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Pimlico: Turf Racing Suspended For Track Maintenance

Turf racing at Pimlico Race Course will be suspended from Friday, June 25, through Sunday, June 27, to allow for maintenance of the course.

The Maryland Jockey Club June 24 said the maintenance is needed as a result of the extended meet at Pimlico, which originally was scheduled to end live racing May 31. Pimlico opened a few weeks early in late April and was approved to race through Aug. 22 because of the ongoing dirt surface reconstruction project at Laurel Park.

The MJC said the maintenance will allow the Pimlico turf course to be used through the end of the summer meet in late August.

“We want to do more aeration and fertilization,” said MJC Track Superintendent Chris Bosley, who also oversees the turf courses at Pimlico and Laurel. “We want to be able to confidently say the turf course can hold up until we get back to Laurel (in early September). I think getting off the turf course this weekend will help us out a lot—it's a reasonable goal.”

Four grass races had been scheduled for June 25, both short and long, and two turf races around two turns were carded for June 26. The June 27 program will have seven races, all on dirt. The card for Friday, July 2, will be drawn Sunday, June 27, and MJC officials said they are hopeful the turf course will be ready for use for the weekend of July 2-4.

The MJC also announced a change in training hours at Pimlico from Monday, June 28, through Thursday, July 1, because of the removal and replacement of the temporary tent barns being used to house horses that were relocated from Laurel as well as those that ship in on race day from the Maryland State Fair at Timonium and other facilities in the state and region.

Training hours at Pimlico for all horses on those four days will be 5:00-7:30 a.m. with a break from 7:30-8:00 a.m. Training will resume from 8:00-10:00 a.m. but only for horses stabled on the Pimlico Road side of the property. Gate schooling will be available Wednesday, June 30, and Thursday, July 1, from 6:30-7:30 a.m. and 8:00-9:00 a.m.

Steve Koch, Senior Vice President of Racing for 1/ST RACING (The Stronach Group), said the barn transition project already has begun. The temporary stalls currently on the grounds at Pimlico must be relocated because of a previous commitment, and TSG is sending 140 stalls from Santa Anita Park. The tent structures to house the stalls will come from local companies.

There are currently 120 temporary stalls at Pimlico. The transition process will begin in earnest June 28 with a goal of having all 140 stalls available by July 8. An 18-stall barn behind the old wooden grandstand near the far turn at Pimlico is already being constructed to facilitate the transition.

Koch said he has mapped out a plan to address “the transition in the same footprint without displacing horses.” He said the strategy is to add stalls while removing receiving stalls to accommodate horses and ensure that each race day—currently Friday, Saturday and Sunday—120 stalls are available.

If all of the 140 stalls from Santa Anita Park are usable, there will be 20 more stalls at Pimlico than are currently available. When the first set of temporary stalls were constructed, Gulfstream Park, another TSG property, sent more than enough stall mats to accommodate the number of stalls, Koch said.

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‘Way Bigger Than We Originally Anticipated’: Laurel Track Work To Stretch Into Summer

Officials from The Stronach Group announced June 14 that the track renovation at Laurel Park will take longer than originally planned. On a webinar for horsemen, track management revealed that while they had hoped to resume stabling and workouts on the surface in early July, early August is now the target after excavation revealed more serious issues with the base. Dennis Moore, senior track superintendent for 1/ST RACING, reported that it appears a “high plasticity clay” was added to the base at one point “which should have never been there.”

The clay retained water, which was a particular problem since a spring ran under the track surface. The spring originally had a French drain system to remove the water, but that was plugged up at some point.

“It was really just a wet sloppy mess,” said 1/ST chief operating officer Adian Butler. “You don't need to be a track engineer to understand there's a lot of water underneath there.”

The clay has been removed and there will be some regrading done around the quarter pole as well as some surface consistency adjustments on the backstretch.

Additionally, Butler said there were two active sewer lines discovered underneath the track's homestretch, as well as one inactive stormwater drain. The entire base of the track will be replaced and ultimately the pipes discovered there will need to be filled with a solid material so that if they crack, the material above them won't shift.

