Laurel Park to Open for Fall Meet Oct. 8

On the heels of a historic meet at Pimlico Race Course that saw Swiss Skydiver become only the sixth filly in 145 runnings to capture the Preakness Stakes (G1), the Maryland Jockey Club is set to raise the curtain on its calendar year-ending fall stand.

Laurel Park will play host to a 44-day session beginning Oct. 8 and running through Dec. 31 that will feature 35 stakes worth more than $3.2 million in purses, including the $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (G3).

Racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday in October and November and Thursday through Saturday in December, along with a special Sunday, Dec. 27 program. There will be no racing Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, Dec. 24 and 25.

Post time will be 12:40 p.m. ET through Oct. 18 before moving to 12:25 p.m. for the remainder of the meet with 11:25 a.m. exceptions on Maryland Million Day, Oct. 24; Breeders' Cup Saturday, Nov. 7; and Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26.

Laurel's Thursday opening day program of eight races includes four scheduled for its world-class turf course in which 44 grass horses were entered, plus main-track-only entries and also-eligibles. Only 27 horses entered its four dirt races, an average of 6.75 entries per main-track race. 

The feature comes in the seventh race, a second-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. The 9-5 program favorite is Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, R.A. Hill Stable, and Joseph Besecker's Shippy, third in the Schuylerville Stakes (G3) last summer at Saratoga Racecourse and winner of the Blue Sparkler Stakes July 11 at Monmouth Park.

Nine races are on tap for Friday, Oct. 9 highlighted by five $75,000 turf stakes for registered Virginia-breds.

Stakes action continues Saturday, Oct. 24 with the 35th annual Jim McKay Maryland Million featuring eight stakes and a total of 12 races for eligible Maryland-sired horses worth more than $1 million in purses. Pre-entry deadline for Maryland Million is Oct. 14.

After a series of stakes in November and early December, the 2020 stakes season concludes Dec. 26, with eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses led by the 1 1/8-mile DuPont for fillies and mares, repositioned on the calendar after traditionally being run on the Preakness undercard.

Jockey Trevor McCarthy and trainer Claudio Gonzalez return to defend their Laurel fall meet championships from 2019. McCarthy led the six-day Preakness Meet with nine wins to earn his 13th career individual title and seventh of the last nine in Maryland, where he has been the state's leading rider four times (2013, 2014, 2016, 2019).

McCarthy, 26, is named in six races Thursday and five Friday.

A 43-year-old cancer survivor, Gonzalez won five races including the historic Pimlico Special Stakes (G3) with Harpers First Ride to lead all trainers during the Preakness Meet. He has now won 11 of the last 12 meets in Maryland dating back to Laurel's 2017 spring stand and owns or shares 14 titles overall. He has led the state in wins three consecutive years (2017-19).

Gonzalez has horses entered in three races at Laurel Thursday and two Friday.