Mosby decries ‘slum-like’ conditions at Laurel Park, calls for halt to ‘super track’ legislation

By  Brandon Weigel - March 26, 2019

Baltimore Del. Nick Mosby released photos today that he said show the “slum-like” conditions for backstretch workers at Laurel Park and illustrate the track’s owners, The Stronach Group, prioritize “horses over humans.”

He called for the withdrawal of paired bills that would authorize $120 million in state bonds to turn Laurel Park into a “super track,” a project that would ultimately move the Preakness Stakes from Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course...

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'Questionable timing': Baltimore officials demand evidence of safety problems after Pimlico seat closure

By Doug Donovan - April 16, 2019

Baltimore’s acting mayor and several other elected officials said Monday that they view the Maryland Jockey Club’s closure of nearly 7,000 seats at Pimlico Race Course as retribution for losing a legislative fight with the city about how to spend state subsidies on horse racing tracks.

City officials are demanding evidence of the safety problems that prompted the closure of the grandstand’s seats and are sending building inspectors to assess what impact the jockey club’s decision might have on other seating areas at the 149-year-old racetrack in Northwest Baltimore.

The jockey club’s decision — announced Saturday — to shutter the oldest section at Old Hilltop came a little more than a month before the track’s lucrative Preakness weekend and just days after Maryland lawmakers ended the 2019 legislative session without passing a company-backed bill to invest state funds at Laurel Park instead of Pimlico...

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