Supporters of a plan to consolidate racing in Maryland at a rebuilt Pimlico Race Course operated by a new not-for-profit company are urging the state’s horsemen to rally behind the proposal, under the contention that legislators will need to be convinced the plan has widespread backing before agreeing to elements of the proposal. Greg Cross, the chairman of the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority, told horsemen on Thursday that the plan, which will be funded by a $375 million state-backed bond issue, is “far from assurance of passage” in the legislature, which is grappling with an “extremely, extremely difficult budget year.” “There are a lot of conversations in Annapolis that have to occur, and everyone should understand that there’s still a lot of work to do,” Cross said, during a video-streamed meeting with members of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. The MTROA released the major recommendations of its year-long study of the state’s racing industry on Friday. Under the plan, the owner of Pimlico and Laurel Park, 1/ST Racing, would deed Pimlico to the state and hand over operations of the tracks to a not-for-profit operating company as of Jan. 1, 2025. Pimlico would be entirely rebuilt over a period of roughly three to four years, with racing held at Laurel Park while the construction is completed. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. After Pimlico re-opens, Laurel Park would no longer host live racing, and 1/ST would be free to do whatever it wants with the property, which sits on valuable real estate along the I-95 corridor between Baltimore and Washington D.C. The MTHA hosted the Thursday meeting to outline major elements of the plan and provide an opportunity for horsemen to comment on the proposals and ask questions. Cross appeared on the video conference with Alan Foreman, the long-time legal counsel for the MTHA, who was also the horsemen’s representative on the MTROA. “The hard work is beginning,” Foreman told horsemen. “The rubber has hit the road, and hopefully you will support what we are doing, and hopefully we can deliver something that you will be proud to be a part of.” The majority of the presentation centered on two different design proposals for Pimlico and on the plan’s options for the establishment of a year-round training center. Under one option for Pimlico, the track’s racing surfaces will be re-built over their current locations, and the track’s barns would be located near their present locations. In the other, the racing surfaces would be re-sited so that the stretches run parallel to West Belvedere Boulevard on the south border of the property, with the barns running in a long line adjacent to the road. Under both scenarios, the Pimlico grandstand will be dramatically down-scaled, according to Foreman. On a “normal day,” Foreman said, the grandstand will be able to accommodate 5,000 people. For the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, temporary facilities will be erected which will be able to accommodate 70,000 people, Foreman said. Although the plans call for both a dirt and a turf surface to be installed, the MTROA report also stressed that horsemen should be prepared to support the installation of a synthetic surface instead of a dirt track, citing data that consistently shows lower fatalities on synthetic surfaces. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has convened a committee to study the feasibility of using more synthetic surfaces at U.S. tracks, and its report is expected to be issued later this year. “The plan is to have the dirt track ‘synthetic-ready,’ so if there is a need to convert, the ability to do so will be there,” Foreman said. “But that is not a decision that needs to be made now.” The MTROA report identified three leading sites for the year-round training center: the former location of Bowie Racetrack; the Mitchell Farm in Aberdeen; and the Shamrock Farm south of Baltimore. Foreman said that the three locations had been pared from a list of 10 possible options using a scoring system that had nine criteria. “The others, frankly, were not close to making the cut,” Foreman said. Under the plan, the funding provided by the bond issue would be used to purchase the property where the training facility will be developed. That funding will also be used for the construction of the facility, which will have 600 stalls. The Shamrock Farm is owned by the Rooney family, of which Tom Rooney, a former legislator and the current president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, is a member. Rooney is also a board member of the MTROA. Foreman told horsemen that Rooney recused himself from all discussions of the training centers during the authority’s deliberations and that he has “not been a part of any of the conversations.” He also told horsemen that the availability of the farm for purchase had been relayed to the authority by a state breeder “who was aware that the farm was going to be put on the market.” Cross said that horsemen need to coalesce around a single option for the site of the training center in the next several months. “We were told that the legislature will want to weigh in heavily on” that aspect of the plan, Cross said. The legislature is scheduled to complete this year’s session on April 8. The MTROA is also expected to iron out a deal on the transfer of Pimlico’s deed to the state and the formation of the non-profit company over the next several months. Cross declined to provide details about the ongoing negotiations that are proceeding between 1/ST and the authority, but he noted that the two sides have already reached an agreement in principle on the major elements of the deal, which will also require the state to pay an annual licensing fee to 1/ST to hold the Preakness and the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. “Essentially we would be paying them an annual fee, but we would have full control over the Preakness and the Black-Eyed Susan, and we would have full control over all of the revenue streams,” Cross said. Following the presentations, horsemen on multiple occasions raised concerns about the lack of backstretch-employee housing at any of the prospective training facility sites. Under the plan, housing for backstretch employees will be developed near Pimlico, but the plan has no such allowance for the new training facility. “The authority needs to understand that a lot of our employees are on foot or on bicycles,” said Ferris Allen III, a trainer and an MTHA board member. “A lot of them are on H2-B visas" -- special annual immigration work authorizations -- "so on-site housing is a very essential part of running our businesses well.” Cross said that the plan did not have the money to provide for on-site housing at the training facility, and he told horsemen that the Fair Hill Training Center also did not have on-site housing. “They are having no problems, and they are operating in a more difficult environment, with less housing” in the surrounding area, Cross said. He also reiterated that the plan’s current budget is likely within the legislature’s appetite for spending, and that “we’re lucky to have what we have allocated.” Foreman closed the meeting by telling the horsemen that they have a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to control their own destinies under the plan. He contended that the current plan is the best horsemen will get to put the state’s racing industry on firm long-term footing. “This is not going to present itself to us again,” Foreman said. “We can’t let the perfect get in the way of the good.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.