“It's way bigger than we originally anticipated … we're not going to do this unless we're going to do it properly,” Butler said.

The base will be completely replaced, and Butler could not rule out a need to do additional renovations in two or three years.

In the meantime, the track is replacing boards and doing extensive painting and power washing in the barn areas, and continuing to battle the rat issue.

When horses do return to the surface, Butler and others stressed that it would be a gradual process to get up to full steam. Horses will be allowed to do light work, followed by timed work, followed by racing with extensive surface checks along the way by The Stronach Group and the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory. Butler was hopeful racing could return to Laurel sometime after horses come back the first week of August, but stressed the timeline is dependent on weather and the supply chain for the track surface materials.

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Mean Mary Gets It All Her Own Way In Gallorette

Mean Mary made her 2021 debut a winning one in the Grade 3 Gallorette on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico Race Course, demonstrating the dangers for her competitors of letting her control the early pace. Luis Saez hustled the Graham Motion trainee out of the gates early and settled her into an easy lead which she never gave up, setting fractions of :25.27, :50.92, 1:15.29 and 1:37.60 for a final time of 1:43.10 on the turf. Flighty Lady chased the early pace but was no match, and Mean Mary easily kicked clear of closing efforts from Vigilantes Way and Great Island, who finished second and third, respectively.

Mean Mary was the favorite at 4-5 when the gates opened.

The 5-year-old Mean Mary was making her first start since finishing seventh in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mary Turf. That effort was only the second time she failed to finish first or second in her career. The mare, who is a homebred for Alex Campbell Jr., has wins in the G2 New York, G3 Orchid and G3 La Prevoyante to her credit.

Mean Mary is the daughter of Scat Daddy and Dynaformer mare Karlovy Vary.

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Maryland: Laurel Horsemen Will Vacate Property After Preakness As Track Undergoes Major Overhaul

Track surface woes at Laurel Park continue, and horsemen there will soon be asked to vacate the property temporarily. Track officials identified issues with the dirt surface at Laurel two weeks ago and subsequently cancelled several race cards and ceased timed workouts. Initially, they had hoped that they could simply pull back the cushion and repair the base while horses continued with a modified training schedule. This week, however, ground penetrating radar and heavy machinery to bore holes into the sub-base revealed additional, more serious problems.

Representatives from The Stronach Group and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association said Friday the removal of horses will allow crews to work through more of the day to get the necessary repairs done more quickly. They also had concerns that if a horse got loose during modified training and began bolting around the track, the horse could suffer an injury if they went through an area that was under construction. The sub-base will need to be replaced, as will the base material. Reconstruction of the dirt course should not negate the ability of the track to add a synthetic surface between the dirt and turf courses, which still may be on the horizon for Laurel.

Aidan Butler, chief operating officer of 1/ST RACING, also said that analysis had revealed a small underground stream that ran under the track around the 5/8 pole. A French drain system will be installed to avoid that water flow impacting the track. The drain should also reduce waterlogging issues on the track's backstretch and in the turf course.

Additionally, Laurel has evidently been suffering from a serious rat infestation which the track has been unable to address. Vacating all the barns will make it easier for track employees to eliminate the problem, rather than simply shifting it from one area to another.

Horses stabled at Laurel will have the option to move to Pimlico Race Course, where at least 140 temporary stalls will be erected beginning the day after Preakness, or to Timonium at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, where as many as 580 stalls may be available after the upcoming Fasig-Tipton sale.

Horsemen on a video conference call Friday were assured that if they chose to send their horses out of state while Laurel was closed they would face no penalties or loss of stall space when they returned.

Racing dates that would normally take place at Laurel through the summer will also likely be shifted to Pimlico, but Butler said The Stronach Group is still discussing logistics. Turf racing may be particularly impacted, since the turf course at Pimlico is usually in rough condition after Preakness weekend.

The hope is that horsemen could return to Laurel by July 1, but that will depend on the progress of renovations.

“Our hope is that not only will this be safer for everybody, but it'll get done in a more expedited fashion,” said Tim Keefe, board member of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “Doing it like we're doing it now is just going to drag it out and make it take longer.”

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