More than 30 horses scratched from Laurel Park’s Friday card, many the result of a quarantine put in place in response to equine herpesvirus cases discovered on the track’s backside.

The discovery earlier in the week led authorities to lock down barn 33 on the Laurel backside, one of the newer tent-style barns. It also led the track to develop a training schedule designed to keep horses from barn 33 separate from the general equine population; those from barn 33 also will not be able to race until the quarantine is lifted, which could come in early May, if no other cases appear.

The barn houses over 100 horses, and that in and of itself will take a bite out of Laurel’s racing program. Of more consequence, however, is that other nearby tracks will not permit horses stabled on their grounds to race at Laurel and return, thus leading many out-of-towners to forgo racing here.

That could be bad news for the track’s Saturday card, which features five stakes and a bevy of out-of-town horses. But early returns suggest the races will for the most part hold together, according to Maryland Jockey Club sources.

For Laurel-based trainers, of course, the quarantine poses no problem. They still can saddle up their charges and walk ‘em out to race. 

The card’s five stakes include the Federico Tesio, a “win and in” for the Preakness, and the Weber City Miss, which fills the same role for fillies in the Black-Eyed Susan. 

Locals in the Tesio include Celtic Contender (20-1) for Ham Smith, Mission Beach (10-1) for Brittany Russell, Malinois (30-1) for Phil Capuano, and Copper Tax (7-2) for Gary Capuano. Of that group, all but Malinois are Triple Crown-nominated, and Copper Tax, off a rallying win in the Private Terms, looms the likeliest local winner.

“He had a really good breeze” April 12, Capuano said of Copper Tax.

In the Weber City Miss, the only runner normally based at Laurel is 20-1 outsider Grammy Girl, for trainer Horacio De Paz. She broke her maiden last out by seven lengths over the strip.

“We were very happy with her last race,” De Paz said. “We just wanted to try and rate her and not let her do too much early on, and Victor did a good job to just let her get established up front and control the race. She still ran a little bit green down the lane but that’s to be expected in just her second start. She’s much better for the effort.”

Out-of-state trainers who ship for the stakes will need to make other arrangements for their charges post-race. Some may leave horses here with other trainers, while others may take them to nearby farms to ride out the quarantine period.

Then there are trainers like Michael Trombetta, who has strings at both Fair Hill and Laurel. His Fair Hill runners who come down for the races can just stay here with his local string until the quarantine ends.

Trombetta, in fact, could have himself a pretty good day. His runners include Future Is Now (7-2) in the grassy King T. Leatherbury, Call Another Play (10-1) in the Weber City Miss, and Forever Souper (5-2) in the Henry S. Clark. Another Trombetta runner, Determined Driver, is expected to scratch from the Weber City Miss.

In the Leatherbury, Future Is Now,  a homebred for R. Larry Johnson, is a filly taking on the boys – but is also the morning line favorite. She arrives with two straight strong efforts, an allowance win at Gulfstream Park followed by a runner-up effort in the Captiva Island Stakes in which she set wicked early fractions and hung on to late. Jaime Rodriguez will ride.

Rodriguez will also be aboard Call Another Play in the Weber City Miss. Another Johnson homebred, the Audible filly has won two straight, last out thrashing an allowance field by a half-dozen lengths.

Kenny McPeek has the top two choices on the morning line in Shimmering Allure (9-5) and Band of Gold (5-2).

In the Dahlia, also on the lawn, the Trombetta-trained Forever Souper, a homebred for Live Oak Plantation, is the morning line choice. Mychel Sanchez will ride. Forever Souper has won back-to-back stakes against Florida-bred company.

Laurel has 11 races on the docket with a first post time of 12:25.

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