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Jorge Ruiz Notches Four Wins As Racing Returns To Laurel Park On Thursday

Live racing resumed at Laurel Park on Thursday, Dec. 16 for the first time since Nov. 28. The main track at Laurel was closed for an examination on Nov. 29 after an alarming number of fatalities – four from racing injuries and three while training – occurred between Nov. 6-28. The Maryland Jockey Club followed that inspection by cancelling racing and suspending morning workouts to allow for repair of the surface.

It was the second time in 2021 that racing at Laurel was halted because of track conditions. The first occurrence was in April after a spike in musculoskeletal injuries, which led to racing being shifted to Pimlico on an emergency basis. Track ownership undertook a multi-million dollar track renovation project that wasn't completed until August, with racing resuming at Laurel in September.

With help from noted trackmen Dennis Moore from California, Glen Kozak from the New York Racing Racing Association, and former MJC track superintendent John Passero, Maryland Jockey Club officials explained at last week's meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission that the most likely explanation for the cluster of fatalities was that water seeped into a seam in the base material of the stretch before that base material was able to cure, causing a slight depression. That has been repaired, and several additional changes have been made.

“We've been out every single day, day and night, to make sure that we have the best racing surface possible,” Laurel's track superintendent Chris Bosley said during this Tuesday's meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission. “There's been a huge learning curve with this material and this track from when it was put in in July to where we are now.”

Jockey Jorge Ruiz notched four wins on the day, and Sola Dei Gloria Stable's Bustoff completed a daily double for teenage riding sensation Charlie Marquez and trainer Hugh McMahon with his front-running triumph in Thursday's feature race.

A 6-year-old Maryland-bred Haynesfield gelding, Bustoff ($7.40) completed one mile in 1:38.96 over a fast main track to win the third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up by 3 ½ lengths. Torch of Truth rallied late to edge 20-1 long shot Whiskey and You by a neck for second.

The return of racing and condition of the track was met with positive reviews by horsemen.

“It's much better; like night and day,” trainer Dale Capuano said. A winner of more than 3,500 career races, Capuano saddled Taking Risks Stable and Louis J. Ulman's favored Zen Pi ($4.60) to victory in the opener, a six-furlong claimer for 3-year-olds and up. The winning time under jockey Jorge Ruiz was 1:12.55.

“We're tickled to death. Jorge said the track felt good,” Capuano said. “You can tell by the time. These horses should run [1:12] and change and that's what he did,” he added. “It's good. I think they're run on the right track. I think getting [consultants] John Passero and Glenn Kozak was the right thing to do. We're all after the same thing. We might have different approaches to getting there but we're all for safe racing and keeping our horses and riders safe.”

Ruiz's other winners Thursday were Tenax ($12.20) for trainer Ken Cox in Race 3, Bourbon Wildcat ($30.20) for trainer Jose Magana in Race 6 and Capuano-trained Boss Logic ($6) in Race 8. Ruiz ranks second to Jevian Toledo in wins at the fall meet, 44-42.

Toledo leads all riders with 102 wins this year at Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, two more than the 18-year-old Marquez. Angel Cruz is third with 84 and Ruiz fourth at 82.

“The track is now different. Before it was hard, now it's deeper and a little fluffier,” Ruiz said. “The horses hit the ground a little more softly.”

Notes: Laurel will host a nine-race card starting at 12:25 p.m. Friday … Saturday is Maryland Spectacular Day with nine live races including a pair of $100,000 stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses: the Maryland Juvenile and Maryland Juvenile Fillies. Also on the day are Holiday Giving Tree and Give a Gift/Get a Gift promotions, as well as a 2022 Maryland racing calendar giveaway.

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Stronach 5 Returns Friday With Races From Laurel, Gulfstream

A field of 10 2-year-old fillies will kick off Friday's Stronach 5, featuring races from Laurel Park and Gulfstream Park as well as a low 12-percent takeout.

