State purchase of Laurel Park approved for second time
Purchase enjoys industry support
Frank Vespe
July 1, 2026
Maryland’s Board of Public Works on July 1 approved – for the second time – the Maryland Stadium Authority’s (MSA) request to purchase Laurel Park to serve as the training center for the state’s Thoroughbred industry.
Coupled with the ongoing work at Pimlico and the state’s recent purchase of the Preakness intellectual property rights, the $48.5 million acquisition brings the state’s racing industry once again under one umbrella.
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“Today’s acquisition underscores our state’s commitment to preserve its horse racing industry, one that employs almost 30,000 Marylanders and generates over $3 billion in activity,” Lt. Governor Aruna Miller, who chairs the BPW, said in prepared remarks. “For decades, Laurel Park has been a central part of Maryland’s racing history, hosting world-famous steeds like Secretariat and War Admiral. Now it will become a place that trains the next generation of Triple Crown champions.”
“The purchase of Laurel is critically important as a training center,” Jim Dresher, chairman of the board of the Maryland Jockey Club (TMJC), told the BPW members. “We need Laurel as a training center to make sure that we have year‑round racing here in the state. It’s a critical piece to allowing Maryland’s thoroughbred industry and racing industry to thrive.”
The purchase concludes a training center saga that began with the ill-advised purchase, by the now-shuttered Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority, of a Shamrock Farm site that proved unsuitable for the purpose. Once the MSA became involved, it estimated that it would cost more than $200 million to turn that property into a training center – dollars that would eat into the available funding for the rebuilding of Pimlico.
The second approval became necessary when, in late April, the Legislative Policy Committee pumped the brakes on the project, sensibly requesting a cost-benefit analysis after the issues with Shamrock. That analysis, the MSA indicated in written materials, revealed that the “all in” cost for Laurel – including purchase and renovation – would be $177 million as opposed to at least $212 million for Shamrock.
“With your approval, today’s acquisition will ensure both the Pimlico redevelopment and training center projects remain on track to be completed within MSA’s budgeted authorized amount by the General Assembly,” said MSA chairman Craig Thompson. “MSA estimates that the pivot to Laurel Park [from Shamrock] will save the state roughly $50 million.”
“The initial investment at Laurel Park will primarily be focused on replacing outdated living conditions for the workers and horses on the backstretch,” the MSA writeup said.
Though the decision makes economic sense and has widespread industry support, it nevertheless was subject to a discussion that Lt. Gov. Miller described as “spirited.”
State Treasurer Dereck Davis, who previously has expressed skepticism about this project, renewed his concerns during the meeting and suggested that the support for racing might be more about “nostalgia” than a hard look at the numbers.
“My concern is that we’re making a big bet on horse racing, and frankly I just don’t see it,” Davis, whose position is chosen by the members of the General Assembly, said. “We can talk about the revenue, but what about the cost? We put literally hundreds of millions of dollars into this, and we have to look at the opportunity cost, and I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but I don’t want that to get missed. The opportunity cost: what else can we be, we could have been doing, and can be doing with that same revenue.”
In the end, Davis, like fellow members Miller and state Comptroller Brooke Lierman, supported the project, Davis indicating he was following the will of the Legislative Policy Committee.
“One of the benefits of every dollar spent on the training facility, on the [intellectual property] on Preakness itself, and the consistent [120 days of] races associated with it is the employment of 28,000 Marylanders and the homes that are sustained, the legacies, the lives that are maintained, and families that are built as a result of this industry,” MSA chairman Thompson said, adding, “There are 28,000, close to 30,000 Marylanders who benefit daily from every dollar that’s spent in this industry, or invested in this industry.”
NOTE As for Shamrock Farm, officials said that the Stadium Authority was taking steps towards selling it in hopes that the state could recoup all or a significant portion of the $4.5 million it paid to purchase the property.
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