john passero | Horse Racing Free Tips

Laurel ‘Tweaks’ Have Quelled Track Safety Concerns

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. Those dynamics stood in contrast to when the commission met one week previously on Apr. 25 for an emergency session to address five recent main-track equine fatalities at Laurel, including two that occurred there Apr. 20.

Last week, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) and the management team at 1/ST Racing announced an “access agreement” that allowed for the MTHA's preferred track maintenance consultant, John Passero, to be retained to perform testing. Passero used to be the MJC's superintendent several decades ago, and the horsemen had previously lobbied for his inclusion as a consultant during the winter of 2021-22, which was when the last significant spate of equine deaths occurred over the Laurel dirt.

On Tuesday, Rogers said track executives and the horsemen “definitely appear to be on the same page right now…. Clearly, both sides are feeling that the track is in [such] a safe place that horses are able to run on it. I think Mr. Passero's quote said, 'If I owned a horse, I'd have no issues racing it.'”

Rogers acknowledged the two sides initially had differences: “Our group took the position that we felt the track was safe,” he said. “I know the horsemen took a different position. So we allowed an access agreement with Mr. Passero to come to the track. So Mr. Passero came on the grounds, and he recommended a couple of tweaks–slowing the tractors down; I think he had them go the opposite way in one direction, which I think our gentlemen were actually doing already anyways.

“But I think he increased the number of times that they go in reverse around the course. So it was kind of little tweaks of the harrows. We were kind of using what's called drag harrows in the morning and position harrows in the afternoon. And Mr. Passero recommended that we stay with the drag harrows in the morning and afternoon. So a couple of little tweaks here and there, and our crew felt that his recommendations made sense and we adopted them.”

In response to a question from a commissioner, Rogers confirmed that the work was being conducted over the entirety of the track and was not confined to a single problem area. He also said that 1/ST Racing hasn't nixed a single one of Passero's ideas.

“As of now, none of [Passero's] recommendations were a cause for concern on our side,” Rogers said. “As of right now, we've adopted all of his recommendations [and] we recognize that he has a lot of experience.”

Unlike last week's meeting at which several horsemen's representatives spoke about the situation, none were called upon to speak by the MRC and none asked to speak during public commentary.

In response to another MRC question, Rogers said Passero's work would not extend to Pimlico for the upcoming GI Preakness S. meet there May 11-29.

“His access agreement runs [until] June 30, and the access agreement is for Laurel only,” Rogers said.

Laurel's main track was closed for five months in 2021 for an emergency rebuild from the base up. But eight horses died from fractures while racing or training over that new track between Oct. 3 and Nov. 28, 2021, leading to weeks-long halts in racing through early the winter of 2022.

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Training Open As Laurel Cards Races For Saturday

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 to cancel last Friday into the weekend came one day after a horse had to be euthanized, while the another was vanned off and reportedly euthanized. Both ran over the dirt surface Thursday, Apr. 20 in the fourth and fifth races–making five fatalities within the month.

With numerous talks between the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) and the Stronach Group last weekend and into Monday, the two sides agreed, with the approval of the Maryland Racing Commission, to allow Laurel and Pimlico's former track superintendent John Passero to conduct his own third-party assessment of the track's suitability for racing.

“Mr. Passero made recommendations and adjustments based on his expertise and understanding of Laurel, and the horsemen respect those decisions,” Foreman said. “Training is open Thursday and Friday, and it is my understanding that he will be present to ensure that all goes well during that time.”

The Friday forecast calls for heavy rains that could derail the running of Saturday's card, but Foreman confirmed that Passero would be present into the weekend.

“If rain moves in, then we could have to postpone,” Foreman said. “There will not be training Saturday morning, and that will give him [Passero] time to issue further findings. There is an air of palpable confidence and we know this will lead to a positive situation for everyone. I only regret that we did not come to a decision sooner.”

Within the ranks of Maryland's horsemen others have expressed ongoing concern. Trainer Lacey Gaudet said, “I won't be participating in breezing or racing this weekend. The weather is also a factor in that, but everything is still awfully raw, and I just want to be confident before my stable moves forward. I can't thank all of my owners and clients enough for supporting that decision as a horseman.”

Laurel's 11-race card on Saturday also includes three turf stakes and an allowance one, which could be rained-off and moved to the main track, if racing is deemed safe to proceed.

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Progress At Laurel: Horsemen, Management Nearing Deal To Allow Passero To Examine Track

The impasse between Maryland horsemen and the Stronach Group regarding the condition of the main track at Laurel could be nearing a resolution as the two sides are close to an agreement to let John Passero examine the racetrack.

