John T.L. Jones, a former Quarter Horse trainer who founded the Central Kentucky stud farm Walmac International and played an instrumental role in the creation of the Breeders’ Cup, died on Friday at his home in Quanah, Tex., according to his associates and friends of the family. Jones, who was born in Quanah, was 84.
Skip to main content
Create Your DRF Account
New to DRF?
Everything you could possibly
need in one place
need in one place
Register
Don't have an account?
Register Here
DRF Past Performances
Golden Gate Fields canceled racing for the second straight day Saturday due to air quality issues resulting from the Northern California wildfires.
On Saturday, the track was closed to workouts in addition to the cancellation of its race card, which included the $50,000-added six-furlong Oakland Stakes.
Trainers were advised Saturday morning that no decision had yet been made about opening the track to workouts on Sunday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Friday awarded a harness racing license to a partnership between Churchill Downs and Keeneland that will allow the companies to open a casino near the border with Tennessee in the small town of Oak Grove, brushing aside competing bids from the giant casino operator Caesars Entertainment and Kentucky Downs.
Peggy Hendershot, whose long tenure with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association culminated with her appointment as president of the NTRA’s federal political action committee, will retire at the end of the year, the organization announced on Tuesday.
Hendershot has served as the president of Horse PAC since 2002, after the bipartisan fundraising organization was formed to support candidates and political parties deemed important to pressing racing’s issues at the federal level. The PAC has raised $4 million since its inception, the NTRA said.
Ron Winchell, the prominent horse owner, and Marc Falcone, a former casino executive, have reached an agreement to purchase Kentucky Downs, the small track and gambling facility near the Tennessee border, the track announced late on Tuesday.
The acquisition is expected to close in early 2019, according to the track, which has been owned and operated since 2007 by a partnership group headed by Ray Reid and the track’s general manager, Corey Johnsen. Details of the purchase agreement were not disclosed.
The final hour of last Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup broadcast on NBC had total viewership of 1.6 million, according to the network, down 20 percent from last year.
The viewership figure was well down from the 2016 and 2015 Classic broadcasts, when viewership was 2.2 million and 3.9 million. The 2015 Classic broadcast featured Triple Crown winner American Pharoah making the final start of his career. The last time viewership was as low as 1.6 million was in 2011, when the event was broadcast by ESPN.
Apprentice jockey Assael Espinoza, who has been in the first five in the jockey standings at all Southern California meetings since late spring, has lost an appeal of a 10-day suspension issued in August and will miss the bulk of the upcoming Del Mar meeting.
Espinoza can ride the first two days of the meeting, Friday and Saturday, and will resume riding on the final four days of the meeting – Nov. 29 through Dec. 2. He is suspended for Sunday and Monday, Nov. 15-18 and Nov. 22-25.
Andy Stronach, the son of the founder of The Stronach Group, Frank Stronach, has filed his own lawsuit alleging that his sister Belinda has mismanaged the business, repeating allegations that his father made in a suit filed in early October, according to published reports.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita concluded its 22-day autumn meeting Sunday with a gain in average daily handle compared to a 19-day meeting in 2017.
According to figures provided by track officials, average daily all-sources handle rose 7 percent, while average daily ontrack handle increased 3 percent. Officials said attendance was “flat.”
Last year, Santa Anita ended its meeting on the weekend prior to the running of the Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar. This year, Santa Anita’s final weekend included simulcasting of the Breeders’ Cup races from Churchill Downs.