Valay

A traffic guard at Laurel Race Course was in critical condition last night after he was struck by a vehicle driven by another track employee after the last race.Charles Dixon, 67, was flown by helicopter to Prince George's-Cheverly Hospital in Cheverly, where he was admitted into the facility's intensive care unit.Dixon was directing traffic near the Route 198 entrance to the track when he was hit by a pickup truck driven by Gary Schmidl, a longtime assistant on the starting gate.According to initial reports in the office of Laurel general manager Jim Mango, Dixon was knocked unconscious and was bleeding from the back of the head.

Sunny Sunrise got the lead.Click.Track announcer Dave Rodman might as well have shut off his microphone yesterday when no one challenged the Bud Delp-trained pace-setter in the early running of the John B. Campbell Handicap.The horse led wire-to-wire at Pimlico Race Course, winning the 39th renewal of the historic handicap by four lengths over 8-5 favorite Ibex.Anyone expecting a repeat of the Sunny Sunrise-Ameri Valay speed duel that developed last month in the Harrison Johnson Memorial at Laurel was fooled.

LAUREL -- Trainer Carlos Garcia said yesterday that Valay Maid's next start will be in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park on Oct. 27.The filly romped to victory in the Cotillion Stakes at Philadelphia Park six days ago. Garcia, whose 17 stakes victories this year make him the leader among Maryland trainers, said, "The Breeders' Cup is our main goal."Bayakoa, the defending Distaff champion, and Go For Wand are the likely favorites in the 1 1/8 -mile race. There has been speculation that Go For Wand might bypass the Distaff to try for Horse of the Year honors in the Breeders' Cup Classic, but Garcia said Go For Wand's status has nothing to do with his decision to take Valay Maid.

After jockey Omar Klinger rushed past front-runner Ameri Valay in the Find Handicap yesterday, he thought he'd cruise home a 10-length winner in the $58,200 stakes at Pimlico Race Course with his mount, Jest Punching.But Ameri Valay did something he's never done before.After he was headed, the 5-year-old horse charged back into contention and just missed catching Jest Punching by a nose."Omar told me that when he got clear, he thought he'd win easy," said winning trainer Gary Capuano. "So he relaxed on the horse, and when he did, Jest Punching just stopped.

Hal Clagett is going to be at Pimlico Race Course today, giving a loud whoop and a holler.The 75-year-old lawyer-farmer from Upper Marlboro will be rooting for Ameri Valay, a colt he bred, but no longer owns, to win the Deputed Testamony Stakes.Although the horse was claimed from him several months ago, Clagett raised the horse on his Weston Farm, and vividly remembers a mix-up in the colt's parentage.Was Ameri Valay sired by the stallion Carnivalay, the horse that his breeding line now lists as his father, or is his dad a younger stallion named Corridor Key?

King Leatherbury ships Ameri Valay to New Jersey today to try to end the horse's reputation as a homebody.To help the trainer out, Mark Johnston is relinquishing 10 mounts on today's Pimlico Race Course card to ride Ameri Valay in the Grade III Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park. The horse drew the rail, which should give him a head start in beating the race's other front-runner, Northern Trend, to the lead. That horse drew the extreme outside post in the 11-horse field, which also includes Looming, another Maryland-bred.

King Leatherbury said he looked at the early fractions of the Northern Dancer Stakes at Laurel Race Course yesterday, and was ready to blame his jockey Larry Reynolds for defeat."

LAUREL -- Trainer Dale Capuano will start a 30-day suspension tomorrow for two positive tests of racehorses in 1988 and 1989.Capuano, one of Maryland's most prominent trainers in recent years, gave up appeals of the tests after losing in Prince George's Circuit Court last week.He will be out through Nov. 25 and must pay a $500 fine. During that time, he will not be allowed on the grounds of virtually all racetracks in the United States.Capuano served a 20-day suspension this year for positive tests in Pennsylvania.

Today With racing shut down tomorrow in observance of Easter, Pimlico presents the $50,000 Primonetta Stakes today as the feature on an 11 race card. If the entry remains intact, Burning Daylight Farms provides trainer Ferris Allen with an excellent chance of finishing one-two in the six-furlong event for fillies and mares. Argentine-bred Passeggiata, presently the stronger half of Allen's coupling, is making her initial appearance at Old Hilltop. At Laurel, she put a string of four victories together, including the Francis Scott Key Stakes and Barbara Fritchie Handicap.

TodayWilliam M. Backer's Crab Grass will face only four other distaffers in the Straight Deal Breeders' Cup Stakes when she goes after her third stakes victory of the year. The 12th running of the filly-mare event will be over 7 furlongs for a $125,000 purse.Trained by Barclay Tagg, Crab Grass won the Skipat Stakes at Pimlico in her seasonal debut before shipping to West Virginia for the Shenandoah Valley Handicap. She was the 7-to-10 favorite in winning the Charles Town event by 5 1/2 lengths.