That’s how long CDI’s press conference lasted. One question. Then they left.
CDI and NYRA spent the day defending their new championship series — and confirming, almost in spite of themselves, everything MDBayNews reported this morning about how Maryland got here.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
Yesterday morning, MDBayNews reported that Churchill Downs and NYRA announced their Thoroughbred Championship Series without Maryland, that the Maryland Jockey Club learned about it when everyone else did, and that the series — with its NBC and FOX broadcast deals, its $5 million bonus pool, and its six races at CDI and NYRA tracks — could not have been designed in 46 days. Maryland wrote CDI an $85 million check on June 18.
By this evening, CDI had confirmed it.
Prior Coverage — Monday Morning
“Blindsided, Again” — MDBayNews reported the pattern: Maryland learned about the CDI/NYRA series the same way it learned about CDI’s original IP purchase in April — from a press release. MJC spokesman Dan Illman confirmed: “We would not comment on the series because we just learned of the announcement.” mdbaynews.com
The Press Conference That Wasn’t
“Nine minutes. One question. CDI walked out.”
The virtual press conference announcing the Thoroughbred Championship Series lasted less than nine minutes. CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen and NYRA CEO David O’Rourke outlined the series’ structure and its strengths. One reporter question was fielded. Then the call ended.
The Paulick Report — one of the most widely read independent racing news outlets in the country — had submitted a written question in advance: had CDI succeeded in acquiring the Preakness IP before Maryland exercised its right of first refusal, how would the series have differed? The question was not answered on the call. A CDI spokesperson cited “confusion” about the press conference format. None of the advance written questions were answered during the nine minutes.
NYRA subsequently held a second media availability — without any CDI participants — during which O’Rourke spent nearly 20 minutes answering follow-up questions. Carstanjen took no questions about the Preakness in real time.
CDI’s Written Answer — and What It Confirms
By Monday evening, CDI had responded in writing to the Paulick Report’s question. The answer is worth reading in full.
Parse it carefully. CDI developed the series around races that provided “the right foundation.” The Preakness was not one of them. The series is “not the last” — meaning CDI reserves the right to expand it. CDI is “open to conversations with additional races and organizations that share our vision.” Maryland was not part of the vision. Maryland will apparently be invited to apply.
“Those conversations will happen.”
— O’Rourke, on whether CDI and NYRA had engaged with Maryland before the announcement. They had not.
O’Rourke separately confirmed during the second media availability that no discussions had taken place with the Preakness, the Haskell Stakes, or the Pennsylvania Derby before the announcement. Maryland, Monmouth, and Parx all learned about a series that directly restructures the three-year-old racing calendar — and diminishes their most important races — from a press release.
“Now that it’s been released,” O’Rourke said, “those conversations will happen.”
O’Rourke also confirmed that discussions between NYRA and CDI about a season-long championship concept had been “underway for some time.” MDBayNews reported this morning that a six-race series with national broadcast deals, a points system, nominations process, and $5 million bonus pool could not have been designed in 46 days. O’Rourke confirmed it was not.
“Maryland was not part of the vision. Maryland will apparently be invited to apply.”
O’Rourke’s Triple Crown Defense — and Its Holes
Asked whether the new series was intended to replace or reshape the Triple Crown, O’Rourke rejected the characterization with unusual force: “This is in no way at all touching the Triple Crown. This builds on top of the Triple Crown, or alongside it. We don’t change anything with that. I still see the Triple Crown as one of the biggest, rarest things in sports.”
The statement is carefully constructed and worth examining on its own terms.
A six-race series that includes the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes — two of the three Triple Crown races — and awards $5 million in bonus money based on points accumulated across those races creates a competing incentive structure around two-thirds of the Triple Crown. Owners and trainers will make decisions about the Preakness with an eye on series standings. The Preakness earns no points. Skipping it costs nothing in the series context. Running it risks fatigue before the Belmont, a series race. Something changed.
“Something changed.”
O’Rourke also said the format — a points system across a full season — was “a very familiar format to the casual sports fan.” That is true. It is also, as Ray Paulick observed, a format that ends during football season. The series finale at Churchill Downs runs in September, competing with the start of the NFL season. The Preakness runs in May, with 150 years of casual fan recognition behind it. O’Rourke is building a format familiar to casual fans in a window when casual fans are not watching horse racing.
What the Industry Actually Said
The reaction outside CDI and NYRA was pointed. Dan Wolken at Yahoo Sports called it the possible death of the Triple Crown. Chris Pika, writing as @BlogAndTackle, made the most direct observation: CDI effectively froze the Preakness out of relevance after Maryland exercised the right of first refusal, and would almost certainly have included the race if it had owned the IP. Pete Denk noted the same sequence on X: CDI loses the IP bid in June, announces a series without the Preakness in August.
Katy Voss of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association called it counterproductive. A fan on X said what many were thinking: “Preakness, Haskell and Pennsylvania Derby need to come together and create their own series in response.” Bob Baffert welcomed the series and said he looks forward to competing in it — while noting that “the greatest achievement in racing will always be winning” the Triple Crown. His ellipsis said more than his sentence.
