Maryland Jockey Club Seeks to Dismiss Baltimore Lawsuit

Contending that state law clearly does not allow the city of Baltimore to condemn and confiscate Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes (G1), the Maryland Jockey Club filed a motion May 8 to dismiss the city's lawsuit.

In a Wednesday release, Alan Rifkin, attorney for the MJC, said, "Under State law, the City has no right to confiscate the privately held assets of the Maryland Jockey Club, including the Preakness Stakes and Pimlico Race Course. State law is very clear that the City is preempted and precluded from taking that action."

The release said through the lawsuit the city seeks to condemn and confiscate the Preakness, Pimlico, the Woodlawn Vase, MJC, and other related intangible personal and intellectual property as a means of blocking MJC plans to move the Preakness from Pimlico to Laurel Park. 

The Baltimore Sun reports that a Maryland law passed in 1987 says that the Preakness can be moved from Pimlico "only as a result of a disaster or emergency." The lawsuit claims that the Stronach Group is "openly planning to violate Maryland law by moving the Preakness to a different racetrack despite the absence of any disaster or emergency, except for the disaster that they are in the process of creating."

In its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, MJC contends:

• For almost a hundred years, the Maryland Racing Code has provided that the State has "statewide and exclusive" jurisdiction, dominion, and control over all aspects of horse racing. 

• The state's "statewide and exclusive" jurisdiction and dominion extends to all matters affecting racing, including Pimlico Race Course, the Preakness Stakes, and all associated and related horse racing enterprises and activities. 

• State law provides that no "county, municipal corporation, or other political subdivision" may "make or enforce a local law, ordinance, or regulation about racing." 

• The city is, therefore, preempted and precluded from seeking to condemn and confiscate those privately held assets. 

"It is disconcerting that the city is attempting to confiscate the Maryland Jockey Club's private property and assets because we have raised legitimate questions as to whether the Maryland racing industry can sustain two sprawling and capital-intensive racetracks less than 20 miles apart from one another," said MJC president Tim Ritvo in Wednesday's release. 

Rifkin added, in the release: "We have repeatedly suggested to the city that it should reconsider the wisdom of its lawsuit so that good faith discussions between the city, state, and all stakeholders could be conducted without the shadow of this ill-conceived action. Unfortunately, our suggestion has gone unheeded and we are compelled to file this motion to dismiss."