Laurel Park

The latest owner of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course says the Preakness is the key to turning around the state's horse racing industry. Greg Avioli, who heads The Stronach Group's racing business, told state regulators Friday that the second leg of the Triple Crown isn't living up to its potential. The Preakness could make three times the $14 million in revenue it currently sees, he told members of the Maryland Racing Commission. To make that happen, The Stronach Group wants to build a modernized facility — which could cost as much as $200 million.

Marylanders interested in owning thoroughbred horses can purchase shares in six racing investment companies founded by Frank Stronach, the owner of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course . The stock offering began earlier this month, allowing investors in several states — including Maryland, California and New York — to own a piece of a thoroughbred for $10 a share. Each company plans to raise revenue by racing its horses until November 2013 and then by selling them. After the sale, the net proceeds would be distributed to shareholders, though the prospectus warns potential investors that owning racehorses involves a "high degree of risk.

Horse racing Eighttofasttocatch wins at Laurel Park Eighttofasttocatch won the $75,000 Japan Racing Association Stakes for 3-year-olds and up Saturday at Laurel Park, covering the mile on the main track in 1 minute, 35.43 seconds. Comet of Love earned her 11th victory in 23 starts by taking the co-featured $60,000 Jameela Stakes for fillies and mares. … Apprentice rider Aparna Battula is expected to miss six to eight weeks after suffering a compression fracture in her back in a Friday spill.

In another time, Maryland was a hotbed for horse racing, its history rich and its purses comparable to other states. It was a place where jockeys could make a career and not have to contemplate leaving for New York or California. Since the late 1980s, and maybe longer, being an up-and-coming rider at Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park has been akin to being a burgeoning major league star at Camden Yards. Bigger markets — with longer racing seasons and more lucrative purses — beckon.

• Oct. 2, 1911, Laurel Park opened for racing under the direction of the Laurel Four County Fair. Three years later, New York City grocery entrepreneur James Butler purchased the track and made renowned promoter Matt Winn general manager. Winn is known for developing the Kentucky Derby into America's greatest horse race. • On Oct. 18, 1917, Hourless defeated Omar Khayyam in a historic match race. Hourless had won the Belmont Stakes that year and Omar Khayyam the Kentucky Derby.

Delivering surprising if tenuous hope to Maryland's horse-racing industry, track owner Frank Stronach reversed his organization's move to slash thoroughbred meets and end races at Laurel Park next year, saying he hopes to strike a deal with breeders and state officials to save Laurel as well as Baltimore's historic Pimlico Race Course . "I don't believe in making rash decisions," said Stronach, whose MI Developments controls Laurel and ...

Live racing at Laurel Park is canceled for Friday and Saturday, the Maryland Jockey Club announced in a news release. Simulcasting at Laurel and Pimlico Race Course is open on Friday afternoon, but both tracks will be closed Saturday. The $70,000 Marshua Stakes, originally scheduled for Saturday, is moved to Monday.

Geovany Garcia set a personal best Thursday when he captured four races from seven mounts at Laurel Park. Garcia, 21, the younger brother of Maryland mainstay Luis Garcia , won on Reckless Runner ($5-first), Jackie Lad ($9.60-second), Giron ($9.80-fifth) and Roi de Coeurs ($10-seventh). Women's college lacrosse: Stevenson's 14-11 comeback victory at York on Wednesday was the 100th win in the career of head coach Kathy Railey , who is 36-31 with the Mustangs in five seasons and 100-70 in 11 seasons overall.

Laurel Park's nine-race card was canceled Saturday because of the heavy snowfall. The decision was made 30 minutes before the 12:35 p.m. first post. "We were originally expecting one to two inches but the forecast changed," Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas said. The cancellation means the elimination of the national Magna 5 wager, which had been slated to start with Laurel's finale, the $70,000 Dancing Count Stakes. Laurel Park racing secretary Georganne Hale said the Dancing Count will not be carded this year.

Just about every Friday morning, Karen Lubieniecki takes a leisurely stroll to Laurel Park, finds a place along a railing at the nearly empty racetrack and spends an hour or so watching the horses exercise as the sun climbs the sky. It isn't that she's a horse racing aficionado. It's just that she appreciates a meaningful place. "You don't have to know the ins and outs of racing to love that atmosphere and take in the beauty of those animals," says Lubieniecki, a history buff and a senior staff member at the Laurel Historical Society just a few furlongs down the road.

