Grove sweeps Laurel's Grade 2 stakes

Trainer Chris Grove completed a sweep of the Grade 2 features on Monday's program at Laurel Park when Sweet Goodbye split horses in deep stretch to take the by a head.

Some 30 minutes earlier, the Grove-trained Greenspring shattered a 21-year-old track record in drawing off to a 1 1/2-length victory in the .

Grove said he was worried about whether Greenspring was ready to run his best after missing a week of training due to the 50 inches of snow that fell in two storms within a week in central Maryland. As it turns out, Greenspring was good to go, even without the final workout Grove wanted him to have last week.

Taking command from pacesetter Digger inside the sixteenth pole, Greenspring pulled clear to win his second consecutive stakes and sixth race in eight lifetime starts.

"He missed a week of training and set a track record," said jockey Jeremy Rose, who has been aboard for four of Greenspring's wins. "Imagine what he could have done."

Greenspring ($4.40) completed the seven furlongs in 1:20.95, erasing the record of 1:21.40 held by Tappiano since Feb. 12, 1989.

Digger, the 8-5 second choice in a field of seven older horses, held on for second, a length in front of Ah Day.

In the the Barbara Fritchie, featuring 14 fillies and mares, Sweet Goodbye ($14.20) had just three horses beaten down the backstretch. She rallied between horses in deep stretch to win a four-horse photo. New York shipper Pamona Ball was second, a nose in front of Cuvee Uncorked, who was neck ahead of Hour Glass, the 2-1 favorite trained by Todd Pletcher.

Sweet Goodbye, a 5-year-old mare, is now 9 for 13, including six stakes wins. She ran the seven furlongs in 1:21.81.

* New York shipper Redding Colliery ($5), allowed to set uncontested modest fractions under jockey Anna Napravnik, drew off to a four-length win in the $55,200 John Campbell Handicap. A 4-year-old who last year was third in the Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas in Dubai, Redding Colliery ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.39 while winning for the third time in four starts since October.

* Gator Prowl ($5), 4 for 4 over Laurel's main track and unbeaten in three starts since trainer John Salzman Jr. added blinkers to her equipment, cruised to a front-running 1 3/4-length victory in the $55,200 Marshua Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Ridden by Harry Vega, Gator Prowl covered the six furlongs in a stakes-record 1:09.36, shaving nearly a second off the old record of 1:10.26 set by Ladyecho in 2003.