![\"Preakness](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MG_0608-1880x1240.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, closed for good last weekend. But fans, and anyone interested in state history, has the chance to score some original pieces from the track in an auction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, Pimlico was shuttered for good.
\n(Courtesy Maryland Department of General Services) <\/p>\n
\n Courtesy Maryland Department of General Services <\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MG_0438-1880x1254.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A poster from the 1989 Preakness is up for auction.
\n(Courtesy Maryland Department of General Services) <\/p>\n
\n Courtesy Maryland Department of General Services <\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MG_0612-1880x1254.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Original Pimlico seats are being auctioned off.
\n(Courtesy Maryland Department of General Services) <\/p>\n
\n Courtesy Maryland Department of General Services <\/p>\n
Maybe you don\u2019t know Secretariat from Seattle Slew, but you do have a chance at owning a piece of horse racing history.<\/p>\n
After the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, Pimlico, the storied racetrack in Baltimore, was shuttered for good.<\/a><\/p>\n The aging track is being razed, while a new track and complex is planned to reopen in 2027.<\/p>\n Maryland\u2019s Department of General Services is in charge of auctioning off items from Pimlico, and Assistant Secretary of Business Enterprise Administration Ronnie Dampier told WTOP that while the online auction kicked off Saturday, there are plenty of good items left.<\/p>\n And he said you don\u2019t have to be a racing fan, you could also be a history buff or someone who just enjoys collecting one-of-a-kind items.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have things like benches that are original to Pimlico,\u201d Dampier said. \u201cWe have brass finish hand railings, we have pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n They also have seats up for auction where fans who once sipped the famous Black Eyed Susan cocktails or waited to see if their horse came in to win, place or show would have watched the races.<\/p>\n Dampier said it\u2019s bittersweet yet \u201cvery exciting\u201d to see the dismantling of a racetrack that hosted Triple Crown winners from Sir Barton in 1919 to Justify in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new Pimlico that will be created, I truly believe, is going to be quite, quite the sight to see,\u201d he said, referring to the future of the site.<\/a><\/p>\n In the meantime, he said the auction has a lot to offer.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a piece of history that you get to own. It\u2019s a piece of history that you get to keep and share those stories with your families, your children, your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n In the 2000s, Pimlico not only hosted the Preakness, the second gem in the Triple Crown, but its infield became famous \u2014 or infamous \u2014 for what became known as \u201cthe running of the urinals.\u201d Attendees who were then allowed to bring their own beverages, would clamber on top of the portable toilets that were lined up, and hop from the top of one to the next while some members of the crowd lobbed cans of beer their way.<\/p>\n Chichi Nyagah-Nash, deputy secretary of the Department of General Services, said items from those days would not be auctioned off.<\/p>\n \u201cThose would not be up for sale; as with most event sites, those urinals were rented from vendors. So unfortunately, no. There will not be any of the tossed beer cans or the dented urinals for sale in this auction,\u201d she told WTOP.<\/p>\n But Nyagah-Nash said the Department of General Services regularly makes surplus items available for sale to the public, and that somewhere, there are lucky Ravens fans with memorabilia in their homes. She said the department recently ran an auction of inventory from M&T Bank Stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cWe make available items that go beyond things like copiers and desks and used furniture from the state,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, a high-top table with a Ravens logo on it is now in someone\u2019s living room because of us posting it.\u201d<\/p>\n The current auction of items from Pimlico<\/a> continues through Friday.<\/p>\n