Passero is the former track superintendent at Laurel and Pimlico and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) has been insistent on letting him examine the track and have the final say regarding whether or not it was safe and, if not, what fixes were in order. The Stronach Group had brought in its own expert, Santa Anita track superintendent Dennis Moore, and were set to rely on his expertise.

Five horses have had to be euthanized this month at Laurel, including two who raced there last Thursday. After the Thursday breakdowns, Laurel management announced that racing would be canceled indefinitely. It is not clear yet when it will resume. A card scheduled for Thursday was scrapped due to a lack of entries.

Management has maintained that the track is safe, while the horsemen have taken an opposing view, at one point calling the situation a “catastrophic emergency.”

“We're trying to work through a few things,” said Tim Keefe, the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “But we've almost come to an agreement with the Stronach Group to let our track advisor, John Passero, come in and do some work. Nothing is finalized yet.”

But Keefe said that the mere fact that The Stronach Group is considering letting Passero study the track is a step in the right direction.

“Yes, I am encouraged,” Keefe said “I thought we had come to an agreement (Sunday) night regarding John and I was thrilled. This has been a roller coaster of emotions over the last 12 hours. I was thrilled and ecstatic last night. I was discouraged this morning. But I am more hopeful now. If that makes any sense.”

Keefe said that even if Passero is put in charge of the project, the final say regarding a resumption of racing will rest with the Maryland Racing Commission. But, he said, Passero's recommendations figure to carry a lot of weight.

“The final says will come with the racing commission but I expect them to point blank ask John 'Do you certify that this track is safe to run over?' It's either going to be a thumbs up or a thumbs down,” Keefe said. “He could say it's not quite ready yet and here is a list of things that need to be done and looked at. Or he could say, 'Yes, I have done my work and the track is ok.' He's very hopeful and thinks he can get things moving in the right direction in a short period of time.”

The Laurel racing office was open Monday and taking entries for a Friday card, but Keefe said racing will not resume until the Maryland Racing Commission agrees to a resumption of racing. The racing commission has scheduled an emergency meeting for Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Laurel to discuss the issue.

“When can we race again? It's up in the air,” Keefe said. “They're taking entries for Friday. But there will be no racing until the racing commission hears from John Passero or some other third party that the track is deemed safe. They will not let racing resume until they hear that.”

While Moore is among the most respected track superintendents in the business, Keefe said his members are more comfortable with Passero because he worked on the Maryland tracks for years.

“John Passero was in Maryland many years ago when he worked for the DeFrancis family,” he said. “A lot of the long-time horsemen here knew John from back then. They had a very good rapport with him and he had good results when he was here. He is old school. Certainly all the testing and all the laboratories and all the analysis they do, they are great tools. But in the case of John, there's nothing quite like getting out there and getting your hands dirty and walking on the racetrack and getting a real good feel for things. That kind of old-school mentality resonates with a lot of trainers here.”

HISA released the following statement Monday: “On April 20, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus asked HISA Director of Equine Safety & Welfare Dr. Jennifer Durenberger to travel to Laurel Park to support Maryland horsemen and Laurel Park staff in assessing the circumstances surrounding a series of recent equine fatalities. Dr. Durenberger is now in the process of reviewing the information she gathered during her visit as well as available data regarding the veterinary condition of the horses. HISA Director of Racetrack Safety Ann McGovern is also collecting data and consulting with experts regarding the condition of the racetrack surface and whether it poses any risk to horses and riders. This review is ongoing, and HISA has not reached any conclusions regarding the potential causes of the recent fatalities. Once this thorough review has been completed, HISA will issue its findings and set forth any potential next steps. As always, HISA's primary goal is to optimize the safety of horses and riders, and that objective will be prioritized above all else in this review and in any subsequent actions”

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Under Microscope of Heightened Vigilance, Racing at Laurel a ‘Go’

Amid glowing opinions from stakeholders that the work-in-progress new dirt surface at Laurel Park has improved dramatically after eight equine fatalities from main-track fractures there this autumn, racing has been greenlighted to proceed as scheduled Dec. 16 for the first time in 18 days.

The Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) determined during a Tuesday tele-meeting that it didn't technically need to take a vote for racing to resume, but the board made sure to solicit ample feedback from jockeys, trainers, track executives, track surface consultants and veterinarians before issuing a verbal approval for Thursday's already-drawn card.

The meeting's most insightful commentary was provided by commissioner R. Thomas Bowman, a veterinarian who chairs the MRC's Equine Health, Safety and Welfare Advisory Committee. He spoke bluntly and candidly while outlining a plan for how future horse deaths might be prevented.

