Three stakes races have been upgraded to Grade 1 status and six races were downgraded from Grade 1 to Grade 2 as a result of the annual review conducted by the American Graded Stakes Committee, the organization announced Friday.
The three races upgraded to Grade 1 for their 2019 runnings are the Jaipur and Woody Stephens stakes at Belmont Park and the Churchill Downs Stakes at Churchill Downs. All three are sprint races, with the Jaipur contested on turf.
Rick Hammerle has been dismissed as racing secretary at Santa Anita, several people with knowledge of the situation said on Friday morning.
The decision was made less than a month before Santa Anita begins its signature six-month winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.
The New York Racing Association has reached a deal with Fox Sports that will put nearly every card at NYRA’s Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course on the company’s television networks for at least the next two years, the two companies announced on Thursday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Prominent horse owner Kosta Hronis and top radio personality Jim Rome are the newest members of Del Mar’s board of directors, the track announced on Thursday.
Hronis, 59, and his brother Pete own a major produce business in central California and have a high-class racing stable based in Southern California, headed by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Accelerate, the overwhelming favorite to be named champion older dirt male of 2018 and a top contender for Horse of the Year.
Chuck Scaravilli, a man who wore many hats in racing over the decades, died at age 90 in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 17.
Scaravilli galloped horses as a teenager, trained for almost 40 years, and worked for Daily Racing Form from 1967 to 1998, at which time chart-calling and clocking duties were taken over by Equibase. He worked at a number of Midwest tracks but is best known for his long tenure at Thistledown.
Scaravilli retired from Equibase 10 years ago.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – According to figures released Tuesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, gross all-sources handle at the 21-day Churchill Downs fall meet that ended Sunday was nearly $263.9 million. That figure includes the $157.4 million bet on the Breeders' Cup cards on Nov. 2-3.
DEL MAR, Calif. – There were many chapters to the riding career of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens over his near 40-year career, which ended with his retirement on Tuesday, but some of his best moments were saved for the end, including victories in races like the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Pacific Classic with the great mare Beholder.
