Crowds this weekend at the swan song for Pimlico Race Course were on par with the last three years — but less than a third as large as the roughly 190,000 who attended the weekend during a record-setting 2017.

When informed of attendance at the 2025 Preakness Stakes — a combined 63,000 over the weekend — longtime race attendee Ed Rommel was shocked.

“Get out of here,” Rommel said Monday. “I can remember when it was 110, 115,000.”

Those present Saturday were treated to a thriller: Journalism, the heavy favorite, delivered an improbable comeback victory in the final Preakness Stakes at the original Pimlico.

The Canadian company that has long hosted the race, The Stronach Group, also known as 1/ST, is in the midst of an exit from Maryland thoroughbred racing. As part of an agreement with the state, however, 1/ST hosted Saturday’s Preakness and will do the same next year.

A state-created nonprofit, dubbed the Maryland Jockey Club, now runs day-to-day racing and will host Preakness from 2027 on.

The state and city hosted events last week ahead of the 150th running of the Preakness in a renewed effort to promote it going forward.

Rommel, 75, has attended Preakness for 53 consecutive years and proudly wore a custom shirt Saturday boasting that streak.

Over that half-century at “Old Hilltop,” attendance climbed in the 1990s and 2000s, dipped when patrons were no longer allowed to bring their own alcohol in 2009, then surged again up until the coronavirus pandemic.

Aging Pimlico had trouble hosting such a massive crowd in 2019, when plumbing issues caused long bathroom lines.

In the years since, 1/ST said it has sought a more scaled-down version of the event and in 2023, a company official said the race had been reimagined to ensure that “the Pimlico facility could deliver” an improved experience.

An announced crowd of “60,000+” attended the weekend in 2022, 65,000 in 2023 and 63,423 last year.

1/ST said in a news release that “premium hospitality tickets were completely sold out” for the weekend, but did not publicly share how many people attended Preakness Day, specifically. Last year, that figure was 46,163.

In late April, organizers said ticket sales were going much better than in recent years.

Mike Burton, a fan from Virginia who has gone to Preakness for decades, was surprised at the sparse attendance.

“It’s really unbelievable,” he said Saturday. “But the place is falling apart and the concessions are terrible.”

This year’s Preakness was unique. Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty’s connections opted to rest the horse for the Belmont Stakes, rather than strive for a Triple Crown — a rare move that took some of the allure away from the race.

There also was no infield music festival, which has been a staple for the past 15 years. In recent years, concertgoers watched artists such as Bruno Mars and Jack Harlow perform.

Instead, about 3,000 revelers with unlimited access to beer and wine attended a “fan zone” this year in the infield. Musical artists T-Pain and Wyclef Jean, who, at one point, played guitar with his tongue, performed on a trackside stage.

Some were drawn to Pimlico for the finality of it all.

Some fans wanted to witness the 150th Preakness Stakes and to see the storied track — which hosted legendary racing moments, including Seabiscuit’s famed victory over War Admiral in 1938 — one last time before its demise.

The ramshackle track will soon be demolished and, if the construction timeline holds, rebuilt in time for the 2027 Preakness. Next year’s race will be held at Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County, which will be shuttered soon after.

The weekend‘s total handle topped $138 million, including $110 million wagered on race day, an increase from $98.5 million last year, according to 1/ST. (Handle, the dollars bet on races, is an essential revenue stream for the operation of horse racing.)

About $67 million was wagered specifically on the Preakness, the most since 2021, according to the Daily Racing Form.

In 1972, Rommel attended his first Preakness, sitting in a portion of the grandstand that was condemned in recent years.

“Everything else has changed, too,” he said.

State officials are betting that $500 million in new infrastructure can be a shot in the arm for thoroughbred racing in the state. Some of that money will go toward a Carroll County training center, but the bulk will be reserved for a brand new Pimlico.

Archivists were scheduled to visit the racetrack Monday to continue to remove and preserve artifacts from the track, which opened in 1870. Its demolition date is scheduled for late June.

Baltimore Banner reporter Ellie Wolfe contributed to this article.