With hurricane looming, Laurel moves De Francis Dash Day stakes back a week

In a preemptive move so one of Laurel Park's best racing programs of the year isn’t adversely affected by Hurricane Florence, track management on Monday moved its seven De Francis Dash Day stakes back from this Saturday to Sept. 22.

Florence, which was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 miles per hour late Monday morning, is forecast to come ashore late Thursday or early Friday in the Carolinas and then worked its way inland and north, bringing poor weather to Maryland.

While the Grade 3, $250,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash is a six-furlong race on the main track, the afternoon's six other stakes are scheduled for turf. Wet weather in the Mid-Atlantic Sunday and Monday also delayed the final workouts of many horses expected to compete on the card.

The De Francis Day stakes, which are worth a combined $900,000, include the final legs for three divisions of the Mid-Atlantic Championships, including the turf sprint and filly and mare turf sprint.

Sal Sinatra, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, said nominations for the De Francis Day races will be reopened until Wednesday.

"We’re hoping everyone can breeze this week and then, hopefully, have a great day and fast track on the following Saturday," Sinatra said. "We also reopened nominations for those who said previously the races were coming up a little too soon."

In another change, Laurel has moved the five $75,000 Virginia-bred or -sired stakes scheduled for Sept. 22 to Sunday the 23rd.

The De Francis card is one of the high points of Laurel's fall meet and the most important day of racing in the state since the Preakness was held in May. Many stakes during Preakness week had short fields due to persistent rain, which resulted in a sloppy main track and the majority of turf races being taken off the grass.

The De Francis Day date change means Laurel's stakes will go head to head with the premier program of the year at Parx. The Parx card on Sept. 22 includes the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, Grade 1 Cotillion, Grade 3 Gallant Bob and two other stakes.

Charles Town will hold its Race for the Ribbon program the night of the 22nd. That card is topped by the Grade 3, $300,000 Charles Town Oaks, which has five supporting stakes.