The only horse he rides these days is on a country trail near his home in Apache Junction, Ariz., often early in the morning before temperatures soar.
Life is different these days for Russell Baze, North America’s all-time winningest rider, than it was in June 2016, when he shocked the racing world by announcing his abrupt retirement at the end of the Golden Gate meeting.
There was no farewell day, or winner’s circle ceremony. Baze walked away from the sport, on his own terms.
Patricia Farro, a Pennsylvania-based trainer who at the high point of her career was earning millions of dollars per year in purses, has been suspended four years by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after two of her horses tested positive for cobalt salts, according to documents HIWU posted on its website.
David Jacobson, one of the top claiming trainers of the mid-2010s, has been suspended 30 days by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after one of his horses tested positive for an excessive amount of total carbon dioxide in the blood, according to HIWU records.
The 30-day suspension began on Thursday. HIWU said that Jacobson had admitted to the violation and accepted the penalty, which also included the disqualification of the horse Got Thunder from a second-place finish in a March 21 allowance race at Penn National.
Scott Spieth became the 35th jockey to reach 5,000 winners in North America earlier this week, achieving the milestone in the first week of the meeting at Presque Isle Downs.
Spieth, 57, piloted the Florida-bred filly Wheelingndealing to a one-length victory in an allowance race May 27 at Presque Isle. The filly is trained by his wife, Aldana Spieth. According to Equibase statistics, that gave Spieth 5,000 victories from 31,877 career Thoroughbred mounts, for earnings of more than $67.1 million.
After almost 50 years with Daily Racing Form, handicapper and writer Brian Mulligan, best known as the longtime “Sweep” for the Southern California circuit, is hanging up his tack and retiring this week.
As a young man from New Jersey, Mulligan did some backstretch work, including for then up-and-coming Southern California trainer Bill Spawr. From there, he moved to the Racing Form’s Los Angeles office, initially in the statistical department, back when the office still used manual typewriters and kept a horse’s workout records on index cards.
The pick six carryover of $44,200 that was to have been part of Monday’s Memorial Day card at Aqueduct will be transferred to the June 6 card at Saratoga after two legs of Monday’s sequence were transferred from the turf to the dirt after the wager had begun.
By New York State Gaming Commission rule, when two or more races of a multi-race sequence change surfaces, the carryover cannot be distributed on that day.
Though they all won’t run, on Monday as many as 13 3-year-olds remained under consideration for the $2 million Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga.
Sierra Leone, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, looms the probable favorite in the race even if both Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Mystik Dan and Preakness winner Seize the Grey enter the race. While Seize the Grey is confirmed to start, a decision on whether Mystik Dan will run likely won’t be made until over the weekend after the horse works, trainer Kenny McPeek said Monday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Endlessly, Muth and Stronghold, California-based 3-year-olds who won major stakes earlier this spring, are scheduled to start in lucrative stakes in New Jersey and New York in July.
Endlessly, winner of the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park and ninth in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4, will start in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, a $750,000 race at 1 3/16 miles on turf at Aqueduct on July 6, trainer Michael McCarthy said.
Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., which closed out its Thoroughbred meet May 15, was struck by a tornado Saturday night and officials are in the process of assessing the extent of damage to the property that includes a casino, according to a spokesman for the track located near Tulsa.
A National Weather Service representative said Sunday that survey teams are currently labeling the storm an EF-3 category based on damages, but added the survey was ongoing. The highest tornado rating is EF-5.
Golden Gate Fields will not race on Friday because of insufficient entries, the sixth such cancellation since mid-April, the track announced on Sunday.
The track has only five days of racing remaining - next Saturday and June 2, and June 7-9 - before the track is permanently closed.
The cancellation of Friday’s races was announced at lunchtime on Sunday. Shortly before the cancellation, the track sent an update to horsemen, indicating that five proposed races had drawn at least five entries and seven proposed races had attracted four entries.
