An entertainment company that oversaw the Preakness Stakes horserace in Maryland sold the host track and affiliated intellectual property just weeks before the event.
That organization, 1/ST, pronounced “first,” sold the 229-acre Laurel Park to the state of Maryland for $48.5 million. The state plans to redevelop the complex located midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., into a horse training facility, Gov. Wes Moore said Monday.
On Tuesday, 1/ST — part of The Stronach Group of Aurora, Ontario, near Toronto — agreed to sell all trademarks and associated rights of the Preakness Stakes and another Maryland race for $85 million to Churchill Downs Inc., the owner of the Kentucky Derby racetrack.
The sales of the Maryland racetrack and the event branding close the company’s thoroughbred racing chapter in Maryland. The deals come less than two weeks before the Triple Crown horseracing events kick off with the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, followed by the Preakness weeks later and then the Belmont Stakes.
“We remain [focused] on our core assets in California and Florida and supporting a strong and sustainable future for the sport,” Belinda Stronach, the chairman and CEO of 1/ST, told CoStar News via email. Those properties she referenced include Santa Anita Park near Los Angeles and Gulfstream Park near Miami.
While the Preakness Stakes is traditionally held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, a redevelopment project at that course led the race to be slotted for Laurel Park, where it’s still scheduled to be held on May 16. The Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, a race with intellectual property also being acquired by Churchill Downs, is slated to still take place at Laurel Park the day before.
The Preakness Stakes and the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes are expected to be run next year at Pimlico, the venue that hosted the first Preakness in 1873. The Stronach Group agreed in 2024 to transfer ownership of Pimlico to Maryland.
Key economic driver
Maryland said its equine ecosystem serves as a pillar of the state's economy, generating $3 billion in annual economic activity and supporting more than 28,000 jobs.
Churchill Downs and 1/ST are expected to close on their transaction after the running of this year’s Preakness.
The Maryland Stadium Authority said in January it reached a tentative agreement to acquire Laurel Park. The purchase is projected to save Maryland an estimated $26.3 million in construction costs by using existing support systems for horse stalls rather than building new stables at Pimlico.
“This represents more than a planned acquisition — it represents the preservation of a storied racing facility,” Maryland Stadium Authority Chairman Craig A. Thompson said in a statement earlier this year.
Opened in 1911, the state had leased Laurel Park, a complex with approximately 1,100 horse stalls available for use, from The Stronach Group since January 2025.
Meanwhile, the Stadium Authority is determining what to do with a roughly 328-acre property in Maryland's Carroll County that the state agreed to acquire for about $4.48 million last year and turn into a horse training center. Environmental issues and cost overruns reportedly led it to change course.
The future use of that land, known as Shamrock Farm, may include a horse rescue sanctuary space or recreational development.