Laurel

The Maryland Jockey Club released the fall schedule of 33 stakes worth $3.525 million in purses for Laurel Park, including the GIII Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash and 36th edition of the Jim McKay Maryland Million. The fall meet begins Thursday, Sept. 9 and continues through Saturday, Dec. 31. For the complete stakes schedule, click here. The six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up will help kick off the fall stakes schedule as one of four stakes worth $500,000 in purses Saturday, Sept. 18. Named for the late president...

Thursday's Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) meeting figured to provide an update on the massive main track base and cushion repair project that has kept Laurel Park dark since Apr. 10 and caused the entire backstretch community to relocate to either Pimlico Race Course, the Timonium fairgrounds, or private stabling. But beyond noting that all horses had been moved out of the Laurel backstretch as of May 26 and thanking horsemen for their cooperation, Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which owns Laurel and Pimlico, only reported...

For the first time since 2015, Maryland's local audition for the GI Preakness S. will provide horses with an opportunity to prep over the same Pimlico Race Course main track that serves as home for the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. The $125,000 Federico Tesio S. headlines seven stakes worth $750,000 in purses on the Spring Stakes Spectacular program Saturday, Apr. 24, originally scheduled to be run at Laurel Park. With the ongoing evaluation of Laurel's main track, live racing has been shifted to Pimlico, effective Thursday, Apr. 22....

Laurel Park will open its 16-day spring meet Thursday, Apr. 8 and will continue through Sunday, May 2. Live racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday with a first-race post of 12:40 p.m. Post time moves to 12:15 p.m. for the Spring Stakes Spectacular program Apr. 24 and GI Kentucky Derby day from Churchill Downs May 1. Entries for Laurel's Apr. 8 opening day program will be taken Apr. 3. The Spring Stakes Spectacular program includes seven stakes worth $750,000 in purses led by the Federico Tesio S. for 3-year-olds...

As a result of the ongoing pause of live racing at Laurel Park through Sunday, Apr. 4, the Maryland Jockey Club has pushed its Spring Stakes Spectacular program back one week to Saturday, Apr. 24. All seven stakes worth a total of $750,000 in purses originally scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 17 will be run on the new date with a similar 12:40 p.m. post time. Nominations for all stakes are due Saturday, Apr. 3. The Spring Stakes Spectacular is led by the $125,000 Federico Tesio for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8...

Laurel Park canceled racing for Friday, Saturday and Sunday after the Maryland Jockey Club was informed Thursday evening by Maryland State Veterinarian Dr. Michael Odian that a horse at Pimlico has tested positive for the Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1). The horse had been isolated for 72 hours prior to the positive test. In a statement issued by the Maryland Jockey Club Friday afternoon, the suspension of live racing at Laurel Park has now been extended through Apr. 4. The news would have impacted fields for the races which were already set...

Margaux Farm announced the appointment of Shayna Tiller as Sales, Marketing and Client Liaison, beginning Mar. 23, 2021. Tiller, who grew up near Laurel Park, pursued a career in racing in college. After her first summer writing for the Saratoga Special, she served a stint foaling mares at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and as an exercise rider in the morning. She also interned with Fasig-Tipton before completing the Irish National Stud Breeding Course. Following her return to America, Tiller worked the sale seasons with Bluewater Sales and Mill Ridge Farm....

Although winter weather has delayed a planned aeration project to aid with drainage on the Laurel Park turf course, track management is projecting that with a little help from Mother Nature, grass racing could begin by Apr. 17. Speaking at the Feb. 25 Maryland Racing Commission meeting, Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club, which owns Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, described the turf maintenance as similar to work that is often undertaken on golf courses. Except that at Laurel, Sinatra said, this "deep drill and fill" involves...

Brittany Russell had every reason to expect that she was going to have a good run at Laurel when the current meet began Oct. 8. She is a high-percentage trainer and knew that several of her horses were sitting on winning races. But the 31-year-old, who has been on her own for less than three years, never could have expected what was about to unfold. No one could have. Through Dec. 17, Russell has won 22 of her 42 starts at Laurel, putting her winning percentage at 52% for the...

Aqueduct and Laurel both canceled their race cards Thursday after a winter storm hit the east coast Wednesday evening and continued into Thursday morning with rain, snow and heavy winds. In New York snow totals of 9 to 12 inches were expected with wind gusts reaching 50mph. There was also a coastal flooding warning for Queens. Racing will resume at Aqueduct Friday with first post at 12:20 p.m. Living racing also resumes in Maryland Friday with first post at 12:25 p.m.

7th-Laurel, $50,442, Alw (NW1X), Opt. Clm ($62,500), 10-23, 2yo, 6f, 1:08.75, ft, 4 lengths. JAXON TRAVELER (c, 2, Munnings--Listen Boy {SP}, by After Market) was off at 2-5 to remain unblemished in his brief career and made light work of a first-level allowance Friday at Laurel, winning as he pleased by four lengths. Having graduated by 10 lengths at first asking Sept. 25, the $80,000 KEESEP yearling turned $140,000 OBS Spring breezer flew the gates and was soon in front, skipping along easily through an opening quarter in :22.19 (60-foot...

One day after Bill Finley wrote about inconsistencies in timing at a handful of racetracks in the U.S.--both big and small--in Wednesday's TDN, Pat Cummings, the Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, has penned a piece of his own, explaining why accuracy in timing is paramount to the game and offering a framework for how to move forward. "The state of race timing in America is not improving as the years pass. It is getting worse," writes Cummings, who served as the director of racing information for Trakus for...