Plans for Pimlico and Laurel Park’s renovations are bogged down and hundreds of millions over budget

The horses in this year’s Preakness Stakes will be 3 years old — born the same year as a state law to spend $375 million in public financing to keep the cherished race in Baltimore and buoy the racing industry in Maryland. Since 2020, those thoroughbreds have been winning races, maturing and rising to the top of their sport. Meanwhile, the aging Pimlico and Laurel Park racetracks have only gotten older.