The Super Derby on Sept. 10 will again serve as the centerpiece of the Louisiana Downs meet that opens May 7. The 84-date season in Bossier City will run through Sept. 24.
The Super Derby is part of a 14-race stakes schedule worth a total of $1.3 million. It will be run over 1 1/8 miles, and the purse remains $400,000. In a change, the Super Derby will be contested as a Grade 3 race this year after holding Grade 2 status last season, when it was won by Mobile Bay.
Jockey Fray Martinez died Wednesday morning at age 21 in his native Puerto Rico from leukemia. His death came just hours after his wife, Yelitza, gave birth to their first child, a boy, on Tuesday.
Martinez rode in the Mid-Atlantic from April 2014 through early May last year. He was diagnosed in December with acute myeloid leukemia and had been receiving treatment in San Juan ever since.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Catch a Glimpse’s victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland last October could lead to a big night for the filly at the 41st annual Sovereign Awards ceremony on Friday at Woodbine.
Catch a Glimpse is a finalist in the 2-year-old filly and turf female divisions and is likely to be a named a finalist for Canadian Horse of the Year. The finalists for Horse of the Year will be revealed during Friday night’s ceremony.
Two-time Woodbine Mile winner Wise Dan and perennial Woodbine leading trainer Mark Casse headline this year’s list of five Thoroughbred racing inductees to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame’s 20-member election committee determined the inductees through a secret ballot.
California Chrome, winner of the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 26, began a month-long vacation at Taylor Made Farm late Sunday afternoon, arriving at the farm in Nicholasville, Ky., after a six-hour van ride from Chicago.
California Chrome completed quarantine in Chicago on Sunday morning following his journey back to the United States.
April will be a low-key month for California Chrome, according to co-owner Frank Taylor. One objective in coming weeks will be a physical examination with X-rays, according to Taylor.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Emboldening his backers with a decisive victory Saturday in the Florida Derby, the undefeated Nyquist closed as the solid favorite in the fourth and final pool of the 2016 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Felipe Valdez will be sidelined for an undetermined period after sustaining a broken collarbone for the second time in five months in a spill in Saturday’s third race at Santa Anita.
Valdez was hospitalized after El Nino Terrible fell on the turn of an $8,000 claimer at 1 1/16 miles. Brandon O’Bryan, Valdez’s agent, said on Sunday that he was not sure how long Valdez will be sidelined. O’Bryan said Valdez is scheduled to undergo surgery on the collarbone.
El Nino Terrible was euthanized as a result of injuries sustained in the race.
ARCADIA, Calif.- The $100,000 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf has been moved from Friday to Saturday’s program at Santa Anita, track officials announced over the weekend.
The Saturday program is highlighted by the $1 million Santa Anita Derby. The Grade 3 Thunder Road will be one of six stakes on the program.
Racing officials said they expect a strong field for the Thunder Road and would prefer to run the race on a program with a higher profile among racing fans to generate greater interest and handle.
