What’s old is new again.

After long planning to “rotate” the racing oval at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course — that is, rebuilding it at a different orientation — state officials now expect the track to remain right where it is when the historic venue is rebuilt in the coming years.

The track’s alignment has been hotly debated in recent years, as various plans to renovate the dilapidated but storied racetrack in Park Heights have started and stopped. A consultant report to the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority in January favored rotating the track as the “most efficient use of the available land,” and the authority previously said it expected to reorient the oval as part of the renovation.

Now, officials have pivoted from the pivot. Racing authority chair Greg Cross told the authority during a regular meeting Friday that leaving the track where it currently sits would shorten the build time and decrease construction costs.

“Sometimes the more you study something, the more you come back to where you started, and it looks like that’s where we’re going to land,” Cross said. He noted the decision is not final, though, as the design continues to be studied.

A vocal group of racing fans have long argued for preserving the oval’s placement as nod to the history of Old Hilltop, which first opened in 1870.

Leaving the oval where it is will extend the “schematic design process,” Cross said, since the authority had been contemplating the pivoted track. But it “simplifies the project,” he said, expressing confidence that Pimlico would be rebuilt by spring 2027.

“While it’s still a very complex project — I don’t want to sell it short, it’s very aggressive schedule, the stadium authority is doing a good job on that — this makes it more likely to hit the schedule, rather than less likely,” Cross said. “So, sometimes you take a step back to accelerate.”

The authority also on Friday approved the number of racing days that Maryland will host next year.

Historically, the state has seen roughly 175 days of thoroughbred horse racing between its two operational, mile-long tracks at Pimlico and Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County, as well as at the smaller state fairgrounds track.

But as Maryland makes sweeping changes to the industry, including the installation of a state-created nonprofit operator instead of a private Canadian company, the Stronach Group, next year will see only 127 days of racing, down from 159 this year.

While Pimlico is undergoing renovations, racing in the state — including the 2026 Preakness — will relocate to Laurel Park.

But next year, the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium will host seven race days, and Pimlico will host six days, including what will be the 150th running of the Preakness. The current plan calls for the demolition of Pimlico after that event.

The state will pay $400 million for the Pimlico rebuild and the construction of a training center elsewhere in Maryland.