Horsemen Praise Maryland Racing Ahead of Laurel Fall Meet
Horsemen Praise Maryland Racing Ahead of Laurel Fall Meet
Calendar Year-Ending 60-Day Stand Opens Friday, Sept. 8
Challedon, Shine Again Kick Off 44 Stakes Worth $4.42 Million
Six Super Saturdays, Maryland Million, Ben’s Cat Tribute Among Highlights
LAUREL, MD – From across the United States to Dubai to his native England, trainer Graham Motion has raced around the world, yet it is in Maryland where he has found a home for himself, his family and his horses.
Motion, 53, lives in Elkton, Md., home of the Fair Hill Training Center, where his string is based year-round. In the more than two decades since saddling his first winner, Bounding Daisy, at Laurel Park in 1993, he has seen changes in Maryland’s racing landscape both on and off the track.
The current trend is a positive one, seeing average daily handle increase for eight consecutive meets dating back to 2015 heading into Laurel Park’s calendar year-ending 60-day fall meet, which opens Friday, Sept. 8.
A total of 44 stakes worth $4.42 million in purses will be offered during the fall stand featuring six Super Saturday programs including the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Sept. 16, Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G2) Sept. 30, 32nd Jim McKay Maryland Million Oct. 21, and a tribute to late legend Ben’s Cat Nov. 11 complemented by six stakes.
The $75,000 Challedon for 3-year-olds and up and $75,000 Shine Again for fillies and mares 3 and older, both restricted to non-winners of a sweepstakes, lead off the fall stakes program Saturday, Sept. 9.
Motion is pointing Skeedattle Associates’ Maryland-bred Just Howard, winner of the Caveat and Find stakes during the summer meet that ended Aug. 20, to the $200,000 Commonwealth Derby (G3) for 3-year-olds Sept. 30.
“They’ve put together a very nice stakes program,” Motion said. “Laurel is still my favorite place to run. It’s local for me, it’s where I started and it’s always been the track that I most like running at. I don’t think anything has changed that.
“When everybody else had slot machines and they were struggling, nobody really left and I think the quality of racing has always stayed very well. I’ve been running there for 20-some years and I don’t think it’s gotten any easier, and now they seem to have picked up momentum,” he added. “With the money that they have coming in, they’ve done a great job with the stakes program. I think it’s more a matter of how they’ve been able to maintain the quality than anything.”
Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey shipped in to win the Commonwealth Oaks (G3) with My Impression and the Lady Baltimore with Onus last fall at Laurel. He plans to send Grade 2 winner On Leave for the $150,000 All Along, formerly the Lady Baltimore, Sept. 16.
“I think it’s on the upswing, very much so. We ran 10 or 12 there this summer and had some success,” McGaughey said. “I think it’s definitely on the upswing and I think it’ll get better and better. They’ve made an effort to bring a quality of racing. No doubt, they’re trying. Once they get everything going I think it’ll be very good.”
The commitment made by The Stronach Group, owners of Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, to offer dates throughout the year, along with the versatility and quality of Laurel’s world-class turf course, has attracted horsemen to Maryland such as Linda Rice who, like McGaughey, is based in New York.
Rice continues to maintain a string at Laurel she established over the winter when she tied for leading trainer honors at its winter-spring meet. Among her biggest wins in Maryland this year are the Barbara Fritchie (G2) with High Ridge Road and the Harrison E. Johnson with Matt King Coal.
“There’s a lot of economics involved, and for me it makes a lot of sense to race in places that race year-round,” Rice said. “In Maryland, it’s a very up-and-coming place. I think the racing in Maryland has improved dramatically and I think it will continue to improve, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
“They manage to keep races on the grass more than any place I know. The turf course handles a lot of water and they run into December, darn near to Christmas. There’s so many positive things about Maryland racing,” she added. “For me, it was a natural choice. I left Florida four years ago to race in New York full-time. I love New York racing, I think the purses are terrific in New York, but in order to give myself more opportunity – especially in the winter – they race year-round [in Maryland], the purses are good, and they’re only getting better. I think that Maryland is only on the upswing.”
Laurel will debut its newly refurbished main track at the fall meet. The track was peeled back, examined, restored and leveled where necessary and replaced during the two-week break while racing was conducted at the Maryland State Fair in Timonium which concluded Monday, Sept. 4.
“The program they do in Maryland is good and now they’re doing the surface again. Mr. Stronach is doing everything he can to make races better,” said multiple Grade 1-winning trainer Rudy Rodriguez, who regularly ships from New York to Maryland to run. “The program is very, very good and the racing is getting a lot better.
“Purse money is much better and the surface is very good. I never had any issues with the surface there. They’ve got turf, they’ve got dirt, they’ve got seven-eighths, a mile, a mile and an eighth, a mile and a sixteenth. They’ve got the whole package over there – and, they treat you good,” he added. “People are looking to run there. As soon as we go back home [from Saratoga], I’ll be looking to go all the time.”
