Summer Meet Closes Sunday with Mandatory Payouts
Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame Recognizes Newest Members

LAUREL, MD – After having his streak snapped at six consecutive Laurel Park titles in the spring, Claudio Gonzalez will finish the 43-day summer stand back atop the trainer standings.

Gonzalez, 42, enters Sunday’s closing day program with a 22-14 advantage over runner-up Mike Trombetta. It will be the 10th career title for Gonzalez, Maryland’s overall leading trainer in 2017 and 2018.

“It’s special here…it’s not easy,” Gonzalez said. “There’s a lot of good trainers here and the competition gets tougher every day. I say all the time, if it’s not for my team – the grooms, the

Gonzalez’s streak of Laurel training titles dated back to the summer 2017 stand before finishing three shy of Trombetta, 12-9, at the short spring meet that preceded the Preakness Meet at Pimlico. Gonzalez had 12 seconds and eight thirds during the spring.

Over a four-day span from July 25-28, Gonzalez pulled away in the trainer’s race by sending out seven winners from 18 starters. He has eight horses entered in six of Sunday’s nine races.

“Sometimes you need luck. If you don’t have luck, you can’t do it. The last meet we had a lot of seconds and thirds and this meet everybody came back and won,” he said. “The team, they get mad when we don’t win. Everybody likes to win. The energy over there in the barn is very positive.”

In the race for the jockey title, apprentice Julio Correa leads Trevor McCarthy by one win, 31-30. McCarthy, Maryland’s overall champion in 2014 and 2016, has won four straight meets since moving his tack back to Maryland last fall.

Summer Meet Closes Sunday with Mandatory Payouts

Laurel Park closes its summer meet Sunday with a nine-race card and mandatory payouts in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, 50-cent Late Pick 5 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.

The Rainbow 6 went unsolved on Saturday’s Maryland Pride Day program, growing the carryover jackpot to $43,972.05 for Sunday. Multiple tickets with all six winners each returned $584.88.

The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out only 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. However, on days when a mandatory payout is scheduled, the entire pool is shared by those holding tickets with the most winners.

Sunday’s Rainbow 6 covers Races 4-9 and features three races over Laurel’s world-class turf course including a $45,000 entry-level optional claiming allowance scheduled for 5 ½ furlongs on the All Along layout. Among the field of 10 are stakes-placed Tempt Me Twice and Love You Much as well as 3-year-old Scrap Copper, winner of the James F. Lewis III last fall at Laurel who was beaten a nose in his only previous turf try, the 2018 Laurel Futurity.

Following the Maryland State Fair meet at Timonium, live racing returns to Laurel Park Friday, Sept. 6 for the calendar year-ending fall stand.

Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame Recognizes Newest Members

Thoroughbreds Social Outcast and Youth, the newest inductees into the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, were recognized during Saturday’s Maryland Pride Day program at Laurel Park.

Sagamore Farm’s Social Outcast and turf champion Youth were chosen by a committee of Maryland racing industry members coordinated by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland Racing Media Association.

Social Outcast was considered one of racing’s greatest geldings during the 1950s. He was retired in 1956 as the richest Maryland-bred in history and second-richest gelding in the country. He won 18 of 58 starts and $668,300 in purses and won seven stakes from 22 starts in 1955 including track-record performances in the Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park, John B. Campbell at Bowie and Trenton Handicap at Garden State.

Named the top 3-year-old in France in 1976, Youth clinched that year’s Eclipse Award as champion male turf horse by winning the Washington D.C. International (G1) at Laurel and Canadian International (G1) at Woodbine within a span of 14 days. Bred and campaigned by Nelson Baker Hunt, Youth was retired after his D.C. International victory with eight wins, one second and one third from 11 starts for purse earnings of $716,146. He was voted Maryland’s champion 3-year-old, turf horse and Horse of the Year in 1976.

The addition of Social Outcast and Youth brings membership to 24 in Maryland’s Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, initiated in 2013 with an inaugural class of 12. Previous inducted are Awad, Broad Brush, Caesar’s Wish, Challedon, Cigar, Concern, Dave’s Friend, Deputed Testamony, El Gran Senor, Find, Gallorette, Jameela, Kauai King, Little Bold John, Politely, Safely Kept, Twixt and Vertex and steeplechasers Elkridge, Good Night Shirt, Jay Trump and Tuscalee.