Turf Cup returns on new grass course

Laurel Park plans to showcase its new turf course during its 78-day fall meet that begins Sept. 7. Overall, there will be 39 stakes worth nearly $3.8 million during the meet.

According to Lou Raffetto, the Maryland Jockey Club's chief operating officer, Laurel expects to schedule four turf races a day through November, taking advantage of the widened turf course that permits the rails to have six different settings.

"We are trying to get people to focus on Maryland racing," Raffetto said. "To showcase our new grass surface, we will institute an all-turf pick three during the first four weeks of the meet."

The wager will be offered on races 6 through 8 with a reduced takeout of 14 percent.

The Laurel Turf Cup, first run in 1952 and a Grade 3 race as recently as 2000, rejoins the stakes schedule after a four-year absence as part of the Fall Festival of Racing on Nov. 19. That card is headlined by the Grade 1 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash and includes the Laurel Futurity and Selima - both shifted to the turf - and a new turf race, the April Run, for fillies and mares.

Raffetto said that moving the Futurity, formerly a Grade 3, and the Selima to the turf should dramatically increase the number of entries.

"We know we'll lose the grading on the Futurity, but instead of struggling to get a six- or seven-horse field, we should be looking at 10-, 12-, 14-horse fields in all of these races," Raffetto said.

The meet's other big day is the 20th annual Maryland Million, scheduled for Oct. 8. Six of the Million races, including the Classic now worth $250,000, received purse increases of $50,000 apiece.

2005 stakes schedule

*Maryland-bred