Highlights of The First 100 Years of Racing At Laurel Park
• Triple Crown winners Sir Barton, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Secretariat and Affirmed won races at Laurel Park during their Hall of Fame careers. • Classic winners Omar Khayyam (1917 Kentucky Derby), Hourless (1917 Belmont Stakes), Exterminator (1919 Kentucky Derby), High Echelon (1970 Belmont), Riva Ridge (1972 Derby & Belmont), Spectacular Bid (1979 Derby & Preakness Stakes), Bet Twice (1987 Belmont), Go and Go (1990 Belmont) and Barbaro (2006 Derby) also competed at the central Maryland track. • Seabiscuit prepped at Laurel Park for his famous match race with War Admiral. On October 15, 1938, two weeks before the Pimlico Special, Seabiscuit finished second in the Laurel Stakes, a race he had won the previous year. • Kelso, the only five-time Horse of the Year, won the 1964 Washington D.C. International in his fourth attempt, beating rival Gun Bow. Kelso finished second in his three previous tries in the International, all by less than a length. • Sandy Hawley became the first rider in history with 500 victories in a single-season when he guided Charlie Jr. to victory at Laurel Park on December 15, 1973. Hawley finished the year with 515 victories. • Chris McCarron surpassed Hawley with his 516th winner on December 17, 1974 aboard Oh My Love at Laurel Park. He completed the year with 546 victories. • Kent Desormeaux broke McCarron’s mark when he rode his 547th winner for the year, aboard Gilten, at Laurel Park on November 30, 1989. Desormeaux finished the year with 598 victories, a record that still stands. • The Maryland Million, an innovative program devised by broadcaster Jim McKay to promote the Maryland breeding industry, debuted at Laurel Park in 1986. The 26th running of the event took place at Laurel on October 1, 2011. • Edgar Prado became the fourth jockey to win 500 races in a single-season when he reached the wire first aboard Hardball on November 30, 1997 at Laurel Park. Prado ended the year with 536 victories. • Mario Pino became the 15th rider in North America to reach 6,000 career wins when he guided Pass Play to victory at Laurel Park on November 7, 2007. • Rapid Redux joined Zenyatta and Peppers Pride as the only horses in North American thoroughbred history to win 19 consecutive races in a row after he out stepped four starter allowance runners at Laurel Park on October 27, 2011
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—Baudouin I (b. 1930)
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“Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)