With Sand Added to Track, Laurel Aims to Reopen Jan. 16

Laurel Park officials have targeted Jan. 16 for a resumption of racing at the Maryland oval, pending a successful return of full training there Jan. 13. Beginning Thursday, workouts at the track are scheduled to again be permitted.

Besides its intention to race Sunday, Laurel is to race next week on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 17, and then from Jan. 20-23.

Following a couple of winter storms, Laurel canceled racing all of last week and Jan. 14-15. Training was also scrapped for a series of days, and no published workouts have taken place at Laurel since Jan. 2, according to Equibase.

Speaking during a videoconference with track officials Jan. 11, Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association president Tim Keefe proposed adding continuous racing on scheduled dark days Jan. 18-19 to compensate for lost racing during the past two months. Officials seemed agreeable to the proposal, provided they could secure necessary staffing.

Track maintenance at Laurel is still underway, though the main track was reopened for horses to jog and gallop over the surface Tuesday. Track maintenance crews stripped the cushion from the main track this weekend and began the process of adding course sand to help it handle inclement weather during the winter.

Glen Kozak, senior vice president of operations and capital projects for the New York Racing Association and one of the experts called in to assist with the ongoing track-surface issues, said over 2,000 tons of material was removed from the Laurel main track. Then crews began putting that material, plus the additions of mason and concrete sand, back onto the base in stages.

That process is nearing completion, which should allow for horses to breeze over the surface by Thursday.

"I think everybody's able to see how the inside of the track performed this morning with 22 degrees and with the amount of moisture that was in it from what you guys all received over the weekend," he said on the videoconference. "So it's just getting this product into the sand, into the cushion so that way it can be maintained, but it's moving along very, very well."

Laurel track superintendent Chris Bosley will oversee the maintenance of the revamped surface over the long term, said Mike Rogers, president of racing for the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Laurel and Pimlico Race Course.

Laurel's track is different from the one it had last winter. The surface underwent renovations in the spring and summer, necessitating racing in the state move to Pimlico.

After those renovations, Laurel experienced problems in November, and a spike in equine breakdowns raised alarms. Laurel canceled racing in early December for the track to be evaluated and improved.

The surface responded well in late December, without any catastrophic breakdowns during that period, before winter weather wreaked havoc in 2022.

Horsemen urged Rogers and other MJC officials to expand the number of races offered on its cards in addition to their suggestion to pick up racing on two dark days next week. Purse increases and participation bonuses were also floated as suggestions to officials.

"We're gonna have people that have their feed bills and hay bills and employees to pay that have been very negatively impacted by what's going on," trainer Ferris Allen said.

Citing Maryland regulations, racing leadership on the call suggested a purse increase might be the easiest way to provide immediate financial assistance. However, some horsemen on the videoconference expressed concerns that such additions might not offer adequate benefit to all due to anticipated large fields when racing resumes.