by Mike Wandishin, for Rosecroft Raceway

Ft. Washington, MD — The box for the first qualifiers of the Winter-Spring meet at Rosecroft closed at noon today and five qualifiers will be on tap for Saturday (Feb. 25) at 11 a.m.

After a Thursday training session where participants were pleased at the good condition of the track, it is expected most horses will be able to meet the qualifying standards to race at Rosecroft this meet.

As usual at Rosecroft a wide variety of horses dropped in to qualify, covering the spectrum from horses who have never started before to the hard-hitting veterans returning to the racing wars.

Thomas Swann’s I Told Gordy is probably the featured pacer on the day as this 6-year-old gelding hopes to regain the form that saw him hit the ticket the last ten times he raced in 2011, while winning five of those starts while racing in the top classes.

The talented but erratic John Carroll, who put up the second fastest mile of the 2011 meet during a qualifier, willl also face the gate for trainer Clayton Goad.

Witty’s Beachboy, owned and trained by Ashley Johnson, paced one of the fastest miles of the meet last year and hopes to duplicate that effort early and often this season.

Andy Savage’s DVC Hipnjazzy will be qualifying and this one showed a lot of improvement during the fall meet. Perhaps his greatest moment was charging up to challenge co-horse of the meet Dream Our Way on the backside in the final of the Learn and Earn late closer. DVC Hipnjazzy held on gamely for the place in that one and is caretaker Carlin Savage’s pride and joy.

And of course we can’t ignore 14-year-old Towners Bret, who returns to the races for owner-trainer James Wilkin. This one has faced the gate 245 times in his career and has been driven by just about every young driver in the Delmarva region and helped to teach them how to drive and drive well.

Next week, qualifiers will be held on Friday (March 2) at 11 a.m. The box will close on Thursday (March 1) at 12 noon.

Applications are still being accepted for the Winter-Spring meet and in order to train, qualify or race at Rosecroft a completed Winter-Spring 2012 application must be completed. For more details call the Race Office at 301.567.4401 or 4435. Information is also available at www.rosecroft.com.