Advocates have a plan to keep Preakness in Baltimore
seating and hospitality products considered to be ideal for hosting the Preakness Stakes.”
This year’s Preakness is May 18. Stronach says the race – Maryland’s largest and splashiest sporting event – will remain at Pimlico at least through next year.
Under state law, the Preakness can be moved from Pimlico to another track in Maryland “only as a result of a disaster or emergency,” so the company would need legislative support to move the Preakness to Laurel on any other basis.
The Stronach Group had sought approval in the General Assembly to use state bonds to accelerate improvements at Laurel and a training track in Bowie, but those efforts fizzled on the last day amid opposition from Baltimore legislators.
Baltimore elected officials said last year that they hoped the stadium authority study would suggest a path to preserve the Preakness in the city. City officials consider a rebuilt Pimlico – with the accompanying prestige of the Preakness, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown – vital to the redevelopment of a distressed area of Baltimore.
In the city’s vision, the sprawling campus would be accessible on nonracing days for social, recreational and other events.
But there are no ongoing talks between the city and Stronach over Pimlico’s future.
Stronach said that’s because the city filed a suit in March asking Baltimore Circuit Court to grant it ownership of the racetrack and the Preakness through condemnation. The suit alleges The Stronach Group is “openly planning to violate Maryland law by moving the Preakness” to Laurel.
“Under the circumstances, and while the lawsuit is pending, our clients will not negotiate with the City,” Jockey Club attorneys Alan Rifkin and Arnold Weiner said in an April 18 letter to City Solicitor Andre M. Davis.
Stronach asked a judge Wednesday to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the state has exclusive jurisdiction over horse racing.