Pimlico Race Course, the home of The Preakness Stakes, opened on Oct. 25, 1870. The horse racing track is located on 5201 Park Heights Ave. in Baltimore. Maryland governor Oden Bowie and friends agreed at a dinner party in New York that a stakes race should be run in the fall of 1870, and Bowie vowed to build a racetrack to host the event. He did just that, and the winning colt was named Preakness. Pimlico is the second-oldest track in the nation, behind Saratoga in New York. The Maryland Jockey Club originally purchased 70 acres of land for $23,500 and built the track for $25,000. The track is one mile loam oval and 70 feet wide. From the last turn to the finish line is 1,152 feet, and the area the course is built on is 140 acres. The daily seating capacity is 14,852, but the course can accommodate an estimated 109,398 people for The Preakness. The infield, which is known for its partying scene, can hold an estimated 60,000. The first Preakness Stakes took place on May 27, 1873. It is the second race in horse racing's Triple Crown. Since 1925, the Preakness has been a 1 3/16-mile race. The Black-Eyed Susan, a stakes race named after Maryland's state flower, was first run at Pimlico in 1919. It is traditionally run the Friday before Preakness