Report: 'Transformative' plan can keep Preakness at Pimlico

"Transformative plans," as Belinda Stronach, head of The Stronach Group, put it to the Baltimore Sun could keep the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

The Baltimore Sun reports, after a conversation with involved parties, that The Stronach Group would agree to donate the land on which Pimlico sits to the city of Baltimore, setting off a sequence that could see the track rotated to accommodate a new grandstand and make room for other private development.

According to the Baltimore Sun, a number of legislative approvals will be required at next year's General Assembly. If passed, they'll pave the way for the second leg of the Triple Crown series to stay put past 2020, the last date through which Stronach has guaranteed to contest it at aging Pimlico.

The Preakness, first run in 1873, has in recent years emerged as a candidate to move to The Stronach Group's other Maryland racetrack, Laurel Park, which the company has continued to improve. But Baltimore officials pushed back to the point of its former mayor suing The Stronach Group earlier this year.

When the lawsuit was withdrawn, talks began to find a solution.

Some of the finer details, per the Baltimore Sun:

• Casino benefits to racing that are set to begin expiring in 2026 would have to be extended for funding to work on the project.

• The current grandstand, parts of it already condemned, would be demolished and rebuilt.

• The Stronach Group would operate Pimlico for just two months a year; outside of that, the city could find other uses.

• Despite large amounts of construction, the Preakness could continue to run at Pimlico without interruption.

• Laurel Park would house year-round training operations with plans to install a Tapeta training track.