Timonium opening weekend recap
Who caught our eyes this weekend?
Frank Vespe
August 31, 2026
The first three days of the 2026 Timonium meet are in the book, with four days still to go. Racing at the Big T resumes Friday, September 4 and continues through Monday, Sept. 7.
The opening weekend also featured the lone stakes race of the meet, the $75,000 Shine Again Stakes for fillies and mares.
Here are some meet highlights to date:
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- For the Ladies won the Shine Again in a thrilling, frantic finish with the top four finishers all within three-quarters of a length. With Raul Mena up, For the Ladies sat just off the pace before rallying outside to win by a neck. The win was trainer Pedro Nazario’s first stakes triumph. For the Ladies paid $41.80 to win.
- Trainer Anthony Farrior won the first three races of the meet and maintains the lead in the training standings. He has four wins to date, while Jose Corrales has two. Nineteen other trainers have one win.
- Jockey Angel Cruz won the last three races of opening day and currently leads all riders with six wins. Jeiron Barbosa has four wins, and Nomar Arroyo Bueno has three.
- On opening day, Holy Moly Mitole, with Cruz in the irons, won a hard-fought maiden special weight event over the firster When We Do We Do, a $400,000 yearling purchase. The win gave trainer Nancy Heil her first win of 2026; she’s now 1-for-15 this year.
- On Saturday Bolton Hill scored a dominant victory in a maiden claimer with Carlos Lopez up. The win was the first of the year for trainer Robin Graham, in 33 starts. So far at the meet, she has a first, a second, and a third from three starts.
- Farrior’s second win of the meet was one of the more eye-catching of the season. In a four-furlong maiden claimer for two-year-old fillies, the Farrior-trained Grey Bells dwelt in the gate and found herself far behind a modest field, trailing by over 10 lengths after the opening quarter-mile. Not to worry, though: under jockey Nomar Arroyo Bueno, she rallied outside to win by a half-length.
- Whose Notion, a middling fifth on the turf at Colonial Downs in her debut, won a half-mile maiden special weight Sunday by six lengths. Carlos Lopez was up for trainer Brittany Russell.
- The talented Embrace the Moment won a second-level allowance by nearly five lengths Sunday under jockey Jaime Rodriguez. Rodriguez sent his three-year-old filly right to the front and she was never challenged en route to her third win in seven career starts.
TIMONIUM OPENING WEEKEND LEADING RIDERS
| Jockey | Starts | Wins |
| Cruz Angel | 17 | 6 |
| Barbosa Jeiron | 14 | 4 |
| Arroyo Bueno Nomar | 8 | 3 |
| Rodriguez Jamie | 4 | 2 |
| Lopez Carlos Eduardo | 8 | 2 |
| Briceno Leandro M | 12 | 2 |
LEADING TRAINERS
| Trainer | Starts | Wins |
| Farrior Anthony | 10 | 4 |
| Corrales Jose | 10 | 2 |
| 19 TRAINERS TIED WITH 1 WIN EACH |
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