By Bill Finley
The Stronach Group has grand plans for the future of Laurel Park, including hosting a future Breeders' Cup.
Sal Sinatra, the president and general manager of Laurel and sister track Pimlico, said that members of Stronach's management team have informed Breeders' Cup officials that they would like Laurel to be considered as a future site for the year-end championship event, possibly as soon as 2018. With sites set for this year and in 2017, 2018 is the next available open slot for a Breeders' Cup.
Laurel is in the midst of a massive renovation project that is estimated to cost around $200 million. When it is done, the track will somewhat follow the model of Gulfstream Park, where restaurants, bars and a shopping center make up a multi-purpose facility that has become much more than a racetrack.
“Frank [Stronach] wants to make Laurel his third jewel along with Santa Anita and Gulfstream,” Sinatra said. “The Breeders' Cup has not been held on the East Coast in a long time [since 2007 at Monmouth Park] and we believe that not only is it time for it to be run in this part of the country but that Laurel would be a perfect place to do so. We have a great turf course, we have all the advantages that come with being in close proximity to Washington, D.C. and this is going to be a spectacular facility when we are done. I'm not sure we'll be ready to have the Breeders' Cup in 2018 or not, but we definitely want to have one here.”
Sinatra said that most of the work on the first floor of the building has been completed. Stronach will visit Laurel in person next week, and after he consults with Sinatra and other members of the Laurel team, the next phase of the renovation project is set to begin.
With so much effort and expense being put into Laurel it might seem reasonable to move the GI Preakness S. to that racetrack. Sinatra would not rule out that some day the Preakness could go from Pimlico to Laurel, but said no such plans are imminent.
“The Preakness will be run at Pimlico for the foreseeable future,” he said. “We are working with the state on options for upgrading the facility and studies are being done for feasability.”
Sinatra envisions Laurel some day becoming a “hub track” for the Mid-Atlantic region. Colonial Downs did not race in 2015 and its future is up in the air. Delaware Park has seen its business slip in part due to short fields.
“We had several talks with Delaware and the people in Virginia last year about creating a circuit, but weren't able to work anything out,” Sinatra said. “The people at Delaware Park were not interested, and that's something we can't control. One thing is certain, that with this turf course here and what we can do with it, Laurel needs to be racing in the summer. But with the foal crop declining and everyone struggling so much to fill fields, some sort of circuit in this area seems almost inevitable.”
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