Nine-Day Stand Runs Friday-Sunday Through Sept. 24
Nine Stakes Worth $925,000 in Purses Beginning Sunday

BALTIMORE – The Maryland Jockey Club will raise the curtain on its boutique nine-day fall meet at Pimlico Race Course with a live eight-race program Friday.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Friday’s opener is a six-furlong claiming sprint for 3-year-olds and up which have never won two races. Among the contenders are Neutral, a $225,000 son of Hall of Famer Curlin trained by Kieron Magee, who notched his 1,000th career win Aug. 27 at Timonium, and Saloon, a debut winner last summer at Delaware Park that was beaten a nose facing elders in a similar spot last time out Aug. 11 at Laurel Park.

Race 2 is a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies scheduled for one mile on the grass that attracted a field of nine including main track only entrant Viennese Waltz. Four horses will be making their debut including the Arnaud Delacour-trained pair of homebreds Tales to Tell, by Hard Spun, and Nyquist daughter Monticello. First Arrive has respectively run second and third in her two starts, both sprinting, the latter 5 ½ furlongs on Colonial Downs turf Aug. 24.

Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up are scheduled to go five furlongs on the grass in Race 6, an entry-level allowance. Among the field of nine are AZip Line to Heaven, third or better in 14 of 22 starts with three wins including a five-furlong turf sprint May 28 at Pimlico; and Upsidedown Man, who has a win and a second in back-to-back 5 ½-furlong sprints since being moved to the grass.

Race 7 is six-furlong allowance sprint for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up led by last-out winners Take Charge Too and Duckpins; Order Ofthe Kettle, bred and owned by The Elkstone Group racing for the first time since an 8 ¼-length maiden claiming romp last October at Laurel; and Goodafternoonoscar, second or third in seven of 10 career starts including each of the last four.

Mario Serey Jr. captured last year’s fall training title with five wins, one ahead of Dale Capuano, Jamie Ness and John Robb. Serey has horses entered in three races Friday. Jeiron Barbosa, then an apprentice, was the leading fall meet rider with 12 wins, four more than Angel Cruz and Horacio Karamanos.

Pimlico’s fall meet includes nine stakes worth $925,000 in purses starting Sunday, with the $100,000 Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles, $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash for fillies and mares 3 and older sprinting five furlongs, and $75,000 Challedon for non-winners of an open sweepstakes 3 and up at six furlongs.

Saturday, Sept. 16 will feature six stakes headlined by the 17th running of the $200,000 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G3) for 3-year-olds and up going one mile. This marks the third straight year the race will be held at Pimlico after being contested at Laurel Park from 2015-19. It was not run in 2020 when the racing schedule was altered due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The BWI Turf Cup was run as the Colonial Turf Cup from 2005-13 at Colonial Downs until the track’s closure. It returned in 2015 at Laurel as the Commonwealth Cup and was renamed the Commonwealth Turf Cup for 2016.

Past winners of the BWI Turf Cup include champion English Channel; fellow millionaires Showing Up, Battle of Hastings, Paddy O’Prado, Rahystrada, Mr Speaker and Field Pass, who captured the $75,000 Find Aug. 19 at Laurel in his first try against Maryland-breds. Last year’s BWI Turf Cup was won by Set Piece, who earned Grade 1 credentials Aug. 12 in the Arlington Million.

The undercard includes two other scheduled turf stakes, the $100,000 All Along for fillies and mares 3 and older going 1 1/8 miles and $75,000 Ben’s Cat for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up sprinting five furlongs.

Completing the stakes action are a trio of six-furlong dirt sprints – the $100,000 Lite the Fuse for 3-year-olds, $100,000 Weather Vane for 3-year-old fillies, and $75,000 Shine Again for fillies and mares 3 and up that have not won an open sweepstakes.

Pimlico’s fall meet is scheduled to run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sunday, Sept. 24 before live racing returns to Laurel Park for its calendar year-ending fall stand beginning Friday, Sept. 29.