Stewart Elliott nears 5,000-win mark

Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Stewart Elliott enters Sunday’s card at Lone Star Park five wins from career victory 5,000. He had a four-bagger at the track Wednesday to push his win count to 4,995.

Elliott has won 42 races at the Lone Star meet to lead the standings by one win over Ramon Vazquez heading into Sunday.

In another milestone watch, Oklahoma-based jockey Floyd Wethey Jr. is nearing 1,000 career Thoroughbred wins in North America. He was at 993 through Thursday.

Texas auction Aug. 24

The annual Texas summer yearling sale has catalog of 175 head for an Aug. 24 auction at Lone Star Park, the Texas Thoroughbred Association announced. The book includes some horses of racing age. The sale will host bidders both onsite and online.

“We had to cancel our 2-year-old sale due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’ve been working since then to ensure we are able to conduct this sale because of its importance to the region,” Mary Ruyle, executive director of the TTA, said in a press release.

The sale has twice as many horses as last year.

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“We made an investment in technology to allow buyers to bid from anywhere,” Tim Boyce, sales director, said in the release.

Patterson named racing secretary

Tony Patterson, a longtime racing official, has been hired as the racing secretary for Lone Star Park, the track announced. He starts Monday.

Patterson will work both the Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meets. He is a past director of racing and racing secretary for Remington. In more recent times, he served as the executive director of the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders’ Association.

Lone Star has added two dates to its meet to make up for lost races and will now close Aug. 12.