Laurel summer meet opens Friday

Racing will switch back to Laurel Park on Friday following an almost four-week break to make room for the Preakness mini-meet at Pimlico.

With the exception of a 19-day recess when racing moves to Timonium in late August, Laurel will host nonstop racing until next year’s Pimlico stand starts in May.

The 40-day Laurel meet will race Fridays, Saturday, and Sundays to July 22. Thursdays will then be added until meet concludes on Aug. 19.

The summer meet offers a modest stakes schedule, topped by the $100,000 Stormy Blues, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies on July 7. There are 12 other $75,000 stakes at the meet.

Four Virginia-bred or -sired stakes are scheduled on both June 23 and Aug. 4.

The Stormy Blues undercard will include the Concern Stakes, a seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds.

The Aug. 12 Polynesian, a seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up, is the fourth leg of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships dirt-sprint division.

Good use will be made of Laurel Park’s six turf course lanes throughout the meet.

The Laurel fall meet, the Maryland Jockey Club circuit’s best of the year, will begin Sept. 7.