Seven-day meet opens Friday at Maryland State Fair

A Maryland tradition for more than 125 years continues when Timonium opens for a seven-day meet in conjunction with the Maryland State Fair.

Timonium, which held its first meet in 1887, will offer live cards Friday through Sunday this weekend and Sept. 4 through Labor Day, Sept. 7.

Timonium was once part of a thriving circuit of bullring tracks in Maryland that included stops at places such as Cumberland, Hagerstown, Havre de Grace, and Marlboro. Now, Timonium’s five-furlong oval is the only place east of the Mississippi that still holds Thoroughbred racing in conjunction with a fair. The track was expanded from a half-mile to five furlongs in 1974, and its current grandstand was built in 1958.

There are no stakes scheduled, and the racing menu will be mostly limited to claiming events, with most contested at either a half-mile or 6 1/2 furlongs, and a sprinkling of allowance races.

The feature on Friday’s nine-race program is a first-level optional $12,500 claimer that drew a full field of 10 horses, plus a pair of also-eligibles. The top contenders in the 6 1/2-furlong race are the 5-year-old gelding Dreaming of Joey, who easily cleared his first allowance condition going seven furlongs less than two weeks ago at Charles Town in his first start for trainer Kieron Magee, and the 6-year-old Chicsdigtheshark, who has won 7 of 18 starts over the past two seasons and dominated a race at this level going 6 1/2 furlongs at Charles Town in February.

Based on recent history, horses trained by Hugh McMahon and ridden by J.D. Acosta figure to be live. McMahon has won or shared the training title at Timonium in each of the last three years. He has runners in four races on opening day: Gambit’s Delight (race 1), Citation Star (race 2), Crazy Wild Bess (race 6), and Backyard Boogie (race 9).

The Charles Town-based Acosta has been Timonium’s leading rider three times since 2010, including each of the past two years. He is named on five mounts in four races Friday.

First post time is 1:05 p.m. Eastern daily. Admission to the track is free with a paid $8 admission to the fairgrounds, located off Interstate 83. Because on-site parking is limited, fans are advised to use the light rail, which is accessible from the city of Baltimore and has a stop at the western entrance to the fairgrounds.