Laurel's seventh race begins the Stronach 5 at approximately 3:23 ET with maiden fillies going six furlongs. Miss Foxann, a daughter of Kantharos who was second in her debut at Laurel Nov. 5, is the 9-5 favorite for trainer Dale Bennett. Isabella's Glory, a daughter of Lea, finished third by just a neck Nov. 14 for trainer Jose Corrales. Leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez will send out first-time starter Always Mia, a $32,000 daughter of Flat Out.

Gulfstream's seventh race, a 6 ½ furlong event for fillies and mares at a claiming price of $20,000, serves as the second leg of the sequence. Ideal Breeze goes out first time for trainer Jorge Delgado, who is 29-percent first off the claim. Frankie's Girl drops in class off a third-place finish last out. Rakas makes her South Florida debut after starting four times at Woodbine. William Tharrenos takes over the training.

It's back to Laurel for the third and fourth legs of the Stronach 5. The third leg, Laurel's eighth race, an allowance event for fillies and mares around two turns, drew a field of eight including 8-5 favorite Award Wanted, a three-length winner against restricted company last out for John Robb. Mit Mazel, the runner-up to Award Wanted last time out, tries again for Claudio Gonzalez.

Laurel's ninth race, a $10,000 claiming event for fillies and mares, is a wide-open seven-furlong event. Torch Carrier, a 3-year-old by Uncle Lino, is the tepid 3-1 choice after breaking her maiden for $16,000 in October and following up with a second-place finish against $16,000 claimers in November. Tuff But Fair draws the rail and returns to Laurel after a sixth-place finish against similar Oct. 20 at Delaware. Digital Dream should be a factor after a wide trip last out.

The Stronach 5 concludes with Gulfstream's ninth race, a claiming event for fillies and mares at 5 ½ furlongs on the Tapeta. Charlotte the Brit enters off a pair of second place finishes on the Tapeta for Jorge Delgade. Christophe Clement sends out Smooth Pebble after a runner-up finish on the turf at Monmouth in September. Caffeine Rush goes out for the second time off a short layoff for Elizabeth Dobles.

Friday's races and sequence

Leg One –Laurel Race 7: (10 entries, 6 furlongs) 3:18 ET, 12:18 PT
Leg Two –Gulfstream Race 7: (9 entries, 6 ½ furlongs) 3:26 ET, 12:26 PT
Leg Three –Laurel Race 8: (8 entries, 1 1/16 mile) 3:50 ET, 12:50 PT
Leg Four – Laurel Race 9: (12 entries,7 furlongs) 4:22 ET, 1:22 PT
Leg Five –Gulfstream Race 9: (10 entries, 5 ½ furlongs) 4:32 ET, 1:32 PT

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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Amid Repairs, New Date for Racing at Laurel Now Dec. 16

The new date for the resumption of racing at Laurel Park has now been pegged as Thursday, Dec. 16, with timed workouts expected to resume Friday, Dec. 10.

Both targets are pending a satisfactory safety review of the extensive base and cushion work now being done on the troubled main dirt surface at Maryland's most heavily used Thoroughbred venue.

With the exception of light training that continues to take place around cordoned-off areas of the dug-up oval, Laurel has been closed for racing and timed works since Nov. 28.

Seven Laurel horses have died since Nov. 6, and eight total have perished this autumn, all after sustaining fractures while racing or training over a completely new multi-million-dollar surface that had been installed over the summer.

Executives from The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns Laurel, were called before the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) on Tuesday to explain the repair process and to face verbal grilling about why the problems escalated in the first place.

“There are seams that are being made in the base during starts and stops,” Mike Rogers, the president of TSG's racing division, said during the Dec. 7 meeting. “So our working theory is that some moisture got into [a seam in the homestretch] before it was able to cure, and it caused a slight depression.”

Rogers said that part of the repair job has been fixed, and now a consensus plan among “experts” hired by both the track and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) is underway to “add body to the cushion” by working sand into the mix.

John Passero, who years ago was Laurel's superintendent, has been retained by the MTHA as a consultant. He told the commission that the game plan outlined by Rogers should put the track in the “right direction” to resume racing and full training.

