ARCADIA, Calif. – Benefiting from ideal weather and strong field size, Santa Anita has shown an increase in all-sources handle at its winter-spring meeting, according to data provided by track executive Tim Ritvo.
Combined handle from ontrack, satellite, and account-wagering sources rose 14.6 percent, from $109.7 million at the start of the 2016-17 season to $125.8 million this year. The figures reflect the first 13 days of racing at both meetings.
The Delaware Racing Commission on Wednesday approved the dates for Delaware Park's upcoming 81-day season.
The meet, which has the same number of days as in 2017, will open May 30 and continue through Oct. 20, with racing on Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. First post will be 1:15 p.m.
The meet will peak on July 14 when the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap is held. Songbird won last year's Del Cap by a hard-earned length over Martini Glass for owner Rick Porter, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, and jockey Mike Smith.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s hard not to root for Manchurian High in Saturday’s $150,000 Sunshine Millions Turf.
Not only is the 10-year-old Manchurian High the oldest horse in the field, he’s also a two-time winner of the event and seeks his third win in a unique manner – off a five-length maiden victory over the hurdles in Charleston, S.C., two months earlier.
The $100,000 Fire Plug, one of two six-furlong stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday, has drawn a deep field of 12.
The Fire Plug and $100,000 What a Summer, which is for fillies and mares, are the local prep races for next month’s Grade 3, $250,000 General George and Grade 2, $300,000 Barbara Fritchie.
Trainer Lupe Preciado has entered Dave’s Friend winner Favorite Tale in the Fire Plug. Originally, there was supposed to be three weeks between the races, but following two weather-related cancellations Favorite Tale will be coming back on 12 days’ rest.
After 40 years as a trainer, John Scanlan retired from the game in 2014, and his death on Jan. 8 in Philadelphia went largely unnoticed.
Scanlan, who was 68, battled health issues in recent years. He won won 766 races during his career but is best remembered as the trainer of Toccet, runner-up in the Eclipse Award voting for champion 2-year-old male in 2002, and for his long association with the brash, outspoken owner Daniel Borislow.
John Servis, who splits his stable between Parx and Florida in the winter, has won with 5 of 10 starters up north since Jan. 9. On Monday, he went 3 for 6.
On Jan. 9, Pop Keenan improved his record to 4 for 8 for Servis and owner Chuck Zacney with an impressive first-level allowance victory at Parx. The way he won suggests he may be stakes-bound.
Pop Keenan did not make his career debut until last July, halfway through his 3-year-old season.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has canceled its nine-race card for Thursday due to freezing temperatures, according to track spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt.
A winter storm moved into Arkansas following Monday's card, and Oaklawn closed its track for training on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Temperatures have dipped into the teens the last two nights, and, in some ares of the state, single digits.
Oaklawn will remain open for simulcast and gaming Thursday. The track expects racing to resume Friday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jose Ortiz left the paddock aboard a mare named Zeven with a smile on his face prior to the ninth race Monday. And for good reason: Moments earlier, Ortiz had escaped injury despite having been thrown hard to the track when his mount, Double Cabernet, broke down at the top of the stretch.
“I am okay, thank God,” Ortiz said.
Two other jockeys, Carlos Jimenez and apprentice Aby Medina, also were dislodged from their mounts in the incident, and they, too, were uninjured.
Double Cabernet, trained by Peter Walder, had to be euthanized.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Heavenhasmynikki will run next in a stakes race after staying unbeaten by winning her second career start here Monday in a first-level allowance sprint.
Heavenhasmynikki is owned by the Loooch Racing Stable of Ron Paolucci and named for his daughter Nicole, who died in January 2016 at age 21.
“The filly means everything to me,” Paolucci said after Heavenhasmynikki came through a rail opening in earning a 75 Beyer Speed Figure in the six-furlong race. “We’ve got more than 100 horses, and she’s definitely in the top three. She’s very special.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – New York racing officials and horsemen are hopeful that a quarantine placed on a Belmont Park barn Jan. 10 will be lifted later this week.
A horse trained by Linda Rice tested positive for the equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) on Jan. 9. That unraced 3-year-old male had a temperature for several days before being sent to the Cornell Ruffian Equine Hospital across the street from the Belmont barn area. The horse did not show any neurological signs of the virus.
