Timonium meet picks up where Laurel leaves off

Laurel Park will close up shop for 19 days following Sunday's card as Maryland racing shifts to the state fair in Timonium for its annual seven-day run.

Timonium will race Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Aug. 24-26, and Friday to Monday the following weekend, closing on Labor Day. The meet will include a pair of $75,000 stakes, a $20,000 trainers' participation bonus, and college scholarship giveaway day on Aug. 25.

The break at Laurel will give the turf course a few weeks to mend following a busy summer of grass racing. The fall meet opens Sept. 7 and runs through the end of the year.

The fall season includes Laurel's premier stakes schedule of the year, which comprises more than 40 stakes worth in excess of $4.4 million. The meet highlights include the Grade 3, $250,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash; the Grade 3, $200,000 Baltimore-Washington Turf Cup; Maryland Million Day; and a new race, the $150,000 Bald Eagle Derby, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds on Sept. 29.

Coming into the four day closing weekend at Laurel, Jevian Toledo leads Feargal Lynch by four wins in the jockey standings. They have been first and second in the standings for the final half of the meet, which began June 1.

Claudio Gonzalez wrapped up the training title weeks ago.