Berlin, MD — The Maryland Racing Commission, at its meeting Tuesday (Aug. 1) at Ocean Downs Casino, approved the Maryland Jockey Club’s request for a 26-day fall meet at Rosecroft Raceway, which begins Sept. 19 and concludes Dec. 21.

Rosecroft, for the most part, will race Tuesdays and Thursdays with first post time of 7:15 p.m. There will be no racing Oct. 26, Nov. 21 and Nov. 23.

There will be live racing Saturday, Oct. 28, with a special first post time of 12:30 p.m. The Potomac Pace has been scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 9. As usual, Rosecroft will be open every day for simulcasting with the exception of Dec. 25, Christmas Day.

Regarding Ocean Downs, Bobbi Sample, the facility’s general manager, announced that she is leaving to take a position in Virginia, where Ocean Downs owner Churchill Downs Inc. operates Colonial Downs and a network of off-track betting and historical horse racing facilities. She told the MRC that Bobbi Jones, senior vice president of operations and marketing at Ocean Downs, would serve as interim general manager.

“Racing is in very good hands,” Sample said. “We’ve developed over time an extremely good relationship with the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association and the Maryland Standardbred Breeders Association. All of that will continue.”

The current Ocean Downs meet ends Sept. 6. Sample briefed the commission on numbers that indicate growth in 2023.

Sample said total purses by the end of the meet should reach $6.4 million, up from $5.7 million for the 2022 meet. The total pari-mutuel handle of $10 million in 2022 is expected to increase 10 percent to $11 million by meet’s end, and the amount of purse and bonus money that goes to Maryland-based horses, owners and breeders continues to increase.

The half-mile track’s surface underwent maintenance last winter, and Sample said she has received positive comments from horsepeople, whom she also credited with assisting in on-track promotions geared toward attracting crowds.

“I’d like to recognize all the drivers and staff who pull off our marketing events,” Sample said.