LRL 2-turn races

[BillW]

LRL didn't card a 2-turn race till the 10th day of the meet. Anyone in Baltimore have any idea why?

Bill

[hurrikane]

curious why you think someone in Baltimore would know?

[cj]

It's only 15 minutes away, and Maryland racing, even at Laurel, is covered in the Baltimore Sun.

[BillW]

'kane,

I thought it might have been a construction issue that only a local would most likely kow about. Rarely do things like that get discussed in the press or on air.

CT ran 4f races (instead of 4 1/2) for a month or so due to "new track" problems in the chute.

Bill

[hurrikane]

Sorry guys, it was a joke.

You're right. It is closer to DC but gets more coverage in the SUN.

cj, not sure when you were here last but they tore down autoban between Balt and DC. Now it's at least 1/2 hr. :D

[speedking]

[QUOTE=BillW]LRL didn't card a 2-turn race till the 10th day of the meet. Anyone in Baltimore have any idea why?

Bill,

No exact answer, but the condition book had 1 1/8M races listed every day. Seem to remember a couple being run a few days after they opened, 29th or 30th, the day Paraneck shipped a couple short priced winners to LRL from Aqu.
Laurel reopened about 5 months later than planned, after a 10-20 million dollar renovation and reconstruction of the track. (figures vary from $10-20M depending on the source). The people who did the work at GP and Palm Meadows also did the job at LRL. The main track is now 1 1/8M and was widened from 75' to 95'. The turf course is supposed to be ready in July(?) and will be about 140' wide, also used to be 75'. They now run 1M races out of a chute and use a different finish line for these events. It's the opposite of OP. This finish line is closer to the clubhouse turn than the normal line. Makes for a very looong stretch. Looks like no more 1 1/16th mile races where the 2 inside posts had a huge advantage because of the starting gate position.

Incidentally, there will be no more Fall meets at Pimlico, only the Spring meet. Those are the current plans anyway.

speedking

[BillW]

Speedking,

I haven't even noticed the short 1 mile chute - must really be sleeping (I haven't been playing LRL seriously - just watching). Thanks for that info.

Bill

[cj]

Sorry guys, it was a joke.

You're right. It is closer to DC but gets more coverage in the SUN.

cj, not sure when you were here last but they tore down autoban between Balt and DC. Now it's at least 1/2 hr. :D

LOL, I was there Thanksgiving, I grew up in the very south of Baltimore, so its not as far away :)