Maryland and Virginia to conduct 2021 MATCH Series

The highly popular Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships (MATCH) Series, which was forced to go on hiatus in 2020 because of regional COVID-19 restrictions, will return this year under a two-state schedule put together by horsemen and racetracks in Maryland and Virginia to bridge the gap until the full Series is restored in 2022, it was announced today.

The Series, the only one of its kind in racing, will run from May 14 at Pimlico Race Course through Dec. 26 at Laurel Park, and will feature 24 stakes—20 of them in Maryland and four at Colonial Downs in Virginia—valued at $2,750,000 million. There will be four divisions, all of them on dirt, and $282,000 in bonus money.