Triple Carryovers Worth Nearly $136,000 for Friday Program
Stronach 5 Returns Friday with $100,000 Guaranteed Pool

LAUREL, MD – More than just restarting his march to a milestone, the return of live racing in Maryland has journeyman rider Jevian Toledo extremely grateful to be back at work.

“It feels really good. I feel blessed that we have racing, because some places haven’t started yet,” Toledo said. “We have to be thankful that we have started already.”

Toledo, who turns 26 in August, is off to the best start at Laurel Park’s summer meet with five wins in 17 mounts over its first three days. He rode two winners each on May 30 and 31 – the first programs since racing was paused following Laurel’s March 15 program – and closed the June 1 card with another victory.

A 45-1 upset aboard Father’s Luck ($97.80) for trainer W. Thomas McMahon on May 30 bolstered Toledo’s average win payoff to $25.76. He also has three seconds and a third, and his $97,752 in purse earnings are second only to Trevor McCarthy’s $127,349.

“We worked really hard during the quarantine and I thought we had some really good horses to start off, and that’s what happened. We got some business and we started off on the right foot,” Toledo said. “We won a few and we had a big longshot. The horse was working good. I didn’t expect that he was going to win, but he ended up winning so we’ll take that.”

Toledo can attribute his fast start to being able to stay active during the 2 ½-month pause between races. He is named in four of nine races Friday and five of 10 races Saturday as live racing returns to Laurel this weekend.

“I ran once a week, twice a week sometimes [but] the whole quarantine I was working horses. I never stayed home, really,” Toledo said. “I didn’t go out looking, but a lot of people called my agent to work horses and I’d say six days a week I was out there. I was ready to come back. It was very nice.”

Represented by agent Marty Leonard, Toledo was Maryland’s leading rider with 141 wins in 2015 and 144 wins in 2016, and ranked second with 157 wins in 2016. He owns five meet titles at Laurel, the most recent coming at its 2018 summer stand.

Though his numbers have dropped over the past two years, to 83 wins during an injury-plagued 2018 and 72 last year, Toledo remains among the state’s elite riders, respectively ranking third and fifth overall.

A native of Puerto Rico, where he won 30 races before coming to the U.S. in 2013, Toledo is within reach of 1,000 career wins, currently sitting at 984 according to Equibase statistics. Following the Monday, June 8 program, Laurel is scheduled to race on Fridays and Saturdays through Aug. 22.

“We always try to do the best on every single horse. We try to keep winning races. We can’t win everything, but we try our best to win every single race,” Toledo said. “We’re always ready.”

Triple Carryovers Worth Nearly $136,000 for Friday Program

In addition to full fields and four races carded for its world-class turf course, live racing returns to Laurel Park Friday, June 5 with carryovers worth a total of nearly $136,000 in the 50-cent Late Pick 5, 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers.

First race post time is 12:40 p.m.

A Super Hi-5 carryover of $30,908.58 will greet bettors in Friday’s opener, a six-furlong claiming event for 3-year-olds and up led by 9-5 program favorite Big Boots.

Neither the Late Pick 5, which offers an industry low 12 percent takeout, nor the Rainbow 6 were solved during Laurel’s last live program Monday, June 1 when the lone horse live to take down both wagers, 6-5 favorite Keeper in Spite, was caught late by Mary Alice in the finale.

The Late Pick 5 carryover sits at $73,628.67, its sequence beginning in Race 5, while the Rainbow 6 gets under way in Race 4 with a carryover jackpot of $31,438.17. Each wager is scheduled to have three grass races, over the Bowl Game and Exceller turf course layouts, attracting 16 entries apiece.

Both the Late Pick 5 and Rainbow 6 conclude with a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over the Bowl Game turf course in Race 7 and first-level allowances for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles on the Exceller turf course in Race 8 and one mile over the main track in Race 9.

Laurel Park offers two Pick 5 wagers, where bettors must select the winners of five consecutive races. The Early Pick 5 covers the day’s first five races with a mandatory payout, while the Late Pick 5 involves the day’s final five races with carryover potential.

In the Rainbow 6, the carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

Stronach 5 Returns Friday with $100,000 Guaranteed Pool

The national Stronach 5 wager, featuring an industry-low 12 percent takeout, makes its return Friday starting at Laurel Park and offering a $100,000 guaranteed pool.

Laurel’s Race 7, a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over the Bowl Game turf course layout, serves as Leg A in the Stronach 5, with a post time of 3:51 p.m. EST.

From there, the Stronach 5 moves to Gulfstream Park for its Race 9 finale (4:13 p.m. EST) before returning for Race 8 at Laurel (4:25 p.m. EST), an open entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the Exceller turf course.

The Stronach 5 concludes with Race 3 from Golden Gate Fields (4:54 p.m. EST) and Race 4 from Santa Anita Park (5:09 p.m. EST).

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.