Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Fair Grounds Steady After Hurricane Katrina
Posted on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005
Following the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina across the Gulf Coast, Fair Grounds kicked off its 2005-2006 thoroughbred horse race meeting November 19, but not “as usual”. The 134th Fair Grounds Meet started about a week ahead of tradition, missing its home in Katrina’s hardest-hit New Orleans by some 350 miles intra-state.
The annual Fair Grounds meet typically opens on Thanksgiving day, with a stakes race named after the holiday. This time, it took place all the way at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, starting off with the $50,000 Gentilly Handicap for two-year-old state-breds.
“This shows the resiliency of horse racing in Louisiana,” spoke Sean Alfortish, president of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, on opening day. “It’s going to set a mark for the future.”
The 37-day Fair Grounds meet, indeed the shortest in the track’s modern history, has a stakes schedule running through January 22, which is about half its duration before 2005. Most notably, the 134th meeting is going to miss the Louisiana Derby (G2), among the most important prep races on the road to the Triple Crown, thoroughbred horse racing’s major event.
In any case, purses are expected to reach an approximate average of $315,000 daily, the largest ever for a horse racing meet in Louisiana.
“We were worried that there wouldn’t be a Fair Grounds meet,” expressed Gerald Romero, a long-time Fair Grounds trainer. “It’s very exciting for us, and the horsemen are very grateful to Churchill Downs and Harrah’s Louisiana Downs for working together to make this happen.”
The year’s Gentilly Handicap went down in history as the very first stakes race for Fair Grounds to be held at Louisiana Downs. It was Jerry Lee’s Desert Wheat scoring a victory in the now-historic, one-mile race, carded as the ninth race on the ten-race card. Winning by four lengths as the 3-to-5 favorite, it is Desert Wheat’s second win in seven career starts.
Horse racing fans on-track wagered $241,518 on the ten-race card, with a total handle reported at $2,595,695 by Daily Racing Form.
“This is a classic case of horse racing overcoming adversity as it has in the past, such as economic depression, recession, and stock market crashes,” noted Alfortish.
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Velazquez Becomes Highest Earning Jockey
Posted on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005
Jockey John Velazquez attained the highest mark in yearly purses ever won by a North American-based jockey with his third-place finish aboard India in the $105,200 Valley Stream Stakes Sunday at Aqueduct. Through Nov. 20, last year’s Eclipse Award-winning jockey has $23,356,456 in purse earnings.
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Stakes Wrap at Churchill, Laurel, Aqueduct, Hollywood Park
Posted on Sunday, November 20th, 2005
| Laurel Park: I’m the Tiger goes wire-to-wire to win De Francis Dash |
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LAUREL, Md. (AP) — I’m the Tiger went wire-to-wire Saturday in the $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash. The 5-year-old gelding, ridden by Jerry Bailey, covered six furlongs in 1:09.06 and paid $8.40, $4.80 and $3.60. "I should have won it last year (with Midas Eyes)," trainer Bobby Frankel said of the De Francis, one of only five open Grade 1, six-furlong sprints in the country. I’m the Tiger, one of 50 horses trained by Hall of Famer Frankel and owned by Magna Entertainment chairman Frank Stronach, raced primarily in Canada before being transferred to Belmont Park. He finished second in a stakes race at Saratoga in August and fifth in the Grade 1 Vosburgh on Oct. 1 at Belmont. Tiger Heat returned $4.20 and $3, and Clever Electrician paid $11.60. The race was the highlight of the Fall Festival of Racing at Laurel Park, a card with eight stakes races and total purses worth $981,000. In the $125,000 Laurel Futurity, Barbaro turned in a performance suggesting he is among the top 2-year-old grass horses in the country, beating a 12-horse field by eight lengths to win the 1 1/16 mile race under jockey Jose Caraballo in 1:40.17.
