Maryland horse racing bill would use $400M to rebuild Pimlico, training facility

BALTIMORE — With less than a month left in the Maryland General Assembly’s 2024 session, legislators will consider a horse racing bill that aims to install a new day-to-day operator, rebuild Pimlico Race Course and construct a training facility using $400 million in state bonds.

The plan — a much-amended version of a 2020 blueprint — is similar to what the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority recommended to the General Assembly in a January report.

In 2020, the legislature passed a bill to improve both Pimlico in Baltimore, the home of the Preakness Stakes, and Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County. But that plan never got out of the starting gate. Instead, legislators will now consider a different plan: Use that preapproved $375 million, plus a little bit more, to rebuild Pimlico and add a training facility in either Bowie, Aberdeen or Woodbine. Where exactly that site will be located would be determined later this year.

“Every 10 years, the legislature tried to solve the problem and every 10 years they kicked the can down the road with Band-Aids,” racing authority Chair Greg Cross said Thursday. “This is the first time we’re actually doing something new. We’ve tried and tried and we’re finally there, so I certainly hope the legislature passes it.”

Cross said there is a “binding commitment,” subject to the necessary government approvals, between the racing authority and The Stronach Group — the state’s current operator and the owner of Laurel Park and Pimlico — to transfer Pimlico to the authority.

The bill, introduced Thursday, would require more state money than previously anticipated — $400 million in bonds, to be paid back annually with $17 million in lottery proceeds. Under the bill, which would have to get General Assembly approval before the legislative session concludes on April 8, the Preakness Stakes would be run at Pimlico this year and next year, the 150th installment. It would move to Laurel Park for one year, 2026, and return to a revamped Pimlico in 2027.

On the operations side, a nonprofit would take over day-to-day operation of racing in the state from The Stronach Group beginning Jan. 1, 2025. Stronach, the Canadian company also known as 1/ST Racing, would continue to operate the Preakness until 2027, when the nonprofit would take over the marquee event. Preakness, held the third Saturday in May, is the second jewel in racing’s Triple Crown.

The racing authority would staff the nonprofit. The Maryland Stadium Authority would design and renovate Pimlico, which would likely shift the track from its current alignment.

Under the bill, Stronach would license for an annual fee — a figure yet to be disclosed — the rights to the Preakness Stakes to the nonprofit operator. That nonprofit would annually run the meet and, after paying that fee, retain revenues from Preakness weekend.

“We get to bet on ourselves. We’re going to control our own destiny,” Cross said.

Despite state subsidies from slot machine revenue, Stronach CEO Craig Fravel said last year that the private operator lost $10 million annually on racing, “with no prospect of turning around.” The nonprofit will seek to do what Stronach could not — operate racing without losing money.

There are traditionally 175 racing days in Maryland, which Stronach had suggested cutting to 80 or 90. Cross said running 140 days of racing annually is the “target.”

He also noted cost-cutting measures — once a new Pimlico is built — that he thought could enable a nonprofit to operate without losing money.

“Stronach was operating two aged facilities,” Cross said. “That’s a substantial difference. And the Preakness, in an aged facility, is very costly to run.”

Hearings on the bill are expected to begin next week.