While I have mixed feelings on it, at least the plan includes a more historic aura about the design that the butt ugly Belmont construction that is ongoing in Elmont.
Sounds like the new site will be very pastoral and great for the training of horses outside of the inner city.
I live within 2 miles of Shamrock farm, and the thought of an additional 800 horses in the neighborhood is somewhat concerning. What does that mean for competition for farriers, vets, hay suppliers, etc, and the resulting costs? Hopefully they bring all that stuff with them and it doesn’t impact me directly. I have a smaller concerns about insect-borne illnesses and traffic impacts.
While I will miss seeing the baby horses there every spring, I still would rather this farm turn into a training track than a housing development. They are beginning some sort of work there - the horses are gone and I saw some minor excavation going on the other day, maybe perc testing.
I grew up near both Fair Hill Training Center and Delaware Park and I feel like it both directly and indirectly benefitted me.
It’s going to bring more horse services to the immediate area. All the businesses serving Laurel and the few dates at Pimlico will be refocusing their attention to Shamrock. When it comes to things like hay, feed, etc., savvy suppliers will likely recognize the opportunity to boost business with the general public.
I don’t know if the new training center will be like an extension of the track, where vets and farriers need to hold a racing license to work there, or if it will be like Fair Hill that’s private/independent. But the race horses are going to bring their own vets and farrier and are unlikely to be competing with yours.
Traffic is a non-issue. Racing hours are obscure, with the bulk of the staff arriving at 4-5am and being done by late morning. Also, a lot of the employees will live on site in the dorms and are unlikely to have cars.
Race tracks have some of the best manure management you will ever see, so things like flies are not as much of an issue as they might be at farms with lesser care. With a 2 mi buffer, I doubt you’re going to see infectious disease spread. I’ve literally never heard of that happening from being in close proximity to a track.
Also, with more people, it’s going to boost the local economy and the need for things like restaurants, etc.
Out of curiosity, what do they do for manure management? One of the farms I worked at used dumpsters and the flies by those dumpsters were rather horrible.
It’s that they do anything particularly differently, it’s the fact that it gets picked up/hauled off site so much more frequently because of the volume generated.
I won some stuff from the shamrock auction so I got to get some gossip on the property and speak with the manager of the farm and some of the other people there in the racing business.
Part of the property IS becoming houses. It’s the part that is cut off from the main property by Braddock road. It was sold to a developer.
According to several people I spoke with the money allocated by the state is nowhere near enough to get the property built. They are very concerned about it actually being done.
The state allowed everything to be auctioned off but not some the buildings. They were literally coming in the bulldozers to knock the buildings down. It was strange.
The neighbors were not informed of the sale to the state and didn’t know until they saw the auction signs. I mean, it’s private property, so not sure how much standing there is, but several people were concerned about the possibility of lawsuits slowing the process down.
Personally after being on the property I think they chose a bad location for the training facility; it’s VERY hilly and the elevation change from one side of the property to the other is pretty massive. I actually don’t know how they are going to get it flat enough to have a track. I don’t know, maybe it will be fine? But it’s SO steep. I kept thinking that this looked like a better property to open a sledding hill than a racetrack.
No one saw this coming at all. There’s an information session happening at the fire hall this week. I plan on going because I want to hear what they have to say, but I’m sure it will be a room full of angry people.
In addition to the state money, apparently the county is contributing 1.5 million.
Classic NIMBYism. We’re in a pretty rural area and the thought of what to some may seem like building the new Pimlico will get people pretty upset (one of my neighbors thinks that it will be more like a track that the public can go bet at than a training center). Just like they are about the proposed new powerlines, or if they suddenly wanted to build a Costco there. Main concerns will be traffic and potential crime, probably with some racial profiling about who will be living in dorms. There should probably be some concerns about effects on the groundwater/peoples’ wells since they’ll be pulling a ton of water from it. People will be mad that they didn’t have any input or have their concerns heard before it was a done deal. People won’t like that the county commissioners are giving 1.5 million of their taxpayer money to the project or that they voted to approve it without any input from constituents.
Personally, I’m kind of neutral on the whole thing, but I do think it should have been handled much differently. I mean, you get those “public notice” signs whenever someone wants to put an addition on a house or any other variance, but no public notice of an enormous project like this? I do think they’re going to have to do some major work at the Route 26/Woodbine Rd intersection, and there’s not much room to do it. It already backs up there at certain times of day due to not having a left turn lane.
Thanks @Mango20. That’s kind of what I was assuming.
Fair Hill Training Center is smaller in horse numbers than what is being built at Shamrock, but I can attest that 90% of locals don’t even realize it exists. The traffic is a non-issue.
I hate that so much of our state is so xenophobic. But again, you are unlikely to notice much of any change in anything due to the demographics of the dorm residents. These are hard working people from a variety of backgrounds who mostly keep to themselves. Racetrackers are kind of insular like that.
Carroll County and where I live in Caroline County are kind of similar in mindsets.
I think the county probably should have kept their 1.5mil. As far as I have heard the training center has an open ended budget from the state. They have allocated 110mil and I would not be surprised if they go over that.
Well, some of the neighbors are upset about the fact that they are loosing their view. No matter how nice the facility is it still won’t be rolling pastures. And don’t worry… they are getting the single family homes too.
The location is not ideal. I had to pull a trailer there and the roads are tight. No shoulder, houses very close. The entrance will have to be changed because it’s a blind hill. It’s kind of far from the freeway.
I think once the facility it built people won’t be so upset but this next construction phase is going to suck for a lot of people. It’s going to be a lot of loud, heavy, annoying traffic for years on end.
[quote=“Mango20, post:10, topic:805412, full:true”] (one of my neighbors thinks that it will be more like a track that the public can go bet at than a training center).
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So actually apparently this was an idea floated around. The land Pimlico sits on is worth a fortune and they were looking to be able to expand. It was untimely shot down, but yeah there was a world where Shamrock became Pimlico.
For what it’s worth, a lot of the issues with not sparking the local economy were HITS-generated issues.
Couldn’t bring outside shavings in to the show, and they trucked theirs in from way far away. That’s the one that chapped the ass of the local feed store, who was just a couple miles away.
The HITS lack of customer service was the second nail in the coffin. No one pays a bazillion dollars to be treated like trash.
I am not very familiar with that area of Maryland but I know it’s rural, lots of Agriculture. Given that statement, can the local area support something of this size and scale. I know there is plans for onsite housing for some track employees but when you think of that many people on site to keep that operation going; where are they all staying? Where are travelers to the track staying?
Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to see racing leave the crappy city of Baltimore but part of the fuel to be able to put on big races in cities like Baltimore and Louisville is to have the infrastructure in the surrounding community to support that; even if it’s only 1 day a year.
Also what occurred with all the horses that were at Shamrock?
Within a mile, there is a convenience store, gas station, liquor store and Ace Hardware, as well as a single restaurant/bar, and that’s it. Probably about 8 miles to a grocery store and McDonalds, and 10 miles to Eldersburg where there are multiple choices for grocery stores, restaurants, fast food, Walmart/Home Depot, other stores, etc. You’re talking at least 1/2 hour to a hotel in Westminster, Frederick or Ellicott City. Or maybe Owings Mills - there’s probably one there
Shamrock was a TB breeding farm, so I imagine that all of the horses there were moved to other breeding farms. All I know is there are no more cute babies visible from the road in the spring
@StormyDay Judging from the development plans, they do NOT intend to move the entrance from where it currently is.
The lack of hotels and such is a big problem too. I’d love to know why Shamrock got chosen. There are plenty of other properties of similar size for sale in Maryland.
