Multiple Stakes Winner Shimmering Aspen Making Swan Song Sept. 28
Friday Marks Maryland Debut for Juvenile Stakes Winner Athens Queen
Stronach 5 Returns Friday with $96,906 Carryover

LAUREL, MD – Bettors will treated to a new addition on the wagering menu when live racing returns to Laurel Park Friday, Sept. 13.

The Maryland Jockey Club will introduce a $2 quinella wager on Friday’s ninth-race finale, a starter optional claimer for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on Laurel’s world-class turf course, which attracted 11 entries.

A wager in which the bettor selects two horses to finish first or second in either order, the new quinella offers a 10 percent takeout. It will be the only quinella on the daily menu, offered exclusively on the last live race.

The quinella joins win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta and Super Hi-5 wagering on the menu for the final live race. The Super Hi-5 is available with seven or more betting interests.

“We feel that the quinella, a simple, classic wager that has deep roots in Thoroughbred racing, will be a fun and exciting addition to our wagering menu,” Maryland Jockey Club President and General Manager Sal Sinatra said. “Many of our patrons have asked for the addition of the quinella over the past year and we want to accommodate them. We’re interested to see how it will do with our great racing over the fall season.”

Friday’s program will also include carryovers of $8,034.48 in the 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 5-9) and $3,523.58 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9).

A total of 100 horses were entered Friday, an average of 11.1 horses per race. Six races are scheduled for Laurel’s world-class turf course, attracting 87 entries, an average of 14.5 per race.

Saturday’s 11-race program saw 112 horses entered, an average of 10.18 per race. Six races scheduled for the grass drew 71 entries, an average of 11.83 horses per race.

Multiple Stakes Winner Shimmering Aspen Making Swan Song Sept. 28

Hillwood Stable’s Shimmering Aspen, based at Laurel Park with trainer Rodney Jenkins, will make the final start of her multiple stakes-winning career in the $100,000 Tax Free Shopping Distaff Saturday, Sept. 28 at Delaware Park.

The six-furlong sprint will be the 20th start for Shimmering Aspen, a Kentucky-bred 5-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon out of the Lion Hearted mare Aspenglow that owns eight wins, one second, four thirds and $355,660 in purse earnings.

“That’ll be her last race.” Jenkins said of Shimmering Aspen, whose fourth and most recent stakes triumph came in last year’s Tax Free Shopping Distaff. “She’s going to be a broodmare.”

Shimmering Aspen made 16 of her starts in Maryland, 14 of them at Laurel, winning five including the Alma North Stakes and Twixt Stakes in 2017 prior to a start in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico Race Course. She also won the Timonium Distaff last summer during the Maryland State Fair meet.

This year, Shimmering Aspen has raced six times, winning an optional claiming allowance May 8 at Delaware and finishing second in the Twixt July 14 to multiple graded-stakes winner Late Night Pow Wow and third behind stakes winners Anna’s Bandit and Majestic Reason in an open allowance Aug. 16, both at Laurel.

“She’s been a great horse for me. She’s a lovely filly and she should throw some nice babies,” Jenkins said. “She’s by Malibu Moon, and those mares seem to have nice foals. She’s got a nice page on her, she really does. We hope she does well.”

Jenkins said he plans to run Hillwood’s homebred Bunting in the $100,000 Warrior’s Reward Weather Vane Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Saturday, Sept. 21 at Laurel. A daughter of 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox, Bunting was most recently second by a half-length to Introduced in the Miss Disco Stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses Aug. 17 at Laurel.

The Weather Vane is among eight stakes worth $1.3 million in purses during Round 1 of the September to Remember Stakes Festival highlighted by the $250,000 Xpressbet Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3), $200,000 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G3) and $150,000 Bald Eagle.

Round 2 of the September to Remember Stakes Festival will take place Saturday, Sept. 28 with six stakes worth $600,000 in purses led by the $150,000 All Along for fillies and mares 3 and older at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

Juvenile Stakes Winner Athens Queen Making Maryland Debut Friday

James Reiley McDonald’s stakes-winning filly Athens Queen, winless in two tries this year after going unbeaten in two starts as a 2-year-old, will make her debut both in Maryland and against her elders in Friday’s featured fifth race.

Now trained by Pimlico-based trainer Mary Eppler, Athens Queen will carry 117 pounds including jockey Trevor McCarthy from Post 4 against five rivals in the $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up going 5 ½ furlongs on the main track.

Athens Queen broke her maiden at first asking last April by a neck at Keeneland in front-running fashion, then came from off the pace for another neck triumph in the 5 ½-furlong Astoria Stakes in June at Aqueduct for previous trainer Wesley Ward.

A 3-year-old daughter of Majestic Warrior, winner of the 2007 Hopeful (G1), out of the Belong to Me mare Mine All Mine, Athens Queen finished off the board this year in optional claiming allowances April 26 at Keeneland and May 25 Churchill Downs. She shows five works at Pimlico since late July for her return, most recently going a half-mile in 51.60 seconds Sept. 8.

Also entered is Steven Newby’s Zorally, who ran second in the six-furlong Miss Disco Stakes for Maryland-bred/sired fillies last summer at Laurel. Trained by Dale Capuano, the 4-year-old daughter of Wiseman’s Ferry debuted June 8 at Laurel off a seven-month layoff to win an entry-level allowance going 5 ½ furlongs as the favorite. Zorally is three-for-six at Laurel, with one second and one third.

Rounding out the field are Discreet Deceit, making her 25th start with five wins, all at Laurel; Anazara, a daughter of champion sprinter Speightstown that fetched $185,000 at auction in 2016; and Off My Stage and Lady by Choice, each three-time winners at Laurel.

Stronach 5 Returns Friday with $96,906 Carryover

The national Stronach 5, a popular multi-race, multi-track wager, returns Friday, Sept. 13 with a carryover of $96,906.44.

The Stronach 5, offering an industry-low 12 percent takeout, will feature races from Laurel Park, Gulfstream Park and Golden Gate Fields, starting with Laurel’s Race 8, a 5 ½-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for the Kelso turf course which attracted 16 entries.

The remaining four races are also scheduled for the grass, starting with Gulfstream’s Race 7 and continuing with Race 4 from Golden Gate, Race 9 from Laurel and Race 9 from Gulfstream.

A total of 63 horses were entered for the Stronach 5 sequence, an average of 12.6 starters per race.

The minimum bet for the Stronach 5 is $1 through Laurel Park’s mutuel pool. If no one selects all five winners, the entire pool is carried over to the following Friday.