A new track is being built in Florida’s horse country by serious people with serious money — fighting the same structural battle Maryland is fighting. Maryland should be on the phone.
By Michael Phillips | Sports & Whatever
While Maryland’s Racing Commission held its August meeting largely in silence and the Governor’s office has yet to announce a single coalition partner for an independent racing circuit, a group of well-capitalized investors announced August 19 that they are moving forward with plans to build a world-class thoroughbred facility in Marion County, Florida — for exactly the same reasons Maryland is rebuilding Pimlico.
Who Gilligan Racing Is
Gilligan Racing LLC has an exclusive agreement with Ocala Thoroughbred Racing, a wholly owned division of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, involving Florida’s only available thoroughbred racing permit under Florida statute — a permit the FTBOA has held since 2011. The group is backed by attorney John Morgan, one of Florida’s most prominent political and civic figures, and Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone, who bring what the FTBOA describes as “substantial racing, development and operating experience.” The announcement was covered by the Paulick Report, BloodHorse, and WCJB-TV in Ocala within days of publication.
“When very few people believed a new racetrack could or should be built in Marion County, we did. We believed the Horse Capital of the World was exactly where the future of Florida racing belonged. We put our time, energy, and resources behind that belief. Now others are recognizing what we saw from the beginning — Marion County is the place.”
John Morgan, Gilligan Racing partner — FTBOA announcement, August 19, 2026
The FTBOA’s own president offered a candid assessment in the organization’s August newsletter: “A suitable property must be identified. A sustainable purse structure must be developed.” Site selection is ongoing. No location has been announced. No timeline has been set. This is a project in active development — not a finished plan. That is exactly when a coalition conversation is most valuable to have.
Why They’re Building It — And Why It Sounds Familiar
The decoupling threat is the trigger. Florida’s major existing tracks — Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs — have been pushing state legislators to decouple their gambling and card room operations from any obligation to host live racing. If decoupling passes, those tracks could run lucrative casino operations without running a single horse. Live thoroughbred racing in Florida would effectively end at those venues.
Gilligan Racing’s response: build an independent track that doesn’t depend on casino subsidy, in Marion County — where the horses actually are. The decoupling bill failed in Florida’s 2026 legislative session. Marion County horse industry leaders celebrated. The threat remains. Gilligan is building the answer before the next session.
“Restoring thoroughbred racing in Florida will require people and organizations throughout our industry to promote the common objective.”
— FTBOA president, August 2026
The Marion County equine industry generates nearly $5 billion for the local economy annually, with more than $3.5 billion from thoroughbreds alone. WCJB-TV reported those figures in its August 21 follow-up on the announcement.
The structural parallel to Maryland is direct. CDI and NYRA didn’t decouple from the Preakness — they built a series around it. Same result: a major commercial operator creating a structure that routes around independent racing while capturing most of the commercial value. Maryland’s response is to rebuild Pimlico and own the IP. Gilligan’s response is to build a new track entirely. Both are building independent infrastructure against the same consolidation force reshaping the sport.
Marion County Is Not a Random Location
Marion County, Florida — centered on Ocala — is the most concentrated thoroughbred breeding region in America. More breeding farms per square mile than anywhere else in the world. The farms that produce the horses that run at Pimlico, at Churchill Downs, at Saratoga. The owners and trainers whose horses are bred there, trained there, and shipped north for racing season.
If Gilligan Racing opens a world-class track in Marion County, it becomes the winter and spring home for thousands of thoroughbreds whose owners and trainers are already making routing decisions about summer and fall racing. A Maryland-anchored coalition that includes a Marion County track gives those owners a clear independent circuit.
That circuit doesn’t exist yet. Maryland hasn’t built it. Gilligan Racing doesn’t know Maryland wants to build it — because Maryland hasn’t called.
The Call Maryland Hasn’t Made
The MDBayNews strategy series proposed an independent coalition beginning August 4 — Keeneland, Del Mar, Oaklawn, Woodbine as founding partners, with Maryland as the anchor. Gilligan Racing wasn’t on that list because the FTBOA announcement came two weeks later. It belongs on the list now.
The alignment is close to perfect. Gilligan Racing is building a new track in the heart of American thoroughbred breeding country, using an independent nonprofit racing permit, backed by serious money, fighting the same consolidation forces Maryland is fighting. Their track doesn’t have a site yet — but neither does Maryland’s coalition. Both are being built at the same time, in the same industry environment, against the same structural threat.
The conversation Maryland should be having with Gilligan Racing is straightforward: join the coalition before your track opens. Help shape the points system and the championship structure. Bring Florida’s breeding community into a circuit that runs from Ocala in winter to Baltimore in May to the coalition tracks in summer and fall. Give owners and trainers a full independent season as an alternative to CDI’s championship series.
Maryland has the anchor race — the Preakness, now on NBC with a six-year deal. Maryland has the new facility under construction. Maryland has the IP. What Maryland doesn’t have is the coalition. Gilligan Racing is a coalition partner forming in real time.
Keeneland First — Gilligan Racing Second
The MDBayNews strategy piece published August 4 proposed Keeneland as the coalition’s pillar — the most respected independent track in American racing, whose participation would give the coalition instant credibility. That remains true. Start there.
But Keeneland is an established institution with its own schedule, its own stakes program, and its own reasons to be measured about committing to a new structure before it’s built. Gilligan Racing is different — a track in the development stage, with no existing calendar commitments, looking for exactly the kind of coalition structure that gives a new facility a reason to build its stakes program around something larger than itself.
Keeneland is the call Maryland makes first. Gilligan Racing is the call Maryland makes second. The Gilligan Racing conversation is potentially faster and more immediately consequential — because a new track’s entire programming calendar is still being designed, and getting into that conversation now costs nothing and could define what gets built.
Maryland on the Map
“Restoring thoroughbred racing in Florida will require people and organizations throughout our industry to promote the common objective: creating a sustainable, first-class future for Florida racing.”
FTBOA President — Prez Says, August 2026
Maryland’s objective is identical. The FTBOA’s president is describing exactly the coalition Maryland needs to build — and Gilligan Racing is the Florida partner that makes it geographically complete. Winter at Ocala. Spring in Baltimore. A full independent season without touching a CDI or NYRA track.
Maryland on the Map Series — Full Coverage
mdbaynews.com/category/series/maryland-on-the-map/
Sources
Gilligan Racing LLC, press release via Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, “Gilligan Racing Moves Forward With Plans for New Thoroughbred Racetrack in Marion County,” August 19, 2026; Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, “Prez Says — August 2026,” including FTBOA president’s assessment of project status; Paulick Report, “Gilligan Racing Moves Forward With Plan For New Track In Florida,” August 19, 2026; BloodHorse, “Gilligan Racing Notes Progress Toward FL Track,” August 19, 2026; WCJB-TV Ocala, “New thoroughbred racetrack appears to be making progress in Marion County,” August 21, 2026, including $5 billion equine industry economic impact figure; WESH-2 Orlando, “Effort to bring horse racing to Marion County as decoupling threat looms,” 2026; WCJB-TV, “Marion County horse industry leaders celebrate racing decoupling bill failure,” March 19, 2026; MDBayNews, “The Hand They’re Not Playing,” August 4, 2026; MDBayNews, Maryland on the Map series, April–August 2026.
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