The nominees came from all corners of the country, spanning barns from New York to California to Florida and more, and converged on the "Thoroughbred Capital of the World" as the North American Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards returned to Lexington, Ky., on Friday.
Kentucky Downs plans to conduct major renovations to its property over the off-season for the Franklin, Ky., track, with the goal of countering additional competition that is expected from a new casino nearly equidistant from the track’s major market, Nashville.
Delaware Park raced the same number of dates this year as in 2018 but ran fewer races. The result was a 7 percent decline in all-sources handle at the 81-day meet.
Delaware had difficulty filling its races this summer. The contributing factors were an earlier opening to the meet, no turf racing for the first few weeks, and several strangles positives in early July just prior to the track’s two biggest weekends, which are topped by the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap and the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks.
The seven states operating as a regulatory cooperative in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have agreed to adopt more stringent rules over the administration of therapeutic medications that can act as painkillers and anti-inflammatories, the states announced this past weekend.
Grindstone was from the first crop of 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, who launched a classic sireline responsible, among other standouts, for Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Grindstone neatly fit into that mold, winning the 1996 Kentucky Derby and siring 2004 Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone – who, in turn, sired 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird in his first crop.
Magnum Moon, winner of the 2018 Arkansas Derby, was euthanized on Friday after battling laminitis for more than a year.
Magnum Moon, a 4-year-old colt by Malibu Moon, had been under the care of the Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists Hospital in Elmont, N.Y., adjacent to Belmont Park, since suffering a career-ending fracture during a morning work in June 2018 at Belmont. He underwent surgery for those fractures, but later developed laminitis as a complication during his recovery.
Wagering on U.S. races in the third quarter of this year declined 1.89 percent, a slightly higher rate of decline than a drop in the number of races, according to figures released Friday by Equibase, at a time when racing officials are closely watching handle numbers for evidence of attrition against a backdrop of intense criticism of the sport from some quarters.
Golden Gate Fields reported a 12.8 percent increase in all-sources handle from last year for its recently completed summer meet, and that it was the the sixth straight meet at the track with a handle increase.
A total of $55,357,826 was wagered at the Golden Gate summer meet this year, compared to $49,056,628 last year.
Jonathan Wong led all trainers for the fourth straight meet, saddling 23 winners from 96 starters. Runner-up Victor Trujillo had 13 wins.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has scheduled a committee hearing for next Tuesday to discuss dates proposals from state racetracks, including a request by Churchill Downs to take the winter dates on the state racing circuit from Turfway Park.
The Race Dates Committee is scheduled to begin its meeting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the proposals. By law, the racing commission must award racing dates for the following year by Nov. 1. The full racing commission meets Oct. 15.
