Maryland Commission gives Laurel permission to reopen Thursday
The Maryland Racing Commission on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to Laurel Park to return to live racing on Thursday after surveying racing constituents’ opinions on a recent renovation to the track’s dirt racing surface.
During a virtual meeting, the commission received feedback from a number of trainers, jockeys, and racing-surface experts who had been hired by Laurel’s parent company to supervise renovations on the track beginning earlier this month. All of those who spoke indicated that they were confident that the renovations have resulted in a much safer racetrack.
“I feel like the track is in great shape,” said jockey Victor Carrasco. “It seems like we’re going in the right direction.”
Laurel reopened the track for training last Friday, and racing officials said on the call that approximately 200 horses had recorded workouts over the surface going into the meeting.
“We’re definitely seeing a different racetrack out here,” said trainer Tim Keefe, who is also the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “The feedback I’m getting from the other horsemen and jockeys has also been positive.”
Laurel officials have said that the renovations included adding coarse sand into the dirt-track mix in order to deepen the cushion and provide better drainage. On the call, John Passero, who was the former track superintendent at both Laurel and its sister track, Pimlico, said that the renovations have changed the surface’s depth markedly.
“We’re going back to a system that I used to use, with plenty of depth,” Passero said. “It seems to be very kind to horses.”
Laurel first canceled racing the weekend of Dec. 3 to Dec. 5, after seven horses suffered catastrophic injuries while either racing or training on the main track in the previous month. The main track had been completely renovated earlier in the year, but racing officials said that the surface did not respond well to the change to colder weather.
The renovations continued through the end of last week, with racing canceled again for the weekend.
Laurel has already drawn two nine-race cards for both Thursday and Friday. The Thursday card drew 96 horses, including also-eligibles, and the Friday card drew 89 entrants.