Races for Leading Jockey & Trainer Going Down to the Wire
Mandatory Payouts in Rainbow 6, Late Pick 5, Super Hi-5 Sunday
LAUREL, Md. – There will be plenty on the line when Laurel Park kicks off the final weekend of its 37-day summer meet with back-to-back 10-race live programs Friday and Saturday.
Races for both the jockey and trainer titles are tight and likely to come down to Sunday’s closing day card. Jevian Toledo holds a slim 30-28 edge over Horacio Karamanos among riders, with apprentice Jeiron Barbosa third with 22 wins.
Maryland’s three-time overall leading rider including 2021, Toledo is named in five races both Friday and Saturday. Karamanos has three mounts Friday and four Saturday, and the 18-year-old Barbosa is named in seven races Friday and three Saturday.
Toledo was won two of the three meets in Maryland this year, capturing Laurel’s winter stand as well as the Preakness Meet at historic Pimlico Race Course. He finished second by one win to Barbosa at Laurel’s spring meet.
For the year, Toledo holds a firm lead with 101 wins in Maryland since Jan. 1, trailed by Jean Alvelo (67), Karamanos (57) and Victor Carrasco (56) with Barbosa (50) ranked sixth.
Claudio Gonzalez, Maryland’s overall leading trainer since 2017, and Rudy Sanchez-Salomon are tied atop the standings with 18 wins apiece. Gonzalez, a 45-year-old cancer survivor from Chile, has horses entered in five races Friday and three Saturday as he seeks his 20th training title in Maryland since 2014 and 18th at Laurel. He won Laurel’s winter meet to open the year.
Sanchez-Salomon, who saddled his first winner in 2017, is chasing his first career training title. The 50-year-old Mexico native has horses entered in two races both Friday and Saturday.
With the end of the meet, Laurel will be offering mandatory payouts on the 20-cent Rainbow 6, 50-cent Late Pick 5 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers Sunday. There is a carryover of $1,082.79 in the Super Hi-5 for Friday’s card, which begins at 12:40 p.m.
A total of 58 horses were entered in five races scheduled for the grass Friday, an average of 11.6 starters per race. The feature comes in Race 7, a wide-open optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up on the Kelso turf course where King’s Honor, trained by Brittany Russell, is the narrow 7-2 program favorite over Soulmate and 2021 Maryland Million Turf and Find winner Somekindofmagician. Also entered is 2021 Maryland Million Turf Starter Handicap winner B Determined.
Saturday’s card also features five scheduled turf events which attracted 51 entries (10.2 per race), including a 1 1/16-mile allowance on the Fort Marcy layout in Race 8 for 3-year-olds and up. Johng, beaten a nose in the 2021 Maryland Million Turf; Bob Marco, second by a neck in the May 7 English Channel at Gulfstream Park; and seven-time winner Beltway Bob are among the field of 10.
A maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies sprinting five furlongs was split into two races on Saturday, each with eight horses. Race 5 includes first-time starters from champions Arrogate and Runhappy as well as fellow Grade 1 winners Honor Code and Hoppertunity and multiple graded-stakes winners Blofeld, Cairo Prince and Girvin.
Swinger, a South Carolina homebred of Goree Smith that ran fourth in a 5 ½-furlong maiden claimer on the Colonial Downs turf July 26, is the only horse to have raced. He is trained by Smith’s younger brother, Hamilton Smith, who also trained the sire, Done Talking, to a win in the 2012 Illinois Derby (G3) and was the trainer’s lone Kentucky Derby (G1) starter.
The second division comes in Race 7 and features first-time starters from Grade 1-winning millionaires Goldencents and Gormley as well as Grade 3 winner Divining Rod, third to eventual Triple Crown champion American Pharoah in the 2015 Preakness (G1). Millionaires Irish War Cry and Good Samaritan are also represented as are fellow multiple graded-stakes winners McCraken and Unified.
Following Sunday’s program at Laurel, live racing will be conducted at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium through Labor Day before the Maryland Jockey Club hosts its first full fall meet at Pimlico since 2004 starting Sept. 9 and running through Sept. 25.
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
Photo by Maryland Jockey Club