After being open nearly a year, skateboarders are mostly pleased with the North Laurel Community Center's outdoor skate park, which Howard County opened last June. The 12,000-square-foot park opened June 3, 2011 along with the rest of the $25 million North Laurel Community Center. The skate park is mostly made of concrete and has metal rails and stone boulders at different places throughout the park. One end of the park has a covered sitting area where skateboarders can rest or watch each other perform tricks on the various ramps, rails, boxes and curved pool.

Hamilton Smith's brother, Franklin, came out to the track at Churchill Downs to see two horses he knows well Franklin, who breaks about 150 horses each year, turned both Dulluhan, trained by Dale Romans, and Done Talking, trained by Hamilton Smith, into race horses at his South Carolina training facility. “It's good to see them here,” he said. “I can remember having them back then, and even then, they were ahead of the group. It's good for them to be together like that.

On a cool Saturday morning, Hamilton A. Smith - the programs call him that, but most every acquaintance calls him Ham or Hammy - is doing his best to do as he always has. He moves around his barn at Laurel Park, working his staff. His rapid-fire delivery is steady, always, and his humor wry. But he can be sarcastic, too. "You're never quite sure how to take him," says Sheldon Russell, the 24-year-old who is Maryland's leading jockey. Smith does this on purpose, keeping his riders and other workers - he's never had an actual assistant, like many trainers - on edge.

Under a cloudy sky -- and before the eyes of dozens of curious trainers and jockey -- Kentucky Derby-bound Done Talking had his final workout at Laurel Park early this morning. The Hamilton Smith-trained colt went five furlongs in just over a minute under Sheldon Russell, his regular rider and the top jockey in Maryland. Both Smith and Russell said they felt the horse handled the work well. Smith, 67 and a Maryland regular for more than 30 years, has never had a Triple Crown horse.

Bold Affair caught front-runner Valiant Passion and rolled to a convincing victory in the $75,000 Primonetta Stakes, the feature offering Saturday at Pimlico Race Course . Abel Castellano asked the 4-year-old filly to engage Valiant Passion around the far turn in the six-furlong test and they pulled away to win by 23/4 lengths, in 1 minute, 10.67 seconds. Aquitania rallied to finish second and Enchante took third. "I was right behind the speed, and I just let her do her own. She did it well.

When Sasscer Hill was growing up, she rode stick horses and plow horses and read "The Black Stallion" novels, a series of books about the friendship between a young boy and a beautiful black Arabian stallion. In the process, she fell in love — with horses and books and, eventually, writing. On April 15, her novel "Racing from Death" is being released by Wildside Press. It is the second in a series about jockey/ assistant trainer Nikki Latrelle, a Laurel Park-based rider, who finds herself caught up in murder.

Laurel Park will celebrate its 100th anniversary with live racing, birthday cake and a Fall Fest on Saturday, Oct. 22 from noon to 6 p.m. The live card will begin at 1:10 p.m. As part of the centennial celebration, the first 3,000 people will receive a 100th birthday key chain, and drawings will be held for prizes such as flat screen TVs, iPads and airline gift cards. A health fair will be held and entertainment includes live music and on-track performances between races, featuring Medieval Times performers, pony club members and Jack Russell terriers and basset hounds.

The winter snowstorm that hit the area Wednesday caused the Maryland Jockey Club to cancel live racing at Laurel Park for the second straight day. There will be simulcasting this afternoon at Laurel and Pimlico Live racing is expected to return to the Central Maryland track Friday, with a nine-race card. First post is 12:35 p.m.

A day after the lack of oversight at Maryland race tracks came to light in a hearing before the Maryland Racing Commission at Pimlico Race Course , the commission's executive director, Mike Hopkins, said steps are already being taken to improve the situation. One of the biggest issues in the hearing that resulted in upholding the disqualification of the Rick Dutrow Jr.-trained King and Crusader from the Dec. 17 Maryland Juvenile Championship at Laurel Park was the disregard for a regulation mandating slips for each horse being treated before a race to be reviewed by the stewards or their representatives within an hour of each race.

Maryland horse racing got exposed for a lack of oversight Tuesday during an appeal to have the Rick Dutrow-trained King and Crusader reinstated as the winner of the $75,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship at Laurel Park. Dutrow and his horse's owner James Riccio lost the appeal, but Maryland horse racing may have lost more, as officials at Laurel Park were found to have not followed all of the proper procedures on the night of that December race. "I'm stabled at Laurel Park," said John Robb, the trainer of Glib, the second-place finisher who was declared the winner of the Juvenile Championship.