Laurel Park

Tuesday's Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) meeting yielded the news that the state's horsemen, breeders, and the operator of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park have agreed on yet another six-month extension agreement to keep racing going after a 10-year deal expired at the end of 2022. The placeholder agreement will go into effect for the final six months of 2023, and it follows a similar six-month extension reached earlier this year that is set to sunset June 30. The eventual goal is to come up with a longer-term contract. Mike...

Pimlico, the home of a Triple Crown race, is rundown and needs to be torn down and rebuilt. Its sister track, Laurel isn't in much better shape. To have two tracks in such condition does not make for a sustainable model for the future of Maryland racing, a problem that track owners and politicians have been trying solve for more than a decade. But the latest round of give-and-take appears to have yielded a solution. Money once earmarked for a rebuild of both Pimlico and Laurel is expected to be...

Veteran trainer Kieron Magee and five-pound apprentice jockey Axel Concepcion claimed their respective meet titles as Laurel Park closed its spring meet Sunday. Magee, 62, entered the eight-race, closing-day program without a starter, but an 11-8 lead over Jamie Ness in the trainer standings. Hugh McMahon won twice Sunday to pass Ness for second, while Brittany Russell wound up fourth with seven wins. "It feels great because I'm down to 25 horses. To pull off a training title with 25 horses, that takes some doing," Magee said. "I lost a...

A lithe, dappled bay daughter of Pioneerof the Nile, whose striking features and poetic stride make her easy to pick out on the main track at Churchill Downs, GI Kentucky Oaks contender Southlawn has certainly caught the attention of many leading up to her Run for the Lilies this Friday. But what many may not know is that trainer Norm Casse's stable pony, who escorts the filly to and from the track each morning, is also a star in his own right, as he is none other than multiple stakes...

Concerns over the safety of the troubled main dirt track at Laurel Park have quieted since racing was halted there Apr. 21-28. Mike Rogers, the president of the racing division for 1/ST Racing, which owns both Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, told the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) Tuesday that several "tweaks" to the maintenance routine represent the only significant changes to the surface since racing resumed Apr. 29. The tone was noticeably less tense and in-person attendance was diminished during the MRC's regular monthly meeting at Laurel May 2....

Laurel Park will be open for training on Thursday and Friday, with the intent to run this Saturday, Apr. 29, Alan Foreman, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (THA), said by phone Wednesday afternoon. Last Saturday's cancelled Apr. 22 card of 98 entries included a pair of $100,000 races in the Native Dancer S. and the Primonetta S., scheduled for the main track. This time around, the racing office has taken 116 entries over 11 races with the same slate of five stakes. The decision...

The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) and the management team at 1/ST Racing announced an agreement Tuesday morning that will allow for the MTHA's preferred track maintenance consultant, John Passero, to be retained to perform testing that will hopefully lead to the latest round of fixes in a years-long series of safety woes that have plagued Laurel Park's main dirt track. The agreement, which was announced at an emergency meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) Apr. 25, put off for the time being any action by the commission that...

A few hours after the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which operates Laurel Park, put out a statement in which it said it had concluded "that there were no issues with the track and that it is safe to race and train," the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) and the Maryland Horse Breeders' Association sent a joint email to Maryland Racing Commission Chairman Michael Algeo calling into question the safety of the track and calling the current situation a "catastrophic emergency." There have been off-and-on concerns about the main track at...

The Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which cancelled racing this weekend after two fatalities at Laurel Park Thursday, issued a new statement late Saturday regarding the status of the Laurel surface. The statement appears in full below: The Maryland Jockey Club has cancelled its Thursday, Apr. 27 racing program at Laurel Park due to insufficient entries. The racing office will be open and taking entries Sunday for the Friday, Apr. 28 program. We acknowledge the recent statements in the press regarding the safety of our racing surface. However, we want to...

The Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Laurel Park, announced late Friday that racing at Laurel has been cancelled at least through this weekend. "The Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) announced that after consultation with the Maryland Racing Commission, racing will be cancelled this weekend at Laurel Park while MJC works with the Maryland Racing Commission to understand and address any issues of concern raised relating to recent injuries," the statement read.  "MJC will also be discussing plans for implementation of updated safety and veterinary protocols similar to those that have been...

In a press release sent out just 50 minutes before the post time for the day's first race, Laurel Park management announced that the Saturday card had been postponed. The reason given was an "abundance of caution to do a full evaluation of the racing surfaces." According to multiple sources, two horses broke down during training hours Saturday. One of the horses had to be euthanized and the other did not. There were no incidents during racing on Thursday and Friday. Maryland Jockey Club Acting President Mike Rogers sent a...

Heading into Friday's closing day winter meet card, Jaime Rodriguez and Jamie Ness appear poised to top the jockey and trainer divisions for Laurel Park's concluding Winter Meet. Rodriguez, 32, holds an 11-win advantage over five-pound apprentice Jeiron Barbosa in the rider standings, 58-47, with eight races remaining. Rodriguez is named in four races Friday, while Barbosa is named in six. It will be the first riding title in Maryland for Rodriguez, who also leads with $1.9 million in purse earnings from 209 mounts. He led the Delaware Park standings...