Fri, 12/17/2021 - 16:42

Brad Cox breaks single-season earnings mark for trainer

Barbara D. Livingston
Brad Cox snagged another trainer title, taking the Ellis Park meet with 23 winners.

Brad Cox, a leading contender for the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer, broke the single-season earnings mark set by Chad Brown in 2019 on Friday when 2-year-old In Dreams won a $100,000 allowance race at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

With the win, worth $60,000, Cox has total earnings of $31,135,781 with two weeks of racing left in the year. Cox edged closer to the record in the fifth race at Oaklawn, when his 2-year-old Mariah’s Fortune earned $50,400 with a win in a maiden special race.

Fri, 12/17/2021 - 12:28

Navarro sentenced to five years in prison

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Jorge Navarro was among 27 defendants who were arrested en masse at 4 a.m. on Monday morning and charged with "misbranding conspiracy."

NEW YORK – Disgraced Thoroughbred trainer Jorge Navarro, who went from claiming trainer to conditioner of multiple graded stakes winners who sometimes gave hard-to-believe performances, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit drug adulteration or misbranding.

Thu, 12/16/2021 - 13:59

Illinois Racing Board rejects Churchill Downs Inc. bid to continue operating OTBS

The Illinois Racing Board on Thursday narrowly voted to reject plans by Churchill Downs Inc. to continue operating off-track betting parlors in the state despite the cessation of racing at the company’s Arlington Park in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Wed, 12/15/2021 - 16:40

Cella named to Management Committee of Equibase

Coady Photography
Louis Cella has overseen a number of changes at Oaklawn Park since taking over management of the track from his father, Charles, in 2017.

Louis Cella, the president of Oaklawn Park, has been appointed to serve on the Management Committee of Equibase, the data company owned in partnership by a racetrack trade group and The Jockey Club.

Cella, who took over management of Oaklawn from his late father, Charles, in 2017, will take the seat of Daisy Phipps Pulito, a Jockey Club appointee who began serving on the committee in 2016. Phipps Pulito is the racing manager of the Phipps Stable.

Wed, 12/15/2021 - 15:27

CHRB grants Golden Gate six-month license but will keep close eye on equine safety

Barbara D. Livingston
In November, four horses were euthanized during an eight-day period at Golden Gate Fields.

The California Horse Racing Board approved a six-month racing license for Golden Gate Fields starting later this month after a lengthy discussion at its monthly meeting on Wednesday concerning recent equine fatalities in racing and training at the Northern California track.

By a vote of 4-3, the board approved the meeting from Dec. 26 to June 14, 2022. A motion to grant a three-month license to allow a review of the track’s safety record was rejected by a vote of 4-3.

Tue, 12/14/2021 - 11:01

DRF's Privman among three named to National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor

Barbara D. Livingston
Jay Privman (right), shown with Hall of Fame jockey Darrel McHargue in November, has been the national correspondent for Daily Racing Form since 1998.

Jay Privman, the national correspondent for Daily Racing Form since 1998, has been selected for induction into the National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, along with the late writers Walter Haight and Jack Mann, the museum announced on Tuesday.

Privman, 62, will join a short list of 26 media members who have already been inducted into the Media Roll of Honor since it was first established in 2010. Selection into the Roll of Honor is determined by a committee that includes historians and media members, both current and retired.

Thu, 12/09/2021 - 11:40

Despite shortened season, Woodbine posts third-highest handle ever

Emily Shields
Town Cruise wins the 2021 Woodbine Mile. That day's handle produced a record for a Woodbine Mile card.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario -- The 2021 handle on live Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine produced an all-sources handle of $505,348,339, the third-highest season total in Woodbine’s history.

For the second consecutive year, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortened season, as the 2021 meet was delayed until June 12. Originally scheduled for 133 race dates, the 2021 meet ran for 99 days, three more than last year, and 946 races were contested. The foreign wagering handle of $420,666,755 was the highest ever at the meet, undoubtedly fueled by an excellent average field size of 9.02 starters.

Wed, 12/08/2021 - 17:54

Racing Symposium: What racing did right during the pandemic

Racetracks survived, and, in some cases, thrived, during the height of the pandemic last year by capitalizing on television and account wagering and modifying racing schedules to better position themselves in the simulcast marketplace, track executives said on a Wednesday afternoon panel at the Global Symposium on Racing.

Wed, 12/08/2021 - 15:49

Racing Symposium: Fixed-odds wagering dissected

Racing industry conferences have been dominated over the past five years with discussions of fixed-odds betting and sports wagering, and the Global Symposium on Racing was no different. Much of the discussion has centered on the opportunities available to racing in partnering with sports-book operations and abandoning, at least in part, the 100-year-old practice in the U.S. of restricting betting on racing to pari-mutuel wagering, along with the drawbacks and potential pitfalls to those decisions.

Wed, 12/08/2021 - 15:33

Racing Symposium: Fewer race options could make for bigger field size

Racing-office veterans seem to agree on one thing: It’s past time to starve the beast.

A panel of top racing officials discussing field size on Wednesday morning at the Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson, Ariz., were uniformly critical of a practice that has become common in racing offices across the country over the past decade – giving horsemen a smorgasbord of choices for overnight races.