Shamrock Farm, a property owned by the family of National Thoroughbred Racing Association president Tom Rooney that is 20 miles from Pimlico Race Course, has been selected as the location for a new training center by the state-owned Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority, the MTROA announced on Monday. The MTROA is currently negotiating on a purchase of 300 acres of the property, which has been owned by the Rooney family for generations. An architectural firm hired by the MTROA scored the property the highest on a list of criteria that included “location, natural resources, topography, transportation and access, utility infrastructure, jurisdictional approvals, size, and cost of acquisition and development,” the MTROA said. The training center is expected to include stabling for 800 horses plus facilities for on-site workers. The MTROA has budgeted approximately $80 million for the acquisition and development of the site. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. The training center is part of a $400 million plan approved by the legislature to consolidate racing at a rebuilt Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Racing is expected to be conducted nearly year-round at Pimlico when the track is ready to re-open in three years, with the training center functioning as a critical second home. The training center will have a one-mile dirt oval “built with the same material and layout as the Pimlico track,” the MTROA said. “Our goal is to design and build one of the great equine training centers in the world,” said Gregory A. Cross, the chairman of the MTROA, in a release. “A rigorous examination of many locations in the region showed that this site provides the best combination of size, cost, and construction approval process.” Rooney was a board member of the MTROA when the association began undergoing the site-selection process for the training center. After the initial search process yielded eight potential sites including Shamrock, Rooney offered to resign but that measure was rebuffed by the board. He instead recused himself from any matters involving the training center.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.