Trainer Jerry Weaver, 81, suffered a fatal heart attack in his tack room at Golden Gate Fields on Tuesday, according to a track executive.
Weaver, who began training in 1991, saddled 142 winners from 1,488 starters. His runners hit the board 481 times.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
The $100,000 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover, which has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception several years ago, has accepted 578 trainers for this year’s event, including accomplished equestrians from several disciplines. The competition will be held Oct. 5-8 at the Kentucky Horse Park, coinciding with the stakes-rich opening weekend at nearby Keeneland.
Handle on horse races in California rose 1.6 percent in 2016, while field size showed a slight increase and the number of racing days declined, according to an annual report published Wednesday by the California Horse Racing Board.
The report, published on the racing board’s website, gave an overview of a variety of business and sporting activities in California’s Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, and harness-racing circuits.
Betfair US, the owner of Television Games Network and a New Jersey exchange-wagering operation, has rejoined the National Thoroughbred Racing Association as a dues-paying member, and its chief executive will take a seat on the association’s board, the NTRA announced on Tuesday.
Kip Levin, the chief executive of Betfair US, will join the board after a ratification vote at the NTRA’s April meeting for a three-year term, according to Keith Chamblin, an NTRA senior vice president.
ARCADIA, Calif.- Trainer Gus Headley was fined $1,500 on Jan. 29 for removing a horse from another trainer’s stable and administering medication to the horse, according to a ruling issued by Santa Anita stewards Grant Baker, Scott Chaney, and Kim Sawyer.
The incident occurred in April 2016, and involved a horse trained by Gus Headley’s sister, Karen. According to track stewards, Surfing the Menu was entered in a $12,500 claimer by Karen Headley, but was the subject of a potential purchase by a client of Gus Headley’s.
A record total of nearly $2.6 million in purses will be offered during the spring portion of the National Steeplechase Association’s 2017 season.
The organization dedicated to jump racing announced this week a revised spring schedule of 18 stops that includes two new locations. The purse money represents an increase of 6.7 percent from 2016.
The spring season begins March 25 with the Aiken Spring Steeplechase in Aiken, S.C. and continues through May 27 with the Fair Hill Races at Fair Hill, Md.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Ralis, the winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga in 2015, has been retired and will begin a stud career in coming weeks, trainer Doug O’Neill said Saturday.
Ralis finished ninth in the California Cup Turf Classic for California-breds at Santa Anita on Jan. 28 in his last start. A 4-year-old colt by Square Eddie, Ralis won 2 of 17 starts and earned $424,773.
“He had a little strain in a tendon and he’d need some time off to get to the point he could come back racing,” O’Neill said. “In his best interest, we called it a day.”
Arlington International Racecourse’s 2017 stakes schedule will consist of 20 races worth a total of $3.4 million, according to a Friday news release.
Arlington’s stakes schedule during 2016 originally consisted of 25 races worth $4.35 million, but three races were canceled and the purses of two other stakes reduced after handle during May failed to meet projections. Arlington wound up running 22 stakes worth just less than $4 million last year.
Larry Collmus hasn't called a horse race since the Breeders' Cup Classic, but he will return to the announcer's booth later this month at Charles Town in West Virginia.
Paul Espinosa Jr., the announcer at Charles Town, will take the nights of Feb. 17-18 off, and Collmus has accepted an invitation from Erich Zimny, the vice president of racing operations at Charles Town, to stand in.
"We needed someone to fill in for Paul and I knew an unemployed announcer who's pretty good," Zimny joked.
The official time of the $12 million Pegasus World Cup has been lowered nearly 0.80 seconds following a review by Gulfstream Park and its official timer, Trakus, according to an amended chart that was available late Thursday.
The official time of the 1 1/8-mile race will now be 1:46.83, according to the chart, 0.78 seconds faster than the 1:47.61 that was announced after the race. The new time is a record for the distance at Gulfstream, faster than the 1:46.86 that was posted by Lea in the 2014 Donn Handicap.
