There’s a lot going on with horse racing in Maryland, and attention is high with this weekend’s running of the Preakness Stakes. Here’s an update on activities surrounding the second leg of the Triple Crown and the future of Thoroughbred racing in Maryland:
Where will the Preakness be run this year?
Sunday May 16 marks the 151st running of The Preakness Stakes, but for the first time the race will take place at Laurel Park in Laurel, because Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore is closed for construction, and its aging buildings have been demolished.
How will the race be different?
For one thing, the crowds will be a lot smaller. Attendance will be limited to 4,800 ticket holders. Unlike at Pimlico, Laurel Park cannot accommodate crowds in the infield, filled with sensitive wetlands. Interior renovations ground to a halt several years ago, leaving a significant portion of the grandstand without seats. By comparison, 140,237 fans reportedly attended the event in 2017.
What’s the status of a new Pimlico?
The Maryland Stadium Authority now owns the Pimlico site on behalf of the state and is managing construction of new facilities to provide a modern racing experience and host the second leg of the Triple Crown. This is the only year that the Preakness Stakes will be held in Laurel, state officials say, but spectators next year will be watching the race from temporary structures. Permanent improvements will be completed in time for the 2028 race.
Will there be a Triple Crown winner this year?
There will be no Triple Crown winner in 2026. Trainer Cherie DeVaux announced last week that she would not send Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo to Laurel Park. It’s the second year in a row that the Derby winner has bypassed the Preakness and the third time in the last five.
Is the number of weeks between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness going to change?
Trainers and horse owners are increasingly insistent that two weeks between the Derby and the Preakness is not enough time for recovery. The current five-week span from the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May to the Belmont Stakes in June initially started in 1969, but ideas are circulating to increase the gap to three weeks, or even a month.
There have been reports that the Preakness could move its date as soon as next year, when a new television contract would take effect. Moving the Preakness to the first week of June and the Belmont to July would also require New York Racing Authority to sign off on moving its race.
Who owns the Preakness anyway?
Saddle up for a peek into the complex world of Maryland racing. The Preakness had been owned and operated by Maryland Jockey Club, a private organization founded in Annapolis in 1743.
In recent decades, that organization was controlled by Frank Stronach, a Canadian auto parts magnate. His company, Magna Entertainment, bought a controlling Jockey Club interest in 2002, then secured full control in 2011 when a new entity, The Stronach Group, bought out Penn National Gaming. [The racing operation of the Stronach Group is a subsidiary called 1/ST.]
But Thoroughbred racing continued its decline, and Maryland horsemen had major problems with Stronach. The state of Maryland stepped in 2024, buying aging Pimlico and taking over the jockey club. Maryland created a new non-profit entity, THE Maryland Jocky Club (the “the” is the important distinction) to run all of Maryland racing,
But in that transaction, the rights to the Preakness Stakes remained with the Stronach Group, and the new nonprofit was to pay $3 million per year to license it. But things got more complicated this year, when 1/ST/Stronach announced it was selling rights to the Preakness to Churchill Downs Incorporated, which runs the Kentucky Derby, for $85 million. That announcement caught Maryland by surprise – and the state is pondering whether to exercise its legal rights to match it.
How important is horse racing and the horse industry to Maryland?
Maryland Jocky Club, the old one, was founded in Annapolis in 1743, 30 years before the Revolutionary War, and is chartered as the oldest sporting organization in North America.
That’s some deep roots. And research shows that the overall economic impact of the horse industry in Maryland is $2.06 billion, with an estimated 25% percent of Maryland’s agricultural land (705,000 acres) is devoted to horses. The number of direct and indirect jobs associated with the industry is 28,000, and industry participants spend $1 billion annually. The racing sector has the largest economic impact within the equine industry, estimated at $572 million.
These statistics and others show Maryland to be one of the top horse states in the nation, and few leaders want to be the ones who had racing collapse on their watch.
How much is Maryland and its taxpayers investing in horseracing?
In 2020, the Maryland General Assembly adopted SB 987, which authorized $375.0 million in 30-year bonds for financing, planning, design, construction, and related expenses for racing facilities at Pimlico and Laurel Park. These bonds were intended to support improvements to clubhouses, racetracks, stables, barns, and more.
At first, the state was going to consolidate all racing at Laurel Park, but conditions of facilities there was poor and the land available for construction was limited, so emphasis shifted on a plan to consolidate all racing at a rebuilt Pimilico, with a separately purchased training and stabling facility for 1,200 horses.
Those figures have grown slightly and estimates now show that the Maryland General Assembly has authorized a total budget of $527 million, including $400 million in bonds and $127 million in cash, to construct Pimlico and a new training facility.
Training? There needs to be another facility for training?
This is complicated. If racing is to be centered at Pimlico, there’s not enough room there for the 1,200 barns and other facilities needed to train and care for Thoroughbreds.
In May 2025, at the recommendation of the now-defunct Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Agency, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved the purchase of the 338-acre Shamrock Farms property in Carroll County for $4.5 million to serve as an equine training facility.
But the Stadium Authority soon realized that it would be too expensive to build on the site, so the state is again looking again at Laurel Park – to serve as just the training facility. But the $48.5 million purchase is on hold while some state leaders, notably Treasurer Dereck Davis, raise questions about the investment.
Is there a sustainable future for Thoroughbred racing in Maryland?
This is the big question. There is no doubt that horse racing is not attracting the same kind of fans as other major sports, or the same fans it attracted a century ago. And while horse racing in Kentucky and New York is on pretty solid footing, the same can’t be said for Maryland. But the Triple Crown isn’t going away, and the Preakness is a major asset that most leaders want to make sure stays in Maryland. The recent track record of racing solutions in Maryland is not entirely positive, though.