“Transparency and trust and cooperation have not always been part of the culture on the racetrack,” Bowman said, noting how the financial interests of horse people and track managements have too often trumped health considerations.

“The safety of the horses and the riders has quite often been put in the background,” Bowman said. “That's not an accusation, and it's not an indication of what exists now. That's just a fact of a way that we have evolved over a long, long time…

“There doesn't seem to be any indication, in my mind, that there is any party or parties that are not willing to step up and try to straighten this situation out,” Bowman said. “And it's a daunting task.

“One of the things that bothered me the most, and still bothers me, is the fact that this last collection of tragedies should have been forewarned when the horsemen started screaming that the racetrack was too fast,” Bowman said. “I'm not pointing a finger at anybody. I'm saying that the process with which this information filters upstream to the commission…was not effective, was not working. And it irritates me to death that we have to go through this.”

Bowman said that since the Nov. 29 shutdown of the track, he has worked with backstretch stakeholders and executives from The Stronach Group (which owns the Maryland Jockey Club [MJC], which in turn owns Laurel) to come up with system that will allow everyone involved to have safety-related input that will be monitored on a regular basis.

“If the trainers had felt that they could go to someone and their complaints were not just dismissed, possibly we could have circumvented a lot of this,” Bowman said.

Bowman said the idea of having a weekly required meeting to accomplish that goal was first proposed, but that he wasn't in favor of having stakeholders air concerns that way because public meetings aren't always conducive to people speaking candidly.

Instead, he said he's working on a plan in which Heidi Thomas, the MJC's senior veterinarian, will actively make the rounds on the backstretch to routinely speak with horse people, other veterinarians, riders, and track executives before fashioning what they say into concise feedback that will be directly related to the MRC and its own team of veterinarians.

“That will give some sort of public voice to people that are concerned,” Bowman said. “That will help out. But even more important is trying to get a process where we don't have to wait until we see the broken legs before we start recognizing problems, and that's some sort of an early warning system…

“I don't think this is the end of this process. I think it's the beginning of the process. But at least it will give horsemen a chance to express themselves and know it's going to go somewhere,” Bowman said.

MRC chairman Michael Algeo agreed: “This is a new beginning, as Tom said. Maybe a watershed moment. We're going to stay on this on a regular basis, because we can't allow [equine injuries or deaths] to continue to happen.”

The cluster of fatalities is the latest safety blow at Laurel. After years of freeze/thaw and drainage troubles, the main track was in such bad shape last spring that Laurel ceased racing Apr. 11 to begin an emergency overhaul, which involved a multi-million-dollar rebuild from the base up.

When racing resumed at Laurel Sept. 9, the main track had no apparent safety issues. But the onset of cold weather revealed problems with seams in the base of the homestretch, then the cushion atop that layer needed substantial reworking to give it more body and depth.

“There's been a huge, huge learning curve with this material and this track from when it was put in in July to right now,” said Chris Bosley, the MJC's track superintendent. “We know that we still have a long way to go. But we're working with every industry expert we possibly can [and] we're not going to stop until this thing is perfect. And once it is perfect, we're going to do everything that we can to keep it the same, to keep it perfect.”

Two among that team of consultants have firsthand knowledge of Laurel: John Passero, who used to be the MJC's track superintendent several decades ago, and Glen Kozak, who served in that same capacity in the mid-2000s before being hired by the New York Racing Association and eventually promoted to the senior vice president of operations and capital projects.

“This is a changed racetrack,” Passero said. “They're adding a more medium-coarse sand to give it some body. We're going back to a system that I used to use–plenty of depth. It seems to be very kind to horses. I look at it, and I look at the hoofprints, and I rode the tractors. I think we're definitely heading in the right direction [and] I think it can only get better.”

Added Kozak, “It's certainly trending in the right direction…. The products that are being used on the track are on-site, so this is something that can continue in getting this thing prepared for winter racing. It certainly is a different track than it was a week ago when I saw it, and it all seems like it's heading in the right direction.”

Tim Keefe, the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said, “I think we're definitely in a much better place than we were.”

Jockey Xavier Perez said, “The difference on the surface of the track is 20 times better than what it was.”

Fellow rider Victor Carrasco concurred.

“I feel like the track is in great shape,” he said.

But Carrasco added that moving forward, it's the responsibility of jockeys and exercise riders to let trainers know if a horse has soundness issues or doesn't feel right instead of saying nothing and letting another person get on a potentially dangerous mount.

“It's not only the track,” Carrasco underscored.

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