The University of Maryland’s Equine Studies program, which has produced several winners, will go on hiatus until it can find a sustainable funding model, the program announced.
The 61-day fall meet at Laurel Park features 34 stakes worth over $3.4 million and opens on Friday, September 7.
Training titles at the just-completed Timonium meet went to Claudio Gonzalez and Gerald Brooks, while J. D. Acosta won his third straight riding crown.
“In this business when you have a half-decent opportunity, you take it because you don’t know when it’s coming again,” says jockey Erin Walker.
Trainer Charlie Frock won two today at Timonium — the track whose brief meet he points to each year. “It was like a gift,” he said.
Colonel Sharp, a $36,000 auction purchase last December — “too much,” said trainer Hugh McMahon at the time — was up to win the Maryland Coalition Stakes at Timonium.
Saturday’s Maryland Coalition Stakes at Timonium has attracted a hard-hitting field with over 270 starts and nearly $2.5 million in the bank.
Jockey Larry Reynolds won over 3,000 races; his son Austin, looking to make his own way in the game, saddled the feature race winner for Cal Lynch’s barn.
Timonium — racing’s once-a-year Brigadoon — is a place where picking winners is simply a matter of knowing which horses won’t be freaked out by the Ferris wheel.
An usher at Maryland racetracks for decades, Fred Tallarico passed away yesterday at 94 — closing the era of regular racetrack ushers in Maryland.
