By Dick Jerardi
The wreckers are coming for Pimlico next month, but they can only remove the buildings, not the memories. As Pimlico was my hometown track, the first place I ever saw a live horse race and the site of so many of my early gambling days, Saturday’s Preakness Day 150 was very much a nostalgia tour.
As I wandered the grandstand, clubhouse, track apron, press box and Preakness barn in the hours leading up to Saturday’s Preakness, I thought of my first big score (an exacta that paid $61.80 for $2 that I had for $100), my first Preakness, the euphoria of Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex, the devastation of Barbaro, Affirmed-Alydar, Sunday Silence-Easy Goer and all those afternoons I spent at the old track in northwest Baltimore.
The shine has long since disappeared, and it is absolutely time for the new Pimlico that will rise up and, if plans hold, be ready to host the 2027 Preakness (the 2026 Preakness will be held at Laurel Park, 25 miles south). But everybody I talked to said they will miss the old place. That would include NBC race caller Larry Collmus, another Baltimore native, who got his start calling races on the rooftops of the Maryland tracks. I made sure to pay Larry a visit a few hours before the Preakness, and he was absolutely feeling what we were all feeling. Yes, it was time, but that didn’t mean any of us would forget the great times we had at “Old Hilltop.”
The best news is that the main track and turf course will remain exactly the same. The main buildings, the old wooden grandstand (long since condemned), and all the barns are coming down to be replaced by a facility that will resemble the legendary Pimlico clubhouse from back in the day and stables for 400 horses (the rest will be at a satellite site 30 minutes away). The new Preakness stakes barn will go exactly where it has always been so all the horses will be housed in the same spot which all the trainers love. There will be a park-like setting next to the barn.
When the new Pimlico is ready, Laurel will close for good, and all of racing in the state, with the exception of a short meet at Timonium late every summer, will be at the legendary Baltimore track.
I finished my tour at the Preakness barn after watching the Preakness horses head for the track. I decided to watch the Preakness from where my friends and I always sat in the grandstand, about 100 yards from the finish line.
When I first got to the track Thursday afternoon, the first person I saw was a longtime friend, trainer Michael McCarthy. He was about to walk over to the paddock to prepare his colt Journalism for what it might be like Saturday. He asked if I would like to take the walk. Of course.
It wasn’t going to be exactly like Saturday where there would be hundreds of people screaming on the way, but the paddock scene just before a race that day would be similar with horses occupying just about every stall. It was a great trainer trying his very best to cover every detail.
It is no secret that I loved Journalism before the Kentucky Derby. I really didn’t think he could get beat. And, even when he finished second after an adventurous trip, I was still convinced he was the country’s best 3-year-old
As the final minutes ticked down the post time I could not imagine how Journalism was going to lose the Preakness. What I could not have imagined was the craziness at the top of the stretch when 1-1 favorite Journalism had no place to go and jockey Umberto Rispoli decided to plow between two horses even though there was no space.
It was scary when the horses began bumping into each other and you really did not know what might happen. Thankfully, the horses got through it without a disaster, but, by the time they did, longshot Gosger had gotten a big jump and looked home free at the eighth pole.
Just when all looked hopeless for Journalism, the colt began to lengthen his stride and when he came by me, he was finishing like a European grass horse at the Breeders’ Cup. American dirt horses simply don’t have that same turn of foot, but on this day, this colt had it, absolutely flying in those final yards to catch Gosger just before the wire.
Journalism had overcome everything _ the bumping, the lost momentum, the confused jockey (why not just go around when the opportunity was there on the far turn?) _ and won the last Preakness at this version of Pimlico.
The Derby disappointment had given way to Preakness euphoria. As the sun was beginning to set over Pimlico, I spent some time with McCarthy after the winner’s circle ceremony and the press conference.
First thing I mentioned was the Pennsylvania Derby bonus system for winners of Triple Crown races, the Haskell or Travers. His face lit up with that news.
And then there was the victory in an American Classic.
“I think it’s basically he has validated what we have thought of him all along,” McCarthy said at the press conference.
And, finally, there was the performance.
“What happened today is almost surreal,” McCarthy said. “You don’t see that happen. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”
It’s also hard to explain why race tracks hold such allure to those of us who love the game. But they do. And when I left Pimlico late Saturday night and then again Sunday morning, I was heartened to know that the new Pimlico will be rising and then opening soon enough.
