Laurel

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...

Pending further developments in ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, officials at the Maryland Jockey Club have announced that its existing jockey quarantine policy will remain in place through September. Jockeys that are currently riding out of state and come to Maryland racetracks are required to quarantine for 14 days from their return from another state and must produce a negative COVID test obtained within 72 hours of riding a race in Maryland. Racing on the Maryland circuit continues at Laurel Park, which will host the state's first stakes races since the pandemic...

The Maryland Jockey Club has announced that beginning Friday, July 17, jockeys who enter another racetrack's jockey quarters will not be permitted to ride in Maryland unless they self-quarantine for 14 days and obtain a negative COVID-19 test. Jockeys outside the state of Maryland will not be allowed to work or gallop horses at Laurel Park or Pimlico Race Course. Jockeys located in Maryland who work or gallop horses outside the state will not be allowed to ride, gallop or work horses at Laurel or Pimlico unless they self-quarantine for...

Keeneland Race Course will be seeking a short summer race meet after losing its spring season to COVID-19 closure. Yet management at the Lexington track is trying to be mindful that such a move would have a ripple effect not only on Ellis Park, which traditionally has the Kentucky circuit all to itself during that time frame, but also the horse populations and stakes programs at Saratoga and Del Mar, the bi-coastal heavyweights that dominate American racing in the mid-July through Labor Day window. "We're looking to run an abbreviated...

The Maryland Jockey Club has released a spring condition book for Laurel Park covering a period of 15 days ahead of the still-undetermined resumption of live racing in the state. Specific dates have not been set. As part of Gov. Larry Hogan's statewide shutdown, live racing was paused in Maryland following the Mar. 15 program at Laurel out of concerns due to the coronavirus pandemic. Highlighting the early condition book is the highly anticipated seasonal debut of racing over Laurel's turf course. A total of 148 races and 42 substitute...