Rosecroft to host qualifiers Feb. 22 and March 1
February 19, 2014,from Rosecroft Raceway
Fort Washington, MD — The first qualifying session for the 2014 Winter-Spring meet at Rosecroft will take place this Saturday (Feb. 22) at 11 a.m.
Entries will be accepted starting at 8 a.m. the Friday before qualifers (Feb. 21 and Feb. 28) by the Rosecroft racing office at 301.567.4435 or 301.564.4401. A second qualifying day will be held Saturday (March 1) at 11 a.m.
The opening night of the 2014 season will be Saturday (March 8). Live racing will be conducted every Tuesday and Saturday evening through June 7 with a post time of 6:40 p.m.
Following each of the pre-meet qualifying days Rosecroft will allow horsemen to train on the five-eighths-mile oval up to 3 p.m. Horsemen must call the Rosecroft racing office on Friday (Feb. 21) and Friday (Feb. 28) by 12 noon to indicate if they plan to train horses and provide the names of the horses to be shipped in for training.
Depending on demand the number of horses per trainer may be limited at the discretion of the racing secretary. All normal Rosecroft ship-in requirements will be in effect for these training sessions.
“We know this has been a severe winter for everyone, especially horsemen attempting to get their horses in proper racing shape for the upcoming meet,” said racing secretary Peter Hanley. “Cloverleaf SOA was instrumental in working with us to help accommodate the local horsemen.”
Any horse that last started at Rosecroft in December 2013 will not be subject to the 45-day qualifying rule for their first start in 2014 (or through March 29), as long as they were not put on the qualifying list in their last pari-mutuel start. For all other horses a 45-day qualifying standard will be in effect up through March 29, when it will go to a 30-day qualifying rule.
Horsemen are also reminded to submit their 2014 racing application to the race office as soon as possible. Race entries will not be accepted on any horses who have not been previously submitted for approval by the racing office. Racing applications are available at www.rosecroft.com under the Horsemen section.