“All that happened was, as they started withdrawing water from the track, the cushion failed to do its job,” Passero said. “That was the long and short of it.”

Passero continued: “What's happening now is they're putting body back into the cushion, which [is] a little bit of a coarser sand that you can walk across the top of that will stop the horses from hitting the hardpan hard. That's the whole thing in a nutshell, and that's what they're aiming for now. The quicker you get that washed, clean sand into the track, the better off it's going to be.”

As expected, TSG officials faced considerable verbal blowback from commissioners. The key points revolved around the perception that TSG's reliance on scientific methods is occurring at the expense of not listening to the experienced opinions of riders and trainers. Commissioners also wanted to know what “measurable objectives” will be used to ensure safety moving forward.

Audio difficulties with the meeting's internet feed rendered large portions of the testimony unlistenable, and commissioners did not always identify themselves when speaking, making direct attributions difficult.

“We are all in this together,” said MRC chairman Michael Algeo. “The industry depends upon racing. We don't–need–negative–stuff,” he stressed, accentuating those final few words to make his point.

“This commission has an obligation, irrespective of our desire to be collaborative, to do what we think is right, irrespective of everybody's else's opinion,” Algeo said. “We have to act. Because at the end of the day, it's our obligation to [put] safety first. Safety, safety, safety.”

“Nobody's excluding anybody here,” Algeo continued. “It's a collaborative approach. I think we need both [science and experience]. No one's rejecting science. But when you have the science and something's not working, then you've got to scratch your head and go, 'Houston, we have a problem.'”

The cluster of fatalities is the latest safety blow at Laurel. The main track was in such bad shape last spring that Laurel ceased racing on Apr. 11 to begin an emergency overhaul of the main track, which got rebuilt from the base up over the course of four months while the race meet shifted to TSG's other track in the state, Pimlico Race Course.

Rogers said that, “Feedback from the trainers and the riders is critical. We welcome it, and we take it serious.”

But TSG's chief operations officer, Aidan Butler, said that ultimately, track executives have to take responsibility for the decisions that get made.

“There are always some people who want the track slower, some people who want the track faster,” Butler said. “We're all aware of that. But I believe…the maintenance routine that was done on the track this year was the same as last year and the year before…. Because of the complete change of the surface it just didn't react the way it should have done.”

The commission will meet again Dec. 14 to decide whether or not the final approval for the resumption of racing will be granted.

The post Amid Repairs, New Date for Racing at Laurel Now Dec. 16 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Can Oaklawn Maintain ‘Boutique’ Status Over a 5-Month Meet?

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton

It was a little odd to see Oaklawn Park in the mix of tracks running on the first weekend of December. It was even stranger to see the Arkansas track carding races for 2-year-olds, which has not happened since Mar. 27, 1975.

The winds of change are blowing through the pre-winter mists of Hot Springs. The biggest challenge facing Oaklawn as it embarks upon a Dec. 3-May 8 season for the first time is whether or not the popular track can retain the “boutique meet” flavor and feel it has cultivated over the past several decades even though the racing schedule will now extend over five months.

Oaklawn began nudging out the boundary of the spring portion of the season in 2019, when it scheduled a May 4 closure instead of the traditional mid-April wrap-up. Now the winter start has been rolled back to better dovetail with the end of the Churchill Downs meet in late November, attracting some outfits that raced in Kentucky while at the same time providing new competition to two other tracks controlled by Churchill Downs, Inc., Fair Grounds and Turfway Park.

When Oaklawn announced its intention to expand for 2021-22 back in July, it touted the ability to offer six-figure allowance races over a 66-day meet as a major draw to horse owners and trainers.

Although it's too early to get a definitive snapshot of exactly how the prospect of big bucks will translate to the Thoroughbred population, here's a comparative look at field sizes for all three venues based on the Friday, Dec. 3, and Saturday, Dec. 4, programs:

Oaklawn on Friday carded nine races featuring 75 starters. Saturday's 10 races drew 85 starters. The average field size combining both days was 8.4.

