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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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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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MJC Now Rehabbing Both Track Cushion, Base At Laurel; June Estimate For Project Completion

During Thursday's meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission, board members dug in to the issues with the dirt track at Laurel Park, grilling the senior vice president of racing for The Stronach Group (TSG), Steve Koch.

Racing in the state has already been moved to Pimlico on an emergency basis, but a finite timeline for the repairs to the Laurel surface has been hard to nail down, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.

“I hesitate to put a firm timeline on this for the moment,” Koch said, adding: “I would not anticipate this running past the end of the current Pimlico meet.”

That meet is scheduled to end on May 31, with racing at Laurel booked to resume on June 4.

Initial estimates suggested that replacing the dirt surface's cushion would be the primary focus of the project, but Koch explained that the base of the track has been repaired in piecemeal locations over the past years, and now the Maryland Jockey Club is looking at completing “significant work” on that base to restore consistency.

Currently, experts are comparing three test strips of different base compositions in a location on the backstretch chute, working in concert with the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory to determine which is the best for local conditions.

A large part of the problem, Koch explained, is that the MJC has not been able to source the required materials from local quarries, and is subsequently shipping material from significant distances.

“These are very scarce, very technically specified [base] materials, and in fact they're much more scarce than the cushion materials,” Koch said. “We will continue to subscribe to the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory top-to-bottom quality control program. What we cannot do is control every aspect of winter racing and winter weather, and we cannot control the fact that sourcing stone from quarries all over the eastern half of the United States requires a significant shopping and laboratory exercise.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Indiana Grand Donates Old Track Surface Material To Community Project

In preparation for a project on the horizon for Shelby Parks and Recreation, Indiana Grand Racing & Casino delivered two loads of dirt to Blue River Memorial Park Thursday, April 1. The dirt, which was formerly used as racing surface on the track, will become part of the amphitheater area to be constructed at Blue River Memorial Park.

“The amphitheater at this time has no particular time frame,” said Karen Martin, Executive Director of Shelby Parks and Recreation. “It is in our master plan. As we get dirt to create the mound for the audience to sit on, then preparations will get started for the rest.”

Indiana Grand Track Maintenance Team Members Paul Jordon and Doug Boring delivered two truck loads of material to the site of the future amphitheater. The dirt equaled a total of 20 tons.

Once enough material has been collected, Doug Hunt, City of Shelbyville Street Commissioner, will begin forming the dirt into a “U” shape mound that will extend up at least 12 feet high. Once the mound is in place, drainage will be added and a staging area with dressing rooms will be constructed.

“After an extended period of time, the materials we use on the racetrack become less effective and it loses its bounce when the horses travel over it,” said Roy Smith, Track Superintendent. “We take the material off and replace it with a fresh mixture of sand, silt and clay. The stockpile of previously used dirt will be perfect for the creation of the amphitheater.”

Smith and his team are in final preparations for the upcoming 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing, which begins Tuesday, April 13. They are working on both the one-mile dirt course as well as the seven-eighths mile turf course, which is currently equipped with turf blankets to strengthen the grass base and speed up the process of growth. Turf racing is set to commence in early May, pending weather conditions.

Live racing in 2021 will be conducted at 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. In addition, six all-Quarter Horse racing dates are set on select Saturdays starting June 5 at 10 a.m. A special Indiana Champions Day highlighting the state's top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will be held Saturday, Oct. 30 beginning at 12 p.m. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.indianagrand.com.

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