Looks Like At Least 1 More Year At Pimlico...

[TheGarMan]

Well , it looks like we get at least one more year at Pimlico. Stronach is in a tough spot here.

(Link to today's Baltimore Sun article below)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/preakness/bs-md-preakness-future-site-20180510-story.html

[dilanesp]

Well , it looks like we get at least one more year at Pimlico. Stronach is in a tough spot here.

(Link to today's Baltimore Sun article below)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/preakness/bs-md-preakness-future-site-20180510-story.html

I love how the writer just completely buys into the government's false claim that the law can prevent Stronach from moving the race.

"The Preakness" is a trademark. It is registered under federal law and governed by the Lanham Act. Stronach has the exclusive right to use that mark anywhere in the US in connection with a horse race.

Any state law that purports to contradict that is facially invalid under the Supremacy Clause. And good luck to Maryland in getting a California, Texas, or Florida court to issue an injunction against Stronach running it at another track.

[wisconsin]

Just can't see Laurel hosting that kind of attendance, since they made the apron smaller. The infield is a large valley. The area east of the plant is narrow and has a road running behind it. The only open land is around the clubhouse turn. Been there. No way it can handle anything north of 40k people efficiently.

[PowerUpPaynter]

Move it to Monmouth! Preakness the horse was from NJ.

[Tom]

Good news - Pimlico is my favorite track.
Wish it was running longer than it does now.

I can honestly say that watching from home, I have not seen any decline in the physical plant over the years! :rolleyes:

[dilanesp]

Just can't see Laurel hosting that kind of attendance, since they made the apron smaller. The infield is a large valley. The area east of the plant is narrow and has a road running behind it. The only open land is around the clubhouse turn. Been there. No way it can handle anything north of 40k people efficiently.

Laurel would have to completely rebuild.

My guess is it stays at Pimlico and Stronach gets the state or city to put some money into renovations.

Second most probable is Santa Anita, followed by an unsuccessful lawsuit by Maryland and Baltimore.

[TheGarMan]

I can honestly say that watching from home, I have not seen any decline in the physical plant over the years! :rolleyes:

Oh the stories.. :D

A few years back our section had to go without bathrooms for the entire afternoon. And I have seen plenty of signs of a leaky roof over the years. And the upstairs air conditioning can be "hit or miss" depending on the outside temps.

But, on the whole, it's honestly not THAT BAD though...

Sure, it still feels like 1957 when you walk through the place, but I don't mind. (It's part of the charm)

I keep going back year after year.

To be honest, if one thing was going to keep me away, it isn't the sketchy neighborhood, or the aging venue.

It's the rising ticket cost.

We have a nice block of 8 or 9 seats. We are inside , near the finish line. Our seats were around $100, then $105, then $115, this year they are ONE THIRTY SEVEN per seat. Plus parking. So, yea, I don't mind the aging structure as much as I mind the costs that apparently come with a facility that is only in use 12 days a year.

The next few years could be interesting :D

Edit: Funny thought: When I leave my seat after the Preakness, there is a 90% chance another human does not sit in that seat for the entire next 364 days , until I come back.

[dilanesp]

Oh the stories.. :D

A few years back our section had to go without bathrooms for the entire afternoon. And I have seen plenty of signs of a leaky roof over the years. And the upstairs air conditioning can be "hit or miss" depending on the outside temps.

But, on the whole, it's honestly not THAT BAD though...

Sure, it still feels like 1957 when you walk through the place, but I don't mind. (It's part of the charm)

I keep going back year after year.

To be honest, if one thing was going to keep me away, it isn't the sketchy neighborhood, or the aging venue.

It's the rising ticket cost.

We have a nice block of 8 or 9 seats. We are inside , near the finish line. Our seats were around $100, then $105, then $115, this year they are ONE THIRTY SEVEN per seat. Plus parking. So, yea, I don't mind the aging structure as much as I mind the costs.

The next few years could be interesting :D

That's actually less than I thought it would be for that seat (the equivalent seat for the Derby has got to be $1000 +, and the equivalent seat at the BC is $350).

That may militate slightly towards the theory that Stronach will move the Preakness. It may be he is leaving a lot of money on the table by holding it at Pimlico.

[Tom]

Edit: Funny thought: When I leave my seat after the Preakness, there is a 90% chance another human does not sit in that seat for the entire next 364 days , until I come back.

What are the odds quite a few people are SLEEPING in it (or worse!) 363 days? :lol:

Last time I was there, I was in the ground floor Men's room.
I was not terribly offended that there was urine on the floor, but I did object that there appeared to be a CURRENT in it!

But I love the place!

