Michael D. Abes serves as vice president, general manager and chief financial officer for Calder Race Course. He joined the Calder team as assistant treasurer in 1990, was promoted to treasurer in 1991, and named vice president and general manager in October 2004.

Prior to his affiliation with Calder, Abes worked with Mark Shron & Co. in New York while successfully completing his examination for status as a certified public accountant. After two years, he transferred to the Miami office of Deloitte and Touche, where he specialized in management consulting and business combinations. During his three years with that company, he supervised the services provided to Calder Race Course, Tropical Park Inc. and Catoctin International Racing Corporation, as well as other major clients, in the areas of audit, tax and consulting. He later took the position of controller with Catoctin and eventually was named treasurer of the company’s horse racing operations.

Abes graduated from New York’s Hofstra University in 1986 with a degree in accounting and a finance minor. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is on the board of directors of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Michael Cronin was named Director of Marketing for Calder Race Course in 1991, and was later promoted to Vice President of Marketing in 1994. He previously served as Director of Promotions and then Director of Marketing at Arlington Park, where he worked extensively to promote the rebuilt track and on the International Festival of Racing, successfully marketing the event comprised, in part, of the Arlington Million, among other Grade I stakes on the turf.

A native of Wilmette, Illinois, Cronin graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in theology and an English minor. He began his career in radio, hosting a talk show and working as a news director. Today, he remains involved in radio, most recently hosting "The Other Side," an issues-oriented program on WAXY AM in Miami.

Cronin’s tenure at Calder includes his conceptualization and execution of the track’s most successful events, including the Summit of Speed, Festival of the Sun and Grand Slam series. By Cronin’s design, these events provide the foundation of Calder’s racing and marketing program. Among the results are Calder’s realization of its first Grade I race (in 2006), the $500,000 Princess Rooney Handicap, and the all-time highest combined mutuel handle, exceeding $10.8 million on Summit of Speed Day 2004.

Cronin was also instrumental in the establishment of the Florida farm division of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and continues to serve as a charter board member. The program has grown substantially at the Marion County Correctional Institute in Ocala, where inmates care for retired racehorses on a daily basis as part of a unique vocational training program established by the TRF.