The bathroom closures at Pimlico Race Course during the Preakness on Saturday were a result of low water pressure caused by increased water use, track and city officials said.
Track officials initially blamed a water main break elsewhere in the city. But on Monday, Sal Sinatra, vice president and general manger of the Maryland Jockey Club, said the issue was caused by high water use at the course.
A spokesman for the city Department of Public Works, meanwhile, said workers at the track left a valve open, further reducing water pressure.
Sinatra said water was used in the barn area to hose off horses in Saturday's heat and humidity, which caused the system to lose pressure.
"We were watering the track every race, and filling two water trucks every race," he said. "This is the most the system has been taxed."
Racegoers reported long lines for bathrooms at the track's grandstand. Posts on social media indicated fans in the grandstand were racing to the infield for relief, some women used men's bathrooms, and residents outside the track offered their homes for Preakness patrons in need.
City public works spokesman Kurt Kocher said there was no "exterior" problem.
"We believe what occurred was that their maintenance crews left a valve down because they were doing some other work there."
That affected water pressure, he said, and the record crowd would have exacerbated the problem.
"There was no water main break outside of the track that impacted anything there," Kocher said.
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