BloodHorse, the industry’s newspaper of record, framed its coverage with the plainest language: “As currently constructed, the approach figures to negatively impact United States racing’s most successful fan draw in history, the Triple Crown.”
The One Door Left Open — and What It Costs
That is the only door CDI has left open. It comes with a price that Maryland needs to understand before walking through it: inclusion in the CDI/NYRA series means accepting CDI and NYRA’s vision, their structure, their points system, and their terms. The Preakness becomes a series race — on CDI’s schedule, under CDI’s championship framework, subordinate to CDI’s championship finale at Churchill Downs in September.
“The party that just spent $85 million to avoid being controlled by CDI is being invited to petition CDI for a seat at the table CDI built without them.”
Maryland can take that deal. It would solve the immediate relevance problem. It would not solve the $633 million strategic question — what Maryland is actually building toward at Pimlico, and whether the new facility becomes the institutional home of something larger than a series race CDI graciously allowed in.
There is another path. MDBayNews will outline it tomorrow.
The Bad Faith Question
The documented timeline raises a question Maryland’s attorneys — and possibly its Attorney General — may be asking tonight.
CDI accepted $85 million from Maryland on June 18. CDI’s CEO pledged partnership on the Triple Crown the same day. The Maryland Jockey Club issued a statement the next day welcoming CDI as a collaborative partner and expressing excitement to work with its “Triple Crown partners.” O’Rourke confirmed this evening that NYRA and CDI discussions about a season-long championship had been “underway for some time” before today’s announcement — meaning the series was in active development during, and very possibly before, the right of first refusal match period.
Maryland Code Ann. Bus. Reg. §11-520(d) — the statute Maryland used to match CDI’s offer — exists specifically to protect Maryland’s interest in the Preakness from corporate acquisition. Academic legal research on right of first refusal statutes, including §11-520, has noted that offers under such statutes must be commercially reasonable and made in good faith. Whether CDI’s acceptance of $85 million while simultaneously developing a competing series that structurally diminishes the Preakness meets the good faith standard courts have applied to right of first refusal transactions is a question MDBayNews is not in a position to answer. It is, however, a question worth asking — and a question the documented record makes unavoidable.
“If there is bad faith in this sequence, it did not originate in Annapolis.”
MDBayNews has been critical of Governor Moore’s decisions throughout this series. But on this question, the documented facts cut differently. Maryland exercised a legal right designed to protect a public interest. CDI accepted the result, pledged partnership, and proceeded to build a structure that undermines what Maryland paid for — while the partnership pledge was still fresh. If there is bad faith in this sequence, it did not originate in Annapolis.
“The documented record makes the question unavoidable.”
Attorney General Anthony Brown files lawsuits the way other officials hold press conferences — against the federal government, against pharmaceutical companies, against tech platforms, against anyone whose conduct he deems contrary to Maryland’s interests. The documented record of CDI’s conduct during the right of first refusal match period — accepting $85 million from Maryland taxpayers while a competing series was “underway for some time” — would seem to fit that description rather precisely. Whether Brown’s office is examining it, or whether this particular corporate actor operates below his radar, is a question we have asked both the AG’s office and CDI. This article will be updated when responses are received.
Related Coverage — Maryland on the Map Series
“The Bet That Already Lost” — August 3, 2026 · “Blindsided, Again” — August 3, 2026 · “The Governor Bought a Horse Race” — June 2026
Sources
Chelsea Hackbarth, Paulick Report, “CDI, NYRA Defend Championship Series As Questions Swirl Over Preakness,” August 3, 2026, including CDI written response to Paulick Report question on Preakness IP exclusion and David O’Rourke statements from second NYRA media availability; Ray Paulick, @raypaulick, X, August 3, 2026; David Grening, Daily Racing Form (@DRFGrening), first public report of CDI/NYRA championship series announcement, 9:29 AM, August 3, 2026; BloodHorse, “New 3-Year-Old Series Brings Excitement, Concerns,” August 3, 2026; The Baltimore Banner, “Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes to be part of new series without Preakness,” including Katy Voss and David O’Rourke statements, August 3, 2026; Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports, @DanWolken, X, August 3, 2026; Chris Pika, @BlogAndTackle, X, August 3, 2026; Bob Baffert, @BobBaffert, X, August 3, 2026; Pete Denk, @petedenk, X, August 3, 2026; @ghostzapperfan, X, August 3, 2026; Maryland Jockey Club and Churchill Downs Inc., joint statement, The Pressbox, June 19, 2026, including TMJC Chairman Jim Dresher statement welcoming CDI as “Triple Crown partners”; Peter Damrosch, “Public Rights of First Refusal,” Yale Law Journal, noting good faith requirements applicable to right of first refusal statutes including Maryland Code Ann. Bus. Reg. §11-520; Maryland Code Ann. Bus. Reg. §11-520(d), Transfer or Sale of Preakness Stakes; MDBayNews, “Blindsided, Again,” August 3, 2026; MDBayNews, “The Bet That Already Lost,” August 3, 2026. MDBayNews · Maryland on the Map Series © 2026 MDBayNews. All rights reserved.
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