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Owner Of Pimlico Track Won't Pay For Rebuild, Raising Questions About Preakness' Future

Preserving the 147-year-old Pimlico Race Course as the home of the Preakness Stakes "likely would require rebuilding the track" at a cost of $300-500M, though the track's owner, Stronach Group, has "no plans to foot the bill," according to a front-page piece by Jeff Barker of the Baltimore SUN. Stronach Group COO Tim Ritvo said, "What we'd want to see is a complete rebuild." Stronach "eventually could seek to move" the Preakness to Laurel Park, which it also owns, where the company has invested $35M on upgrades. But any move would "need a change to state law which, barring disaster, requires the race to be run in Baltimore." Ritvo said that Stronach would "continue to work with state and local government officials on what to do about Pimlico and could be part of a partnership if there was a 'huge' public commitment." Ritvo: "We've not given up on any options for Pimlico. No one could say that we haven't tried." But he said that the company "considers it impractical" to spend up to $500M for a track that currently stages just 12 racing days a year. Ritvo said of Pimlico, "We don't have the funding to tear it down and rebuild it like we did at Gulfstream." Barker notes it is "not clear how much appetite the state has to help." Maryland state Rep. Michael Busch yesterday said the future of the Preakness in Baltimore "could be a big issue next year" in the General Assembly. The Maryland Stadium Authority also is "planning a new study assessing possibilities for modernizing Pimlico, but its scope and timetable have not been determined." It will be "paid for by the stadium authority, Stronach and the Baltimore Development Corp." (Baltimore SUN, 5/16).

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