Stakes Races

With revenues plummeting, the Maryland Jockey Club will cut $3 million from its budget this fall, reducing the purse $2,000 in every race for the rest of the year and trimming the number of races at Laurel Park through Dec. 31. The Jockey Club and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association said they had no choice. "It's another nail in the coffin for Maryland racing," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said. Miller, a Prince George's County Democrat, said Maryland has its "head in the sand" by not helping the racing industry while Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have enabled racetracks to supplement their revenue with slot machines.

Trainer Ben Feliciano, who stables his horses at Laurel Park, is happy to see racing return to the track today, despite what anybody says. "I've raced horses at just about every track in surrounding states this summer," Feliciano said. "And I'm glad to be back where the grooms can just walk the horses out of the stalls and be at the racetrack. "But people have been laughing at me a lot. `How do you stay there?' they say. `You're in a dying state.'" Feliciano sighs. The way things are at the moment, with the horse racing industry bolstered at most tracks near Maryland by slots revenue, he can't argue.

Colonial Downs showcases its distinctive turf course this weekend with four competitive stakes races, including its signature event, the $200,000 Virginia Derby.More than 8,000 patrons jammed the colonial-style track in southern Virginia last year on Derby day, and officials expect about that many tomorrow when the second edition of the race takes place. Colonial Downs is situated off Interstate 64, halfway between Richmond and Williamsburg.The Maryland Jockey Club took over management of the fledgling track and its four OTBs this summer after financial losses the first two years nearly forced their closure.

With five stakes races, live music and Julie Krone's final rides in the state, the Maryland Spring Challenge tomorrow at Pimlico is a fitting prelude to the state's biggest sporting event, the Preakness.One month before the Preakness, Maryland Spring Challenge features four stakes for Maryland-breds and the $200,000 Federico Tesio Stakes. Created as a junior version of the Maryland Million, which is held in the fall at Laurel Park, the day at Pimlico celebrates Maryland racing in the season of the forsythia.

BAL HARBOUR, Fla. -- Calling it innovative and unprecedented, racing officials yesterday announced a five-month, $4 million series of stakes races at mid-Atlantic tracks.At this posh resort north of Miami Beach, where Eclipse Awards festivities and industry meetings were taking place, officials outlined the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships, or MATCH, which will begin April 19 at Pimlico Race Course and culminate Oct. 4 with championship finales in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

After a six-week break designed in part to reinvigorate thoroughbred racing in Maryland, Laurel Park opens today and begins counting down to the 12th annual Maryland Million Day.On Saturday -- the first Saturday of thoroughbred racing in the state since August -- horses sired by Maryland stallions will compete in 11 races, including one steeplechase, worth $1 million. Bands, entertainers and events for children help make this the second-biggest racing day in Maryland.With Laurel Park's opening, Joe De Francis, majority owner of Pimlico and Laurel Park, said he anticipates "renewed excitement and enthusiasm for Maryland racing."

A five-month series of stakes races at mid-Atlantic tracks worth $6 million is in the final planning stages and tentatively due to commence in May.The Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship Horse series would consist of seven races in five divisions on a rotating basis among Laurel Park, Pimlico Race Course, Delaware Park, Philadelphia Park, the Meadowlands, Monmouth Park and possibly other regional tracks, said Alan M. Foreman, executive director of...

After a brief respite allowing horses to careen around the daring turns of Timonium for 10 days, racing resumes today at Pimlico. Post time is 1: 10 p.m.The four-week meet features a quartet of $100,000 stakes races, including tomorrow's Safely Kept Stakes, a Grade III six-furlong dash for 3-year-old fillies. The others are for horses 3 and older: the Damascus Handicap on Sept. 14, a one-mile turf race; the Polynesian Stakes on Sept. 21, a Grade III 1 1/16-mile race and the Bald Eagle Breeders' Cup on Sept.

Allied Forces, winner of the Woodlawn Stakes on the Pimlico turf May 4, will bypass the Preakness to stay off the main track.Assistant trainer Neal McLaughlin said yesterday that Allied Forces will next run in the Jersey Derby."

Colt Enterprises, the operator of financially troubled Rosecroft and Delmarva raceways, announced last night that it will cancel more than $1 million in stakes races, including the July 1 Messenger Stakes, the first leg of pacing's Triple Crown.The company released a statement saying that preliminary business projections show that "cash funds will not be available" to pay for purses for the races.About a month ago, Rosecroft dropped one live racing card per week and reduced purses in order to cut costs and stay in business.

The field for Saturday's $300,000, Grade I Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park is set, with nine horses vying in the six-furlong sprint. Vineyard Haven (8-5) emerged as the favorite. Godolphin Stable's 3-year-old placed second in his last start, the Grade I King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 29, after being disqualified from first. Vineyard Haven won two Grade I races as a 2-year-old. Fleet Valid is the second choice at 9-2. The son of 1993 De Francis Dash winner Montbrook has won four straight races.