[TheGarMan]

I was not terribly offended that there was urine on the floor, but I did object that there appeared to be a CURRENT in it!



Tom, that is the funniest thing I read all day..

Describes Pimlico perfectly!

It may be a hole in the wall, but its OUR hole in the wall!

Thanks for the laugh! :lol:

[JustRalph]

Oh the stories.. :D

A few years back our section had to go without bathrooms for the entire afternoon. And I have seen plenty of signs of a leaky roof over the years. And the upstairs air conditioning can be "hit or miss" depending on the outside temps.

But, on the whole, it's honestly not THAT BAD though...

Sure, it still feels like 1957 when you walk through the place, but I don't mind. (It's part of the charm)

I keep going back year after year.

To be honest, if one thing was going to keep me away, it isn't the sketchy neighborhood, or the aging venue.

It's the rising ticket cost.

We have a nice block of 8 or 9 seats. We are inside , near the finish line. Our seats were around $100, then $105, then $115, this year they are ONE THIRTY SEVEN per seat. Plus parking. So, yea, I don't mind the aging structure as much as I mind the costs that apparently come with a facility that is only in use 12 days a year.

The next few years could be interesting :D

Edit: Funny thought: When I leave my seat after the Preakness, there is a 90% chance another human does not sit in that seat for the entire next 364 days , until I come back.

Take some duct tape and put under where the seat folds so if anybody folds it down it breaks, and see if it’s still intact next year:lol:

[JustRalph]

About 8 years ago CJ’s Dad took me on a beautiful tour of the neighborhoods surrounding Pim on the Friday before the Preakness. 30 yrs before he had been a cab driver near there and just about everywhere else in Baltimore.

We spent two hours or more talking to people, cruising some really rough areas and buying bottled water from the curbside sellers. We got out of the car twice to talk to people he recognized. I went into it worried but it turned out to be a very good experience. I had the perfect tour guide. We hit the track just in time for the first race.

The one takeaway from that two hours is how pissed Dennis was about how badly the area had fallen apart. If they take the Preakness from that area, what takes its place?

[Tom]

I used to go to Baltimore frequently for work and had to go in some rough areas. This little convenient store I stopped at every trip had bullet holes in the doorway, but hey, they had the Racing Times inside! And Crab Chips!

One year at Toga, Denis brought me up a care package full of Crab Chips and Tasty Cakes, which I couldn't get around here back then. Nice thing to do for a guy he only met on the internet.
I was thinking of him today, playing Pimlico.:ThmbUp:

[JustRalph]

He took me on a couple of those tours in different areas. Including another pim trip where one of his buddies was with us and it was about a week before the Preakness and there were city crews out painting everything that moved prior to the party. Dennis buddy was heckling them out the window. It was hysterical.

[Big Russ]

I was there on Thursday and Friday. My first trip back in 7 years. On opening day, the 2nd floor of the grandstand was off limits unless you were attending the Sherwin Williams pro paint show. Escalator to top of grandstand was working so up I went. I was pretty much the only one there, except for a few stragglers sitting in the lower box seats having some lunch from the paint show. I wandered the plant for 2 days, getting some pictures. Stayed in Hunt Valley and decided to drive through the city on way to airport Sunday. Drove right down Monroe...sad looking as hell. Absolutely hopeless. Almost made the neighborhood around Pimlico look charming.

[Grits]

Belmont, 2nd floor clubhouse. The last three years.

2015 - $175.00
2016 - $225.00
2017 - $250.00
2018 - I'll know when I get to NY...

Gar Man, if there's a TC on the line, you all come to Belmont. But, plan to let go of a chunk of change there as well. I've attended the last 17 of them....and, of course, it gets more and more steep each year. I don't fuss, though, as I think it's the best day of racing on the calendar year.

The price of all sporting events is tremendous...horse racing shouldn't be any different on our biggest days. However, there is no way anyone would find me paying $400+ to sit on bleachers at Churchill Downs! That is simply nuts!!

[dilanesp]

Belmont, 2nd floor clubhouse. The last three years.

2015 - $175.00
2016 - $225.00
2017 - $250.00
2018 - I'll know when I get to NY...

Gar Man, if there's a TC on the line, you all come to Belmont. But, plan to let go of a chunk of change there as well. I've attended the last 17 of them....and, of course, it gets more and more steep each year. I don't fuss, though, as I think it's the best day of racing on the calendar year.

The price of all sporting events is tremendous...horse racing shouldn't be any different on our biggest days. However, there is no way anyone would find me paying $400+ to sit on bleachers at Churchill Downs! That is simply nuts!!

