Laurel Park

With a handle of $5,536,944 wagered on the 12-race "Preakness Preview Day" program at Laurel Park, the new Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) set a handle record Saturday, according to a release from the organization. Two "Win Today, See You in May events" were contested Saturday, as well as the first stakes races on turf in the state of Maryland for the year. The $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes offered a fees-paid guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the GI Preakness Stakes, while the Weber City Miss Stakes offered the same...

Maryland-based jockey Forest Boyce was airlifted to the hospital after her mount unseated, and then fell on her, before the first race Sunday at Laurel Park. Boyce suffered injuries after her mount, first time starter Z Bogdan (Uncle Lino) reared up, dislodged her, and then fell on top of the rider as the horses entered the track for the post parade. While prone on the track, Boyce could move her extremities, and was initially placed into an ambulance before being airlifted to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at...

News this week out of the Maryland state legislature has mainly concerned lawmakers moving oversight of the rebuilding of Pimlico Racecourse (among other industry operations) from the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority (MTROA) to the Maryland Stadium Authority and the Maryland Economic Development Corporation. What garnered far less coverage was the successful passage of another bill that designates $250,000 annually for the next two fiscal years towards needed services for the backstretch staff living and working at Laurel Park. "I think this is unique," said Mary Kay Vavasour, who volunteers...

Luis Gavignano's involvement in horse racing, which began innocently enough with a few claiming horses at Laurel Park in 2017, has blossomed into a racing, breeding and pinhooking operation with its own burgeoning home base in Ocala. His Lugamo Racing, with a dozen broodmares to support its graded-stakes winning first-season stallion, as well as a new stakes winner among its 10 horses in training, will offer 14 juveniles at the upcoming Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Gavignano traces his love of horses back to his...

   The following continues a look at how long-term economic developments shape today's Thoroughbred sport. To read part I, click here. Defining Development #5--Real Estate Realities Has there ever been a time when rising real estate values have not heavily influenced the physical locations of Thoroughbred breeding farms and racetracks? This economic maxim has been especially dominant in the U.S. in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. As for breeding farms, anyone who has driven over the past four decades along Harrodsburg Road south of New Circle Road  in...

The Puerto Rico Horse Owners Association, Inc. (PRHOA) has agreed to drop a year-old federal lawsuit over allegedly unsafe surface conditions at Camarero Race Track after the owners of the island's only racing venue finally agreed to a long-sought demand by the plaintiffs to allow John Passero, the noted track-safety consultant who once served as the track superintendent at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, to inspect the track. After a Feb. 10-12 inspection by Passero deemed that Camarero's dirt surface "was generally in good condition [and] not suffering at...

That the figures recently released by the Jockey Club from its Equine Injury Database showed another significant drop in the number of fatalities was good news, but hardly surprising news. The numbers seem to get better every year. But dig deeper into the data presented by the Jockey Club and there is a number that is quite surprising and encouraging. In 2024, dirt tracks were almost as safe as synthetic tracks. There were 1.18 fatalities per 1,000 starts on the dirt, which came very close to the number in the...

Coming off a weekend in which Laurel Park ran eight races on Sunday with 48 starters and nine races on Saturday with 55 starters (with three four-horse fields between the two days), the non-profit  (TMJC), which took over the management of Laurel and Pimlico Race Course this year, is banking on a combination of better weather, an upcoming schedule break, and a new carryover structure for the Pick Five to boost field sizes and betting handle. In response to a query from a commissioner, Bill Knauf, the president and general...

Hillwood Stable's multiple graded stakes winner Post Time (Frosted) was named 2024 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, champion older male and champion sprinter when last season's champions were announced the week of Feb. 24 on the MHBA's social media accounts. Trained by Brittany Russell, Post Time won last year's GII Carter Stakes and GIII General George Stakes. On the board in all 15 career starts, with nine wins, the 5-year-old has earned $1,227,910 on the racetrack. Other Maryland champions announced last week include: champion 2-year-old male: Studlydoright (Nyquist); champion 2-year-old...

On March 3, 2019, Happy Farm (Ghostzapper) was claimed by trainer Jason Servis for $30,000 at Aqueduct. The dark bay gelding would remain in that barn for an entire year where he'd go on to finish no worse than second in seven starts - highlighted by a victory in the 2019 GIII Fall Highweight Handicap. Within days of Happy Farm's second-place finish in the GIII Tom Fool Handicap on March 7, 2020, Servis was arrested and charged following a multi-year investigation overseen by the FBI that identified over 30 people...

In advance of the 2025 Pegasus World Cup, 1/ST and the Ed Brown Society have extended their initial three-year partnership to provide opportunities for young people of color to gain industry exposure through internships and scholarships, the owners of Gulfstream Park said in a Thursday release. This year 1/ST will provide $50,000 in funding to cover all costs associated with the paid internship program enabling the Ed Brown Society to identify, recruit and place qualified students. On Saturday at the Pegasus World Cup, the third race will be dedicated to...

Fifty days since his last mount, when he was suspended by HISA for striking a horse in a malicious manner following a race at Parx, Paco Lopez will return Saturday at Laurel, where he will have three rides. They include the mount on Hawkstone (Catalina Cruiser) in the Spectacular Bid Stakes. "I'm feeling good and I've been working very hard to be ready for my comeback," he said. Lopez was aboard National Law (Constitution) in a maiden special weight race at Parx for trainer Jorge Duarte Jr. The horse bore...