The status of the Preakness remains a subject of discussion, but it has a strong advocate in Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), who has been pushing for the rebuild of Pimlico Race Course. According to plans that seem about as fluid as a lazy river, this is the last year of the race at Pimlico, as it is currently constructed … or deconstructed. The race will move to Laurel for a couple years before returning to Baltimore. At least that’s the plan.
Pimlico, in short, is a dump. The water sometimes doesn’t work, some of the grandstand has been condemned and uninhabitable, and the barns, well, almost all but the stakes horses ship in from training tracks or Laurel.
But, it’s not the track as much as the spacing — two weeks between the Derby and Preakness — that seems under the most scrutiny. Two years ago, Aidan Butler, chief executive of 1/st Racing, which will operate the Preakness for two years before surrendering to Maryland regulatory agencies, pushed for a new schedule with three or preferably four weeks between races.
However, the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, shut that idea down. It comes three weeks after the Preakness and has shown no willingness to move its dates. The one thing you can always count on in racing is each of the owning entities don’t often end up on the same page.