Horsemen want Laurel Park races moved to Pimlico amid dirt track issues

Thoroughbred racing in Maryland has come to a standstill due to a disagreement between horsemen and track management over the condition of the dirt racing surface at Laurel Park, according to officials on both sides.

On Friday, the parent company of Laurel Park announced that live racing would be canceled “until further notice,” one day after two horses were euthanized after suffering injuries in races on the dirt track. This weekend, horsemen confirmed that the cancellation was based on a refusal by many trainers to run their horses until management brought in an outside consultant to assess the condition of the dirt track.

Laurel Park, which is owned by 1/ST Racing, attempted to take entries on Saturday for a Thursday program, but the card drew “insufficient entries,” according to 1/ST, leading to the cancellation of a fourth day of live racing. Laurel had been scheduled to run on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well.

Also on Saturday, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the Maryland Horse Breeders Association sent a letter to the state racing commission asking the commission to intervene and appoint John Passero, a track superintendent with long ties to Maryland racing, to conduct a review of the surface.

The letter, which was copied to a number of legislative leaders in the state, also demanded that the commission force live racing to be moved to Pimlico Race Course, the Baltimore track also owned by 1/ST, “until the problem [with the Laurel dirt track] is identified.”

The problems come at a time when 1/ST and the state’s horsemen are attempting to negotiate an extension to a live-racing agreement that expires on June 30. Relations between horsemen and management have also been strained for years over the condition of the dirt surface at Laurel, which has undergone multiple renovations over the past three years.

In a statement released on Saturday night, 1/ST said that it had hired Dennis Moore, a track superintendent, to conduct a “comprehensive battery of tests” on the Laurel surface this week. Moore conducted those tests from Thursday to Saturday, the statement said.

“The results of these tests were all within industry norms,” the statement said. “Based on these tests and their professional knowledge, our track experts have advised that there are no issues with the track and that it is safe to race and train.”

Horsemen said in their letter to the commission that five horses have been put down after suffering catastrophic injuries while either racing or training over the dirt surface in April. That record “has called into question the safety of racetrack conditions” on the Laurel dirt track, the letter said.

The disagreement between 1/ST and Maryland horsemen also involves a separate issue in which track management has been attempting to implement new protocols that are in place at its tracks in California. Horsemen have resisted those efforts, saying in the letter that 1/ST has been pushing the protocols “without open debate and consideration of unique factors that exist in Maryland.”

The statement released on Saturday night by 1/ST also said that the company had asked Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, the director of equine safety and welfare at the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, to review Laurel’s fatality data. The result of that review was the calculation of a fatality rate of 1.3 horses per 1,000 starts since Jan. 1, the statement said, compared to a rate of 1.98 per 1,000 starts last year at the same point of the Laurel meet.

The statement said that Laurel’s racing office will attempt to take entries on Sunday morning for a card scheduled for Friday this week.

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