When plans were formulated for the future of Maryland racing, it appeared that Pimlico would be the lone track to hold live racing, while Laurel Park would serve solely as a training center. But that has changed as the Maryland Jockey Club and the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) have agreed upon a plan that will call for Laurel to hold a short meet at some time in the future.The development was first reported by The Racing Biz's Frank Vespe.According to Maryland Jockey Club President Bill Knauf, a revamped racing schedule that will include both Laurel and Pimlico will not be finalized until Pimlico is up and running and established as the primary home for Maryland racing. But once that happens, a short “boutique” style meet will be run at Laurel, most likely in the fall.“The dates for Laurel will kick in when we move to Pimlico permanently,” Knauf said. “So that's the first part. In 2027, aside from the Preakness and maybe a few other dates, we will be at Laurel full-time. So the specifics in that agreement will take place when we make Pimlico our permanent home. Basically, what it says is we will have 12 days at Laurel or 10% of the total race days we run in Maryland, whichever is higher. So we're currently running 120, but in a couple of years if we go to 130, then we have 13 days as the option to run Laurel.”The construction at Pimlico still has a long way to go and the facility for the 2027 GI Preakness Stakes will largely consist of tents. Knauf said the hybrid Pimlico-Laurel schedule may not go into effect until 2028 or 2029.Racing at Laurel will give the Pimlico turf course a break and also take advantage of Laurel's turf track, which is much wider than Pimilco's and considered one of the best in the sport.“This will provide us a great balance of giving our turf course a rest at Pimlico,” Knauf said. “Obviously, we love to use our turf courses here in Maryland. Coming back here to Laurel, it'll be a pristine turf course. We will use it for workouts, but that's it. It should be in great shape to have a turf meet here.”Pimlico | HorsephotosKnauf believes having access to Laurel's turf course will improve the Maryland racing product and added that the horsemen whom he has spoken to are pleased that the track will continue to be a part of the future of racing in the state.“Laurel has a great history and it's built a base of people who frequent Laurel all the time,” Knauf said. “So, with it being a racetrack, it also gives us the ability to house simulcasting here. That's an important piece. We can continue to use it for offices and things like that. It's just a viable option to create extra revenue. Laurel's turf course is one of the largest in the country and we want to utilize that and we feel like it can generate revenue and create a great option for horsemen. We're looking at this, between the Jockey Club and the horsemen, as what is the best racing product that we can put forth in the future here.”Like the old Pimlico, the facilities at Laurel, including the grandstand, have seen better days. Knauf said the priority will remain putting money into what's needed to create a quality training center.“In the next month or so, all of the stakeholders are going to be getting together to talk about the priorities of Laurel as the training center, because that is the first priority, the training center itself,” he said. “We're going to focus on backstretch housing and the barn area. After that is scoped out and we have a better understanding of funding, I think that's when anything else could be tackled, but we'll have to wait and see what's available to do anything to the building. So the short answer is nothing's planned for the building at this moment. Now that we've been in here the past couple of years, we're trying to repair and maintain as best as we can. There are parts of the grandstand or clubhouse at Laurel that are beautiful, and then there are some of the systems that just need to be updated, but those are going to take a backseat to whatever we're going to do on the backside first.”Knauf added that while progress is being made on the rebuild of Pimlico, it's too early to say when the new building will be fully functional.“That's a good question,” he said when asked when the new Pimlico will be ready to go. “That's a hard one for me because I don't know if the Maryland Stadium Authority has that scoped out yet. It's probably sometime in late 28, maybe early 29, but MSA really is a better entity to answer that. I was actually up there yesterday and the site itself is really coming together. You can start to now see the entryway and the parking lots and the Preakness barns and they're building the paddock structure right now. So I have full confidence that in 27 of all the equine components and basically pretty much all the components besides the clubhouse will be ready for the Preakness.”Knauf said that Pimlico could be open for more than Preakness weekend in 2027 with two other weekends possibly being added to the schedule.Later on Wednesday, during the monthly MSA meeting, the MSA's executive vice president, Gary McGuigan, said that the Pimlico construction has just passed a “milestone event” with the closing-over of the infield tunnel that had required excavating a portion of the racing surfaces.“We are tracking to have the Preakness return to Pimlico in 2027,” said McGuigan.“All efforts at task are on schedule,” McGuigan added, without citing any specific timing goals beyond the '27 Preakness.The MSA also voted unanimously during the Nov. 4 meeting to award a contract modification in the amount of $453,678. That money, said Al Tyler, the MSA's vice president in the capital projects development group, will be used to “begin due diligence and preliminary design and engineering services related to the redevelopment of the Laurel Park racing facilities.”Tyler said that, “among other things included in the scope of work is to analyze existing infrastructure that's on the site and also to develop options for housing for backstretch workers, one of the highest priority in that project at Laurel.”But McGuigan explained there won't be enough money in the budget to pay for all of Laurel's needs.“At Laurel, with the [contract] action today, we'll start doing the infrastructure analysis,” McGuigan said. “We'll also be meeting with the MJC and the horsemen to start coming up with a program on where and when do we spend the remaining funds. I kind of see this as a 'master plan' here. We don't have enough money for everything on the site at Laurel. But the priorities will be safety work, environmental issues, and housing for the people and horses. So that effort is getting kicked off.”The post Laurel’s Future To Include Live Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.