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$287,000 In Daily Purses For Maryland State Fair At Timonium; Opening Day Aug. 27

The Maryland State Fair and Agricultural Society, Inc. has announced the 2021 Thoroughbred racing schedule for the Timonium meet. Running from Aug. 27 through Sept. 6, this year's seven days of racing held during the Maryland State Fair will offer purses of over $287,000 daily.

The meet will conduct the $125,000* Timonium Juvenile Stakes for 2-year-olds, going 6 ½ furlongs on August 29. (*$75,000 guaranteed, plus $25,000 for Maryland-bred or Maryland-sired, plus $25,000 for Maryland-bred and Maryland-sired.) A $40,000 trainers' bonus will be offered this year. Grooms awards to the best turned out in each race will also be awarded.

The Maryland State Fair thanks the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, the Maryland Jockey Club and the Maryland State Fair board for bringing this all to fruition.

Annual College Day at the Fair will take place on Aug. 27. Ten $1,000 college scholarships are awarded to preregistered full time college students in attendance. College Day is designed to attract young millennials to experience Thoroughbred racing and the Maryland State Fair

“Without the leadership of Gerry Brewster, chairman of our board, Donna Myers, president; Bill Marlow, race committee chairman; and the entire board of directors of the Maryland State Fair – these developments would not be possible. We are particularly excited about twilight racing and College Day at the Fair on August 27, along with the August 29 running of the inaugural Timonium Juvenile Stakes and thank the sponsors and horsemen for supporting us,” stated Bill Reightler, director of racing operations.

Schedule for Timonium's seven days of Thoroughbred live racing:
August 27: Opening Day of meet. Post Time 3 pm
August 28 Post Time 12:40 pm
August 29 Inaugural running Timonium Juvenile Stakes. Post Time 12:40 pm
September 3-6 Live racing. Post Time 12:40 pm

Call racing secretary Georganne Hale for details at 443 506-6916.

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Training Over New Main Track at Laurel to Start Aug. 10

The extensive, expensive, and months-delayed installment of the new main track from the base up at Laurel Park is now close enough to completion that executives with The Stronach Group (TSG) have greenlighted Aug. 8 as the move-in date for horses and Aug. 10 as the first day of training.

Speaking via videoconference, Steve Koch, the senior vice president of racing for TSG, which owns both Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, said July 28 that the “whole oval really is an entirely new racetrack.”

Years of piecemeal repair jobs failed to provide the uniformity and safety standards that led to the closure of the surface for racing after the Apr. 11 program.

After switching the race meet over to Pimlico Apr. 22, TSG officials had initially targeted the start of June for the return of racing at Laurel.

At an Apr. 22 Maryland Racing Commission meeting, members expressed frustration at how Laurel's main track problems got so out of hand so quickly, grilling TSG executives for not having the foresight to identify and remedy the difficulties before the project spiraled into a multi-million dollar rehab.

But the initial excavation work revealed even more extensive problems, and then TSG ran into trouble with the sourcing of base and cushion materials.

Horses were mandated to be moved out of Laurel during the week of the GI Preakness S. in mid-May, and a revised July move-in date had to be pushed back to August as work progressed.

On Wednesday, Koch detailed the remaining work in stages, starting with the back straight from the six-furlong pole to the half-mile marker.

“All of the deep excavation is completed. All of the drainage tiles are laid in. All of that's been in-filled back. The base is laid back in there. And between finalizing the base and laying in that cushion, that will continue to happen through this weekend,” Koch said.

From the half-mile pole around the far turn to the second finish wire, Koch said the work “really is complete. The base is laid in all the way around there, and the tractors are actually working that material, getting a head start on having all of that cushion fully settled in. So that's really great news, that you can see a complete track all the way around the turn down the front stretch.”

From second finish wire around the clubhouse turn to the six-furlong pole, “that is where we still have a lot of work. That is where we are still re-laying that base rail to rail in fine grade, and it will receive its cushion going into next week,” Koch said.

“The very last thing that we will do is the chute. We anticipate that the chute will be done by the time that we are training horses out there on Aug. 10. But it will be last, and if any [remaining work] is held over, it ought to be in the chute,” Koch said.

The last four days of TSG's repair timeline before horses train over the surface are reserved for track maintenance crews “to be working the track in like a racetrack should be worked in before it's ready and safe for training and racing,” Koch said.

Mick Peterson, the director of the Racetrack Safety Program and a professor of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kentucky, has been retained as a consultant by TSG for the project. He fielded a question about the markedly different coloring of the new cushion by explaining its reddish hue is by design.

“The color does matter, and that's one of the tests we do,” Peterson said. “A small amount of iron oxide can make a big difference in the way it performs. That will tend to be redder. Not surprisingly–it's rust.”

As for the grass course, Koch said, “The turf at Laurel is looking great.”

But Koch quickly added the caveat that “it is suffering from some heat stress,” which is a typical mid-summer problem in the region.

Koch said the deep-tine aeration strategy that has been implemented throughout the course since the spring thaw has now been paused during the summer heat, but he added that it will probably become a permanent part of Laurel's ongoing turf maintenance.

“I can say this with confidence: The turf course is now draining way, way better than it was a year ago and it will continue to make improvements,” Koch said.

Racing continues at Pimlico through Aug. 22, then moves to Timonium during the Maryland State Fair Aug. 27-Sept. 6. Opening day at Laurel is Sept. 9.

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Maryland Jockey Club Unveils Fall Schedule Of 33 Stakes Worth $3.525 Million

The Maryland Jockey Club announced Friday a fall schedule of 33 stakes worth $3.525 million in purses for Laurel Park led by the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) and 36th edition of the Jim McKay Maryland Million.

