We conclude today our series revisiting some favorite pictures from the 2015 mid-Atlantic racing year, taking a season-by-season approach, in our Year in Pictures 2015 series.

Fall brought the Maryland Million and De Francis Dash, West Virginia Breeders Classics and the Charles Town Oaks, and Pennsylvania’s biggest racing days at Parx.

Among the fall stories:

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• Major state-bred racing days brought big crowds and robust betting to their tracks, with trainer Jeff Runco winning four on West Virginia Breeders Classics night at Charles Town and a week later Phlash Phelps logging an impressive win in the Maryland Million Turf.  Later, the state faced challenges when the result of a Maryland Million race ended up being decided by the state Racing Commission after the winner had a positive for a prohibited substance.
• Fasig-Tipton’s fall yearling sale took place in October, and though some impressive sires brought big prices, overall the market was soft.
• Parx Racing’s “fall festival,” which brought Saratoga-sized purses to Bensalem, came to a quiet ending when a case of equine herpesvirus put the track under quarantine, and management dropped purses back to closer-to-normal levels.
• Laurel Park held a town hall meeting that was part pep rally to update racing folks on the track’s progress and plans.
• In Virginia, the plot thickened again, as Colonial Downs announced it would not race the one day it had earlier planned and sued the state Racing Commission.
• Charles Town and longtime track announcer Jeff Cernik unexpectedly parted ways in October, with Paul Espinosa later announced as the replacement.
• Fan favorite Ben’s Cat will return in 2016, trainer/breeder/owner King Leatherbury said.

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FALL IN PICTURES