Bill Knauf is the president and general manager of the non-profit Maryland Jockey Club Inc., (MJC), which took over the management of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course this year. It's a time of tremendous transition in that state, with Pimlico currently being demolished and rebuilt with the goal of all commercial-track Thoroughbred racing in Maryland moving to the new Baltimore venue by 2027. Laurel will then close for racing and training, and a new training facility at Shamrock Farm in Carroll County will be built.Knauf updated TDN on those longer-term projects and on the current state of racing at Laurel. A transcript of the conversation follows, edited for brevity.TDN: Let's start, please, with an overview of the Pimlico project.BK: Pimlico is currently under demolition and has been for some time now. They're getting down to the final pieces of the building that remain, about a quarter of the building. All of the barn area is demolished, frontside and backside barns. Once they finish that they'll be moving on to cleaning up the site.The next phase that has already been approved by the Maryland Board of Public Works is the infrastructure and laying that throughout the facility. We've got the track all covered up and [its material] stored on the infield.It's exciting to see some progress, keeping it moving. Construction will keep going all through the winter.TDN: Is the goal for the grand opening still the 2027 GI Preakness Stakes?BK: That is the objective, yes.TDN: And at that point, all racing will shift to Pimlico, or do you envision a phased-in transition period? BK: For timelines, I don't think we have that set yet. If for some reason Pimlico is not completely ready, we'll utilize temporary structures [for the Preakness] just like the Preakness has always done in the infield, and then we would just come back to Laurel [to race] until the building is ready to be moved into.TDN: How about a progress report for the Shamrock Farm training center, which will be 20 miles from Pimlico and is projected to have 800 stalls?BK: Shamrock was officially purchased by the state about a week or so ago. The plans for that are still ongoing. The Maryland Stadium Authority [MSA] is in charge of those projects, and we're working with them and the horsemen's group on the layout of that still. The architects are working on a lot of the infrastructure right now.TDN: Shamrock Farm was the name of the property when it was founded by the Rooney family in 1948. Will the MJC be keeping that name or rebranding it? BK: The name Shamrock will stay. TDN: Are you envisioning any sort of construction delays related to the recently doubled tariffs on imported steel and aluminum? Even in projects where those materials are sourced domestically, the increased demand is forcing United States producers to raise prices, and general slowdowns and problems with in supply chains are routinely being reported throughout the construction sector. BK: I haven't heard of any, but I'm probably the wrong person to ask. The MSA is certainly better equipped to answer those types of questions. From my standpoint, we're here to support them on the horse racing infrastructure and programming questions.TDN: When you were an executive at Monmouth Park, you were instrumental in pulling off the 2007 Breeders' Cup there when the track was a first-time host of the event. Maryland has also never hosted a Breeders' Cup. Do you envision that the new Pimlico might be a candidate for hosting the championships? BK: I think it's very early for those types of conversations. However, I think it's hard not to think that we would be a good candidate for it. Going through that experience at Monmouth, I learned an incredible amount and got a flavor and taste of the event and for running it. I think Pimlico, with all the history that it's had, and certainly a great [sports and hospitality] city in Baltimore to host it, I actually think it would be a wonderful site for the Breeders' Cup in the future. I'm not sure when the right timing would be, but we would love it. TDN: In the meantime, you must be well into the planning stages for the 2026 Preakness to be held at Laurel. What can fans and horsemen expect? BK: The Preakness at Laurel will be run, as it was at Pimlico in 2025, with [former owner and operator] The Stronach Group running the event. We will assist them in operating it in all facets of the facility, so yes, we've had plenty of internal meetings to talk about it.Obviously, it's a new venue [for the Preakness], but for people who have not been to Laurel, it's a beautiful facility. It's a gorgeous, large racetrack, so I think there are going to be some really nice advantages for the Preakness to come here. We'll be taking advantage of the extra-wide turf course for undercard races and in the days leading up to it. But obviously, it is going to take a lot more planning, and there will certainly be some changes as it relates to gearing up for an event of that magnitude and size. TDN: On that topic, we have to ask the obligatory “Triple Crown race spacing” question, especially considering that Sovereignty (Into Mischief) won the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Belmont Stakes this season without contesting the Preakness, and only three horses that ran in the Derby also ran in the Preakness. Any movement or thoughts on rearranging the races so there are