Fair Grounds on Friday ran nine races with 71 starters. Saturday had nine races with 64 starters. The two-day average field size was 7.5.

Turfway's Friday card had eight races with 77 starters. Saturday's eight races lured 83 starters. The two-day average was 10 starters per race.

Adverse weather was not an issue at any of the venues over those two dates. And clearly, there are some nuances that make direct comparisons dicey.

Oaklawn has the clear purse money advantage. Fair Grounds has the draw of a turf course, which should theoretically be helping its field-size numbers. And you can argue that comparing Turfway to either of those two tracks is not relevant, because Kentucky racing in winter is decidedly more blue-collar than the product at either Hot Springs or New Orleans.

The smart money says the matchup to watch over the course of the season is Oaklawn versus Fair Grounds. They're closer together geographically and draw from similar horse populations.

But Mother Nature could be an equalizing force. When ice and snow descend upon Arkansas, it tends to have a paralyzing effect. Oaklawn lost eight days of racing last February, and a desire to avoid the prospect of bad weather was among the factors cited when Oaklawn moved its second-weekend-of-January start date back to the fourth weekend of the month in 2019.

Remsen Recap

It's been a long time since the path to Louisville ran through New York on the first Saturday in December. Only three horses in the last 58 years–Thunder Gulch, Go for Gin and Pleasant Colony–have parlayed wins in the GII Remsen S. into a blanket of roses in the GI Kentucky Derby.

Winning the final graded stakes of the season in New York at nine furlongs looks promising in past performances, but that shine hasn't really carried over to subsequent 3-year-old form in recent seasons (with the notable exception of Catholic Boy, who won the 2017 Remsen, missed the 2018 Triple Crown, then won the GI Travers S.).

This year could be different. Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Zandon (Upstart) put on a rousing stretch fight from the eighth pole home on Saturday at Aqueduct. Both were stepping up off of maiden wins and trying two turns for the first time, and they were 9 3/4 lengths ahead of the remaining six also-rans.

Mo Donegal had a ground-saving go under Irad Ortiz Jr. for most of the trip behind a dawdling pace (first four quarters in :25.18, :26.29, :24.87 and :24.94), then skimmed across the heels of the four frontrunners to escape traffic at the top of the lane.

Zandon, by contrast, stalked three deep and jockey John Velazquez had him cleanly positioned to get second run at two tiring longshots coming off the final bend. He split horses with authority, then braced for the mid-stretch confrontation with the onrushing Mo Donegal.

They crested the eighth pole in lockstep, then the outside-running Mo Donegal tightened the lateral gap between them under right-handed stick work. But being put into tighter quarters seemed to embolden Zandon, even though it initially seemed Mo Donegal had the better late-race momentum through their final eighth in :12.33.

The Equibase chart caller minced no words in describing how Irad Ortiz Jr. then threw “repeated exaggerated crosses with the left-hand rein near the face of the runner-up” in an “attempt to intimidate” Zandon. The two bumped and brushed approaching the wire.

Mo Donegal won it by a nose, but Zandon got his head down in front just after the finish, galloping out slightly stronger and longer than the winner. Both earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

Laurel still a no-go

There were no timed workouts at Laurel Park through Sunday, even though earlier in the week track executives had stated that Saturday was the likely date for preliminary repairs to the dirt's cushion and base to be completed. It's now been a full week since horses have been allowed over the track at full speed.

As reported last week, seven Laurel Park horses have died since Nov. 6, and eight total have perished this autumn after sustaining fractures while racing or training over the newly installed main dirt track there.

Laurel had ceased racing back Apr. 11 to begin an emergency, multi-million-dollar overhaul of the main track, which reopened with no safety issues Sept. 9. But the onset of colder weather has brought problems that are believed to involve the improper settlement of the base, particularly in the homestretch.

Although executives from The Stronach Group, which owns Laurel, chose their words carefully when discussing the situation via press release last week, they are likely to face substantial grilling from the Maryland Racing Commission when the board meets Tuesday. A discussion of the safety of the surface had already been on the commission's agenda even before the track was forced to call off Dec. 3-5 racing.

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