The birds chirped. The horse transports rumbled.

As the sun rose over Pimlico Race Course on Sunday morning, there was no indication that a remarkable race had unfolded on the same grounds just 11 hours earlier.

There’s an inevitable exhale the morning after the tempest that is a Triple Crown race. But the feeling was more pronounced than usual, because this was not just the end of another Preakness weekend; it was the final bow for Pimlico as we know it.

After all the public policy debates, all the laments about how the old track was no longer a worthy home for one of Maryland’s signature events, this was really it.

Michael McCarthy, operating on about three hours’ sleep after he stayed up until 3 a.m. celebrating Journalism’s win in the 150th Preakness, joked that he and his champion were being rushed out of the stakes barn because officials were ready to put a padlock on the place.

The victorious trainer wasn’t far off. The teardown is expected to begin in a few weeks after the Board of Public Works approved a $14.3 million demolition contract this month. The next time racing returns to the site — the hope is for the 2027 Preakness — everything around it will be different.

It’s an exciting prospect for state and industry leaders, who say Maryland racing cannot enter its next chapter without a modern facility to call home. But the turning of this page also introduces uncertainty, given the complexities of the $500 million project and the industry’s need to find its economic footing under the leadership of a new, nonprofit Maryland Jockey Club.

Next year will be a placeholder, with The Stronach Group, which sold Pimlico to the state last year for $1, still in charge of a Preakness that will relocate to an alien setting at Laurel Park.

This temporary displacement of a Triple Crown race isn‘t unique. New York is going through it right now, staging a second straight Belmont Stakes at Saratoga as a massive rebuild of Belmont Park proceeds.

But few of the fans, trainers and media members who descend on Pimlico every Preakness week have a feel for how 2026 might differ. Laurel is the headquarters for weekly racing in Maryland, but it isn’t Saratoga, one of thoroughbred racing’s most cherished venues and the home to major races every summer.

“You have a precedent where Belmont went to Saratoga, and though I did not attend that, I’ve heard incredibly positive comments and remarks about it,” Maryland Jockey Club President Bill Knauf said. “I do think Laurel will be very unique. It’s a beautiful track in itself, with a huge turf course and a suburban setting. I think it will be something cool for a one-off.”

Or perhaps a two-off, given the tight construction schedule facing the Maryland Stadium Authority.

Meanwhile, as Knauf and his staff prepare to take full control of the Preakness from The Stronach Group (the Canadian company will receive about $5 million a year from Maryland for use of its intellectual property) in 2027, they have an opportunity to decide what they want the event to be going forward.

This year’s race day bore little resemblance to Preakness Saturdays from past decades. Much of the infield, a defining feature in the years when the race routinely drew more than 100,000 patrons, was empty. Musical acts Wyclef Jean and T-Pain performed from a modest platform in front of the cupola where Preakness-winning connections receive the Woodlawn Vase. Gone were the massive stage and throbbing dance beats that often drowned out racing cheers in recent years. The betting handle for all races was up 12% from 2024, but Pimlico was quiet for most of a blessedly sunny day, until the crowd revved up for the Preakness itself.

When the second jewel of the Triple Crown returns to a rebuilt Pimlico, the goal will likely be some midpoint between what we saw Saturday and the more robustly attended editions of earlier years. Expect the focus to be more on racing than on concert headliners. Many people in Maryland racing have grumbled that The Stronach Group squandered precious Preakness revenue on booking expensive acts. If the event could be made profitable again, it would help support the industry’s year-round needs.

Maryland officials also face a dilemma with the race itself, which went without the Kentucky Derby winner for the third time since 2019. Leading industry voices have warned that Derby-winning trainers will bypass Baltimore more frequently because they’re not comfortable entering their horses in a major race off just two weeks’ rest.

Panic did not set in fully when Country House skipped the Preakness in 2019 or when Rich Strike sat out in 2022; neither surprise champion was considered likely to win at Pimlico.

Sovereignty was a different case, clearly one of the two best horses, along with Journalism, going into and coming out of the Derby. A rematch of their one-two battle in Kentucky would have given the Preakness a powerful headlining hook. Instead, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott eschewed his shot at a Triple Crown, saying the two-week turnaround would not be best for his horse.

No one will be shocked if subsequent Derby trainers make the same decision as Mott, one of the most respected figures in his profession. Where would that leave the Triple Crown series, which relies on dramatic carryover from one race to the next?

Everyone from seven-time Preakness-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas to NBC analysts Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss spent last week saying it’s time for a change, that the Preakness and Belmont would benefit from calendar breaks of at least a month.

But there’s no commissioner of racing to make it happen. Maryland and New York officials, left to their own devices, have made no progress negotiating a solution. In fact, the New York Racing Association might not see a problem at all, even though there has not been a Triple Crown on the line in the Belmont since 2018.

For all the big-picture anxiety around this turning point in Preakness history, the 2025 race was one for the annals.

No one who was at Pimlico on Saturday will soon forget Journalism, the even-money favorite, seeming to lose his chance in a traffic mashup only to make up an astonishing amount of ground in a matter of seconds.

McCarthy thought he was done. So did jockey Umberto Rispoli, who had steered Journalism into that calamitous squeeze between Goal Oriented and Clever Again. So did co-owner Aron Wellman.

As much as they believed in their horse, it felt like too much to overcome.

Wellman‘s 17-year-old daughter, Sadie, burst into tears as she watched Journalism bump through that crowd like Derrick Henry running off right tackle. Few run into trouble so late in a race and have any shot at catching a free-running leader such as Gosger.

Journalism did it in a performance that immediately joined the short list of greatest individual efforts in Preakness history.

“I think a lot of us would have to put that in our highlight reel, top-five kind of thing,” said McCarthy, still shaking his head Sunday morning at what he had seen from his horse.

Coming off Derby disappointment and Preakness redemption, will Journalism proceed to the Belmont and a rematch with Sovereignty? Racing fans want to see it. So does McCarthy, though he’s not committing yet.

“I think it would be great for the sport,” he said.

Journalism appeared fit, relaxed and generally unfazed the morning after his rugged Preakness. He’ll leave Pimlico in the next few days, with McCarthy indicating there’s a good chance he’ll head to Saratoga ahead of a final decision on the Belmont.

He’ll leave behind one last heart-pounding moment for the version of Pimlico that has hosted so many grand races, from Affirmed-Alydar in 1978 to Sunday Silence-Easy Goer in 1989 to Afleet Allex falling nearly to his knees before winning in 2005.

“Michael and I are in this game to make history, though it’s circumstantial that we happen to be the last Preakness winner before they tear this place down and put a new place up,” Wellman said, standing outside Journalism’s stall Sunday morning.

“But there’s not many more historic-feeling places in the country than this stakes barn and that infield and cupola. It’s a very distinguished fraternity. … You can just feel the importance to the community and the city of Baltimore. Anybody who has an appreciation for racing history, they know how special this barn is.”