Md. Racing Commission approves 120 days for Laurel Park * The Racing Biz

The Maryland Racing Commission on Wednesday approved 2,026 live racing days for Laurel Park, Timonium and Fair Hill.

It also approved 48 live days of harness action at Ocean Downs.

The Commission has authorized 120 live days at Laurel Park in 2026. She has also signed up to ten days at Timonium and up to eight days at Fair Hill, although neither of these tracks are expected to use their full allocation.

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Laurel’s 2026 schedule will be largely similar to the 2025 schedule, with minor differences. The 120 expected days are identical to what it will run this year, and Bill Knauf, CEO of the Maryland Jockey Club (TMJC), said the company expects to run all 120 approved days next year.

Laurel’s 2026 calendar starts on Friday, January 9 and in January the track will run two days a week, Friday and Saturday, with an afternoon slot. Starting in February, the circuit will add Sundays and run three days a week. The winter meeting ends on March 31.

Knauf said TMJC plans to run through March, without the short break it took this year to accommodate the Virginia Derby. It will start again in July and August while the Colonial meeting is in full swing.

In recent years, Timonium has typically run seven of the ten days allotted for it. It generally runs for three days during the weekend leading up to Labor Day and then four days ending on Labor Day.

State Fair Assistant General Manager David Gordon told the Commission that fair staff had “worked diligently with Racing Committee Chairman John Mooney to have a great race meeting in 2026”.

Fair Hill is allowed to last a maximum of eight days under state law, but it went six years without a single day of racing until last August, when racing returned. Commission Executive Director Chris Merz said Fair Hill officials had not yet decided which days or how many they planned to host in 2026.

NOTES The Commission heard a presentation from Kevin Atticks, Maryland Secretary of Agriculture, on Governor Wes Moore’s recent executive order establishing a strategic plan for the equine industry – not just for equestrian sports, but for all disciplines. The plan creates a “really good opportunity… for a future where horses are key to the state’s economic viability,” Atticks said…

The Commission has added a new veterinarian to Laurel Park. It also wrestled with a proposed specimen testing regulation that would allow the state veterinarian to designate another person, not necessarily a veterinarian, to draw blood from horses after the race. Current regulations require a veterinarian to do this… Equine Medical Director Dr. Elizabeth Daniel reported that one horse suffered injuries during morning work in late September and one in October that ultimately proved fatal. There were no racing deaths in October…