ANNAPOLIS – A day after suggesting the state could take over the financially-troubled Preakness Stakes if necessary, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, promised the second jewel of the Triple Crown will remain in Maryland.
“The Preakness is going to stay in Maryland. Period,” Miller told reporters gathered after Wednesday’s Senate session.
Miller again touted the historical and financial value of retaining the Preakness and said he would consider pushing for a Special Session to deal with the issue if the race was put up for sale when the legislature was not in session.
Canada-based Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns the Preakness, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month and has signaled all of its assets might be on the block. Maryland legally has the option to match any offer for the Preakness if it’s put up for sale.
Miller said state intervention would be “a matter of last resort.” He would prefer having a private buyer rescue Magna’s beleaguered Maryland holdings, including the Preakness, Miller said.
While retaining the state’s largest one-day sporting event would keep millions of dollars in Maryland, Miller also pointed out the emotional and sentimental damage that would come with losing the race.
“We all remain traumatized by the Colts moving out of Baltimore in the middle of the night,” he said, referring to the covert exit of the Baltimore Colts football team for Indianapolis in 1984.
As he was leaving the Senate chamber, Miller offered a final pledge.
“It’s not leaving, Miller said. “Guaranteed.”
–By Capital News Service’s Dylan Waugh