Historical racing could give boost to Retama Park meet

Retama Park near San Antonio moves into its Thoroughbred meet Friday night with the prospect of new revenue for purses on the horizon after the Texas Racing Commission passed an amendment allowing historical racing at the state’s tracks.

The installation of the same kind of electronic pari-mutuel game that has been a boon for purses in other jurisdictions could give a strong assist to Texas, where there is no account wagering, offtrack betting, or gaming. As a result of the action the commission took last month, there is a new level of optimism leading into the fresh season at Retama.

“Horsemen are definitely excited about the new direction we could be taking,” said James Leatherman, the track’s racing secretary. “At the same time, there’s questions like, ‘What’s next? What happens now?’ I think that’s what’s on everybody’s mind right now. What’s the next step?”

As the state’s racing industry works to answer that question, Leatherman will go about the business of directing a Retama racing program that opens a month earlier than last season and features purse increases to its signature races, the El Joven and La Senorita stakes. The track also is welcoming a handful of new stables alongside such established outfits as Danny Pish, a perennial leading trainer at Retama; Karl Broberg, who currently leads all trainers in wins in North America; Jerenesto Torrez, who has a larger-than-usual stable; and Allen Milligan, a past title winner at Oaklawn Park and Lone Star.

Leatherman said there were a couple of reasons for the earlier start to the meet, which features racing every Friday and Saturday night through Nov. 29.

“It was the culmination of the weather and [that] we didn’t want to run in the month of December due to the holidays,” he said.

The El Joven and La Senorita, a pair of one-mile turf races for 2-year-olds, have each been boosted in value from $75,000 to $100,000. The stakes will be run Oct. 11, about a month earlier than last year, to position the races as potential steppingstones to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf or BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“I had an increase in original nominations,” Leatherman said of the Retama series. “We’re probably up 15 to 20 percent on each side.”

The El Joven and La Senorita lead a six-race stakes schedule that is worth $450,000. There will be a stakes double for Texas-breds on turf Oct. 18 to complement the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductions of Joe McDermott, Cecil Perkins, Art Preston, Jerry Rheudasil, and Leo Wood.

Purses at the meet are projected to average $85,000 a program, said Leatherman.

Jockey Gerardo Mora is back to defend his riding title against a colony that includes David Cabrera, the leading jockey this summer at Lone Star Park. Among the new trainers at the meet are Kris Fullerton, Rodney C. Richards, Lisa Webb, and Bob Young. Leatherman said he expects additional horses to arrive upon the conclusion of the Louisiana Downs meet Sept. 21.

Retama will again offer a reduced 12 percent takeout on rolling doubles and rolling pick threes, said Leatherman. The opening-night feature is an $18,000 optional-claiming sprint that drew Tater Red, a half-brother to seven-time stakes winner Forest Mouse who is dropping in from stakes company for owner-trainer Jose Camacho.