Runhappy, the 3-year-old colt who earned a 113 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Grade 1 King’s Bishop with Edgar Prado aboard last Saturday at Saratoga, returned to training Wednesday at the Thoroughbred Center training facility in Lexington, Ky., and continues to thrive, according to trainer Maria Borell.
“He came out of the race really great,” said Borell. “He jogged once around and galloped once around [the nearly one-mile dirt oval]. We’ve been discussing what’s next.”
The connections of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah will be presented with the Mr. Fitz Award from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters this year at the organization’s annual award dinner, the NTWAB announced Wednesday.
The Mr. Fitz Award, named after trainer “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons, is given annually by the NTWAB to those “typifying the spirit of racing.” American Pharoah’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, his trainer, Bob Baffert, and his rider, Victor Espinoza, will each be acknowledged.
The racetracks in Texas were unable to conduct simulcasting on Tuesday after a midnight deadline passed Monday without funding for the Texas Racing Commission’s administrative costs in place. The tracks are also unable to conduct live racing in a development that immediately impacts Retama Park, which is in the midst of a Thoroughbred meet, and Lone Star Park, which on Sept. 18 is scheduled to open a Quarter Horse meet featuring the prestigious Challenge Championships.
Wise Dan had his final serious workout in preparation for his much-awaited return to racing, breezing five furlongs in 1:00 on Tuesday before dawn at his home base at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
Wise Dan, Horse of the Year in 2012 and 2013 for owner-breeder Mort Fink, is scheduled to make his first start in nearly a year in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 13 in suburban Toronto.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The wins don’t come as readily as they once did, and he’s not as big a player in the major races as he would like, but Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas still loves the thrill of competition.
Lukas, arguably the most accomplished horseman in Thoroughbred racing, turns 80 on Wednesday. He doesn’t have a runner on the Saratoga card, and he’s struggled at this meet, with just one win from 28 starters. He has only 14 wins on the year. Still, Lukas is enjoying life and believes there are still big races left for him to win.
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah continued to juice racing business figures with his unsuccessful attempt to win Saturday’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with handle numbers for the day’s races climbing well into record territory.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There were two winning tickets sold on Sunday’s pick six at Saratoga, each worth $831,237.
One ticket was purchased through TwinSpires Mountain View (Calif.) hub, and the other through United Tote East Racing and Gaming Services, according to the New York Racing Association.
After Keen Ice upset American Pharoah in Saturday’s Travers Stakes there was a pick six carryover of $557,887 into Sunday’s program. An additional $1,937,940 was wagered into the pool on Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Dale Romans said one of the last conversations he had with the legendary Allen Jerkens before the Hall of Fame trainer died this year was about the day “the Chief” orchestrated one of racing’s most famous upsets, beating the great Secretariat with Onion at Saratoga in the 1973 Whitney. It was a feat not too dissimilar to what Romans himself had just pulled off Saturday when sending out Keen Ice to defeat another Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, in the Travers.
Texas Red, the Jim Dandy Stakes winner who is likely to be the second or third choice in Saturday’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, will be sponsored in the Travers by Gas Monkey Garage, a company founded by Richard Rawlings, host of the television show “Fast N’ Loud,” the brokers of the deal announced Friday.
Paul R. “Lee” Sensenbach Jr., a retired jockey in the Great Plains region, died Monday at age 58.
Sensenbach, a New Jersey native, graduated from Indian Hills High School in Oakland, N.J., in 1976, and then resided in Colorado and Kentucky. Sensenbach received training to become a jockey while in Kentucky, and then moved to Grand Island, Neb., home of Fonner Park, where he resided for the rest of his life.
