking for trouble.
“[It is] reducing a great, historic thoroughbred horse race to an event with sleazy overtones,” New York Post racing columnist Ray Kerrison told the Washington Post.
The promotion campaign follows a stark drop in attendance to the Preakness Stakes — from 112,222 in 2008 to 77,850 last year, according to The Washington Post. It was the biggest single-year drop in the event’s history.
Not everyone thinks the promotion is wrong, especially since it could provide the shot in the arm the event needs.
“It wasn’t directed to people like me, in their 50s,” Baltimore sports broadcaster Scott Garceau told the Post. “It was directed at the college kids — people in their 20s who maybe come [to the Preakness] and never saw a horse go around the track. I think it’s good. It has created a buzz.”
No matter the reaction, the promotion has done exactly what Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas wanted it to do: gain some attention.
“I have to laugh,” he told the Post. “It has got a bit of edginess. It’s comical. But one thing is: It attracts attention. Some like it. Some don’t. But everybody is talking about it.”
That’s a good way to increase the draw at the gate.
