p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”>
An artist’s rendering reveals a view of the observe and infield from a proposed plan to rebuild Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
(Related Press)
The standing of the Preakness stays a topic of dialogue, but it surely has a robust advocate in Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), who has been pushing for the rebuild of Pimlico Race Course. In response to plans that appear about as fluid as a lazy river, that is the final 12 months of the race at Pimlico, as it’s at present constructed … or deconstructed. The race will transfer to Laurel for a pair years earlier than returning to Baltimore. A minimum of that’s the plan.
Pimlico, briefly, is a dump. The water typically doesn’t work, a few of the grandstand has been condemned and uninhabitable, and the barns, effectively, virtually all however the stakes horses ship in from coaching tracks or Laurel.
However, it’s not the observe as a lot because the spacing — two weeks between the Derby and Preakness — that appears beneath probably the most scrutiny. Two years in the past, Aidan Butler, chief govt of 1/st Racing, which can function the Preakness for 2 years earlier than surrendering to Maryland regulatory companies, pushed for a brand new schedule with three or ideally 4 weeks between races.
Nevertheless, the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, shut that concept down. It comes three weeks after the Preakness and has proven no willingness to maneuver its dates. The one factor you possibly can at all times rely on in racing is every of the proudly owning entities don’t usually find yourself on the identical web page.
