Laurel Park waited 114 years for the Preakness. It may be a farewell as much as a debut – NBC4 Washington

The crowds that when packed Laurel Park dressed of their finest to observe champions like Secretariat and Seabiscuit have lengthy since disappeared. For one last weekend, they’re coming again.

Grandstands that usually sit empty will once more fill with patterns in tailor-made fits, flowing clothes and classy hats as Laurel Park hosts the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. It will be the first time the monitor has hosted the race and is a last chapter of types, with racing anticipated to finish subsequent 12 months earlier than the property is transformed into a coaching facility.

“It’s going to be a really special day,” mentioned jockey Sheldon Russell, who will trip hometown horse Taj Mahal — educated by his spouse, Brittany Russell — at the couple’s longtime dwelling monitor. “It’s kind of sad because they’re going to get this moment in the spotlight on their way out.”

Founded in 1911, Laurel is the newest of many storied racetracks to shut in latest a long time as attendance dwindles and playing more and more strikes on-line. To the individuals who nonetheless spend their days there, the loss goes past the betting window.

“The current event is what we have,” mentioned longtime Maryland coach Ferris Allen. “The gambling dollar can be put into a slot machine, put on a roulette wheel. It can be put on a crap table. But the pageantry and the majesty of the race horse, you can’t get that out of a casino.”

The individuals who stayed

Laurel has served as every part from a World War I navy camp to a cease for rock legends like Led Zeppelin. Its signature races, together with the Washington International and Laurel Futurity, eleven drew celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor. It’s a wealthy historical past the Laurel Historical Society is utilizing to spotlight with an exhibit this month.

Bob DiPietro remembers what it seemed like rising up.

“You would go to Laurel on a Saturday and find thousands of people,” mentioned DiPietro, who served as Laurel’s mayor from 1978 to 1986. “Men were in suits. Women were dressed to the nines. And you went there to have a great time from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock.”

Things look totally different now. On many race days, solely a couple hundred individuals scatter throughout the monitor’s apron whereas much of the grandstand sits empty. Sections of seats have been ripped out and by no means changed. The venue’s age reveals all through, exemplified by the press field elevator, which nonetheless makes use of an outdated deal with swap as an alternative of up-and-down buttons.

Yet beneath the worn exterior stays a model of the monitor’s outdated spirit — a place the place admission prices nothing. Retirees examine racing kinds beside development staff nonetheless in boots. Conversations bounce between English and Spanish. Some patterns arrive in fits, others in stained work shirts. Regulars greet bartenders by their first names earlier than working to betting home windows with excessive hopes.

“A lot of people don’t realize how interesting horse racing is,” mentioned Danny Dambrauskas, a 77-year-old Laurel resident who first got here to the monitor in the Sixties to promote newspapers as a teenager. “If you can go out here on a beautiful day and watch horses race, it’s terrific. Just terrific.”

For some, the loss will prolong to the monitor itself. Allen, who has racked up greater than 2,300 wins in his profession, mentioned many in the trade lament the lack of a stunning grass course.

Allen has primarily based his operation at Laurel since 1979. He got here to the monitor as a little one, taking a bus from Richmond, Virginia, together with his household to attend the famed Washington International. Over the years, he watched Secretariat race there and educated alongside Hall of Famers together with Spectacular Bid and coach Bud Delp.

“I’ve seen many, many people and horses come and go,” he mentioned. “The recollections of watching that stuff as it occurred and watching these guys day in and day trip was actually particular to me.”

Allen could have a number of horses racing all through Preakness weekend. He does not have a look at it as a last farewell, saying some are nonetheless hopeful Laurel’s destiny will change.

“Never say never,” Allen mentioned. “I understand that’s the plan for it to be closed. But sometimes these plans change.”

An unsure future

Pimlico Race Course, the conventional dwelling of the Preakness, is present process a $400 million redevelopment after Maryland took possession of the monitor in 2024. Under the state’s plan, thoroughbred racing would ultimately consolidate at Pimlico whereas Laurel Park is transformed into a coaching facility.

The state’s $48.5 million acquisition was delayed earlier this week after a legislative committee requested a cost-benefit evaluation and 45-day overview interval. Laurel had beforehand been slated for demolition.

“I get the history of horse racing, but at some point, you know, we have to get to it sink or swim,” state Treasurer Dereck Davis mentioned at a listening to final week. “Can it survive? We can’t keep pouring massive amounts of dollars into this industry, just for the third weekend in May.”

The uncertainty surrounding Laurel comes as horse racing continues to contract nationally. Since 2000, 28 thoroughbred racing tracks have closed throughout the nation, in accordance with information compiled by the Keeneland Library. Freehold Raceway, the nation’s oldest horse racing monitor, closed in 2024. Aqueduct Racetrack in New York is slated to shut later this summer season after greater than 130 years, with newly renovated Belmont Park set to reopen.

Experts level to a vary of pressures, from the rise of on-line playing to scrutiny over horse deaths and therapy.

Yet the sport nonetheless reveals flashes of power. This 12 months’s Kentucky Derby drew a document 19.6 million tv viewers, whereas greater than 150,000 attended in particular person.

“There’s a contraction that has been taking place, and it’s quite painful to a whole lot of people,” Allen mentioned. “But this sport’s not going anywhere.”

A hometown ending

This 12 months’s Preakness arrives with a unusual combine of pleasure and limitation.

Attendance has been capped at 4,800, a steep drop from the greater than 46,000 individuals who attended the Saturday of Preakness weekend final 12 months at Pimlico. Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo may also not run, eliminating any probability for a Triple Crown winner this 12 months.

Still, for these in a position to attend Laurel’s first Preakness since the race started in 1873, the ambiance stays particular.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” mentioned Fred Ball, who has been coming to Laurel since the Nineties. “I’m still excited.”

There can also be the risk of a storybook ending for the monitor itself.

Brittany Russell, whose first win got here at Laurel and who has a barn at the monitor, could have her first horse in the Preakness as she tries to turn out to be the first feminine coach to win the race. The horse, Taj Mahal, has received all three of his roots at Laurel.

“Laurel’s kind of given us everything. It’s gotten my business and my career going, and the fact that my first Preakness runner is going to be here the year it is, it’s pretty cool,” Russell mentioned.

Added her husband forward of his trip this weekend: “I’d be very surprised if anyone leaves and has anything bad to say about Laurel.”