After a slight adjustment to her workout schedule, the three-time graded stakes winner Sweet Azteca is on schedule for her first start since October in a tough running of the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5.
On Saturday at Santa Anita, Sweet Azteca worked six furlongs in 1:12.80, her first work since a fast five furlongs in 58.80 seconds on June 11.
“Hopefully, everything goes well,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “She’s just about ready.”
Paul Cornman, who held a variety of positions in the Thoroughbred racing industry but was best known as an outstanding handicapper, advocate for horseplayers and part owner of the first New York-bred to earn $1 million, died Saturday in a Las Vegas hospital due to cancer. He was 73.
Sunday's card at Laurel Park will offer five-digit carryovers for three wagers after several upsets stumped bettors on Saturday.
The Early Pick 5 leads with a $58,193 carryover, though it could again be the most challenging bet.
All nine favorites went down on Saturday and only two winners went off at odds under 5-1, undoubtedly creating value in individual race bets but making multi-race wagers increasingly difficult.
With excessive heat blanketing the Midwest and eastern United States and Canada, numerous tracks have adjusted their schedules or canceled cards for the next few days.
The following is a list of changes:
Sunday
Canterbury Park – canceled
Hawthorne – canceled
Woodbine – First post moved to 4 p.m. Eastern
Monday
Finger Lakes – canceled
Parx Racing – canceled
Tuesday
Parx Racing – canceled
Wednesday
Delaware Park – canceled
Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., has canceled Sunday night’s card because of excessive heat, marking the second consecutive day of cancellations.
On Saturday, Canterbury cancelled racing with the heat index reaching 109 in Shakopee and originally rescheduled Sunday’s program from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. However, the forecast still projects a dangerous level of heat well into the evening, forcing another cancellation.
The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday voted against proposals for race meetings later this year at county fairs in Fresno and Ferndale, the third time in as many months the board has opposed attempts to restart racing in that part of the state.
After a contentious discussion regarding a six-day season on weekends at Ferndale from Oct. 11-26, the board rejected the proposal by a vote of 4-3. Less than an hour later, the Fresno proposal, for seven days of racing from Sept. 19 to Oct. 1, was defeated, 4-3.
Jorge Navarro, a leading trainer in the mid-Atlantic who was one of the most high-profile individuals to be swept up in a wide-ranging investigation into drug use in Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing, was released from a federal prison in Miami on Wednesday.
Navarro served a little over three years of a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to a count of conspiracy to distribute and administer misbranded drugs. Legislation passed in 2018 allows federal inmates to earn credits against their sentence for early release.
Churchill Downs Inc. has decided to run a 2025-26 meet at its Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans after “constructive conversations” with the state’s governor and a local state senator, the company said on Tuesday.
Maria Borell, the trainer of 2015 Champion Sprinter Runhappy who became embroiled in a career-altering legal controversy in 2016, withdrew a license application to the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation on Tuesday after the board’s license review committee indicated it would reject the application.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has shut down all exits and entrances to Delta Downs in Vinton, Louisiana, as it conducts a raid of the track’s backstretch in search of undocumented laborers, according to officials with knowledge of the situation.
ICE officers arrived at the track mid-morning, according to the officials, and quickly barred the exits and shut down the roads connecting to the track. A number of backstretch workers were “apprehended,” according to Eric Hamelback, the chief executive officer of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.
