The state unveiled its first statewide equine strategic plan this week. It covers conservation, tourism, workforce development, and land preservation. It doesn’t address the CDI championship series, the coalition opportunity, the Sunday handle problem, or the purse gap.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
Governor Wes Moore unveiled Maryland’s first statewide Horse Industry Strategic Plan this week, a document nearly a year in the making that brings together the state’s racing, breeding, agricultural, recreational, and tourism equine sectors under a shared vision for growth. It is a real accomplishment. It is also a plan for Maryland’s $2.9 billion horse industry that does not address the most pressing competitive threat to the industry’s most valuable asset.
The plan covers a lot of ground. Maryland has more horses per square mile than any other state. According to the American Horse Council Foundation’s 2023 Economic Impact Study, as cited by the Governor’s office and Coast TV, the industry supports approximately 28,000 jobs and generates $2.9 billion in economic activity across racing, breeding, agriculture, recreational riding, and equestrian tourism. The plan addresses workforce development, a pilot program to track racehorses from breeding through retirement, tourism promotion, pasture conservation, a first-ever Equine Conservation Summit planned for November 14, and development of Fair Hill in Cecil County as an international equestrian destination.
It also explicitly endorses industry-wide support for the redevelopment of Pimlico Race Course, a statewide equestrian training center, and the future of the Preakness Stakes and Preakness Festival under Maryland’s ownership and control.
Those are all legitimate priorities. What the plan does not address is equally notable.
“It is a real accomplishment. It is also a plan for Maryland’s $2.9 billion horse industry that does not address the most pressing competitive threat to the industry’s most valuable asset.”
The Jobs Figure Needs Context
“The strategic plan doesn’t make that error. The press conference framing did.”
Moore has cited the approximately 28,000 jobs figure in connection with the Preakness and Pimlico specifically. At the August 5 press conference announcing the NBC deal, Moore said directly: “More than twenty-eight thousand Maryland jobs depend on this industry” — in the context of justifying Maryland’s acquisition of the Preakness IP and Pimlico. The strategic plan makes clear that figure, drawn from the American Horse Council Foundation’s 2023 study, covers the entire Maryland horse industry — racing, breeding, agriculture, recreational riding, and equestrian tourism combined. The jobs supported by Pimlico and thoroughbred racing alone are a fraction of that total.
The governor’s own press release on the strategic plan acknowledged that “horses do not impact simply one industry or one discipline.” Using the full industry employment figure to justify the Pimlico investment specifically overstates the racing-specific economic case. The strategic plan doesn’t make that error. The press conference framing did.
The Plan Endorses Pimlico. It Doesn’t Explain How It Gets Paid For.
The strategic plan calls for industry-wide support of the Pimlico redevelopment and the Preakness under Maryland ownership. That is the plan’s most direct connection to this series’ accountability coverage, and it is meaningful. Industry-wide support strengthens the redevelopment’s political foundation, but it does not establish whether the Preakness and Pimlico will generate sufficient revenue to meet their financial obligations.
“Industry-wide support strengthens the redevelopment’s political foundation, but it does not establish whether the Preakness and Pimlico will generate sufficient revenue to meet their financial obligations.”
What the plan does not include is financial projections, expected returns, or measurable success metrics for those investments.
“Show Marylanders the projections. Show us the expected return. Show us how success will be measured. Taxpayers deserve more than promises; they deserve transparency.”
— Sen. Steve Hershey, August 2026
Senator Steve Hershey first asked for those figures before the CDI series announcement, before any of the summer’s controversies. He asked again in August. He asked again at the September 16 House Appropriations Committee briefing. The Horse Industry Strategic Plan does not provide them. Maryland’s committed public investment in horse racing infrastructure runs to hundreds of millions of dollars. The strategic plan that is supposed to govern the industry’s future does not contain a financial model showing how those commitments generate sufficient return.
The Plan Doesn’t Mention CDI. Or the Coalition. Or the Sunday Handle. Or the Purse Gap.
This is the accountability question the plan raises most sharply. Maryland owns the Preakness. Maryland owns Pimlico. Maryland has a six-year NBC deal. Maryland now has a statewide Horse Industry Strategic Plan. What Maryland does not have, and what the strategic plan does not address, is any response to the structural competitive threat this series documented beginning August 3.
The CDI-NYRA championship is not simply six races with a larger prize. The joint venture coordinates nominations, unified rules, shared marketing, national sponsorship, expanded wagering opportunities, and national television distribution across all six events. Maryland is not facing a competing race. It is facing an integrated commercial partnership. The sharper question is whether the Preakness can remain one of America’s premier races without access to that shared marketing infrastructure, financial incentive structure, and television strategy. The horse industry plan does not raise that question.
