With Preakness soon, Pimlico gate malfunctions twice in 2 days
A 1/ST Racing executive expressed “the utmost confidence” that starting-gate malfunctions that marred the first two days of the Pimlico spring meet will not happen next Saturday for Preakness 2025.
“I have the utmost confidence in the Maryland Jockey Club team and in Bruce Wagner, their starter,” said Mike Rogers, executive vice president of 1/ST Racing, a business name for The Stronach Group.
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For the second day in a row, a no-contest was declared because the gate doors staggered open at different times. On Saturday it was the second race when the doors to the seventh stall opened before the others. Then the sixth and eighth gates opened followed by the first through fifth. The innermost stall was unoccupied by the seven horses in the $33,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds on the main track.
Almost the same thing happened for Friday’s meet opener, a maiden-claiming race that was moved off the turf. Left with a field of six, the inside stall was vacant. Again, the seventh gate opened first followed by the second and finally by the remaining occupied gates.
“The gate that experienced the two recent failures is the same one that has been used for the Preakness for at least the past 20 years,” Rogers said. “We are planning to bring over the Laurel Park gate (next) week as a precaution.”
Rogers used to run both tracks before 1/ST Racing ceded them to the state government and the new Maryland Jockey Club. He and the 1/ST Racing team still control the Preakness brand and have a hand in running the race this year at Pimlico and next year at Laurel. Pimlico is ticketed for a $400 million rebuild starting this spring.
Asked if the MJC would have comment or concerns about the starting gate working properly for the Preakness, spokesperson Dan Illman replied, “No statement.”
No other races Friday and Saturday had any problems with the starting gate.
Racing is scheduled at Pimlico on Sunday, and then the track is dark until Thursday. The Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan is the feature Friday, and the Preakness anchors a 14-race card Saturday, the last day of the seven-day meet.