GROVE & BOYCE CAPTURE LAUREL SUMMER MEET TITLES
LAUREL, MD. 08-22-10---The 11-day Laurel Park summer meeting ended today with Chris Grove and Forest Boyce winning individual titles. Live racing shifts to Timonium for the Maryland State Fair stand before returning to Laurel for the balance of the year on Saturday, Sept. 11.
Grove, who won his first training title earlier this year during the Laurel winter stand, won nine races from 20 starters with 16 on the board finishes. The 41-year-old saddled four consecutive winners on the Aug. 14 card then won two races at Charles Town later that night.
“That was a great day. We got lucky when a couple main track only runners got in and drew four horse fields and we won with a first-time starter which isn’t normal for our barn,” said Grove, who ranks in the top 50 nationally with 66 victories and $1.5 million in earnings so far this year. “But February 15 was still the best day of my career.”
That afternoon, the Fredrick native won the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie and General George Handicaps at Laurel Park with Sweet Goodbye and Greenspring respectively.
Hamilton Smith and Rodney Jenkins tied for second with five winners each.
Apprentice jockey Boyce ended the Colonial Downs summer meeting with victories on 13 of final 17 days of that stand and the 25-year-old picked up where she left off when racing shifted to Laurel Park. She won 15 races during the mini-meet, visiting the winners’ circle on nine of the eleven days with five multiple-win days.
“The momentum kept building which helps get you on good horses,” said Boyce. “I was fortunate that we had some top trainers jump on board.”
A graduate of Garrison Forest School and the Maryland Institute College of Art, Boyce has been around horses all her life. She began working for the late conditioner Mikey Smithwick at the age of 11 and galloped horses for trainer Dickie Small before making her professional debut last summer. Former riders Mario Verge and Jimbo Bracciale serve as mentors.
“I learned from Mikey Smithwick at an early age that you are never too old to learn,” added Boyce, who will ride with the weight allowance until early December. “There are several key people that have really helped me out, like Mario, Jimbo, Dickie and Alex White (trainer Alexandra White, Smithwick’s partner). I ask them all about racing and they provide good feedback because they have so much experience and success.”
Malcolm Franklin finished second with 12 first place finishes, including a career-high five on Aug. 14. Boyce and Franklin are represented by agent Jay “Shug” Burtis.
“Both were riding well at the end of Colonial so I was hoping things would go well,” Burtis said. “I really don’t want this meet to end.”
The Maryland Jockey Club does not release final handle figures for the mini-meet.
-mjc-
Mike Gathagan
Vice President-Communications
Maryland Jockey Club
410-578-4461 (Pimlico)
301-470-5461 (Laurel Park)
240-876-7403 (Mobile)
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