The committee that sets requirements for assigning grades to stakes races has lowered the minimum purse levels for Grade 1 and Grade 2 races for the rest of the year, in recognition of the financial hardships facing tracks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A committee of The Jockey Club has called for more tracks to publish their injury data, a ban on clenbuterol, and mandatory stand-down periods for horses that are trained by individuals who have been found to have illegal substances in their possession.
Monsters Inc was well-touted before a successful debut in a six-furlong maiden race April 16 at Wangaratta Racecourse in Australia. He was the 8-5 favorite, raced near the front throughout, and won by three-quarters of a length.
Monsters Inc, by Animal Kingdom, faces winners for the first time in a six-furlong handicap at Sale Racecourse, east of Melbourne, on Tuesday. He will be at the front of the betting market in a full field of 12.
Resistencia, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2019 in Japan, will have a new rider and a new set of rivals when she starts as the expected favored in Sunday’s Grade 1 NHK Mile for 3-year-olds at Tokyo Racecourse.
Resistencia will face males for the first time in the $1.92 million race, which drew a field of 14 colts and four fillies. Geldings are excluded.
Former Mid-Atlantic trainer and jockey agent Sal Campo died Wednesday evening at age 76. He and Rosemary, his wife of 55 years, resided in Forked River, N.J.
Campo had success as both a horseman and agent. Primarily based at Philadelphia Park, he raced throughout the Mid-Atlantic from 1979 to 1993, winning 621 races and two Philadelphia Park titles, the winter-sprint meets of 1983 and 1991. He had a career win average of 15 percent.
A bill that will provide for $375 million in funds to renovate Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park in Maryland became law Thursday when Gov. Larry Hogan declined to either sign or veto the legislation, which the Maryland racing industry has heavily supported as a way to bring long-term stability to the sport.
This year’s Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit has been canceled, but the organizer of the conference will instead begin showing weekly seminars on relevant topics beginning May 12, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation announced Wednesday.
U.S. racetracks held only 746 races in April, a decline of 71 percent compared to the same month last year, while per-race handle at the few tracks allowed to operate in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic soared 164 percent in the month, according to statistics released Tuesday by Equibase.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has appointed a new chairman to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and made three other new appointments to the regulatory agency, according to a series of executive orders issued by his office near the end of April.
