Laurel Park

Betty McCue has been selected as the winner of the Maryland Million 2023 Joe Kelly Unsung Hero Award. Presented by the Board of Directors of Maryland Million Ltd, the award honors the memory of Maryland Million publicist Joe Kelly and celebrates important characteristics that are valuable, but sometimes go overlooked. McCue runs EHM Stables with her sister, Evelyn Martin, offering lessons, boarding, lay-ups, sales and leases. In addition, McCue is very active in pony racing. She maintains a large stable of ponies and is an avid participant in the U.S....

Partnerships in racing are nothing new. The days are upon us where programs are filled with syndicates and lists of names that can rival even the race entries themselves. It's a way to spread risk, cost and reward across multiple parties while increasing the comradery of racing. And while those partnerships are oftentimes consolidated in the form of a sale at the end of a horse's career, the 2023 Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover event has given opportunity for new kinds of teams to form, even across industries. Enter Gina...

Set to take place Oct. 17 at Laurel Park, the 38th Jim McKay Maryland Million has attracted 281 pre-entries with defending champions MSW Ournationparade (Cat Nation) and MSW & MGSP Fille d'Esprit (Great Notion) leading the fields. Ournationonparade is one of 21 Classic pre-entries, eight of whom are Maryland-bred but not Maryland-sired, while last year's Maryland Million Distaff winner, and reigning Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, Fille d'Esprit highlights 23 pre-entries in the Distaff, 18 of whom are Maryland-sired. Maryland-bred horses may participate in a Maryland Million race if less...

Dear Thoroughbred racing participants, HISA's most important mission is to protect the health and wellbeing of the horses participating in Thoroughbred racing. Over the past few months, the challenges of that mission--and the critical importance of it--have never been more apparent. The events at Churchill Downs, Laurel Park and Saratoga Race Course this spring and summer were a sobering reminder that we must further prioritize creating a culture of safety and an ecosystem of care that takes into account all factors contributing to equine fatalities. And it is the responsibility...

As Tuesday's entry time looms, the GI Travers S. is shaping up as a rare showdown of the three winners of this season's Triple Crown races. That's happened only five times since 1978, and on no occasion during the last 45 years when the winners of those spring Classics all graced the starting gate for Saratoga's "Midsummer Derby" has any one of them emerged victorious. That's a fairly daunting stat considering how the match-up of the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. winners is essentially what...

Jamie Ness was the leading trainer and Jaime Rodriguez was the top jockey at the Laurel Park summer meet which concluded Sunday. Ness saddled 27 winners at the 33-day stand, while Brittany Russell was second in the standings with 22 wins. Rodriguez outdistanced five-pound apprentice Axel Concepcion, 39-29, to finish as leading rider. Ness and Rodriguez put an exclamation point on their meet with a Sunday hat trick--Madison Avenue Racing Stable, Inc. and Jagger Inc.'s Liberty Star in Race 5, Double B Racing Stables' My Boy Colton in Race 6...

Joining an ever-growing list of tracks to cancel their programs to start the weekend, Delaware Park will follow suit and reschedule their Saturday live racing card due to the excessive heat forecasted for the region, the track said in a release Friday. Acting upon the recommendation of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission (DTRC) veterinarians, the entire July 29 live racing card will be transferred to Friday, Aug. 4. The national weather service has predicted temperatures in the 90s with a heat index of value approaching the mid-100s. Live racing is...

A forecast for extreme heat caused the cancellation of live racing at Woodbine Thursday and Friday, as well as at Laurel Park Friday, while Ellis Park will move its Friday and Saturday programs. Colonial Downs, which announced it was cancelling its Friday card Wednesday, additionally has now cancelled its Saturday card. Woodbine announced its cancelled Thursday races would be offered to be carded for July 30 and the track will also attempt to make up Thursday's races by adding additional races over the next few race cards. After monitoring the...

Trainer Jamie Ness earned the 4,000th win of his career when Sing Scat (Irish War Cry), a 3-year-old filly he co-owns, captured the first race at Laurel Park Sunday. The victory was the 27th in the month of July for Ness and extended his win streak to 17 calendar days between Laurel, Delaware Park and Parx that dates back to June 30. It was also the second career milestone Ness has reached at Laurel where he earned his 2,000th win with Caylee's Song on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2013. "Luckily,...

3rd-Laurel, $52,520, Msw, 7-1, 2yo, f, 5f, :58.39, ft, 8 lengths. TOUPIE (f, 2, Uncle Mo--Amertume {GSP}, by Tapit) was a deserving even-money favorite in this unveiling, jumping up to strike the front from the early jumps to set the pace just outside of Remember Me (Imagining). The pair stayed in close quarters through fractions of :22.93 and :45.79 before Toupie eagerly shook off her shadow past the quarter pole and spurted clear, opening up a dominant advantage that was eight lengths on the wire. Remember Me held on for...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) canceled live racing Friday at Belmont Park due to a rapid decline in air quality late this morning, the organization said in a release midday. After horses were in the paddock for the first race, the decision was made in consultation with the New York State Equine Medical Director, NYRA management and veterinary staff in order to ensure the safety of all participants. The indoor facilities at Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack remained open for simulcasting. Live racing is scheduled to resume on...

Michael Algeo, who has served on the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) since 2016 and was chairing that board, resigned from both positions, effective immediately, June 14. Frank Vespe of Maryland's "Off to the Races Radio" was first to report the scoop on his show's June 17 broadcast. Algeo's departure accentuates a time of regulatory upheaval within Maryland racing that in recent months has been marked by three other long-serving commissioners (David Hayden, Tom Bowman, Tom Winebrener) also either resigning from the MRC or not having their terms renewed by the...