Pimlico stakes schedule worth $3.7 million

Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore will hold 15 stakes races with total purses of $3.7 million during the track’s 12-day race meet beginning May 10, including the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes, the track announced on Friday.

The Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, will anchor an eight-stakes card on May 19, according to the stakes schedule distributed by the track. Including the Grade 1 Preakness, four of the stakes scheduled for the card are graded stakes: the Grade 2 Dixie Stakes, worth $250,000; the Grade 3 Gallorette, worth $150,000; and the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Stakes, worth $150,000.

The Sprint will kick off a resurrected regional racing series called MATCH that will tie together stakes races at tracks throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

The day prior to the Preakness, Pimlico is scheduled to hold seven stakes, highlighted by the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Like the other Triple Crown tracks, Pimlico has been pushing for its Triple Crown event to become a two-day festival.

Pimlico will run Thursdays through Sundays, with the exception of the day after the Preakness, when the track will be dark. The meet will close with a Memorial Day program on Monday, May 30.

The racing schedule for Pimlico has been sharply pared over the past five years as The Stronach Group, the owner of the track, has concentrated the Maryland racing schedule at its sister track, Laurel Park.