Pausing to grab a coffee and a cookie in the Maryland Million hospitality tent at Laurel Park last fall, I wound up in a conversation about the future of racing in the state. This, of course, is a somewhat regular occurrence in my job (the conversation, not the coffee and cookie), but things took a turn.

"Mark my words," the conversation starter said. "Someday, the second jewel of the Triple Crown will be run in Virginia at Colonial Downs."

I laughed.

Six months later, Colonial Downs owner Churchill Downs Inc. -- owner of the Kentucky Derby -- bought the Preakness from 1/ST Racing. That's a long way from moving Maryland's signature Thoroughbred race to Virginia, but I guess I'm no longer laughing.

Via an April 21 press release, CDI announced a "definitive agreement to acquire the intellectual property, including all trademarks and associated rights, of the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes from 1/ST Maryland LLC, an affiliate of 1/ST Racing, for a purchase price of $85 million, subject to customary closing conditions."

If you'll recall, 1/ST retained those rights in its agreement with Maryland to transfer Pimlico Race Course to state control/ownership via a new, non-profit manager, The Maryland Jockey Club. As part of that 2024 agreement, TMJC agreed to pay 1/ST an annual fee plus a percentage of the total money wagered during Preakness weekend starting in 2027 to host the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan.

Something about that always sounded ominous. As the owner of Pimlico and Laurel, 1/ST let the facilities fall into disrepair, didn't fully use matching funds available for upgrades and oversaw a decrease in Preakness attendance to a fraction of its heyday. And when it came time to present a model for the future, 1/ST suggested contracting year-round racing to such a point as to make Maryland's Thoroughbred industry irrelevant. Even if that's what it took to finalize the new business model for the state's racing, including 1/ST in part of the Preakness revenue going forward sounded like a gift.

Apparently, nothing in the agreement prohibited 1/ST from selling the gift. I guess Maryland racing should feel lucky that 1/ST didn't accept an offer from the anti-racing People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Belarus Jockey Club or someone who wants to run a Triple Crown race in Antarctica.

CDI's press release made it sound like the annual Preakness rights agreement remains, in a paragraph reading, "The Preakness IP Rights are subject to an Exclusive License Agreement pursuant to which CDI will license to the State of Maryland the intellectual property rights necessary to conduct the running of the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes in exchange for an annual fee."

That fee plus the handle percentage has been estimated at $5 million a year, but if 1/ST could sell the rights, what prevents CDI from renegotiating by seeking a higher fee, attempting to sell to yet another party or -- oh, I don't know -- threatening to move the Preakness to a CDI track?

Before I spill coffee on myself, CDI's April 21 statement preached cooperation, partnerships and opportunity. But it also included no comment from Maryland interests.

There is a switch to throw on the Maryland side, which could change everything. By law, Maryland state government maintains an option to buy the Preakness "for the amount of any offer the licensee wishes to accept." The law requires the licensee, in this case 1/ST Racing, to notify the state within 30 days of receiving an offer the licensee wishes to accept. The law gives the state 60 days from that notice to exercise the option to purchase. Assuming 1/ST and CDI waited until day 30, that makes the deadline June 20 (plus or minus).

I wouldn't wait that long. The acceptable price is apparently $85 million. It's not my money -- wait, as a Maryland taxpayer, maybe it is -- but I say buy it. Trigger that law, purchase the Preakness, get out of business with outside interests and take real control of Maryland racing.

CDI and 1/ST would surely claim that the annual-fee agreement remains in place, so negotiate that, but if the opportunity to own all of the Preakness is there, Maryland should seize it. The state is already planning to use $500 million in bonds to finance a new Pimlico and a training center at Laurel, all tied to the redevelopment of Baltimore's Park Heights community. In every business model for the future of Maryland racing, a successful Preakness is crucial. If every year's Preakness comes with an annual fee and potentially fraught negotiations with a rights owner who can apparently sell those rights, aren't you risking the whole $500 million investment?

In addition to the buyout, another section of state law tries to prevent the Preakness from being moved out of Maryland. That regulation stipulates that if a licensee moved the Preakness out of state, the Maryland Racing Commission "may revoke any racing days awarded to the Maryland Jockey Club of Baltimore City or its successor." You don't have to be an attorney or an accountant to realize that CDI -- which owns Thoroughbred tracks in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky -- would probably benefit from any revoking of dates held by TMJC so that's a moot point.

Ten hours after CDI dropped its announcement, TMJC issued a press statement that included its "right to full operational control and responsibility for the Black-Eyed Susan and Preakness Stakes" beginning in 2027. That right extends to media rights and licensing for the Preakness, according to the statement, and "none of that is affected by the potential Churchill Downs transaction," a paragraph concluded.

The statement listed the Maryland Stadium Authority and Maryland Economic Development Corporation as partners in the transformation of Pimlico and Laurel.

To be clear, none of the statements from CDI, TMJC or 1/ST mentioned moving the Preakness or anything but a Preakness in Baltimore as part of the rights-sale announcements. But, when the initial agreement that created the model for the future of Maryland racing was announced, no one mentioned that 1/ST could sell the rights. Not negotiating that down to an impossibility was a mistake.

And Maryland racing might pay for it.

For more, see the full May edition.