more than two weeks between the Derby and the Preakness and/or three weeks between the Preakness and the Belmont?BK: We're still at the beginning stages of our media rights deal, and our board will be looking at everything. I think we enter these types of conversations with an open mind, but also certainly acknowledging the history of the Triple Crown. The short answer is we don't have any answer yet. TDN: The situation of Triple Crown race spacing often gets framed like this: Churchill Downs has no reason to move off the first Saturday in May. The various entities who have controlled Maryland racing over the past few decades seem willing to talk about changing the Preakness date because the second jewel is clearly the most adversely affected race of the three. The New York Racing Association is often portrayed as not being willing to budge off moving the Belmont from its early June date. Is that a fair characterization of what's going on? BK: Well, I haven't spoken to either [of the other host tracks] on it, really. So I wouldn't want to put words in anybody's mouth, because I'm not really sure what everybody's thinking. I think what we're focusing on right now is obviously the media rights portion of the Preakness. That's a long process, and we want to make sure we do it right. Obviously the date [of the Preakness] is a major factor in that, but we want to do it so it's a strong fit for the new MJC and everything we want to showcase. I think we're going to approach it first from our own viewpoint, and then once we have an idea where we would want to go, we'll talk to those [other tracks]. TDN: As the Laurel meet gets into the second month of its fall season, please give us a “state of the union” overview.BK: We started off the year at a slow gallop [laughs]. With the new organization taking over, there was a big transition in terms of putting messaging out there in terms of Laurel Park being back up and running after a little bit of a break from December to January. And we had some rough weather, some snow dates, which is very uncommon here.We had some really nice momentum around April and May. The Stronach Group had a really great Preakness, and then we had a really good June. Middle of the year we started to find a little bit of a groove. At that point we had some different marketing and media, some different personnel that we brought in, putting out messaging not only for on-site events but also for the gambling fan base around the country.July and August were interesting, because that was the first time [Maryland racing took an extended summer break]. That decision was made prior to me getting here, something that the horsemen and the [now defunct] Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority made when they were here. But I thought it was a very good decision, getting a break while working with Colonial and Delaware, and paying some out-of-state bonuses so [Maryland] horsemen had opportunities to earn money. They ran pretty heavily at those two venues, and now we're circling back to Laurel.September is such a beautiful weather month, and our turf course is in great condition. That's where Laurel's bread-and butter is, this extra-wide turf course. I start to get excited when we see big fields and competitive racing. We're still trying to get the word out more around the country of what Maryland racing can put on. There's a lot of competition out there, which I recognize. But I think when bettors start playing our product, they're going to find that it's a good and consistent one.TDN: Right now Maryland is at a 120-date annual schedule. Will that be the norm for the foreseeable future?BK: We're taking it one year at a time. I think this is a learning curve for us and the horsemen, and we're certainly in this together, to sort of find that right balance. I would foresee us probably doing something similar for next year, and then as it evolves, we're going to learn what works each year and what doesn't.By the time we get to Pimlico, Pimlico will be prepared to do a similar schedule. But I couldn't comment yet. The idea is to have as much year-round racing as possible here, but we'll see how it goes. We're all going to keep learning. TDN: The Oct. 11 Maryland Million is the next major event on Laurel's calendar. This will be the 40th edition of that state-centric stakes festival, and Maryland was the first state breeding program to conduct and promote such an event at that scale. What sets Maryland apart? BK: I'm personally excited to see all of the energy and planning that goes into the day. When we get to Pimlico and can host a lot larger crowds, I feel like this is one of those events that should be a 10,000- to 20,000-attendance day that can really grow and grow.You get a lot of support from the breeders, obviously, but the state's entire horse community has always really targeted this event and turned out for it.We need to continue to work on ways to make sure that other breeders and horsemen around the country, who may not have thought of coming here to bring a broodmare or a stallion, know that you've got $500 million in facilities going in here, you've got a new non-profit [operator] that is geared toward the horsemen, and that Maryland is in a really good place racing-wise right now and moving forward.The post Q and A with Maryland Jockey Club’s Bill Knauf appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.