After 115 years, Laurel Park was supposed to be headed the way of the dodo.

After hosting a one-off Preakness Stakes in 2026, it would remain Maryland thoroughbred racing’s headquarters for another year or so, then cede that role to a spiffed up Pimlico Race Course. A track with little identity to racing fans outside Maryland would fade into obsolescence with minimal fanfare.

Then, a reprieve.

Plans to build a state-of-the-art training center at Carroll County’s Shamrock Farm fell apart, and state officials turned back to Laurel Park, announcing plans to purchase the track from 1/ST racing for $48.5 million. That deal is on hold for 45 days as a panel of state senators and delegates reviews it, but Maryland’s leading trainers, used to doing their daily work at Laurel Park, have generally celebrated the facility’s new lease on life.

Jockey Kevin Gomez rides What Say Thee to the winners circle at Laurel Park Race Track.
Jockey Kevin Gomez rides What Say Thee to the winner’s circle. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)

Laurel Park is about to be in the national spotlight as never before as it hosts the second jewel of the Triple Crown for the first time. This will be a sharply different Preakness, and not just because Maryland’s signature race is moving 30 miles from its customary home at Pimlico.

With a large portion of its grandstand roped off for safety reasons and its infield closed to patrons, Laurel Park will welcome a crowd capped at 4,800 on Saturday. Though there will be a few hospitality tents overlooking the stretch run and a temporary stage for the presentation of the Woodlawn Vase, visitors will see little other evidence that Laurel is hosting one of the country’s classic races.

What Laurel Park is and has been for the last century is a working racetrack where Maryland’s trainers, jockeys, backstretch workers and gambling tellers keep one of the state’s oldest industries on its feet.

“I think it’s a beautiful racetrack,” said one of Laurel Park’s leading trainers, Brittany Russell, who will saddle Taj Mahal for the Preakness. “If you come here on a regular race day, you can have a great day. It’s nice inside, a nice atmosphere. It’s just a place to come to watch horse racing. I like bringing my kids to Laurel.”

Guests and workers move around the Laurel Park Race Track grounds.
Guests and employees filter past the racetrack. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Eighteen-year-old jockey Yesdit Hazlewood loosens the girth on Lein On Her in the winners circle after winning Race 4, a turf race, at Laurel Park Race Track.
Eighteen-year-old jockey Yesdit Hazlewood loosens the girth on Lein On Her in the winner’s circle after winning a turf race. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
A group gets a tour of the winners circle at Laurel Park Race Track.
A visiting group in fancy racing attire takes a tour of the winner’s circle. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Spectators watch Race 6 at Laurel Park Race Track on Preakness Preview Day.
A spectator takes in Race 6 on Preakness Preview Day. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)

The ghosts of Preakness past danced at Pimlico, no matter how rundown the facility became. Laurel Park, which opened Oct. 2, 1911, under the auspices of the Laurel County Fair, cannot match that history, but plenty of the country’s most brilliant racehorses have run there.

A 2-year-old Secretariat won the Laurel Futurity in 1972, and Affirmed did the same in 1977. Fellow Triple Crown winners Sir Barton, War Admiral and Whirlaway all triumphed on the Laurel dirt.

Seabiscuit used the track to prepare for his famous 1938 match race with War Admiral, finishing second to a record performance in the Laurel Stakes two weeks before the big showdown.

Laurel Park entered its modern era in 1984, when Frank J. De Francis and his partners, Robert and Tommy Manfuso, purchased the track, pouring millions of dollars into a new sports palace for bettors and improvements to the clubhouse and concessions areas.

Guests sit near the bar at Laurel Park Race Track.
Guests eat and drink between races at the track’s bar. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Al Ghadimi, 90, of Laurel, has been coming to the Laurel Park Race Track for around 40 years after a friend brought him to check it out one day. “I know all those ding-dongs” he says, referring to fellow gamblers at the track. He says about 90% of the time he loses, but on this particular bet he made a few dollars.
Al Ghadimi, 90, of Laurel, has been coming to the track for about 40 years. “I know all those ding-dongs,” he says, referring to fellow gamblers. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Al Ghadimi’s winning bets. Netting him around $10.
Ghadimi says about 90% of the time he loses, but on this bet he made a few dollars. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
From left, Nolan Byron, Miguel Paz, and John Paz work the kitchen on the stable side of Laurel Park Race Track. John is the 17-year-old grandson of Miguel.
From left, Nolan Byron, Miguel Paz and his grandson John Paz, 17, work the kitchen on the stable side of the track. Miguel has been there since 1993, and several of his family members work in the kitchen, too. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)

As Pimlico faded, Laurel Park became the day-to-day home for most of the state’s leading horsepeople, not to mention those who operate the races and document Maryland’s racing history. During the Stronach family’s quarter-century reign over Maryland racing, there was talk that Laurel might become permanent home to the Preakness, a politically tumultuous notion that never gained traction in Annapolis. When the legislature finally passed a new plan in 2024 to fund Maryland racing’s future, Pimlico, not Laurel Park, was the focus.

Through all the ebbs and flows, Laurel Park never lost its chief constituency — the people who actually prepare horses to run every weekend. They’re delighted to see the old place get its day in the sun with this 151st running of the Preakness.

“I’m happy Laurel gets to stage the big day,” said Sheldon Russell, who will ride Taj Mahal for his wife, Brittany. “It’s a beautiful racetrack. The grandstand is awesome. For me, it’s a big deal.”

Horses leave the paddock at Laurel Park Race Track ahead of a race.
Horses leave the paddock ahead of a race. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Gamblers review their booklets at Laurel Park Race Track.
Gamblers review their booklets in front of a wall of television screens. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Old wager windows are closed up during regular live racing days at Laurel Park Race Track.
Old wager windows are closed during regular live racing days. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Dave Turowski, 70, helps guests place bets at Laurel Park Race Track. Turowski first came to the track when he was young with his stepfather, and later, in 1979, began working at Laurel. The biggest thing he’s noticed change in horse racing is technology, noting that machine betting and simulcasting has resulted in a loss of in-person customers and jobs.
Dave Turowski, 70, helps guests place bets. Turowski first came to the track when he was young with his stepfather, and later, in 1979, began working at Laurel. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Eighteen-year-old jockey Yedsit Hazlewood is covered in dirt following a race at Laurel Park Race Track.
Jockey Yedsit Hazlewood is covered in dirt following a race. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
An outrider leaves the paddock at Laurel Park Race Track.
An outrider leaves the paddock. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Charles Manning, 72, has worked at Laurel Park Race Traci for forty years. His mother worked at the track when Manning was 3-years-old for a similar amount of time. He grew up coming Laurel and Pimlico with his family, living in the neighborhood near Laurel Park. Over the years he’s seen the area develop and change.
Charles Manning, 72, has worked at Laurel Park for 40 years, preceded by his mother, whose career spanned decades. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
A horse stretches its legs outside of the stables at Laurel Park Race Track.
A horse stretches its legs outside the stables. (KT Kanazawich for The Banner)