10 Years Ago: December 2013
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- Published: December 2023
- Written by Emily Stakem
Eighttofasttocatch became a two-time Maryland Million Classic winner when he dusted six rivals.
Eighttofasttocatch became a two-time Maryland Million Classic winner when he dusted six rivals.
In the words of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred editor Timothy Capps, the 13th Maryland Million Day was “absolutely, irrefutably, stone-cold perfection.”
Nancy Boyce profiled 24-year-old Katy Merryman Voss and marveled at her accomplishments.
Pimlico’s rebuilt race course proved to be extremely fast during the fall meet and a number of track records – and one world record – were set during the 13-day span.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas made his first trip to Parx Racing, sending Glenda and Willis Horton’s Will Take Charge for the $1-million Pennsylvania Derby-G2, his first start since winning the Travers Stakes-G1.
For the eighth time that year, Charles Town Races raised its purses, bringing them to an average of $52,500 a day – “That’s the sort of money that many of our horsemen could never before have imagined,” said Dick Watson, president of the Charles Town chapter of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association – while the purse underpayment for the year increased to nearly $1.5 million.
Ronnie and Betsy Houghton’s Sylmar Farm, on the outskirts of Rising Sun in Maryland, was humming along, reported Snowden Carter.
Henry L. Straus, president of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, president of Tropical Park, vice president and general manager of the American Totalisator Company and a breeder of importance in the state’s scheme of things, was one of the more regular visitors to the winner’s circle at Laurel on stakes days,” reported Don Reed.