“Maryland is not facing a competing race. It is facing an integrated commercial partnership.”
What the plan doesn’t address — the documented competitive threats:
- The Thoroughbred Championship Series. Churchill Downs and NYRA’s six-race Thoroughbred Championship Series is scheduled to begin with the Kentucky Derby on May 1, 2027, continuing through races at Belmont Park, Saratoga, and Churchill Downs. The Preakness is not included. The plan does not mention it.
- The independent coalition opportunity. Keeneland, Del Mar, Oaklawn, Woodbine — independent tracks that could form a competing circuit with Maryland as the anchor. Gilligan Racing in Marion County, Florida, is building a new track for the same structural reasons Maryland rebuilt Pimlico. Neither is mentioned.
- The Sunday handle problem. Moving the Preakness to Sunday risks significantly lower wagering handle — the primary revenue stream the MJC’s own president says the facility is counting on to chip away at annual operating losses. Not addressed.
- The purse gap. The Preakness currently offers a $2 million purse. The CDI-NYRA championship adds a separate $5 million season-long bonus pool on top of the purses awarded at its six participating races. That is not a direct purse comparison, but it creates a financial incentive structure for owners and trainers that the Preakness does not share. The plan addresses none of it.
- The MEDCO debt structure. MEDCO borrowed $97 million — not $85 million — in unrated short-term notes backed only by the Preakness IP, with 18 months to refinance. The plan does not address the financing obligation or the refinancing deadline.
The plan calls for increased collaboration between horse industry leaders, the Maryland Horse Industry Board, and the Maryland Office of Tourism to better promote racetracks and other attractions. That is tourism strategy. It is not competitive racing strategy.
What the Plan Gets Right
Credit Where It’s Due
The statewide strategic plan is a genuine step forward that this series called for in August. The racehorse tracking program is sound industry policy. The Equine Conservation Summit is practical and needed. Fair Hill as an international equestrian destination is exactly the kind of year-round programming this series argued for. The workforce development focus addresses a real shortage of skilled equine workers that industry insiders have flagged for years. The plan’s explicit endorsement of Pimlico and the Preakness under Maryland ownership signals industry-wide buy-in that strengthens the investment’s long-term political durability.
There is also important context about the plan’s origins. Executive Order 01.01.2025.23 was signed November 6, 2025, nearly a year before the plan was publicly released. The order required the Department of Agriculture to submit a report to the governor and General Assembly by September 1, 2026, outlining progress, recommendations, and strategic priorities. The completed strategic plan was publicly announced October 8. Whether the department satisfied the earlier reporting requirement is a separate question. What is clear is that the underlying work was underway before the CDI series announcement, before the August press conference, before this series began. Maryland’s agencies were working on this while the state was being criticized publicly for having no strategy. The criticism of the press conference’s omissions was accurate. It was not the complete picture of what was quietly in development.
The Gap Between the Plan and the Problem
A statewide horse industry plan that covers approximately 28,000 jobs and $2.9 billion in economic activity is meaningful. It is not a substitute for a competitive response to the Thoroughbred Championship Series. Both are needed. Only one exists.
Maryland has the anchor race, the facility, the NBC deal, the IP, and now a statewide industry plan. No formal coalition with independent tracks has been publicly announced. The purse hasn’t been raised. No consolidated commercial strategy, financial accountability structure, or risk-allocation framework spelling out how MEDCO, the MJC, MSA, and the Maryland Racing Commission share responsibility for the investment’s success has been released publicly. The financial projections Hershey has been asking for since before the summer still haven’t been released.
“A plan is not a strategy. A strategy is not a result.”
A plan is not a strategy. A strategy is not a result. The work announced this week was necessary and real. Only the broader industry plan has been publicly identified. The competitive strategy that determines whether the investment pays off has not.
Sources
Madeleine Overturf, Coast TV / WRDE, “Maryland unveils first statewide plan to grow $2.9B horse industry,” October 8, 2026; Governor Wes Moore, press release, “Maryland Completes First Statewide Horse Industry Strategic Plan,” October 8, 2026; Executive Order 01.01.2025.23, signed November 6, 2025, establishing the Maryland Horse Industry Strategic Planning Initiative and requiring a progress, recommendations and strategic-priorities report by September 1, 2026; American Horse Council Foundation, 2023 National Economic Impact Study of the U.S. Horse Industry, as cited by the Governor’s office and Coast TV; The Equiery, “Governor Establishes the Horse Industry Strategic Planning Initiative,” November 2025; Maryland Daily Record, “House Appropriations Committee briefing on MEDCO financing for Pimlico redevelopment,” September 17, 2026; Sen. Steve Hershey, @SenatorHershey, August 2026; MDBayNews, Maryland on the Map series, August 3 through October 2026.
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