The fall meet begins Thursday, Sept. 9 and run through Saturday, Dec. 31.

The six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up will help kick off the fall stakes schedule as one of four stakes worth $500,000 in purses Saturday, Sept. 18. Named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, its illustrious roster of winners includes Hall of Famer Housebuster, fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor's Echo and Benny the Bull, and Lite the Fuse, the race's only two-time winner.

Also on Sept. 18 are the $100,000 Weathervane for fillies and mares 3 and older sprinting six furlongs and a pair of one-mile events for 3-year-olds and up, the $100,000 Twixt for females and $100,000 Polynesian.

Saturday, Oct. 2 will feature five stakes, all on turf, worth $600,000 in purses highlighted by the $150,000 Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds and $150,000 Selima for 2-year-old fillies, both going 1 1/16 miles. They are joined by the $100,000 Laurel Dash sprinting six furlongs and a pair of listed stakes, the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup at 1 ½ miles and $100,000 All Along for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles.

The ground-breaking Maryland Million, which debuted in 1986 and inspired copycat programs throughout the U.S. and Canada, returns Saturday, Oct. 23 with eight stakes anchored by the $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles. Juveniles are in the spotlight in the $100,000 Nursery and $100,000 Lassie for females, both at six furlongs.

Maryland Million will also serve up the $100,000 Sprint (3-year-olds and up, six furlongs), $100,000 Distaff (fillies and mares 3 and up, seven furlongs), $100,000 Turf (3-year-olds and up, 1 1/8 miles), $100,000 Ladies (fillies and mares 3 and up, 1 1/8 miles), and $75,000 Turf Sprint (3-year-olds and up, 5 ½ furlongs).

Juveniles will take center stage again Saturday, Nov. 13 in the $100,000 James F. Lewis III and $100,000 Smart Halo, the latter for fillies, both at six furlongs. The card will also include the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares 3 and up.

Thanksgiving weekend will feature five stakes worth $450,000 in purses spread over two days. Maryland-bred/sired horses are featured Friday, Nov. 26 with the seven-furlong, $75,000 Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial for 3-year-olds and up and six-furlong, $75,000 Politely for fillies and mares 3 and older.

Saturday, Nov. 27 offers the last stakes races in Maryland for straight 3-year-olds, the $100,000 Safely Kept for fillies and $100,000 City of Laurel, both sprinting seven furlongs. In addition, horses aged 3 and up will travel 1 1/8 miles in the $100,000 Richard W. Small.

The final month of the calendar year will feature eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses, launched by the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship, each at seven furlongs, Saturday, Dec. 4.

Christmastide Day Stakes return Saturday, Dec. 26 with six stakes worth $650,000 in purses including the $100,000 Heft for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Gin Talking for 2-year-old fillies sprinting seven furlongs, $100,000 Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and up and $100,000 Willa On the Move for females 3 and older, each at 6 ½ furlongs.

New to the stakes calendar are the $150,000 Robert T. Manfuso for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles and $100,000 Carousel at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares 3 and older. The Carousel, which carried Grade 3 status from 1988 through 1997, was last run in 2002 at Laurel.

Manfuso passed away March 19, 2020 at the age of 82. A former owner of both Laurel and Pimlico and longtime partner of trainer Katy Voss, Manfuso was instrumental in revitalizing Thoroughbred racing in Maryland. An owner and breeder who established Chanceland Farm with Voss in 1987, Manfuso bred 2016 Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Cathryn Sophia and was named Maryland's Breeder of the Year with his filly earning Maryland-bred Horse of the Year honors.

The extended Preakness Meet at Pimlico runs through Sunday, Aug. 22. Live racing shifts to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium from Aug. 26 through Labor Day, Sept. 6.

Fall Stakes Schedule: https://www.laurelpark.com/sites/www.laurelpark.com/files/PDF/2021-FINAL-Fall-stakes-schedule.pdf

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MJC Releases Laurel’s Fall Stakes Schedule

The Maryland Jockey Club released the fall schedule of 33 stakes worth $3.525 million in purses for Laurel Park, including the GIII Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash and 36th edition of the Jim McKay Maryland Million. The fall meet begins Thursday, Sept. 9 and continues through Saturday, Dec. 31. For the complete stakes schedule, click here.

The six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up will help kick off the fall stakes schedule as one of four stakes worth $500,000 in purses Saturday, Sept. 18. Named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, its roster of winners includes Hall of Famer Housebuster, fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor's Echo and Benny the Bull, and Lite the Fuse, the race's only two-time winner.

Saturday, Oct. 2 will feature five stakes, all on turf, worth $600,000 in purses, including the Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds and Selima for 2-year-old fillies, both going 1 1/16 miles. They will be accompanied by the six-furlong Laurel Dash and a pair of listed stakes-the Japan Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles and All Along for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles.

The 2021 renewal of the Maryland Million returns Saturday, Oct. 23 with eight stakes, including the Classic for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles. Juveniles are in the spotlight in the Nursery and Lassie for females, both at six furlongs.

Thanksgiving weekend will feature five stakes worth $450,000 in purses spread over two days and the final month of the calendar year will feature eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses, headedd by the Maryland Juvenile Futurity for 2-year-olds and Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship, each at seven furlongs, Saturday, Dec. 4.

New to the stakes calendar are the Robert T. Manfuso S. for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles and Carousel S. at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares 3 and older. The Carousel, which carried Grade III status from 1988 through 1997, was last run in 2002 at Laurel.

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