MD Million Pre-Entries and Helping Unsung Heroes of Racing

Nominations for the 28th Maryland Million Day event of races closed on Thursday, October 10th. The Laurel Park racing office announced that a total of 118 pre-entries, barring late mail or emails after regular business hours, were named to the nine (9) stakes races which comprise the 2013 Jim McKay Maryland Million.

The 28th running of the event will take place at Laurel Park next Saturday, Oct. 19th. First post is 12:15 p.m.

Maryland Million officials eliminated two stakes races from the program (Turf Sprint and Oaks), replacing them with a pair of $50,000 maiden races on the turf. In addition, the purses of the Turf and Ladies are increased from $100,000 to $125,000.

RACE-BY-RACE NOMINATIONS

• $150,000 Classic 11 nominations

• $125,000 Turf 21 nominations

• $125,000 Ladies 10 nominations

• $100,000 Sprint 12 nominations

• $100,000 Distaff 11 nominations

• $100,000 Lassie 10 nominations

• $100,000 Nursery 12 nominations

• $50,000 Starter Handicap 14 nominations

• $50,000 Distaff Starter Handicap 17 nominations

There were no pre-entries taken for the maiden races.

Ben’s Cat, the most nationally recognized MD-bred in training looks to become the first horse to win four Maryland Million races. Last year, the King Leatherbury homebred won the Turf Sprint for the third consecutive year. With that race eliminated, Leatherbury cross-entered his star in the Sprint and Turf, which is now a mile (an eighth of a mile shorter than previous years). The son of Parker’s Storm Cat has won 23-of-35 starts for earnings of $1,695,640. Now seven, Ben’s Cat had to recover from a broken pelvis before he made his maiden debut at age four in 2010, then began his career with eight consecutive victories. He has 15 stakes victories on the grass, including three graded wins.


Throughout the Laurel Park Fall Meet, I’ll post full card selections only for Saturday race days. On Thursday evening, October 17th I’ll find my way to The Corner Stable in Columbia, MD a stones’ throw from the Laurel Park grandstand for the Maryland Horsemen’s Assistance Fund (MHAF) fundraiser for the unsung heroes in the horse racing industry, the backstretch workers.

Maryland Jockey Club Racing Analyst, Gabby Gaudet wrote a nice piece, A Helping Hand, which provides details about the fund raising effort spearheaded by MHAF’s Executive Director, Bobby Lillis.

If you find yourself around the Baltimore-Washington corridor next Thursday, consider stopping in The Corner Stable for dinner (I highly recommend the ribs) as they’ll contribute 15% of your receipt to the MHAF. Then stay and check out the Silent Auction which has dozens of terrific donated items and participate in a karaoke contest, as a contestant or voter.

Recapping Laurel Park’s Saturday, October 5th 11-race card selections had just 2 winners having $2 WIN pay-offs of $6.80 (2nd) and $4.00 (4th), yikes!!!

BEST BET (4:1-2-1): Dan’s Last Stand (5th race 9-2 M/L; 9-2 PT) lacked speed, swung to the five path entering the stretch and rallied mildly to just miss getting the PLACE money by a head to return $2.40 to SHOW.

Longshot Play (3:0-0-0): Red Hot Ride (7th race 15-1 M/L) was a veterinarian scratch on race day morning. Keep your eyes peeled for this one to show up in a turf race, which will be the first of her career, whose sire Candy Ride has done nothing but turn out good grass runners.

Please note that selections for the Laurel Park, Saturday, Oct. 12th are based on SLOPPY main track and OFF TURF, due to the remnant of Tropical Storm Karen slowly making her way through the Mid-Atlantic the past few days.

If need be, an update will be posted after early scratches are announced on race day morning. Selections for all races posted were handicapped based on making multi-race wagers such as DOUBLE’s, Pick-3’s and Pick-4’s.

1st race – $12,500 Maiden Claiming for fillies 2 y.o. – 5½ furlongs
#4 – Danees Do Be Do (6-1)
#3 –Four Scips (5-2)
#7 – Marie Capri (8-5)

2nd race – $7,500 Claiming N3X for 3 y.o. and up – 1 mile
#2 – Aridus (5-1)
#4 – Black River (9-2)
#7 – Bellamy Fleet (9-5)

3rd race – $5,000 Claiming for 3 y.o. and up – 1 mile
#5 – Access Love (9-2)
#1 – Power Emblem (3-1)
#8 – Smileforthecamera (6-1)

4th race – $7,500 Claiming N2L for 3 y.o. and up – 7 furlongs
#7 – Set to Go --- SCRATCHED ---
#4 – Deployingresources (5-2)
#2 – Flattering (15-1)
#6 - Greek Default (10-1)