SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Bee Jersey, winner of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, has been retired from racing due to a tendon injury, owner Charles Fipke said Tuesday.
Fipke said he had not yet finalized a stallion deal for Bee Jersey, a son of Jersey Town, who currently stands in Canada. Fipke said he was planning to relocate Jersey Town to the U.S. as well after covering just 37 mares in British Columbia.
A shoe worn by Secretariat in his 1973 Kentucky Derby victory that began his record-setting Triple Crown sweep has sold for a record $80,736 in an online auction.
The auction, conducted by the sports memorabilia auction website Lelands.com, began July 15 and ended late Friday night. The 18 separate bids pushed the artifact past the previous record for a horseshoe, which also was established by Lelands.
Golden Gate Fields opens its 24-day summer meet on Thursday with a purse increase and a revitalized turf course.
Racing secretary Patrick Mackey is hoping Golden Gate Fields can keep the momentum going from a strong winter-spring meeting.
“Our spring meet was very successful thanks to out-of-state wagering,” Mackey said. “Because of that, we’re able to announce our first increase in some time.”
Golden Gate will raise purses by $2,000 a race on all claiming events up to the $16,000 level, as well as all starter races.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Drayden Van Dyke equaled a single-day record for victories by a rider at Del Mar on Sunday by winning seven races, including the featured Del Mar Mile on Catapult and a dramatic closing charge with Ohio in the finale for the tying win.
The only other jockey to win seven on a single card was Victor Espinoza, who did it on Sept. 4, 2006.
"It's a dream come true," Van Dyke said in the winner's circle after the day's final race. "I thought I had two or three solid chances."
DEL MAR, Calif. - The surprise retirement on Saturday of the champion Unique Bella due to injury has left California’s older female division without a leader with slightly more than 10 weeks before the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs.
Unique Bella was scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 30 as a heavy favorite in the final local prep race for the BC Distaff on Nov. 3.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A panel of seven accomplished women with careers in racing, including two members of the sport’s highest honor roll, entertained and regaled a packed audience at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Sunday morning with stories and advice from their experiences in the racing industry.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Unique Bella, the champion female sprinter of 2017 and one of the most popular horses in training, was retired on Saturday after emerging from a workout at Del Mar with a sesamoid injury, according to her owner and trainer, the Don Alberto Stable and Jerry Hollendorfer.
The injury is not considered severe, but the timing will prevent Unique Bella from a start in the major stakes of the autumn, notably the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
Jockey Eddie Martin Jr. hit 4,000 Thoroughbred wins in North America on Wednesday night, when Spinning Pegasus won a photo in the ninth race at Retama Park.
Spinning Pegasus set the pace in the 5 1/2-furlong allowance and held for a neck victory. He paid $9.80. In the winner’s circle, Martin was joined by a number of his fellow riders as well as racing officials. A sign marked the occasion.
Martin was aboard Spinning Pegasus for End Zone Athletics and trainer Karl Broberg.
Peter Williams, the painter from New Zealand who found fame depicting racetrack life and was a familiar fixture in paddocks around the world, died on Monday at his home in Goshen, Ky., according to his family. Williams, who had been diagnosed with Lyme disease and dementia, was 84.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Oscar Performance on Sunday morning still was walking soundly with no overt sign of injury after being pulled up in the closing stages of the Arlington Million and taken off the course in an equine ambulance.
