Two parking lots with a combined area of 36 acres at Belmont Park might be sold under a plan that would allow a state agency to consider proposals to redevelop the tracts.
The New York Racing Franchise Oversight Board approved the plan Thursday, allowing Empire State Development to solicit bids for the properties. The agency plans to release a request for proposals Sept. 15, with bids accepted until Oct. 17.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After some touch-and-go moments Thursday, Haskell winner Paynter was reported to have shown improvement Friday, according to his connections.
Justin Zayat, son of owner Ahmed Zayat, said Friday “was probably his best day” since Paynter had to be moved to the Upstate Equine Clinic in Schuylerville, N.Y. on Sunday, where he is being treated for colitis – an inflammation of the colon.
According to Zayat, Paynter’s white-blood cell count was 9,000 – close to normal – and the colt was eating.
Paynter on Tuesday night was described as being seriously ill by Dr. Mark Cheney, the respected equine veterinarian who is overseeing his treatment, who said the Haskell Invitational winner has colitis - an inflammation of the colon - and that a principle concern now is also founder.
"I'm worried to death," Cheney said in a telephone interview. "You've got to keep your fingers crossed. Just hope and pray."
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Not that he wasn’t already appreciative of the dead-heat in which his 3-year-old Alpha was involved in Saturday’s $1 million Travers, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin had an even greater appreciation for it after what happened to It’s Tricky in Sunday’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign Invitational Handicap at Saratoga.
Pick four policy has bettor itching for rule update
I am both dismayed and disgruntled concerning an issue of great importance to bettors that the racing industry apparently chooses to ignore. Or maybe we’re presumed to be too naive to recognize when we are being done a grave injustice.
The issue concerns rules governing the pick four at New York tracks.
Grade 3 winner Z Fortune has died of a heart attack while recovering from colic surgery, according to a Facebook post by HRTV’s Carolyn Conley. He was 7 and died in California at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Conley’s post.
Conley, a lifelong horsewoman who used to exercise Z Fortune’s sire Siphon, adopted Z Fortune from New Vocations last May. On Aug. 11, Conley had tweeted that Z Fortune was undergoing colic surgery after colicking in 105-degree Los Angeles heat, and she later revealed that his small intestine had twisted around his large intestine.
The Jockey Club has elected six new members, including Bill Casner, who has been leading a Jockey Club-supported effort for owners to race their horses without the anti-bleeding medication furosemide on raceday.
Casner and the five other elected members will join the 106 individuals who are already members of the Jockey Club. Members are eligible to serve as officers of the organization.
The case of Canuki and Cactus Cafe is nearing its conclusion, at least for the horses. The two Thoroughbreds became famous in May when their surprising return from the Richelieu slaughterhouse in Canada led the horsemeat company to stop accepting Thoroughbreds and raised questions about the effectiveness of racetrack anti-slaughter policies.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − In mid-August 2011, at the height of the racing season at Saratoga, Breeders’ Cup announced that it had selected Santa Anita Park in Southern California to host its two-day championship event in 2012. Executives of the New York Racing Association winced at the official confirmation that their downstate track, Belmont Park, had been passed over yet again.
About five months after his 1991 auto accident, Bill Shoemaker resumed training, this time as a quadriplegic who had to puff into a state-of-the-art wheelchair to get from here to there. Six years after that, at 66, Shoemaker gave it all up. “It’s too much for me to do,” he said. “The two to three hours a day of therapy, the seven days a week of training. I just can’t do it anymore.”
