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Magee, Concepcion Capture Laurel Titles

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 bunch of them, but they won on the way out. Everybody that got claimed, won. I was thrilled to win it with such few starts. To have a high percentage is fantastic.”

A native of Ireland who worked as an exercise rider for recently retired trainer Dale Capuano after coming to the U.S., Magee led all Maryland trainers in wins from 2014-2016 and now owns or shares a total of 10 meet titles at Laurel and Pimlico Race Course. It was his first meet title since Pimlico's 2018 spring stand.

Concepcion, who turned 18 Mar. 16, entered Sunday with 12 wins, one behind co-leaders Jevian Toledo and Jeiron Barbosa. Concepcion won the opener on I Have Courage to make it a three-way tie before riding Fancee Grace C to victory in the fifth race to earn his first riding title.

A native of Puerto Rico, where he won 21 races after attending the Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school and turning pro Jan. 1, Concepcion registered wins on nine of 16 racing days with doubles Apr. 1, 13, 14 and 29 prior to Sunday.

Represented by agent Tom Stift, Concepcion made his Maryland debut Feb. 24 and picked up his first winner, Shinelikeadiamond, the next day at Laurel in his fifth U.S. mount.

“I'm very confident for my work and the job Tom does for me. I don't have pressure. The wins are coming and thank God for two wins today,” Concepcion said. “I ride all my horses with confidence. Thanks to all the owners and trainers that help me. In the morning I work very hard for this, my first meet that I win. I'm very grateful. Thanks to everyone for giving me the opportunity. I'm ready for Pimlico.”

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Hugh McMahon Gets Career Win No. 1,000: ‘Everything That We Have Is A Gift’

Larry Rabold's Polished Gal provided trainer Hugh McMahon with his 1,000th career victory in thrilling fashion, getting her nose down on the wire ahead of late-running Splendor Gal in Sunday's sixth race at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Polished Gal ($8.60), a 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly ridden by Victor Rosales, ran six furlongs in 1:12.93 over a fast main track to earn her fourth lifetime win from 19 starts in the claiming event for fillies and mares 3 and older.

Rosales settled Polished Gal in third as Midnight Crossing led the way through splits of 24.86 and 47.92 seconds before being passed by 6-5 favorite Gottaflathaveher midway around the far turn. Once straightened for home, Polished Gal steadily reeled in Gottaflathaveher down the stretch and held off a furious late run to her outside by Splendor Gal for the milestone victory.

McMahon, a 52-year-old native of Doncaster, England, has won with four of his last nine starters, winning once on each of Laurel's four racing programs this week. Polished Gal – his only starter on Sunday's card – was preceded by Paynterbynumbers Nov. 19, He's Zippin On By Nov. 20 and Gary Doing Biz Nov. 21.

“I'm excited. It's a significant landmark,” McMahon said. “It's humbling as well. I was just speaking with one of our grooms and he congratulated me and I told him it's not really me, it's a team, But, we're more than a team, we're a family. My name is up there but it's not really me. There are a lot of people that are involved in this, but more than anything it's God's gift to us. Everything that we have is a gift.”

A steady presence among Maryland's leading trainers since first going out on his own in 2011, McMahon was the state's overall wins leader in 2013. This year, one abridged by the coronavirus pandemic, he has 33 wins from 206 starters with purse earnings of more than $930,000. McMahon has topped the $1 million mark in each of the past nine years, with highs of 166 wins and $3.981 million in 2013.

McMahon is currently tied for fourth with nine wins from 37 starters at Laurel's calendar year-ending fall meet, which began Oct. 8.

McMahon was introduced to the sport by watching the races on television with his father, a coal miner in northern England. He was encouraged to become a jockey and attended the riding academy there, winning 59 races after coming to the U.S. in the 1990s before hanging up his tack in 1998.

In 2005 McMahon became an assistant to trainer Scott Lake, at the time running one of the biggest operations in the country with a peak of 287 horses in 2008. McMahon worked for Lake, a winner of more than 6,100 career races, through 2010, having saddled 108 winners in his own name starting with Flying Retsina Run June 9, 2005, at Pimlico Race Course at odds of 35-1.

McMahon won 98 races the first year on his own and followed with seasons of 146, 166 and 108 wins from 2012-14. He won individual meet titles at Laurel's 2013 winter and fall stands and shared its 2014 winter crown, and has also been the leading trainer at Timonium and Colonial Downs.

Ranked third overall in 2012, McMahon's 74 wins led all Maryland trainers in 2013. His first big horse was Don'tgetsuspicous, who he inherited from Lake and trained to 10 wins, three in stakes, and $324,817 in purse earnings from 28 starts from 2010-12.

