Mayor: Deal reached to keep Preakness in Baltimore

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BALTIMORE — Baltimore officials and the owners of the historic racetrack that hosts the Preakness Stakes reached an agreement Friday to keep the Triple Crown series’ middle jewel in the city.

The agreement, which is subject to approval of the General Assembly during its next session, ends a bitter dispute between owner The Stronach Group and the city over the future of Pimlico Race Course. Located in northwest Baltimore, the second-oldest track in America has been home to the famed annual race since 1909, but it is in need of a major overhaul, which has previously been estimated at nearly half a billion dollars.

Under the plan, The Stronach Group would donate the site to the city for community development in and around the track and an area hospital. The company would also build a new clubhouse, and the track would be rotated 30 degrees to the northeast to create parcels of land that could be sold for private development. The grandstand, whose dilapidated state forced the closure of 6,670 seats before this year’s Preakness, would be demolished.

“This is an historic moment,” Baltimore Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young said in a statement Saturday announcing the deal. “By these recommendations, if approved, we can preserve the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico for generations to come and move forward with our redevelopment plans for the Park Heights community, Sinai Hospital and the Northern Parkway corridor.”

The city expects the clubhouse to be used for community events. Renderings of the facility show athletic fields in the infield.

A study by the Maryland Stadium Authority last year said the facility should be torn down and rebuilt at a cost of $424 million. The track has fallen into further disarray – out-of-order restrooms embarrassed the track during Preakness Day this year – as Stronach steered renovation funding toward Laurel Park, where it had talked about moving the Preakness.

State law says the Preakness can be moved to another track in Maryland “only as a result of a disaster or emergency.”

The proposed agreement calls for training and stable operations to be consolidated at its track in Laurel, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Baltimore. A development plan states the barns there would have space for over 1,500 stalls.

“These are transformative plans for the racing industry in Maryland and will benefit all of the stakeholders in the industry and the communities that surround the facilities,” Belinda Stronach, chairwoman and president of The Stronach Group, said in a statement. TSG owns the Maryland Jockey Club.

Alan Rifkin, who represented the club in discussions for the plans, told the Baltimore Sun that Stronach would sign a 30-year lease to use the property for two months each year for the Preakness.

The plans for the tracks in Laurel and Baltimore are expected to cost $375.5 million.

Supporters of the plans want lawmakers to extend the life of a subsidy for the tracks that is funded by a percentage of slot machine profits by each of the state’s casinos, the newspaper reported. If the backers get their way, that money would be used to help pay off $348 million worth of bonds that the stadium authority will have to issue.

Forte works out, waits for Belmont Stakes clearance

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NEW YORK — Forte, the early Kentucky Derby favorite who was scratched on the day of the race, worked out in preparation for a possible start in the Belmont Stakes on June 10.

Under regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr., Forte worked five-eighths of a mile for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. It was the colt’s second workout since being scratched from the Derby on May 6.

“It seems like he’s maintained his fitness level,” Pletcher said. “It seems like everything is in good order.”

Forte was placed on a mandatory 14-day veterinary list after being scratched from the Derby because of a bruised right front foot. In order to be removed from the list, the colt had to work in front of a state veterinarian and give a blood sample afterward, the results of which take five days.

“There’s protocols in place and we had to adhere to those and we’re happy that everything went smoothly,” Pletcher said. “We felt confident the horse was in good order or we wouldn’t have been out there twice in the last six days, but you still want to make sure everything went smoothly and we’re happy everything did go well.”

Pletcher said Kingsbarns, who finished 14th in the Kentucky Derby, will miss the Belmont. The colt is showing signs of colic, although he is fine, the trainer said.

Another Pletcher-trained horse, Prove Worthy, is under consideration for the Belmont. He also has Tapit Trice, who finished seventh in the Derby, being pointed toward the Belmont.

Judge grants Churchill Downs’ request for summary judgment to dismiss Bob Baffert’s lawsuit

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Abbey Cutrer/USA TODAY NETWORK
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge has granted Churchill Downs’ motion for summary judgment that dismisses Bob Baffert’s claim the track breached due process by suspending the Hall of Fame trainer for two years.

Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Baffert in June 2021 after his now-deceased colt, Medina Spirit, failed a postrace drug test after crossing the finish line first in the 147th Kentucky Derby. The trainer’s request to lift the discipline was denied in February, keeping him out of the Derby for a second consecutive May.

U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings ruled in a 12-page opinion issued Wednesday that Churchill Downs’ suspension of Baffert did not devalue his Kentucky trainer’s license. It cited his purse winnings exceeding $1 million at Keeneland in Lexington and stated that his argument “amounts to a false analogy that distorts caselaw.”

Jennings denied CDI’s motion to stay discovery as moot.

The decision comes less than a week after Baffert-trained colt National Treasure won the Preakness in his first Triple Crown race in two years. His record eighth win in the second jewel of the Triple Crown came hours after another of his horses, Havnameltdown, was euthanized following an injury at Pimlico.

Churchill Downs said in a statement that it was pleased with the court’s favorable ruling as in Baffert’s other cases.

It added, “While he may choose to file baseless appeals, this completes the seemingly endless, arduous and unnecessary litigation proceedings instigated by Mr. Baffert.”

Baffert’s suspension is scheduled to end on June 2, but the track’s release noted its right to extend it “and will communicate our decision” at its conclusion.