Sayiing that she was concerned that some of her horses may not like the Tapeta track, which will be the only surface used this winter at Belmont Park, trainer Linda Rice will send a small string to Maryland later this year. The Tapeta track will go into full use at Belmont on Dec. 10.“With us having a synthetic track in New York, I just took a dozen stalls in Maryland to allow myself to have a place to run some horses that do not like the synthetic,” Rice said. “I'll still have the usual amount that I normally have in New York. I'll have a full force in New York, but I'm sure that I'll come across some horses that don't like the synthetic and I thought this would be a good avenue.”Laurel Racing Secretary Jillian Tullock said that Rice is the only New York-based trainer who has applied for stalls so far.Though Rice has proven capable of winning on all surfaces, she always has a lot of horses that typically prefer the dirt. When asked her opinion about the impending switch to the synthetic surface, she replied: “I'm just trying to keep an open mind. I hope I like it. I would have preferred to have both dirt and synthetic so we can accommodate both types of horses, but that's not what we have. So we'll see how it goes.”This will not be Rice's first foray into Maryland. She ran regularly at Laurel in 2017 and 2018. During the 2017 meet that started on Jan. 1, she went 27-for-51 (53%) and tied for leading trainer.“There's 2017 and '18 when I ran quite a few horses in Maryland,” she said. “I shipped from New York when we were maybe just racing three days a week and the horses ran very well. So I just thought it would be a reasonable idea considering we're going to be on synthetic this winter.”Rice is typically the dominant trainer in New York during the winter months. She ran away with the training title at the 2026 winter meet at Aqueduct, winning 62 races. Brad Cox was a distant second with 19 wins.The post Linda Rice to Send a String to Laurel This Winter appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.