Preakness, Pimlico left out of new race series by Churchill Downs, Belmont

Just days after state officials announced they had finalized an $85 million deal to acquire the rights to the Preakness Stakes, they learned that Pimlico had been excluded from a new championship racing series organized by the other two Triple Crown tracks.

Churchill Downs Inc. and the New York Racing Association Inc. announced Monday that they are launching a six-race, five-month Thoroughbred Championship Series to be run at Churchill Downs, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. Three-year-old thoroughbreds that compete in the series will get points across the season, with a $5 million prize pool for the series, in addition to individual race purses.

Officials with the two organizations said the championship series, which is scheduled to start in 2027, is designed to create a season-long competition that will encourage the best horses in the field to compete against each other repeatedly. Races at Churchill Downs will be broadcast nationally on NBC while races at NYRA tracks, Belmont and Saratoga, will be broadcast on Fox.

“The Thoroughbred Championship Series will extend the excitement of the sport across a five-month season,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs Inc., in the announcement of the series. “This series gives … fans a reason to stay engaged with the sport’s biggest stars throughout the season. By connecting these premier events through one championship, we’re creating a season-long storyline that benefits the future of thoroughbred racing.”

The series will run from May through September, with the first two races at the Kentucky Derby in May and the Belmont Stakes in June, the first and third races of Triple Crown. The Preakness, the second race in the Triple Crown, was skipped over for the championship series.

State finalizes deal to buy rights to Preakness for $85 million

Other races in the series would be the Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs in July, the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga in late July or early August, the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in late August and the final Championship Race at Churchill Downs in September.

“This series is designed to showcase the sport’s best 3-year-olds across a season-long championship, elevating our biggest events and creating the next generation of fans,” David O’Rourke, NYRA president and CEO, said in the announcement.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s office declined comment on Monday’s announcement and the Maryland Jockey Club, which will operate races in the state under the state’s new ownership, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

But state Republicans were quick to jump on the news, saying that the state’s decision to buy the rights to the Preakness and the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes will leave taxpayers “with the financial responsibility while others continue shaping the future of racing.”

“For months, the governor claimed he had ‘saved the Preakness.’ But this announcement makes clear that owning the trademark isn’t the same as owning the future of the sport,” said Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey (R-Upper Shore).

I warned that Maryland wasn’t buying certainty, we were buying risk. The Governor chose to own the liability rather than secure a long-term partnership with the industry’s most influential organizations. Today, Churchill Downs and NYRA have shown exactly where they believe the future of Thoroughbred racing lies, and Maryland was on the outside looking in,” Hershey said.

Hershey said that the new series gives owners and trainers an incentive to build their schedules around the Preakness, putting it at a disadvantage in the fight for the sport’s best horses.

“The long-term financial implications remain to be seen, but any development that diminishes the prestige or commercial value of the Preakness should concern those responsible for repaying the bonds issued to acquire these rights,” he said.

Carstanjen shook Maryland officials this spring when he announced that Churchill Downs Inc. had agreed to purchase intellectual property rights to the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes from 1/ST Maryland LLC, the company that owned and operated both. But the state’s deal with 1/ST gave it a right to match that offer, which it did.

Moore announced Friday that the state had finalized the purchase, with not tax dollars involved but with funds from notes issued by the Maryland Economic Development Corp. Those notes are supposed to be repaid with revenues from the two races.

Rights to the Preakness were just the latest investment in racing by the state, which bought and is investing $400 million in the renovation of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

The state also bought Shamrock Farms in Carroll County in the last year, with plans to turn it into a training center. Those plans were abandoned when the state encountered financial and logistical problems with the site, and the state is now in the process of buying Laurel Park for $48.5 million to make it the state training center.