The long commute to Laurel Park and the Bowie Training Center by Baltimore-area horsemen and their employees is just about over.
Laurel/Pimlico's director of racing, Lenny Hale, said yesterday that the stable area and track at Pimlico Race Course will reopen on March 15, barring bad weather that could delay renovation work on the racing strip.
Hale said that track superintendent John Passero and his crew have started working on the strip, which has been unused since the Pimlico backstretch closed in early December.
"It will take them two weeks to get the track ready for training," Hale said.
Hale planned to meet with Passero at Pimlico this morning to discuss track conditions and possible construction of a horse path on the outside of the clubhouse turn. The path would be used by horses that are stabled on the Pimlico Road side of the track on their way to and from the paddock.
Hale said that Pimlico received a demolition permit from the city of Baltimore on Friday allowing the track to tear down four wooden barns on the Hayward Avenue side of the facility.
"That work should be done by the 15th. If it isn't, then we'll just open the barn area on the Pimlico Road side of the track until the demolition is completed," Hale said.
Removal of the old wooden barns is part of a four- to five-year plan proposed by management, which wants to build an outdoor saddling paddock and park in the area.
Each stall that is torn down will be replaced by a new stall in barns constructed on the Pimlico Road side of the track.
Hale said that management has applied, but is still waiting for, building permits to be obtained before construction of two new barns, housing 80 stalls, can be started this spring.
By the time the track opens for training, Hale said that roofs on nine barns will have been replaced; the interior of every barn pressured-washed; broken boards and hardware replaced in barns; and all stalls and shedrows leveled with fresh footing. He added that six large trash bins full of refuse were removed from dormitory rooms which have been cleaned.
Pimlico was closed for training during the winter as a cost-saving move. Horses that were stabled there were relocated to Laurel and Bowie or turned out at farms.
vTC Hale said that most Maryland outfits that shipped south for the winter will be returning in the next month to six weeks, including ones trained by Dick Small, Vinnie Blengs, Paul Seefeldt, John Salzman and Barclay Tagg. An exception, he said, is the Bill Donovan-trained string, which will either stay in Florida or move to another circuit.
Management is also resurfacing the exterior of the Pimlico clubhouse and plans to have that completed before the Preakness.
Pimlico opens for live racing on April 5.
"Memory" pulls off surprise
Super Memory, considered the weaker half of an Elaine Bassford-owned entry, rallied to win the $75,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Handicap yesterday at Laurel.
The two highweights -- Super Memory's stablemate, Ameri Valay, and Dixie Hero -- turned in dull efforts, finishing off the board.
Ameri Valay, normally a front-runner, failed to get the lead, being outrun early by long shot Invincible Sue, who opened up by seven lengths on the field.Invincible Sue nearly ran off with his jockey, Gilbert Delgado, after his saddle slipped on the first turn. Delgado, however, hung on, although the horse tired and finished last.