LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All-sources wagering handle at the Churchill Downs spring meet that ended Sunday fell by 11.5 percent, a sharp drop that national horseplayers’ groups are claiming is at least partly attributable to a boycott of the track’s simulcast signal.
Handle at the 38-day meet totaled almost $369 million, down from the almost $417 million wagered at the corresponding meet in 2013, when 24 more races were run.
Quic Carter has been unbeatable since shaking Kiss My Hocks, and on Friday night at Delta Downs, he will attempt to win his third consecutive race in the Grade 2, $278,125 Firecracker Futurity for Quarter Horses. The race is the meet’s richest open-company offering for 2-year-olds, and it goes with a field of 10, including the undefeated Gagastoasttobliss and the Grade 2-placed Glimpse of Dash.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Eddie Castro suffered a large laceration on the right leg when kicked in the paddock prior to the ninth race Sunday at Monmouth Park.
Initial reports indicated a possible broken leg. It turned out to be a nasty gash.
Castro was rushed to Monmouth Medical Center where X-rays revealed no fracture.
“He suffered a large laceration on his right leg,” said Dr. Angelo Chinnici, the track’s medical director. “He will be sutured and kept overnight for observation.”
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The 5-year-old mare Apropos suffered a serious head injury and had to be euthanized when she flipped in the paddock Saturday before the Chicago Handicap at Arlington.
Apropos was in her saddling stall when she reared up, became entangled in the wall of the stall, and fell hard to the ground. The mare bled badly as Arlington personnel rushed to raise a screen and hide the scene from the crowd gathered before the Saturday stakes race here.
Can the Man, the winner of the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on June 7 in his 2014 debut, will be supplemented for $10,000 to the $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby on July 5, trainer Bob Baffert said on Saturday.
The Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby is the main race of the Los Alamitos summer Thoroughbred meeting, which begins on Thursday.
Can the Man is part of an outstanding, but strong, small field in the Los Alamitos Derby, run over 1 1/8 miles.
MIAMI -- Jockey Zarella Ore remains in critical condition in Hollywood Memorial Hospital with head injuries suffered during the running of Friday’s sixth race at Calder Race Course.
According to her close friend, trainer Walter Rosas Canessa, Ore was placed in an induced coma after suffering bleeding on the brain as a result of the incident.
“The doctors were encouraged this morning because the bleeding had stopped and they were hopeful Zarella might start waking up and come out of the coma within the next 24 hours,” said Canessa on Saturday.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. -- All of the precautionary measures that were implemented at Suffolk Downs in the wake of one horse’s death from equine herpes myelitis earlier this month have been lifted after tests on five other horses which spiked a fever came back negative.
Dr. Lorraine O'Connor, the chief veterinary health officer for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, notified track officials of the latest results and the incubation period for EHM of two to 10 days has passed.
The California Horse Racing Board recently notified account wagering providers TwinSpires and Xpressbet that they were in violation of California laws allowing bettors to pool monies to third parties who then placed wagers on their behalf.
In a statement released Friday, the racing board said its officials sent cease-and-desist orders notifying the account wagering firms of the violation.
Known as players’ pools, funds are forwarded by individuals to a third party who later places bets. The monies are frequently used for jackpot bets such as pick five or pick six wagers.
New Jersey will open its fifth offtrack betting facility Wednesday. Favorites at Gloucester Township will be located in Clementon, N.J., about 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia.
The facility will operate under a license granted to Freehold Raceway, a New Jersey harness track, and will be managed by Penn National Gaming, which co-owns Freehold.
Favorites at Gloucester Township will be able to accommodate 700 customers. It will have 130 flat-screen TVs, an upscale wagering area with more than 40 individual handicapping stations, a 90-seat dining area, and an outdoor patio.
Trainer Juan Vazquez was suspended 90 days and fined $2,500 on Thursday by the Delaware Park stewards for being the aggressor in an altercation near the winner’s circle following the fourth race at the track last Monday. Vazquez will also have to attend and complete an anger management course approved by the stewards before his license is restored to good standing.