Other top horses for McMahon include 2018 Dave's Friend winner Colonel Sharp, 2017 Jameela winner Daylight Ahead and 2017 Camptown winner Northern Eclipse. He trains a 5-year-old Maryland-bred gelding named Brooks Robinson for owner-breeder Mary Boskin and helped facilitate a meeting between the horse and its namesake, a Hall of Fame third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles from 1955-77, in mid-February.

“A lot of what gets lost is that we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the owners. I've been lucky to have a lot of great owners over the years that have carried us, especially through the dry spells,” McMahon said. “They've been very loyal to us, even through the losing streaks, and gotten us where we are.”

Notes: Jockey Sheldon Russell bookended card with wins in Sunday's opener aboard Bound for Broadway ($6.40) and the eighth-race finale with Champagne Toast ($29) … Live racing returns with a special Thanksgiving Day holiday program Thursday. Post time for the first of eight races is 11:25 a.m. … There will be carryovers of $9,593.05 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $5,237.62 in the $1 Super Hi-5 wagers. Tickets with four of six winners in Sunday's Rainbow 6 each returned $218.28.

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Hall Of Fame Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer Settles In At Monmouth Park

Among the nearly dozen trainers making Monmouth Park their summer home this year for the first time are a Hall of Famer, one who lists the Venezuelan Triple Crown on his resume and another whose barn is looking to take advantage of the lucrative Jersey-bred program that's offered.

It may be as eclectic a group of newcomers the track has ever featured as the Friday, July 3 opener – the start of Monmouth Park's 75th season – nears.

Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer will have a solid presence on the Jersey Shore for the first time, with long-time assistant Dan Ward overseeing a string that he says will eventually number more than two dozen runners.

“Our horses fit well at Monmouth Park and the timing is perfect for us,” said Ward. “When the condition book came out it looked like a really good fit for the horses we have.”

Ward, who said he has not made an appearance at Monmouth Park since Marquetry ran in the 1991 Philip H. Iselin Stakes when he was an assistant to Bobby Frankel, said the decision to try Monmouth Park for an entire meet was done as part of a long-term plan.

“We're here to stay,” said Ward, who has been with Hollendorfer the past 14 years after working with Frankel the previous 22. “We plan on continuing to have a stable in the Midwest or Monmouth Park as long as we can.”

Twenty of Hollendorfer's horses have already shipped into Monmouth Park from Churchill Downs “and we have races for all of them at Monmouth,” Ward said.

“We will be looking to claim some more and trying to pick up business,” he added.

Hollendorfer's outfit will look to be a factor the very first day, with Awesome Anywhere slated to go in the $75,000 Oceanport Centennial Stakes, the opening-day feature. The 6-year-old gelding won a starter allowance race at Oaklawn Park two starts back.

Antonio Machado isn't a familiar name in this part of the country, but the 42-year-old hopes that changes with his first summer at Monmouth.

Machado, Tampa Downs-based, was the youngest trainer ever to win the Venezuelan Triple Crown when he did so with El Gran Cesar in 2008. He won 99 races, 18 of them graded stakes, in Venezuela between 2006-2012.

He said it was time to take on a new challenge, which is why he has decided to try Monmouth Park this summer.

“I wanted to experience training at a prestigious racetrack where the horse racing would challenge me,” said Machado, who started in the sport by working in a stable in La Rinconada racetrack in Caracas while also attending training school. “So many owners, trainers, jockeys and amazing horses have raced on these grounds, and that for me is simply amazing.

“I want to keep on competing at the maximum level and show that I can be there with top trainers and win races.”

His intention, he said, is to make the Tampa Downs/Monmouth Park circuit part of his yearly routine, saying he is “hoping that we will continue with this trend for many years to come.”

Michael Moore has been Parx-based since he started training in 2013, but the makeup of his current stable made Monmouth Park a logical choice for this summer. He hopes to have more than 20 claimers and allowance horses on the grounds, with the more prominent among them being Jersey-breds.

“The biggest reason I came here is because I have some good Jersey-breds and the money is so good for Jersey-breds at Monmouth Park,” said the 49-year-old Moore, a Rutgers University graduate. “It's a little bit of an adjustment because I live five minutes from Parx and the drive here is over an hour every day. But this is such a beautiful place. It's really horse friendly and the people care about racing here.”

Moore, coming off his best year with 35 winners in 2019, was 2-for-10 at Monmouth last year with shippers. His wife, Elizabeth, helps run the barn.

“Everything seems to be working out well,” he said. “I just hope to do well when the racing starts.”

Mid-Atlantic fixture Hugh McMahon is among the other newcomers who will have a string of horses stabled at Monmouth Park this summer.

Monmouth Park's 37-day meet will consist of live racing Friday, July 3, through Sunday, Sept. 27. Post time on Fridays will be 5 p.m. (except Sept. 4, Kentucky Oaks Day, when it will be 12:50 p.m.). Saturday and Sunday posts will be 12:50 p.m., with the exception of a noon first race post time on July 18, when the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes serves as the headliner on the card.

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