The criteria to void a claim at California racetracks will be expanded on July 1 to include horses that bleed through the nostrils, California Horse Racing Board executive director Rick Baedeker said on Thursday at the monthly meeting of the racing board in Sacramento.
The racing board voted to approve the rule change last December, and it was recently granted approval by the state’s office of administrative law, Baedeker said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Michael Wrona has been named the full-time announcer at Santa Anita, effective with the start of the track’s spring-summer meeting May 5, the track announced Thursday.
Wrona, who has called races in California for more than 25 years, replaces Trevor Denman, who announced in December that he would no longer call races at Santa Anita after a 31-year career. Denman remains the announcer at Del Mar.
Wrona and Frank Mirahmadi have alternated as announcers at Santa Anita during the track’s winter-spring meeting, with the other working at Golden Gate Fields.
The $300,000 Zia Park Oaks will top the fourth annual Land of Enchantment program on Nov. 23 at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., the track announced. The 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies will anchor a card of nine stakes worth a total of $1.28 million. The lineup includes the $200,000 Zia Park Derby at 1 1/16 miles and the $150,000 Zia Park Championship.
Zia puts on a mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that opens Sept. 10 and runs through Dec. 13. The track has scheduled 32 stakes worth more than $3.8 million.
The New Mexico Racing Commission has granted Sunland eight additional race dates in a move that will extend the current meet to May 3. Sunland’s meet was originally scheduled to end April 19.
Sunland was forced to suspend live racing Jan. 23 due to an outbreak of the equine herpesvirus. Racing resumed Feb. 26.
The overall fatality rate for all U.S. races regardless of surface in 2015 was 1.62 fatalities per 1,000 starts, the lowest level recorded since data on catastrophic injuries began to be published in 2009, according to statistics released on Tuesday by The Jockey Club.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Wise Dan, the two-time Horse of the Year and two-time winner of the Woodbine Mile; Mark Casse, a seven-time Sovereign Award winner as Canada’s outstanding trainer; and long-time Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch headline a list of 15 Thoroughbred candidates eligible to be inducted to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2016.
Tote company Sportech Racing LLC and parimutuel employee Abel Leal were fined on Saturday in rulings by Santa Anita’s stewards for an incident last summer at Del Mar in which a horse who was not supposed to be scratched was erroneously removed from the wagering pools.
The incident happened in the fifth race last Sept. 6, the final Sunday of the meet, when Love on the Road was removed from the wagering pools, then re-inserted. As a result, Love on the Road ended up running for purse money only and was considered a scratch for wagering purposes.
We’re halfway through the Ultimate Betting Challenge and so far we have a Gulfstream exacta. Brian Gross of Chicago is in first with $16,474.60 and Will Nefzger of Louisville, Ky. is second with $12,324.
Gross jumped out to an early lead on Day 1, jumping up to more than $17,000 after the seventh at Gulfstream Park when My Wish List won and paid $46 to win and keyed a whopping $1,306.40 exacta with a 40-1 shot. Nefzger was down to a mere $312 at one point but clawed his way back into the mix. After hitting the last, won by 15-1 shot Cardiac, he jumped into second.
The New Mexico Racing Commission has granted Sunland Park in New Mexico eight additional race dates, which will extend the current meet to May 3. Sunland’s meet was originally scheduled to end on April 19.
The additional dates will be April 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, May 1 and May 3.
Sunland was forced to suspend live racing on Jan. 23 due to an outbreak of equine herpesvirus. Racing resumed Feb. 26 and a quarantine was lifted March 9. There were 68 horses onsite who tested positive for equine herpesvirus, according to Sunland.
