Ravens Jackson to host Pimlico Cup as NTL starts season

Many Maryland residents view the upcoming two-week meet at Pimlico Race Course as an opportunity to promote racing to new, younger audiences. Through a partnership with the National Thoroughbred League, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson will lead the charge on Saturday.

Jackson will serve as the host of the Pimlico Cup, a three-race event organized by the NTL on the Saturday card in Baltimore. Earlier this week, the league’s 10 teams held a draft to select a horse in each of the three races, all starter allowances with $75,000 purses boosted by the NTL. Race finishes will translate to a certain number of points for each team, which contribute to an end-of-year championship.

Last year, the Philadelphia Stallions, owned by NBA Hall of Famer Julius Erving, won the NTL Cup Series in their first year as a team. In addition to hosting the Pimlico Cup, Jackson also owns part of the Maryland Colts and reportedly joined the collaboration with a desire to make racing more accessible to less privileged communities.

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“Lamar Jackson is the man who brought the Colts back to Maryland in the form of the Maryland Colts,” NTL co-founder Randall Lane said. “He’s bringing a lot of his friends. We expect around 20 NFL players there, as well as other celebrities.”

The Pimlico Cup will be the NTL’s opening weekend in 2025. The league, entering its third season, plans to also host events at Parx Racing, Fairmount Park, and Kentucky Downs this year.

“By having more big event weekends and running teams that people can follow and star horses under each team on a regular basis, we think that we can bring a lot of new fans to Thoroughbred racing,” Lane said.

Building a premium event around starter allowances creates an interesting phenomenon in which a horse like The Wolfman, recent winner of a $7,500 claiming race at Laurel Park, will be cheered on like a Kentucky Derby runner Saturday. The 7-year-old gelding trained by Joanne Shankle will represent Jackson’s Maryland Colts in the sixth race, the first Pimlico Cup race, which will be run at six furlongs on dirt.

The seventh and eighth races are both on turf and will be run at 1 1/8 miles and five furlongs, respectively. All three races feature a field of 10 with at least three also-eligible runners.

Lindsay Schultz, a trainer based at Monmouth Park, seldom ships horses to Maryland, but she is bringing a pair on Saturday. Mean Jakey, a 6-year-old gelding, will represent the St. Louis Racing Club in the sixth race. Fightertown, a 5-year-old gelding, will represent the New Jersey Racing Club in the seventh.

“One of my owners has a connection to the NTL, and both of these races are NTL races,” Schultz said. “They’re asking for horses and recruiting them, and we thought that both of them would be really good fits.”

The league’s proposed changes to the competitive structure of horse racing may irk the sport’s traditionalists, but between celebrity appearances and side attractions between races, the NTL hopes to cultivate a new level of dedication and investment at the track.

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