CYPRESS, Calif. – Golden Gate Fields announcer Michael Wrona will call the final three days of the Los Alamitos fall Thoroughbred meet, starting Friday.
Los Alamitos daytime Thoroughbred announcer Frank Mirahmadi will call races at the six-day San Joaquin Fair in Stockton that begins Friday. Mirahmadi will return to Los Alamitos for the winter meet that begins Dec. 4.
Wrona has called at Hollywood Park, Lone Star Park, Arlington Park, and Churchill Downs.
Competitive Edge, the leading 2-year-old male on the East Coast, if not the country, sustained a hairline fracture to his left foreleg and will miss the remainder of his juvenile season, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
The injury is not career-threatening, and Pletcher said he believes the horse will be back early enough in his 3-year-old season to attempt to get onto the Triple Crown trail. Pletcher said Competitive Edge will be out of training for 60 days.
Heartbroken. Betrayed. Sad. Scared.
Those were some of the adjectives expressed by the dismayed and dejected horsemen, riders, breeders, employees, and other industry stakeholders Wednesday, the day after they learned that the 79-year-old Suffolk Downs will be shutting down because gaming partner Mohegan Sun was passed over for the sole Boston-area destination resort casino license.
Yum! Brands will remain the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby through 2020 under a five-year contract extension the company reached with Churchill Downs, the companies announced Monday.
Yum! Brands first reached a deal with Churchill to be the presenting sponsor of the Derby in 2005. The company owns the fast-food brands KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell and operates approximately 40,000 restaurants worldwide.
A New York regulatory agency on Monday approved a report that gave the New York Racing Association a passing grade in meeting the performance standards outlined in a franchise agreement that allows the association to conduct racing at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Canterbury Park concluded its 2014 racing season Saturday, and though handle was down slightly year over year, there were many indicators of a healthy race meet.
“The increase in the number of barns we had shipping in this season, the tremendous amount of claiming activity, and the record Minnesota Thoroughbred Association sale this year all point to a thriving and rebounding Thoroughbred industry,” said Eric Halstrom, vice president of racing operations. “We’ll look to build on this strong foundation heading into 2015.”
Churchill Downs Inc. is attempting to sell Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, a track it acquired out of bankruptcy in 2004.
A report published Saturday in the Baton Rouge Advocate said Churchill was working with JP Morgan Chase to solicit bids on Fair Grounds, which operates a profitable slots parlor in addition to hosting a fall-winter Thoroughbred meet and a summer Quarter Horse meet. The report said CDI required that interested parties submit a purchase proposal by Wednesday.
Two men have been fined $1,250 apiece for their roles in a voided $5,000 claim that occurred following a race last weekend at Churchill Downs.
The Churchill stewards issued the fines Friday against owner Tim Brown and his brother-in-law, Kenny Hickman, after Hickman made what is known as a protective claim for Au Moon, an 8-year-old gelding who was a 9 3/4-length winner of the first race here Sept. 7 under Brown’s silks.
As has been the case with races carrying a purse of at least $1 million over the last few years on this circuit, horses competing in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 27 will be subject to enhanced security protocols during the three days leading up to the race, the New York State Gaming Commission announced Friday.