Absolutely. If we want the sport to thrive, having big days where rich people unload money on the sport is quite important to the business model.

[JustRalph]

Absolutely. If we want the sport to thrive, having big days where rich people unload money on the sport is quite important to the business model.

Rich people? How many of those do you think are coming to Pimlico

[dilanesp]

Rich people? How many of those do you think are coming to Pimlico

A whole bunch come every year.

[7horses]

This is my 18th year in a row attending the Preakness.
And my last year.

A 20% increase in the ticket price is one factor. The money is not the issue, its the MD Jockey Clubs refusal to do anything to make it just a little nicer or safer. They have a screw the patron attitude.

If they would just fix the broken steps in the grandstand I would be happy.

On top of that they have decided to ban bringing in your own water (you can still bring food subject to their packaging requirements). And if you are in the infield you can no longer bring water OR food.

Neither of these "security rule" changes have been pointed out to the general public.

[dilanesp]

This is my 18th year in a row attending the Preakness.
And my last year.

A 20% increase in the ticket price is one factor. The money is not the issue, its the MD Jockey Clubs refusal to do anything to make it just a little nicer or safer. They have a screw the patron attitude.

If they would just fix the broken steps in the grandstand I would be happy.

On top of that they have decided to ban bringing in your own water (you can still bring food subject to their packaging requirements). And if you are in the infield you can no longer bring water OR food.

Neither of these "security rule" changes have been pointed out to the general public.

I don't know about the security issues, but the fundamental reason they don't fix up Pimlico is that 98 percent of the plant is only used two days a year and the track loses a ton of money the rest of the year due to well-documented and longstanding problems with Maryland racing.

(In contrast, Churchill and Belmont also have large portions of the plant that are only used a couple of days a year, but Churchill and NYRA are more financially successful the rest of the year. And also, portions of Churchill are pretty dumpy too, though nobody talks about it.)

And that's where all the talk of moving the Preakness comes from. How much is the Maryland Jockey Club supposed to spend to renovate or rebuild a racing plant that will sit empty for 363 days a year?

If it weren't for political and tradition issues, i.e., if the only issue were "where can Stronach most profitably stage the Preakness?", the race would have actually moved to Santa Anita after Hollywood Park closed and Santa Anita started racing in May.

So the question is, seriously, how much money are the city of Baltimore and the State of Maryland going to put up to pay for the renovation of the racing plant? Because that's the only way this race is staying at Pimlico for the long term.

[TheGarMan]

This is my 18th year in a row attending the Preakness.
And my last year.

A 20% increase in the ticket price is one factor. The money is not the issue, its the MD Jockey Clubs refusal to do anything to make it just a little nicer or safer. They have a screw the patron attitude.

If they would just fix the broken steps in the grandstand I would be happy.

On top of that they have decided to ban bringing in your own water (you can still bring food subject to their packaging requirements). And if you are in the infield you can no longer bring water OR food.

Neither of these "security rule" changes have been pointed out to the general public.

Great point! - We always brought our own soda and water and this year that policy has changed. We are very upset about it, but of course Stronach could care less. And worse yet, most folks showing up will not be aware , resulting in hundreds if not thousands of upset people at the gates (Great way to start the day!)

Unreal...

[JustRalph]

A friend of a friend tells me that Pimilico is on the list of real estate that the U.S. Army wants to convert to a military style base in cooperation with the NSA.

Now that could be a problem......

[cj]

I don't know about the security issues, but the fundamental reason they don't fix up Pimlico is that 98 percent of the plant is only used two days a year and the track loses a ton of money the rest of the year due to well-documented and longstanding problems with Maryland racing.

(In contrast, Churchill and Belmont also have large portions of the plant that are only used a couple of days a year, but Churchill and NYRA are more financially successful the rest of the year. And also, portions of Churchill are pretty dumpy too, though nobody talks about it.)

And that's where all the talk of moving the Preakness comes from. How much is the Maryland Jockey Club supposed to spend to renovate or rebuild a racing plant that will sit empty for 363 days a year?

If it weren't for political and tradition issues, i.e., if the only issue were "where can Stronach most profitably stage the Preakness?", the race would have actually moved to Santa Anita after Hollywood Park closed and Santa Anita started racing in May.

So the question is, seriously, how much money are the city of Baltimore and the State of Maryland going to put up to pay for the renovation of the racing plant? Because that's the only way this race is staying at Pimlico for the long term.

I'd be surprised if Maryland is losing money the rest of the year. Laurel has really improved the product and seems to have gained in popularity.

http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/maryland-jockey-clubs-total-handle-in-2017-tops-600-million/