Laurel Park

In the last race on the final day of Laurel Park's 2022 summer meet, trainer Rudy Sanchez-Salomon edged Claudio Gonzalez by one win, 19-18, to earn his first career training title, breaking their weekend tie. "It's been a great meet," Sanchez-Salomon said. "Everything has been great for us. We've been very blessed. I thank God and thank my help and thank everybody." Jevian Toledo and Horacio Karamanos finished tied for leading jockey honors with 31 wins apiece. They also shared Laurel's summer meet title in 2020.

Jamie Ness, a prolific winner in the Mid-Atlantic states and the third-leading trainer in the country in wins, has been handed a six-month suspension by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission after a horse he trained tested positive for Bufotenine. Ness was also fined $5,000. The suspension is scheduled to begin Sept. 5 and runs through March 3, 2023. Ness, who is being represented by attorney Andrew Mollica, has appealed the suspension. "We are in the process of appealing," Mollica said. "We will take this the whole way. He obviously vehemently denies...

After pushing back their usual 12:40 p.m. post time to 1:50 p.m. due to heat, a severe thunderstorm forced the Maryland Jockey Club to cancel Laurel Park's live Friday program following the seventh race, with just two races remaining on the card. Racing will resume Saturday at 12:40 p.m. with a 10-race card.

With temperatures set to reach the high nineties this weekend in the Mid-Atlantic region, a number of tracks have announced adjusted schedules, but Monmouth Park officials remain confident that the Saturday card featuring the GI Haskell S. will go off as planned. "First and foremost, we are concerned about the safety of the horses and jockeys and want to make sure we do the right thing," said Dennis Drazin, who heads the management team at the Jersey Shore track. "But we've been on top of it all week and right...

With high temperatures and humidity in the forecast, and in the best interests of its horses, horsemen and fans, the Maryland Jockey Club has pushed back post time for the live 10-race program at Laurel Park Saturday, July 23. The first race, a 5 1/2 furlong claiming sprint for maiden 3, 4, and 5-year-old fillies scheduled on the All Along turf course, will go off at 1:50 p.m. rather than the usual 12:40 p.m. starting time during the 37-day summer meet. The National Weather Service forecast calls for abundant sunshine...

Any worries that the first day under which horses had to be registered with the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority in order to compete would create chaos were squelched early on in the day Saturday when a number of tracks reported that not a single horse had to be withdrawn from a race due to the new rules. The TDN sent out survey questions to a number of racing officials Saturday to determine how many, if any, horses had to be scratched because either the horses or their owners...

Walter Rodriguez, a 24-year-old native of El Salvador, rode the first winner of his career when he guided Rationalmillennial (Orb)--owned and trained by Jose Corrales--to victory in the sixth race at Laurel Park Sunday. "I kept looking at the right side to make sure nobody else was coming because I wanted to go around the horse in front of me, and after that I knew I had it," Rodriguez said. "It's very, very exciting. It's been a lot of hard work and a lot of help from all my friends."...

Laurel Park's summer meet stakes schedule--anchored by the repositioned $150,000 Frank J. DeFrancis Memorial Dash--features 14 stakes worth $1.3 million. The six-furlong DeFrancis has been moved from its traditional spot on Laurel's fall calendar and will be run July 16 this year. Joining the De Francis on the July 16 program are the $100,000 Alma North S., the $100,000 Big Dreyfus S., and the $100,000 Prince George's County S. All four races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series. The 37-day summer meet opens Friday and continues through...

Beverly Park (Munnings) is far from the best horse in the sport. But he's certainly the hardest working. His win Thursday night at Charles Town in a starter allowance came in his 14th start on the year. No other horse has run more than 11 times in 2022. It was also his second start in five days and his fourth in 28 days. That may seem like more than a horse can handle, but it's working. One of the most prolific winners in the sport, Beverly Park has won six...

A two-day electronic dance music festival at Pimlico Race Course has forced a dates reshuffling of the first regularly scheduled summer race meet at the Baltimore track in 17 years. The Aug. 6 and 7 Moonrise, which is billed as one of the premier "rave" gatherings on the East Coast, drew about 30,000 people to the Pimlico infield each summer between 2014 and 2019 with no conflicts to the horse racing schedule. That's because the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) at that time chose to race during the summer months at...

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched for Steven Moyer, 55, a former trainer and current racing official at Laurel Park, who was seriously injured while doing yard work at his home. Moyer sustained severe burns over 30% of his body in an accident Apr. 19 and is expected to remain in the Intensive Care Unit for several weeks. A native of Annapolis, Md., he worked for Maurice Zilber in France in his youth, then later for Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito in Kentucky and was a longtime assistant to...

Due to a forecast for rain early next week, work on the Pimlico Race Course dirt surface has been rescheduled for Monday, April 25, through Wednesday, April 27. The work, which entails an examination of previous work done on the base at Pimlico in advance of the spring meet, was scheduled for Easter Sunday, April 17, through Tuesday, April 19. Pimlico and Laurel already were scheduled to close for training on Easter. The Maryland Jockey Club also said that because of the forecast for rain, entries will not be taken...