Turf Racing Returns to Laurel Park Sunday
Turf Racing Returns to Laurel Park Sunday
32 Horses Entered in Three Races Over World-Class Turf Course
Trainer Lynch Looking Ahead with Vorticity
LAUREL, MD – A total of 32 horses were entered in a trio of races that mark the return of grass racing over Laurel Park’s world-class turf course Sunday.
The three claiming events drew an average of 10.7 entries per race topped by 13 for Race 8, a $22,000 waiver maiden claimer for 3-year-olds and up set for 5 ½ furlongs over the Dahlia Turf Course layout. Patrick Dooher’s Maryland-bred gelding Flankenstein is the lukewarm 7-2 program favorite.
Also over the Dahlia in Race 4 is another division of the $22,000 waiver maiden claimer for 3-year-olds and up at 5 ½ furlongs, which attracted a field of 11. Eight horses were entered in Race 6, an $18,000 claimer for fillies and mares 3 and older carded at one mile on the All Along Turf Course.
Post time for Sunday’s eight-race program is 1:10 p.m.
Trainer Lynch Looking Ahead with Vorticity
Matt Schera’s multiple Grade 3-placed Vorticity took another step forward in his comeback with a 1 ¾-length victory in a six-furlong, second-level optional claiming allowance Friday at Laurel.
The 4-year-old Distorted Humor colt was making just his second start in more than a year since an eye injury sidelined him following back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Jerome (G3) and Withers (G3) in January 2016 at Aqueduct.
Both starts have come since being moved to the barn of trainer Cal Lynch, whose current stable star, 2017 Jerome and Withers winner El Areeb, was knocked off the Triple Crown trail a with a knee injury discovered a day earlier.
“It was a tough day,” Lynch said. “Winners are always hard to come by, so we’re glad when we get one. Definitely the barn could use this.”
Vorticity was never far from pacesetting New York shipper Alright Alright, who took a half-length lead into the stretch after going five furlongs in 58.10 seconds. Jockey Trevor McCarthy moved Vorticity to the lead nearing the sixteenth pole and they edged clear to win in 1:09.97 over a sloppy and sealed main track.
“We were hoping for a race like this to set him up to go a little further. We want to stretch him out to a one-turn mile in New York or here if we can get the right race,” Lynch said. “He’s been training really well since his race off the layoff. We were really pleased with him. He’s a classy horse. He proved he’s a class horse last year. He’s a graded stakes-caliber horse. We’re glad to get the win into him. It sets him up good for stretching him out off two sprints.”
Lynch said he would like to run back in a stakes but is keeping his options open for Vorticity’s next spot.
“I’ll talk to Matt Schera and we’ll check on him and see how he comes back,” he said. “We’ll sit down and talk in a few days and make a plan going forward.”
