Fox television is making a splashtastic foray into the Triple Crown.
When national Fox broadcasts the Belmont Stakes for the first time on June 10, it will bring Tom Durkin out of retirement to call the race, it was announced Thursday.
Durkin, 72, retired from the New York Racing Association in Sept. 2014 after 24 years, his final call being the 2014 Spinaway when he said that Condo Commando was “splashtastic” as she cruised to a 14-length win in the slop at Saratoga.
Horses trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. that were shipped from Kentucky to Florida over the last two weeks have been subjected to a battery of blood and heart tests before being allowed to perform at Gulfstream Park or its related training center, the chief veterinary officer for Gulfstream’s parent company said on Wednesday.
BALTIMORE – Prior to the Kentucky Derby, John Velazquez walked from the Churchill Downs jockeys’ room to the paddock alongside Javier Castellano. The two veteran riders and longtime friends had just watched part of the NBC broadcast where a graphic detailing Castellano’s 0-for-15 record in the Derby was shown.
“They were rubbing it in that he had not won it,” Velazquez, himself a three-time Derby winner said. “I said, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s going to come, it’s going to come.’ ”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland and The Red Mile have reached an agreement to co-partner with Caesars Entertainment on sports wagering, a practice that was legalized earlier this year by the state legislature, the companies announced Tuesday.
BALTIMORE - If there was any doubt who might be going to the lead in Saturday’s $1.65 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, it seemed to be removed when National Treasure drew the rail for the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
Add in the fact National Treasure will be getting blinkers added and has John Velazquez to ride, “it symbolizes to me what’s going to happen, yeah,” said Jimmy Barnes, longtime assistant to Bob Baffert, trainer of National Treasure.
The attorney for Todd Pletcher asked the New York State Gaming Commission to delay a hearing into a positive test for the horse Forte until after the Triple Crown races had been run, according to records released by the commission on Monday.
Robertino Diodoro, who finished third in the trainers’ standing at the recently concluded Oaklawn Park meet, has been suspended 30 days by Arkansas stewards after a horse he trained tested for an excessive level of total carbon dioxide in the blood, according to a ruling.
ELMONT, N.Y. – In case you haven’t heard, this is the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s Triple Crown tour de force.
And while those five weeks will always be memorable to racing historians and fans, so too is the five-week battle staged between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer 34 years ago. The stretch drive of the 1989 Preakness still resonates when people think about one of the best rivalries in racing. The nose victory by Sunday Silence over Easy Goer in the Preakness is something Easy Goer’s trainer, Shug McGaughey, says he still thinks about quite often.
BALTIMORE – Twenty-three horses entered the Kentucky Derby. Twenty were permitted to run. After five scratches, 18 actually did compete at Churchill Downs on May 6.
Of the 18, only the winner, Mage, was entered to run in Saturday’s 148th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Mage was expected to head an eight-horse field entered Monday in the Preakness, post positions for which were to be drawn early Monday evening.
