Dark Templar Makes it Two Straight in Thursday Feature
Cruz Front-Running Winner of Jockey Foot Race for PDJF
Links: Stronach 5 All Star Ticket, Free PPs

LAUREL, MD – No single bettor solved the 20-cent Rainbow 6 on Thursday’s special July 4 holiday card at Laurel Park, growing the carryover jackpot to $35,217.16 for Friday’s nine-race program.

First race post time is 1:10 p.m.

Three horses were live to take down the Rainbow 6 jackpot heading into Thursday’s ninth-race finale, won by 1-2 favorite In Him With Him ($3). A total of $14,222 was bet into the popular multi-race wager, on top of a $30,667.24 carryover from the last live program Sunday.

Multiple tickets with all six winners each returned $1,015.

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.

Friday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 4-9, kicked off by a $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up led by narrow 2-1 program favorite Ghost Hunter, a Grade 3-winning son of Ghostzapper who drew outside Post 8 in the 1 1/16-mile event scheduled for the Exceller turf course.

There will also be a carryover of $3,369.76 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Friday’s opener.

Dark Templar Makes it Two Straight in Thursday Feature

In Thursday’s featured sixth race, a $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up, Newtown Anner Stud’s Dark Templar didn’t let inexperience or a surface switch spoil his Maryland debut, winning the featured sixth race by a length over pacesetting Saratoga Jack.

It was the ninth career start for Dark Templar ($5.60), a 4-year-old Tapit colt ridden by Horacio Karamanos for trainer Kelsey Danner that went off as the 9-5 favorite in a field where four of his five rivals had raced 19 times or more led by multiple stakes winner John Jones’ 36.

The winning time was 1:37.53 for one mile over a main track rated good. Saratoga Jack was second, 6 ½ lengths ahead of John Jones in third. Program favorite Phlash Phelps was scratched with the surface switch, caused by a storm that swept through the area prior to the first race as horses were being saddled in the paddock, forcing nearly an hour delay.

Dark Templar, a $475,000 yearling, won two of his first five starts for trainer Brendan Walsh before going to the sidelines following a ninth-place finish in the 2018 Louisiana Derby (G2) last March. He returned with Danner in April and was narrowly beaten twice before a 4 ½-length win June 16 at Monmouth in his grass debut.

Cruz Front-Running Winner of Jockey Foot Race for PDJF

Angel Cruz, breaking from Post 1 and racing without shoes, sprinted to a quick lead and held off apprentice Julio Correa’s late surge to capture the jockey foot race held between Races 4 and 5 to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

For a minimum $5 donation, fans could “wager” on their favorite jockey in the 110-yard race, where the starting gate was positioned at the sixteenth pole in front of the grandstand. All proceeds from the race went to the PDJF.

Other jockeys participating in the race were Sheldon Russell, Jevian Toledo, Katie Davis, Julio Correa, Rosario Montanez, Jorge Vargas Jr., Weston Hamilton, Kali Francois, Avery Whisman, Trevor McCarthy and Victor Rosales.

The Maryland Jockey Club and Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association each presented the PDJF with $1,000 checks during a winner’s circle ceremony with members of Laurel’s jockey colony prior to the jockey race.

Prizes and swag bags from local breweries were raffled off as part of Laurel’s special Red, White & Brews event, and PDJF caps and shirts were available for specified donations, with all money going to the PDJF.

The PDJF is a 501(c)(3) public charity that provides financial assistance to 60 former jockeys who have suffered catastrophic on-track injuries. Since its founding in 2006, the fund has disbursed nearly $9 million to permanently disabled jockeys, most of whom have sustained paralysis or brain injuries.

Links: Stronach 5 All Star Ticket, Free PPs

Friday’s Stronach 5 will offer a $100,000 pool guarantee and an industry-low 12 percent takeout while featuring races at Laurel Park and Gulfstream Park.

Laurel’s Stanton Salter and Gulfstream’s Ron Nicoletti have teamed to construct an All Star ticket for the increasingly popular national multi-race, multi-track wager.

All Star Video Link: Click here to view

The Stronach 5 will kick off with Laurel’s Races 8 and 9 – a one-mile event for 3-year-olds and up on its world-class turf course, and a six-furlong claiming event for fillies and mares – followed by Races 7, 8 and 9 from Gulfstream Park. Three of the Stronach 5 races are scheduled for the grass.

Free Past Performances: Click here to view

The minimum bet for the Stronach 5 is $1 through Laurel Park’s mutuel pool. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

Notes: Jockey Rosario Montanez posted back-to-back wins aboard Edict ($3.40) in Race 2 and Scored by Fire ($33.40) in Race 3. Horacio Karamanos also won twice with Dark Templar ($5.60) in Race 6 and In Him With Him ($3) in Race 9.