Sagamore in the running to be training center?
Frank Vespe
November 18, 2025
The historic Sagamore Farm site is a better training center location than Shamrock Farm for several reasons, a Sagamore representative claimed in an August email presentation to Gov. Wes Moore’s assistant chief of staff.
The presentation is part of more than 100 pages of documents produced in response to a public records request initiated by the Baltimore Banner. The Banner’s story detailing the Sagamore efforts is here.
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The email was part of a flurry of activity in an effort by Sagamore Ventures Vice-President Brendan Tizard to pitch the state of Maryland on buying the more than 500-acre property, which has been listed for $18.5 million.
A planned visit by Gov. Moore’s Deputy Chief of Staff Manny Welsh, Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) chairman Craig Thompson, and MSA executive vice-president Gary McGuigan did not come about in August after scheduling conflicts arose. But the Banner story confirmed that such a visit did take place in mid-October.
The August outreach, and any subsequent visit, notably came more than three months after Maryland’s Board of Public Works signed off on the expenditure of $4.5 million to purchase Shamrock Farm, in Woodbine, to serve as the training center to support racing at Pimlico as part of the so-called Pimlico Plus plan.
The Maryland Stadium Authority’s purchase of the Shamrock property, for $4.48 million, closed Oct. 6.
Tizard’s presentation takes dead aim at perceived question marks regarding the Shamrock site, listing 10 reasons “we think Sagamore deserves another look,” he said in an email.
Among those are its “ideal track development site” featuring “naturally flat, well-drained” land and its “on-site water infrastructure,” noted as “a major cost and permitting advantage over undeveloped land.” Both have been raised as potential concerns with the Shamrock site.
Moreover, the presentation adds, “Sagamore has what Shamrock doesn’t: barns, paddocks, staff housing, utilities, and operational training facilities already in place.”
Sagamore, owned by Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank, was originally in the Vanderbilt family and has long been a crown jewel of Maryland racing. The barn and gravesite of Native Dancer, considered one of racing’s all-time greats, are on the property. In more recent years, Plank’s operation campaigned 2010 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Shared Account.
But Plank has lately been shedding property as Under Armour’s performance has lagged. Sagamore Farm left the horse racing business in 2020.
The original choice of Shamrock was made by the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority as part of the Pimlico Plus plan it developed. The Authority, however, was abruptly sunsetted by the state legislature in its most recent session, and an October legislative audit of the Authority slammed what it called “significant instances of noncompliance with applicable laws, rules, or regulations.”
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