Live racing returns to Laurel Park Sept. 6 for the 73-day fall meeting. First post is 1:10 p.m. with the $75,000 Mister Diz Stakes highlighting the program. Laurel Park will offer a 50-cent Pick 6 wager daily with a $10,000 guaranteed net pool on each day until the wager is hit. Seventy-five percent of the payout goes to those selecting six winners and 25% to those selecting five winners. Other opening day attractions include free admission, a complimentary live racing program, 2 for 1 draft beer, $2 pizza slices, and $14.95 prime rib. In the event that no one correctly selects the winners of all six designated races, 25% of the amount wagered that day will be paid out to those selecting the most winners and the remaining 75% will be carried over to the next Pick 6.
Headlining the stand will be the 21st running of the "Maryland Million" (Oct. 14) and the "Fall Festival Of Racing" (Nov. 25), topped by the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (gr. I). The meet will feature 43 stakes races for purses of $4.7 million.Live racing will be conducted on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for the first 11 weeks of the meet. Sunday racing will be added for a four-week period beginning Thanksgiving weekend. The final day of the stand will be December 30. Numbers for the 2005 Laurel Park fall meeting were up nearly 30%. A major reason for the increase was the success of the new Laurel Park turf course, which debuted last September. The new, sweeping turf course, which was widened from 75 feet to 142 feet, helped make the track a top simulcast signal with an average of 11.2 starters per grass race, and export numbers were up more than 60% from the 2004 fall stand.
