Queen’s Plate winner Moira and the recently retired Lady Speightspeare are finalists in multiple categories in the 2022 Sovereign Award voting for Canadian champion honors, announced by the Jockey Club of Canada on Thursday.
Moira, who won both the Plate and Woodbine Oaks decisively, is a finalist for champion 3-year-old filly, along with Sister Seagull and Souper Hoity Toity. Moira is also a finalist in the female turf category, along with Lady Speightspeare and Fev Rover.
The chief executive of the New York Racing Association on Thursday told a joint New York State legislative committee that a proposal to use state bonds to fund the renovation of Belmont Park would put the New York racing industry on solid footing for the foreseeable future.
There were times from the 1970s to 1990s when the legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach was at the center of Thoroughbred racing. Bacharach campaigned Heartlight No. One, the champion 3-year-old filly of 1983, and owned Grade 1 winners Afternoon Deelites and Soul of the Matter.
Bacharach died of natural causes on Wednesday at the age of 94 at his home in California.
He won with his first horse he owned, in the late 1960s, and won his first stakes with Crumbs in the 1975 El Cajon Stakes at Del Mar.
The Maryland Jockey Club has put in place new policies regarding manure and wastewater run-off on the backstretches of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course in response to concerns raised by the Maryland Department of Environment.
The policies include routine management of manure bins and loose bedding so that waste does not enter water run-off. In addition, horsemen have been told to prevent wastewater from entering storm drains and to use detergents and soaps that are biodegradable.
Total wagering on races held at U.S. tracks during the month of January declined significantly compared to the same month last year, according to figures released on Monday by Equibase.
The 7.2 percent declined occurred during a month that had nine weekend dates, when handle is typically far higher than weekdays, compared to 10 weekend dates in January last year, somewhat mitigating the drop. However, the decline also occurred despite a 4.3 percent jump in the number of races held during the month.
The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday posted a batch of rules governing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s anti-doping program on its website, triggering the start of a public-comment period and the potential approval of the rules in 60 days.
Howie Tesher, a successful trainer and popular backstretch personality who enjoyed a career that spanned more than five decades, died Friday at the Majestic Memory Care Center in Hollywood, Fla. He was 90.
Tesher, who suffered from dementia, died due to complications from pneumonia, according to his niece Jodie David.
Tesher, a journalism major at the University of Florida, worked with his older brothers Fred and Bobby, who were dentists in South Florida. But Tesher, despite being allergic to horses, made his way to the track.
A 19-year-old exercise rider was killed early Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in a pre-dawn accident when a horse apparently slammed into his airborne body as he was coming off the horse he was exercising.
According to sources at the Oldsmar, Fla., track, the deceased is Daniel Quintero, a Venezuela native who was an aspiring jockey.
