Laurel cancels Sunday racing, reschedules 4 stakes races

Due to lingering effects of a winter storm that hit the mid-Atlantic region, the Maryland Jockey Club canceled Sunday’s nine-race program at Laurel Park.

Live racing is scheduled to resume Friday. The card will include the $100,000 What a Summer for fillies and mares aged 4 and up going six furlongs and $100,000 Fire Plug for 4-year-olds and up sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs, both originally scheduled for Saturday’s card that also was canceled.

Stakes-winning New York shippers Kant Hurry Love and Headland, the latter winner of the Dec. 23 Willa On the Move at Laurel, topped the original lineup for the What a Summer. The Fire Plug was led by Grade 3 winners Greeley and Ben and Classier, stakes winners Super Chow and Dollarization and Brother Conway, riding a four-race win streak.

Maryland’s first stakes of the year for sophomores, the $100,000 Xtra Heat for fillies and $100,000 Spectacular Bid, are scheduled for next Saturday. Multiple stakes winner Copper Tax and Mission Beach, a popular allowance winner Dec. 22 at Laurel in his first start for Maryland’s 2023 leading trainer Brittany Russell, are among the prospects for the Spectacular Bid. Carmelina, whose three stakes wins include Laurel’s Dec. 30 Gin Talking, tops nominees to the Xtra Heat.

A pair of $75,000 stakes for Maryland-bred or sired horses, the Jennings for 4-year-olds and up and Geisha for fillies and mares 4 and older, both going a one-turn mile and also originally carded for Saturday, are being brought back next Sunday.

Once-beaten Post Time, undefeated in four starts at Laurel, was among five stakes winners in the Jennings along with fellow Maryland champion Joe, Seven’s Eleven, Coffeewithchris and Grade 3 winner Double Crown. In the Geisha, New York-based Malibu Moonshine is looking for a return to her Maryland juvenile championship form.