Laurel: Veteran Passero’s ‘Quick Fixes’ Could Have Racing Resume By Saturday

Racing at Laurel Park may resume as early as this Saturday, after veteran track surfaces manager John Passero examined the surface on Wednesday, April 26, according to an agreement between track management and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. Tim Keefe, a trainer who is the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, told the Daily Racing Form that Passero made a few fixes and that additional changes could be made in time to race by Saturday.

“He made some quick fixes, some changes he thought were necessary,” Keefe told DRF. “He's very comfortable that we'll be where we need to be on Saturday.”

Passero served as senior vice president of racing surfaces for the Maryland Jockey Club earlier in his career, and his assessment was requested by the MTHA in a letter sent to track management earlier this week.

A text message from the Maryland Jockey Club alert system indicated that normal training hours will resume on Thursday, April 27, with the first 10 minutes after each harrow break reserved for workers only. It will be the first day works have been allowed for nearly a week.

Entries were also taken for Saturday's card, including five stakes races which were originally scheduled to be run on April 22. A total of 116 horses were entered for 11 races.

According to MTHA, five horses suffered fatal injuries in April at Laurel, including two on Thursday, April 20. Live racing was cancelled the next day, and neither of last weekend's programs were run. A card that was scheduled for April 27 did not move forward due to lack of entries. Track management has maintained that measurements of various components of the track surface currently fall “within industry norms” and also that the rate of fatal injury so far for 2023 is below that of the same period last year, at 1.3 per 1,000 starts as compared to 1.98 per 1,000 starts last year.

Information provided by the state shows that 13 fatalities have occurred at Laurel so far this year, four of which occurred in a race, and five of which occurred in training, and four of which were listed as “medical” and not the direct result of an orthopedic injury.

The state's data show six fatalities in April, though one of those was considered “medical” since it was the result of laminitis that occurred after a case of cellulitis.