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The $48.5 million purchase of Laurel Park race track approved by the Board of Public Works Wednesday clears the way for construction of a new thoroughbred training facility and the sale of a Carroll County property bought a year ago for the same purpose.
The board unanimously approved the purchase even as one member raised concerns about the future of racing in the state. Racing officials, however, painted an optimistic picture for the industry. The purchase of Laurel Park and the expected acquisition of intellectual property rights for the Preakness Stakes has set the industry in Maryland on the inside track to success, they said.
鈥淟aurel will be one of the backbones of racing in Maryland鈥檚 racing industry,鈥� Maryland Jockey Club Chair James T. Dresher Jr. told the board Wednesday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a home of Maryland racing for many decades, and it will be of great use as a training facility. This also, in addition to the purchase of the Preakness IP, puts Marylanders in full control of our future. Now we have all the pieces of the puzzle for our industry to succeed.鈥�
The three-member board unanimously approved purchasing the property owned by 1/ST LLC.
鈥淚 think this is the right decision as well to move forward, given the industry is, of course, as many people have articulated, a major employer, a major revenue generator, which I appreciate,鈥� said Comptroller Brooke Lierman. 鈥淎nd Laurel Park has been part of Maryland鈥檚 racing history for over a century.鈥�
Not everyone on the board was as optimistic or enthusiastic.
Treasurer Dereck Davis said he is concerned that 鈥渨e鈥檙e making a big bet on horse racing, and frankly, I just don鈥檛 see it. We can talk about the revenue, but what about the cost? We put literally hundreds of millions of dollars into this, and we have to look at the opportunity cost, and I don鈥檛 mean to sound like a broken record, but I don鈥檛 want that to get missed. The opportunity cost 鈥� what else 鈥� we could have been doing, and can be doing with that same revenue.鈥�
Almost a year ago the state ponied up nearly $5 million for Shamrock Farm. The 328-acre Carroll County farm was expected to be the site of a modern training facility. The state now intends to sell that property.
The purchase price of Laurel Park is nearly 10 times higher than the cost of a Carroll County farm.
Davis also worried that the push to prop up horse racing in Maryland is driven by nostalgia.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to take a hard look at this, and go, can this work on its own, or is this something that we permanently have to prop up? Davis said. 鈥淚 mean, the numbers are just sort of staggering to me 鈥� this is not monopoly money. These are real dollars that can help real citizens and do real things for the state of Maryland that will help it move forward, as opposed to trying to keep, you know, a dream, an industry afloat.鈥�
Thoroughbred racing has struggled for decades in Maryland. The decaying Pimlico Race Course, home of the second leg of racing鈥檚 Triple Crown, became a symbol of the industry鈥檚 decline.
In 2024, the General Assembly renewed efforts to preserve the industry with the so-called Pimlico Plus Plan, which consolidated thoroughbred racing in the state. Tracks owned by the Stronach family and 1/ST would close, with the exception of Pimlico, effectively making the state government the operator of thoroughbred racing in Maryland.
A newly created Maryland Thoroughbred Race Track Operating Authority would take over racing and the razing and reconstruction of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The authority was disbanded a year later with operations split between the Maryland Stadium Authority and the Maryland Economic Development Corp.
As part of the deal, the state also entered into an 鈥渆xclusive and perpetual鈥� licensing deal with the Stronach Group and 1/ST for the rights to the Preakness and Black-eyed Susan Stakes. The deal included all associated trademarks and memorabilia.
Earlier this year, Stronach and 1/ST announced it planned to sell the intellectual property to Churchill Downs Inc. for $85 million. Weeks later, Gov. Wes Moore announced the state would exercise its right to match the offer and buy the property it was leasing from 1/ST.
The move gives the state complete control over the Preakness and thoroughbred racing. Once the Pimlico facility is reconstructed, the plan is to hold 120 days of racing at the facility.
Maryland Stadium Authority officials told the board they will now move forward with plans to sell Shamrock Farm and that聽it could be offered for sale as early as the fall.
Initially, the plan had been to use the property for the new training facility. It was later determined after the purchase was finalized that the cost of building the facility on the property would be excessive and environmentally problematic.
Craig A. Thompson, chair of the Maryland Stadium Authority, said the Shamrock Farm project would cost $212 million 鈥渙ver double what had been previously stated, and considerably straining available funding to rebuild Pimlico.鈥�
The 鈥減ivot to Laurel Park will save the state roughly $50 million,鈥� Thompson said.
Davis raised concerns that the state will lose money.
鈥淭here鈥檚 always a chance that could happen,鈥� Gary McGuigan, executive vice president of capital projects development for the Maryland Stadium Authority, told Davis.
McGuigan said the real estate market 鈥渟eems to have softened a little bit in about a year鈥檚 time, so we鈥檒l have to see what the appetite is.鈥�
