BALTIMORE-Magna Entertainment Corp. has exercised its option to acquire the remaining 49% stake in locally based Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Pimlico Race Course here and the Laurel Park racetrack in Laurel, MD. Under the agreement struck with MJC's previous owners, entities of the De Francis family, in November 2002, Ontario-based Magna paid $18.3 million plus interest for the remaining portion of the company.

Its assets include Pimlico, best known for hosting the Preakness, which is the second leg of horseracing's Triple Crown; Laurel Park, which is located midway between Baltimore and Washington, DC, and a training center in Bowie, MD. In 2002, Magna acquired 51% of MJC and its assets in a series of complex transactions with various De Francis entities. The buy represented an aggregate value of approximately $117 million and included a payment of $51 million in cash.

The option on the remaining stake was scheduled to expire this November. In accordance with the initial acquisition agreement, Joseph De Francis and Karin De Francis will eventually leave MJC, but Joseph De Francis will remain a director of Magna under the agreement struck in 2002.