Along Brock Bridge Road, just before it intersects with Whiskey Bottom Road, lies a burial site beyond the fence, into Laurel Park Racecourse. The site includes a short cement bench, a small bear statue, empty rose bushes fighting for sunlight in the shade and a headstone.
On that site are words eternally etched into stone: “Here lies MOUNTAIN ROSE II ‘An honest, faithful horse who did his best to the end.’ Destroyed Oct. 24, 1924.”
The words only paint a small picture of the legend of Mountain Rose II, a racing horse, and the love his owner and trainer, Benny “Chappie” Chapman, had for him.
Now, as the racecourse’s future remains uncertain, so does the burial site of Mountain Rose II for the family of his trainer. According to Tracy Scagliarini, who married into Chapman’s family, she and the Laurel Historical Society have been advocating to ensure that the burial site remains unharmed, with possible construction looming over Laurel Park…