Juan Vazquez, an exercise rider and part-time trainer, died Friday morning from injuries sustained during a training accident at Belmont Park, according trainer Bruce Brown, who employed Vazquez.
Vazquez was working an unraced 2-year-old named named Global Warrior in company and inside of another horse shortly after the 7:30 a.m. renovation break on the Belmont training track.
The Indiana Horse Racing Commission adopted an emergency rule on Thursday to issue penalties for any horse who tests positive in post-race tests for an excess level of cobalt, a mineral that is alleged to be in use by trainers seeking to boost performance in every racing breed.
Zia Park will have a fresh look when the Hobbs, N.M., track opens for its 56-date mixed meet Saturday. Last week, a 154-room hotel opened at Zia, and the track’s grandstand and facilities now match the earth tones of the new, upscale building on the property.
“Our color scheme has changed to accommodate the new hotel,” said Fred Hutton, director of racing operations for Zia. “Even our tote board, which used to be blue, is a tan-type color. There’s also new signage.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – In years past, when Del Mar got down to the end of its season, the infield turf course often looked brown and barren. So, it was the great irony of this most tumultuous of Del Mar seasons that, when the 36-day meet ended Wednesday, a course that had been the source of so much attention and controversy looked better than ever – green, lush, and inviting.
CYPRESS, Calif. – The new daytime voice of Los Alamitos is Frank Mirahmadi, the colorful announcer who will call races at the track’s fall Thoroughbred meet, which runs from Friday through Sept. 21.
Ed Burgart, the longtime Los Alamitos Quarter Horse announcer, will continue to call evening Quarter Horse races.
Mirahmadi has called races at Oaklawn Park since early 2012 and worked at major tracks across the country. Mirahmadi also calls races on the Northern California fair circuit, including Ferndale, and early this spring filled in for Trevor Denman at Santa Anita.
Sandy Lovato, a therapeutic riding instructor and the wife of 1980 champion apprentice Frank Lovato Jr., died on Wednesday morning in an automobile accident in Huron County, Ohio.
Lovato, 54, died of injuries sustained in a two-vehicle accident on a county road at 8:54 a.m. Wednesday, according to police reports. The report said that Lovato’s vehicle was struck by a car that failed to yield at a stop sign at a rural intersection.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Not too long ago, September was a regroup month for Kentucky horsemen. Weak purse structures at Turfway Park and Kentucky Downs led some trainers to give their best horses a breather. The show went on, but this certainly was not a peak time of year.
Things have changed. September is now noticeably more competitive in Kentucky, where Kentucky Downs is now offering $1 million per card for a five-day meet and Churchill, for the second straight year, is open instead of Turfway.
After a break of almost three months, racing will return to Maryland’s major circuit Friday, when Laurel Park begins a 65-day meet that will continue through the end of the year.
The recent seven-day Timonium meeting at the Maryland State Fair has been the only racing in Maryland since the Preakness meeting at Pimlico concluded June 7. Racing was last held at Laurel on March 29.
The Big Beast, who became a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with his win in last month’s Grade 1 King’s Bishop at Saratoga, will be out of action for at least 60 days, owner Alex Lieblong, said Monday. The horse is scheduled to have a bone chip removed from an ankle Tuesday.
The Big Beast was a neck winner of the King’s Bishop on Aug. 23, one start after winning a first-level allowance sprint at Saratoga with a Beyer Speed Figure of 102. He came out of the King’s Bishop with the chip in the left front ankle, said Lieblong.
