Towson, MD — The Maryland Racing Commission April 5 approved a list of policy recommendations provided by the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners’ Association regarding suspended individuals at the state’s two harness tracks.

The recommendations, listed in a March 23 letter from the CSOA, have been in the works since last year. The CSOA noted that MRC members Tammy Lafferty, Clarissa Coughlin and Tom Winebrenner were instrumental in getting the recommendations before the full racing commission.

Mike Hopkins, MRC executive director, noted the package of recommendations is a policy directive for the judges at Rosecroft Raceway and Ocean Downs Casino, not a statutory regulation.

The new policies are as follows: If a trainer is given a suspension, it will be a full suspension — held against the individual’s trainer, driver and owner licenses; the horse that received the positive will be suspended as well for the duration of the suspension; any horses owned or partially owned by the suspended trainer may not be allowed to be transferred to another trainer for racing purposes; the suspended trainer shall be denied all access to any licensed racetrack; and the suspension shall be served during a live race meet at a licensed track in Maryland, not in between meets.

In a separate matter, the MRC gave approval to a proposed regulation that institutes a “voided claim” rule for Standardbred racing similar to the one for Thoroughbred racing. The regulation states that a claim is voidable at the sole discretion of the new owner, for a period of up to one hour after the race is made official, for any horse that is transported off the track after a race at the discretion of the state veterinarian or is sent to the detention barn and observed to be lame by the state veterinarian.

In other business, the Maryland Standardbred Race Fund Advisory Committee received approval from the MRC for the 2022 Maryland Sire Stakes and Maryland Standardbred Fund stakes, which combined will offer the highest total purse structure since 2001. The committee approved a budget of about $2.1 million for the two programs.

For the MSS, 2- and 3-year-olds will compete for about $1.74 million with two sets of preliminaries ($10,000 each race) and finals ($75,000 each race) for both age groups, while $100,000 is set aside for four races — two for pacers and two for trotters — for 4- and 5-year-olds. The MSF stakes for Maryland-foaled horses will offer about $250,000 in purse money with one race for each age, sex and gait.

The MRC also approved the detailed 2022 racing schedule for Ocean Downs: 47 programs from Sunday (May 29) through Wednesday (Sept. 7), with racing primarily on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays. Thursdays will be added in July and the first week of August. First post time for all programs will be 7:05 p.m.