Double Carryovers on 9-Race Program Starting at 12:25
$1.5 Million Maiden Vinco Continues Quest for First Win
Turf Stakes, Handicapping Tournament, Crab Fest Saturday

LAUREL, MD – Laurel Park will bring the curtain down on its 33-day summer meet starting Friday with a nine-race program featuring a maiden special weight on dirt and an open allowance on turf for 3-year-olds and up.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

The summer meet, which began June 9, runs through Sunday before live racing in Maryland moves to the state fairgrounds in Timonium. The Maryland Jockey Club returns with a nine-day boutique fall meet Sept. 8-24 at historic Pimlico Race Course.

Eight maidens 3 and up were entered in Race 7 Friday sprinting seven furlongs on the main track. Six of the horses are sophomores including Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s High Value, a Blame colt from Maryland’s leading trainer, Brittany Russell, making his career debut.

Among other 3-year-olds are Sheriff Ronnie, by Tale of Ekati, who has faced older horses in three straight special weights, twice finishing second, both at seven furlongs; Neuschwanstein and Martini Martin, respectively 2-3 in a seven-furlong maiden special weight July 23 behind subsequent winner Dats Mr Mo; and Too Many Kisses, beaten a head when second sprinting 5 ½ furlongs July 22.

Also entered to make his 4-year-old debut is West Point Thoroughbreds and Gervais Racing’s Vinco, winless in six starts last year for trainer Dallas Stewart. Unraced at 2, the Quality Road colt fetched a record sales-topping $1.5 million during Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic 2-year-olds in training auction in May 2021 at Timonium.

Friday’s feature comes in Race 8, an entry-level allowance scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the Kelso turf course that drew an overflow field of 14 including main-track-only entrants No Easy Days and Under the Radar.

Travin Stables’ 3-year-old Gliding Afleet, a $350,000 son of Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist, has won each of his last two starts in claiming company against older horses for trainer Guadalupe Preciado, who got the horse for a $16,000 tag from Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher out of a Feb. 19 maiden win at Gulfstream Park.

Hardspun Reason, a 4-year-old bred and owned by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds and trained by Graham Motion, adds blinkers off a closing third in a 1 1/16-mile allowance July 15 at Laurel, his sixth start and second straight on the grass. Curly Larry and Mo, who set the pace in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) before finishing last, is set to make his debut for Brittany Russell off a New York-bred allowance against elders June 10 at Belmont Park.

There will be carryovers of $2,624.67 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) and $2,380.91 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) wagers. Mandatory payouts are scheduled in both, as well as the 50-cent Late Pick 5, for closing day Sunday.

Saturday’s 10-race program at Laurel is headlined by a pair of $75,000 stakes scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the turf and restricted to Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up – the Find, featuring multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Field Pass, and All Brandy for fillies and mares, led by two-time stakes winner Coconut Cake.

Also on Saturday, Laurel will play host to a pair of special events. The fall edition of the Maryland Jockey Club’s bi-annual Champions Handicapping Tournament will be held in the second-floor clubhouse sports bar offering prize money and berths to the 2024 National Horseplayers Championship and Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship as well as the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Nov. 3-4 at Santa Anita.

Maryland blue crab is on the menu for Saturday’s Crab Fest featuring all you can eat blue crab (on-site only), side dishes, beer and non-alcoholic beverages and live race program, all under the apron tent. For more information, click here.

Jaime Rodriguez holds an 11-win lead over five-pound apprentice Axel Concepcion, 35-24, in the race for the riding title, followed by Angel Cruz (23) and Sheldon Russell (22). Rodriguez, who rode a record-tying seven winners on a single Laurel card March 17, captured Laurel’s calendar year-opening winter meet. He is named in 21 races at over the weekend at Laurel with Concepcion in 19, Cruz 15 and Russell 13.

In the trainer’s race, Jamie Ness leads Brittany Russell, 24-21, with Mike Trombetta closest at 14 wins, good for third. Ness edged Russell, 34-30, for the Laurel winter title and Russell led the Preakness Meet at Pimlico that preceded the summer stand. Ness has horses entered in 12 races over the weekend at Laurel while Russell has four.

Morris Kernan Jr. and Ness’ Jagger Inc. lead all owners with nine wins, two more than Stuart Grant’s The Elkstone Group. In addition to four wins on its own, Jagger Inc. also has four wins with Madison Avenue Racing Stable, Inc. and three with Troy Johnson and Charles Lo.