A chance encounter between Baltimore city officials and the owner of Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course led to an agreement to keep the prestigious Preakness Stakes at its longtime home.
The Stronach Group owns the Maryland Jockey Club, which runs the race, the second leg of horseracing’s Triple Crown. It had been on the brink of moving the race out of Baltimore’s dilapidated track after repeated failures to negotiate funding for track refurbishment.
Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young, Anne Arundel County Executive Stuart Pittman and Stronach Group chairwoman and CEO Belinda Stronach encountered each other at this year’s Preakness, held May 18.
“And the mayor did something that I will forever thank him for,” said Maryland Jockey Club attorney Alan Rifkin said last week in an interview with WBAL News Radio. “He opened the conversation by saying, ‘Can we have a reset?’”
The deal got the two sides in discussions again, and a deal was announced October 8 to keep the race at Pimlico.
Under the agreement, Pimlico will be donated to the city or an entity created by the city to develop the surrounding neighborhood, then leased back to the Stronach Group for the racing season. Pimlico’s aging clubhouse and grandstand will be demolished and rebuilt. Laurel Park, also owned by the Stronach Group, will be renovated and the company will sell the Bowie Training Center.
The deal still has some hurdles to overcome, including the makeup of the non-profit entity or how the city would own the park.
The $375 million redevelopment of Laurel Park is to be funded by bonds paid off by the Racetrack Renewal Fund, which in turn is funded by casino proceeds. The deal would require the Maryland General Assembly to extend the casino fund, now set to expire in 2026, for an additional six years.
