High costs of three-year delay complicate efforts to move forward on Pimlico, Laurel Park redevelopment

Stymied by skyrocketing costs that have nearly doubled the $375 million estimates for redeveloping Pimlico and Laurel Park race courses, Maryland officials and other interested parties are scrambling to develop an alternative plan that likely would involve shuttering one of the two horse tracks, sources say. Unlike earlier schemes, where the 229-acre Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County was seen as the prime property for racing, attention is now more sharply focused on Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore — home of the nationally treasured and financially valuable Preakness Stakes — as the surviving track of the two.