If you take a look at YouTube and watch the “Running of the Toilets”, you would understand the need for change. The second leg of the Triple Crown was turning into a mosh pit. If you have any doubts, go ahead and take a look for yourself. Is this what is needed for racing to survive, or just a way to get wasted by noon?

The future of Maryland’s storied horse racing industry might be a matter of debate, but one thing was clear Saturday at the yearly race that has been the state’s biggest sports event for more than a century: The Freakness is gone.

The usually crammed infield at the Preakness Stakes, which earned that nickname because of drunken fighting and other forms of debauchery, was far from full as post time neared. Gone were the topless women, and the teens who raced and stumbled across the tops of portable toilets, pelted with beer cans as they went.

To restore civility to what had become little more than an all-day party, officials at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore banned spectators this year from bringing their own beverages, including beer, onto the infield. The move contributed to a 30 percent drop in attendance, and it drew plenty of complaints.

Those who stayed home forfeited the chance to see Rachel Alexandra become the first filly to win the Preakness in 85 years, holding off Kentucky Derby victor Mine That Bird by one length, and Musket Man by one and 1/2 lengths.

Rachel Alexandra had drawn all the pre-race attention after her victory in the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby, and she did not disappoint yesterday as she led the all-male field for almost the whole race, covering the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.08.

Though officials said the total wagered was $59 million, up $14 million from last year, the lower attendance appeared to be the latest blow to Pimlico and the Preakness, the second race in the coveted Triple Crown.

Attendance dropped 7.5 percent last year, to 112,222, and it fell yesterday to 77,850, track officials said. A referendum legalizing slot machines in Maryland has produced no money for the state’s ailing horse racing industry. And Magna Entertainment, the Canadian conglomerate that owns the Preakness, is in financial straits.

The company filed for bankruptcy in March, saying it would put Pimlico up for auction. It relented only after Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and state lawmakers threatened to seize the track by eminent domain.

O’Malley, on a tour of the stables before post time, repeated his pledge to “do everything we can” to keep the Preakness at Pimlico.

“I look forward to seeing it run for another 134 years,” he said in a nod to the Preakness’s first race at Pimlico, in 1873.

Tom Chuckas, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Pimlico, said he expected the ban to cut into ticket sales this year and next. Even so, he said, the infield — a world away from the dresses and heels, linen suits and fedoras worn by some in the grandstand — needed to change.