Delta Princess charged from fifth to place and paid $4.80 and $3.00. Finery was third and paid $5.00. Owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Sundrop earned $108,531 with the win. Her career earnings increased to $257,835. The Cardinal Handicap was the final race of Sundrop’s career. The 4-year-old filly is scheduled to begin a breeding career at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky. |
| Hollywood Park: Your Tent or Mine takes Hollywood Prevue |
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Your Tent or Mine won his second straight start as a 2-year-old, beating Da Stoops by 2 1/2 lengths in the $100,000 Hollywood Prevue Stakes on Saturday at Hollywood Park. Ridden by Patrick Valenzuela for trainer Neil Drysdale, Your Tent or Mine covered seven furlongs in 1:21 and paid $14.20, $5.80 and $4.20. Da Stoops returned $5.40 and $3.60, and The Pharaoh paid $4.20 to show. Your Tent or Mine earned $60,000 for owner Anthony Speelman and raised his earnings to $91,800 |
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$33,961 winner at 888’s Mega Gold & Green Slot machine
Posted on Sunday, November 20th, 2005
By JOHN NADEL, AP Sports Writer
November 18, 2005
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Rock Hard Ten, a leading candidate for horse of the year honors before being scratched from last month’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, was retired Friday after an examination detected worn cartilage in his left front foot.
Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens called Rock Hard Ten the best horse he’s ever ridden.
Rock Hard Ten, a 4-year-old colt, completed his career with seven wins in 11 starts and earnings of $1,870,380. He was unbeaten in three races this year, and won four major stakes races after Richard Mandella became his trainer, including the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap last March.
"You haven’t seen the best of him," Stevens said after that race. But Rock Hard Ten raced only one more time, winning the $484,000 Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 1.
Rock Hard Ten figured as one of the favorites in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park, but was scratched from the $4.7 million race because of a bruised right front foot.
Rock Hard Ten bruised his left foot about a week earlier. Mandella didn’t believe that injury was serious at the time.
"After his undefeated 4-year-old campaign, we are saddened by this decision, but felt it was best to retire him at this point," Mandella said. "Given the tremendous interest in him as a stallion prospect, we hope his career at stud will be as great as his racing one was."
Mandella said the problem was discovered Thursday in one of Rock Hard Ten’s sesamoid bones, which are located above and at the back of the fetlock joint, similar to a knuckle in humans.
"We went in with an arthroscope. The cartilage had worn off pretty good about the size of a dime," he said. "It’s such an important part to a race horse right there. We thought best to advise retirement."
Mandella said Rock Hard Ten’s career was "barely tapped."
"He was a great horse in the making. He’d already proven enough," the trainer said. "He did prove an awful lot. It would be a shame for him to come back at 75 percent."
The retirement was announced in a release issued by owner Ernest Moody of Las Vegas.
"He showed the world his style and class by beating any and all who showed up to race against him this year," Moody said.
"He is the best horse I ever sat on," Stevens said in the release. "He is the kind of horse that could win Grade 1 stakes races at both sprint and classic distances. Not too many other horses in the history of racing have ever done that."
According to the release, the ownership is evaluating where Rock Hard Ten will stand at stud.
Rock Hard Ten was disqualified from second to third in the Santa Anita Derby in 2004, then didn’t qualify for the Kentucky Derby because he hadn’t won enough money. His DQ in California kept him below the earnings threshold for Kentucky.
By the end of the year, the owners switched trainers, replacing Jason Orman with the high-profile Mandella.
Rock Hard Ten responded with victories in the Malibu Stakes in December 2004 and the Strub Stakes last February before winning the Santa Anita Handicap.
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Weekend Stakes Races Schedule
Posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005
Weekend stakes race schedule from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) calendar.
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Historic Win for Owner at Hollywood Park
Posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2005
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Robert Bone’s horses won four races Wednesday at Hollywood Park, a single-day record for an owner in the track’s 66-year history.
Jeff Mullins saddled three of the winners, combining with jockey Alex Solis to take the first race with Complicit Swiss ($3.40) and the fourth with Ultimate Summer ($2.80).
Trainer Mike Puype sent out Hopingandwishing ($4.40) to win the fifth with rider Kerwin John, then Mullins saddled Notnerasgoodashers ($11.20) to win the sixth under Corey Nakatani.
Another horse Bone owns, Sumthinbad, finished in a dead heat for second in the eighth race. (AP)
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State Tells NYRA Not To Sell Art Collection
Posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2005
The state of New York is out to stop the New York Racing Association from selling an equine art collection, expected to fetch $2 million, because the paintings are owned by the state.
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