Pimlico Race Course's 2009 season is expected to open Saturday with a weather forecast of sunny skies and balmy temperatures, but even the predicted 72-degree day can't disguise the fact the storied racetrack's future is clouded by the financial uncertainty of its parent company, Magna Entertainment Corp., which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the deteriorating economics of Maryland racing. Even before Canada-based Magna announced it was seeking protection from creditors to reorganize, the company's local arm, the Maryland Jockey Club, was in discussions with the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association to cut racing dates at Pimlico to 20 this year, down from 31 in 2008.

The Maryland Racing Commission approved a 2009 race schedule yesterday that includes as many dates through April as this year's slate. But officials warned that races could be dropped during the year if the industry's economic woes continue. Total purses for stakes races will be $265,000 lower than last year for Laurel Park's 59-date winter calendar, which will run from Jan. 1 to April 13. Though the industry foresees larger purses in the future because voters passed a slots plan this month, racing officials do not expect revenue injections from slots until 2010.

Five horses will vie for the $300,000 Maryland Million Classic, the featured race of the 12-race Maryland Million Day card Saturday at Laurel Park. In the post-position draw yesterday, the two favorites for the race, Cuba and Five Steps, drew side-by-side starting gates. Cuba, in the No. 2 position with Pedro Cotto aboard and trained by Robert Dibona, is the 6-5 favorite. Five Steps, with J.D. Acosta in the irons and trained by Chris Grove, is 7-5. The defending champion, Evil Storm at 6-1, is the No. 4 and will be ridden by Jeremy Rose.

Many people know a workaholic, but today at Laurel Park there will be at least one overzealous worker who is a horse. Silmaril, the 2-1 favorite in the $80,000 What A Summer Stakes, is that horse. She is the star of trainer Chris Grove's stable at the Bowie Training Center and will be running with a chance to become only the fifth female Maryland-bred to win $1 million in purses. She would also be 17th among all Maryland-breds to reach the $1 million plateau. Cigar tops all Maryland-breds with $9,999,815 in winnings.

Trainer Ben Feliciano, who stables his horses at Laurel Park, is happy to see racing return to the track today, despite what anybody says. "I've raced horses at just about every track in surrounding states this summer," Feliciano said. "And I'm glad to be back where the grooms can just walk the horses out of the stalls and be at the racetrack. "But people have been laughing at me a lot. `How do you stay there?' they say. `You're in a dying state.'" Feliciano sighs. The way things are at the moment, with the horse racing industry bolstered at most tracks near Maryland by slots revenue, he can't argue.

CAMBRIDGE -- The Maryland Racing Commission yesterday approved plans by the Maryland Jockey Club to cut 11 stakes races from its Laurel Park schedule this fall to make up a projected $3 million deficit in the horsemen's purse account. That cut alone will save $995,000. But Lou Raffetto, president and chief operating officer of the Jockey Club, said purses of three other stakes, including the Grade I Frank J. De Francis Dash, will each be reduced by $50,000. And every other race during the meet that runs from after Labor Day through the end of the year will be cut by $2,000.

With revenues plummeting, the Maryland Jockey Club will cut $3 million from its budget this fall, reducing the purse $2,000 in every race for the rest of the year and trimming the number of races at Laurel Park through Dec. 31. The Jockey Club and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association said they had no choice. "It's another nail in the coffin for Maryland racing," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said. Miller, a Prince George's County Democrat, said Maryland has its "head in the sand" by not helping the racing industry while Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have enabled racetracks to supplement their revenue with slot machines.

Spring is in the air, with the traditional opening of Pimlico Race Course today for its short, eight-week meet highlighted by Saturday's Spring Festival of Racing and the May 19 Preakness Stakes. "While I hated to see the Laurel meet end because my horses did so well there, I still think the change of venue is a good thing," said Scott Lake, who was top trainer at Laurel this winter with 49 wins. "Everyone is in a good mood. There are new sights and sounds. It picks everyone's head up, even the horses."

Before the Grade II General George Handicap yesterday, jockey Edgar Prado said he just wasn't sure how Silver Wagon would fare. "I'm on the favorite," he said. "But the horse can't read the board." Still, Silver Wagon must have had an inkling. He remained calm as several horses brushed past him shortly after leaving the starting gate. And when he found himself momentarily trapped on the inside coming through the turn - as Ah Day bolted to the lead - Silver Wagon waited for an opening to the outside and then came down the stretch as if driven by Kevin Harvick at the Daytona 500. "I knew I had to go when [Ah Day]