Maryland racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Laurel to Swap Three Thursdays for Mondays in November

Laurel Park will swap out three Thursday racing dates for Mondays in November. The request was unanimously approved by a voice vote at the Oct. 4 Maryland Racing Commission meeting.

Mike Rogers, the president of the racing division for the Maryland Jockey Club's Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, told commissioners that the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association was in favor of the switch.

“It's kind of an experiment. We see that handle is a little bit low on the Thursdays, so we're going to see if we can get a little bit of a bump on the handle by shifting to Mondays,” Rogers said. “The sample size is a little bit low, it's only three days, but I think we'll get a little bit of a sense whether the Mondays are successful or not.”

According to the calendar posted on Laurel's website, the three dropped Thursdays are Nov. 3, 10 and 17, making the schedule Fridays through Mondays on those weeks.

The Thanksgiving Day program on Nov. 24 remains intact on the posted schedule. Starting in December, the Laurel schedule had already been slated to revert to three-day racing weeks on a Friday-through-Sunday basis (with the exception of the weekend of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).

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Toledo, Gonzalez Win Laurel Winter Meet Titles

A pair of familiar faces topped the jockey and trainer standings following Sunday's closing day of Laurel Park's winter meet, as jockey Jevian Toledo and trainer Claudio Gonzalez reigned again as meet leaders following their titles at Laurel's 2021 fall stand as well as the year's overall Maryland championship.

Toledo, 27, did not have a mount Sunday but took a 10-win edge, 38-28, over five-pound apprentice Jean Alvelo into the nine-race program. Alvelo had six mounts Sunday, winning with Royal Thunder ($3.60) in Race 6 to finish with 29 wins. It was the eighth career meet title, all at Laurel, for the Puerto Rico native, who is represented by agent Marty Leonard. Second to Victor Carrasco with more than $1.3 million in purse earnings, Toledo was also Maryland's overall leading rider in 2015 and 2017.

“I have to thank God; without him it's impossible,” Toledo said. “I've won the summer meet and the fall meet but I never won the winter meet. It's my first one, so it feels really good. It's another accomplishment in my career. My agent does a really good job and I have a lot of support from everyone. They give me a lot of opportunity to ride nice horses, and thank God we got the job done.”

Gonzalez entered Sunday with a 24-23 advantage over John 'Jerry' Robb after sending out a pair of winners on Saturday's card. Robb did not have a horse entered Sunday, while Gonzalez had runners in four races, winning with Danny Chen's Little Ms Scarlet ($7.40) in the fourth race and Magic Stable's I'm Not Slow ($6.40) in the ninth race to raise his meet total to 26.

A 45-year-old native of Chile and cancer survivor, Gonzalez has won nine consecutive meet titles in Maryland dating back to Laurel's 2019 summer stand. It was the 17th career meet championship at Laurel to go along with two at Pimlico for Gonzalez, who has finished as Maryland's overall leading trainer five consecutive years starting in 2017.

“I feel really good. It's like I say, to win one race is tough and to win the title again is a good feeling,” Gonzalez said. “I have to thank all my people, my workers, all the assistants I have, the grooms, hotwalkers, exercise riders, blacksmiths. Everybody does a good job, it's not only me. If you don't have good help, you don't make it. I try to explain to all my workers, it's the little things that make the difference. That's why you have to pay attention to every little thing and sometimes it makes a big difference.”

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MTHA Approves Purse Bonus, Addition of Racing Days

The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association Board of Directors approved a 20% Purse Bonus on all overnight races through Feb. 27 at Laurel Park Wednesday. In addition, the Maryland Jockey Club, during a meeting with the MTHA, agreed to add three Thursdays in February to the live racing calendar and said it will card at least 10 races a day in January and February when possible. First post time has been moved to 12:10 p.m. in January to accommodate extra races.

Live racing at Laurel Park is scheduled to resume Sunday, Jan. 16, after the cancellation of six racing programs due to a project that involves recomposition of the cushion material on the dirt track. Racing also is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 17. Six stakes planned for Saturday, Jan. 22, will move to Saturday, Jan. 29. The complete racing schedule under the updated calendar is as follows: Jan. 16-17; Jan. 20-23; Jan. 27-30; Feb. 3-6; Feb. 10-13; Feb. 18-21; and Feb. 24-27 for a total of 26 days.

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Laurel Cancels Friday And Saturday Racing, Plans To Resume Sunday Through Wednesday

Track surface woes continue at Laurel Park, where the Friday and Saturday race cards for Jan. 14 and 15 have been cancelled as maintenance crews continue to try to winterize the racing surface. Mike Rogers, president of racing for The Stronach Group, said during a Zoom call Jan. 11 that racing is expected to resume Sunday, Jan. 16 and the track could add additional dates on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week to make up for lost time.

Rogers said Laurel has has assistance from track experts Glen Kozak (NYRA), Jamie Richardson (Churchill Downs), and David Whitman (Maryland), to mix coarse sand into the surface to better prepare the material for freezing temperatures. About 2,000 tons of surface material was taken off the track, and more than half that amount has now been added back with sand mixed in and been graded. There is still mixing work to do, and that will likely continue through Wednesday afternoon.

Horses were permitted to gallop on the track Tuesday morning and will likely gallop again Wednesday, with the goal of resuming timed works Thursday. Entries will be taken Thursday for Sunday races if all parties are satisfied with the way the surface is playing during workouts. There is another weather system scheduled to move through the area over the weekend, and Rogers cautioned that could delay racing resumption once again.

Laurel has had struggles with its dirt surface for nearly a year now, most recently in November when the track was closed for examination after a spike in fatalities. The problem identified at that time was an issue with a compromise of the track's base. The cushion has been pulled back recently, and the track experts believe the base is still in good shape.

Earlier in 2021, Laurel shut down and undertook a multi-million dollar renovation that lasted through the summer.

It remains to be seen whether the stakes card planned for the weekend after next will be delayed, as horses have missed significant training, or if that won't be possible due to potential conflicts with stakes dates in February. Officials on Tuesday's call also speculated purses could be raised to help trainers make up for the financial stress of the missed racing dates in the past weeks, although it may make more sense to add dates in the next month instead.

“Horsemen have been very patient with this process,” said trainer Ferris Allen. “A lot of people are hurting economically out here from the way this has all been handled. We really need to get this back going and we need some proactive behavior on the part of the Maryland Jockey Club.”

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