Thoroughbred racing will proceed Saturday at Laurel Park: ‘Track is in good shape’

© Kevin Richardson/Baltimore Sun/TNS Aerial view of Laurel Park as horses exercise on the track on Monday.

Thoroughbred racing will go forward Saturday at Laurel Park despite the steady rain that pounded the track all day Friday and wiped out training.

Racing at Laurel had been suspended since two horses suffered fatal injuries in competition on April 20. But the Maryland Racing Commission voted Thursday to allow Saturday’s 11-race card to proceed after a consultant selected by the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association signed off on the condition of the track’s dirt surface.

Weather was the last remaining impediment as horsemen and the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates the track, agreed to hold off until Saturday morning to make a final determination.

The “track is in good shape,” Alan Foreman, general counsel for the MTHA, said in a text Saturday morning. “Everyone was in agreement to permit training on the track this morning and live racing this afternoon.”

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