“Listen, they moved Yankee Stadium, the House That Ruth Built.”

An official of the company that owns Pimlico Race Track, Tim Ritvo, said that to the New York Times during Preakness Week of 2016.

I emailed him: “The Yankees moved across the street, not thirty miles down the road.”

I will recount that conversation when I testify tomorrow on House Bill 1190, which would create a work group to study how to finance the redevelopment of the Pimlico Race Track property, as proposed by a study commissioned by the Maryland Stadium Authority.

Racing facilities would be modernized, and commercial, medical, housing, and recreational facilities would be built on the rest of the property.

It was my idea for that study to be undertaken.

I did so after another Pimlico official said, “Right now, I’d say Laurel is in the lead [to host the Preakness].”

The owners of Pimlico are no longer masking the fact that they want to move the Preakness thirty miles down the road – to Laurel.

Track officials met with neighborhood leaders last weekend.

Their pitch: we will help you redevelop the property after we close the race track.

The community’s response: a unanimous no. We want to implement the Stadium Authority plan.

I will let the committee know of that statement as well.