Total betting on Thoroughbred races held at U.S. tracks declined slightly in July compared to the same month last year, according to figures distributed by Equibase on Tuesday, while the number of races declined nearly 5 percent.
Total wagering on the 2,903 races held during the month was down $11.6 million, or 1.22 percent, slipping to $951.45 million, according to Equibase. The number of races was down 4.6 percent from the previous July, when 3,042 races were held.
Barrington Harvey, who won more than 740 races in the United States and was a rare jockey active in his 60s, died recently while visiting his native Jamaica, a Los Alamitos official said Sunday.
Harvey was 62. A cause of death was not immediately available.
The Jockey Club will explore ways to increase the foal crop and push commercial breeders to limit the book sizes of popular stallions under new policies that will be prioritized by Everett Dobson, who formally took over the chairmanship of the organization on Wednesday.
A retroactive purse payment of more than $670,000 will be paid to owners whose runners earned prize money at the 2023-2024 Golden Gate Fields meeting, the Northern California track’s final season.
The payment was announced in a statement on Tuesday by the Thoroughbred Owners of California.
The payment is equal to an 8 percent purse increase in overnight races, according to the statement.
The final Golden Gate meeting was conducted from Dec. 26, 2023, to June 9, 2024.
The board of stewards of The Jockey Club has formally elected Everett R. Dobson as its next chairman, the organization announced on Wednesday. He replaces Stuart Janney III, who had previously announced his retirement.
Dobson, the executive chairman of the telecommunications company Dobson Fiber and a longtime owner and breeder, was tabbed as the organization’s next chairman when Janney announced late last year that he would step down in August. Dobson will deliver remarks at The Jockey Club’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing on Thursday.
Marc Holliday, the chairman of the New York Racing Association, and Bret Jones, the president of Airdrie Stud in Central Kentucky, have been elected as stewards of The Jockey Club, the organization announced on Monday.
Holliday, the chairman and chief executive officer of SL Green Realty Group and an owner-breeder, has been a member of The Jockey Club since 2022. He was elected as the chairman of NYRA in 2022 and has increasingly become involved in overseeing the redevelopment of Belmont Park, the association’s Long Island racetrack.
Thistledown racetrack outside of Cleveland canceled the remainder of its Monday race card after a horse broke down in the first race, one week after the track experienced problems with its racing surface that caused a week-long shutdown of live racing.
Dave Basler, the executive director of the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said that track officials called off the races after having a discussion with Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, following the running of the first race.
Santa Anita will run 22 stakes at its fall meeting from Sept. 26 to Oct. 26, with lower prize money available in four races compared to last year.
In 2024, Santa Anita ran the California Crown program on Sept. 28, greatly enhancing the purses of three leading stakes. The Grade 1 California Crown was worth $1 million, an increase of $700,000 from 2023, while the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes and Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship were worth $750,000 compared to $200,000 in 2023.
Humberto Ascanio had been employed in Southern California racing for less than five years when he began working for trainer Bobby Frankel in March 1973.
Within three years, Ascanio’s position rose from groom to assistant trainer.
For the next 30 years, Ascanio would remain in the role of assistant trainer, gaining nationwide respect.
Gabby Gaudet, one of the most familiar on-camera presences in Thoroughbred racing, is taking her talents to Lexington.
Gaudet, who has been an on-air analyst and reporter at FanDuel TV and the New York Racing Association for most of the past decade, has been hired as the Director of Communications at Keeneland, the racetrack and sales company in the heart of horse country, Keeneland announced on Thursday.
