Norman E. Casse, an influential figure in the Florida Thoroughbred industry for several decades and the patriarch of a family of prominent horsemen, died Sunday at his farm in Ocala, Fla., following an illness. He was 79.
A native of Indianapolis, Casse went the races at Keeneland while attending Indiana University. He purchased his first broodmare shortly after graduating with a business degree and was involved with the Thoroughbred industry ever since.
Jason Wilson, a Jockey Club management official since 2010, has been hired to head up Equibase, the data company that The Jockey Club owns in partnership with a racetrack trade group, Equibase announced on Monday.
Wilson, who was first hired by The Jockey Club in 2010 as the company’s vice president of business development, succeeds Hank Zeitlin, the longtime president and chief operating officer of Equibase who announced his resignation last year. Wilson’s appointment is effective immediately, Equibase said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita has scheduled 34 stakes, including five Grade 1 races, during its spring-summer meeting from May 5 to July 10, a season with a concentration of turf races from the opening week to mid-June.
Santa Anita will cease racing on the hillside turf course on June 6 and on the turf oval on June 20 to replace the course in advance of the autumn meeting that begins in late September. The final eight stakes of the meeting will be run on the main track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jose Ortiz didn’t win the $125,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes, but he won virtually every other race he rode in run Sunday at Aqueduct.
When Ortiz guided Repent Twice from last to first in Sunday’s eighth race, it was his fifth win from seven mounts on the nine-race card. Ortiz, 22, said it was the first time he has ridden five winners on one card. On Saturday, he won four races at Aqueduct.
Sunland Park in New Mexico announced late Friday that the quarantine it has been under due to an outbreak of the equine herpesvirus could be lifted by the state's Livestock Board on Wednesday. If the quarantine is lifted, the stable area will no longer be on lockdown, and horses can travel to and from Sunland.
Legislation that would have radically changed the gambling landscape in Florida was declared officially dead on Friday night after the state’s House of Representatives failed to take up the bills, following in the Senate’s lead earlier this week.
John Lies, who for more than a decade has been the announcer at Lone Star Park near Dallas, has resigned his position to take on the role of racing secretary and announcer at both Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows in Oklahoma.
Lies said Friday he will continue to serve as announcer for Kentucky Downs and as simulcast host at Del Mar.
There was ample amount of yin and yang for owners and breeders when it comes to the state of the Thoroughbred purse landscape and racehorse earnings in 2015. There were some good and some bad aspects in the data when looking at the macro and micro pictures of purses and runners, but the good outweighs the bad for the most part, at least when it comes to the averages, or those lucky enough to beat the odds and be represented by a top runner.
Handle on U.S. races climbed for a third straight month in February, according to figures released by Equibase on Friday, rising 6.4 percent over wagering in February 2015.
Betting last month on U.S. races totalled $812.9 million, up from $763.8 million in February 2015, according to the figures. Betting on U.S. races grew despite continuing declines in the number of races held at U.S. tracks. The number of races held in February dropped 2.3 percent from 2,341 last year to 2,287 this year.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The 157th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate highlights the 2016 Woodbine stakes schedule that features 101 races worth more than $20 million.
The first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown will be contested on July 3, and will be the first Queen’s Plate run on Woodbine’s new Tapeta main track. The Queen’s Plate will be complemented by three turf stakes on the card – the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes, the Grade 2 Dance Smartly Stakes, and the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes.
