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There is expected to be a flurry of Maryland thoroughbred horse racing activity over the next two-and-a-half years — the construction of a training track, the establishment of a new operator, the closure of a longtime venue, and an entirely renovated Pimlico Race Course — and leading the efforts will be Bill Knauf, a former executive with Monmouth Park Racetrack in New Jersey.
The Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority, an entity created by state legislation last year, said Monday that Knauf would be the president and general manager of a new not-for-profit operator of racing in the state.
The Stronach Group, a privately owned Canadian company, had operated racing in the state of Maryland via the historic Maryland Jockey Club, but the not-for-profit, which will also use the name Maryland Jockey Club, will take over on Jan. 1, 2025. Pimlico will host the 150th Preakness Stakes, which will be promoted with a festival, in May and then long-anticipated demolition of Old Hilltop will begin in earnest.
The 2026 Preakness will take place at Anne Arundel County’s Laurel Park racetrack, which will no longer host races beginning in 2027. Then, the Preakness would return to Pimlico in 2027, provided the current timeline holds.
By then, a new-look Pimlico is scheduled to have been rebuilt and a training track will have been constructed elsewhere. Those two projects will be financed with $400 million in state funds, as approved by the state legislature this past session, amending a plan from 2019.
Knauf, who spent the past two decades with Monmouth Park, most recently as the Vice President of Business Development, will be in charge of shepherding efforts at a crucial time. Racing authority Chair Greg Cross described Knauf in a statement as the “perfect person to lead Maryland’s groundbreaking efforts to reimagine and renew the racing experience.”
Horse racing, far removed from its heyday of the 20th century, has long faced grim trends and declining popularity and, locally, stakeholders have contemplated various plans in recent years. Stronach initially sought to move the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of horse racing’s famed Triple Crown, from dilapidated Pimlico to Laurel Park before reaching an agreement with government leaders to keep the race in Baltimore at an upgraded facility.
Plans to improve Pimlico, however, have been stalled for years and a new vision calls for some demolition of old barns to finally take place at Pimlico in early 2025, followed by the rapid rebuild in less than two years, readying the venue for the 2027 Preakness Stakes.
The new training track’s location will be decided in a month or so, and the facility is expected to be completed and ready for operation in 2027, too.
“If I’ve gotta get out there with a shovel myself, it’s happening,” Marc Broady, the racing authority’s Executive Director, said in an interview Monday.
Knauf, a New York native who worked at Monmouth Park since 1998, will soon move to Maryland and initially work as a consultant to the authority before becoming the Maryland Jockey Club’s president when it formally begins operation on Jan. 1. He called the new job an “exciting and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” in a statement.
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“Maryland racing has a storied history, and the passion of everyone from horsemen to fans runs deep. I look forward to helping drive the evolution of Pimlico Racecourse and the Preakness,” he said in a statement.
Racing authority Chair Greg Cross said in an interview Monday he hopes Knauf will see Maryland racing through the redevelopment of Pimlico — and beyond — noting the quarter-century Knauf spent at Monmouth Park.
“He makes a commitment and he digs in,” Cross said.