BALTIMORE — If a plan to revive Maryland’s thoroughbred racing industry by building new facilities in the state with public money and organizing a state-created racing operator actually comes to fruition, a bill will need to sprint through Annapolis over the next three weeks.

During the legislation’s first hearing Tuesday before the House Ways and Means Committee, a Republican leader expressed “skepticism” about the financial future of the horse industry. Meanwhile, the Democratic president of the Senate warned that legislators would not issue a “blank check” to keep the sport alive in Maryland.

The bill was proposed last week at the eleventh hour of this year’s General Assembly session.

While the historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore has sat in disrepair for decades and prior efforts to renovate the track were “unfortunately a failure,” Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority Chair Greg Cross told the committee that the new proposal would allow the racing industry to control its own future, boosted by a thoroughly renovated Pimlico and a new training track.

“This time is different,” he said.

He faced questions from delegates, however, who worried that a state-created operator would have trouble breaking even on racing in the state, since the current operator, The Stronach Group, has lost money in recent years. House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, of Allegany County, said he had a “healthy degree of skepticism” about the proposal.

“I’m just concerned about the future of horse racing in terms of, we get two, three, four, five, 10 years down the road and it turns out we’re losing money every year and then it has to be additionally subsidized,” Buckel said.

The racing industry receives money generated by taxes on slot machines at casinos. If the current plan is passed, it would benefit from $400 million in state bonds, which would be used to construct Pimlico and the training track.

Beyond those state investments, Cross has said the state would not need to subsidize the industry’s operation.

“We’re asking for the investment, premised on the fact the horsemen will be responsible for balancing the books,” Cross said.

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