Wed, 09/13/2017 - 11:06

McPeek hoping for big weekend in juvenile stakes

Churchill Downs/Coady Photography
Bashford Manor winner Ten City should be the favorite in Sunday's Ellis Park Juvenile.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kenny McPeek was still a bit jet-lagged Tuesday after returning the previous day from his long trip to South Korea, where the trainer sent out The Truth Or Else to a fourth-place finish in a race called the Keeneland Sprint.

“I’ll be fine in a day or two,” said McPeek.

McPeek would be doing even better this weekend with good showings at Churchill Downs from his star 2-year-olds Sunny Skies and Ten City, who are among the top contenders in the Saturday co-features, the Grade 2 Pocahontas and Grade 3 Iroquois.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 19:01

New York horsemen helping horses impacted by Harvey

ELMONT, N.Y. – New York horsemen in conjunction with Shirley Feed, a feed and supply store on Long Island, are helping to feed starving horses in Texas.

Shirley Feed has arranged to bring trailer loads of feed to the Houston area where there are approximately 10,000 starving horses as result of Hurricane Harvey. Horsemen can purchase a pallet of feed ($320) or a half-pallet ($160). A pallet is made up of 40 50-pound bags.

Donna Keen, wife of trainer Dallas Keen, will serve as the liaison for distribution in the Houston area.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 16:00

Diabolical Dame eyes Zia stakes

Diabolical Dame, who led a Todd Fincher-trained superfecta in the $70,000 Carlos Salazar last month at the Downs at Albuquerque, will now target the New Mexico Cup program at Zia Park. Fincher said the mare is being pointed for the $140,000 Distaff, a six-furlong race for New Mexico-breds on Oct. 29. Diabolical Dame is a winner of 14 of 23 starts and she has earned $590,980.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 15:56

Announcer shuffle at Louisiana Downs

Louisiana Downs will have a different announcer for the final two weeks of its meet as John McGary begins calling races at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., on Saturday. McGary said Mike Persichino will fill in through the close of the Louisiana Downs meet on Sept. 27.

McGary will call at Zia through the close of the meet in December, then be back at Louisiana Downs for both the Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred meets in 2018.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 15:56

Cox maps plans for Mr. Misunderstood, other Louisiana Downs stakes winners

Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography
Brad Cox said he likely will look to have Super Derby winner Mr. Misunderstood make his next start in Kentucky.

Trainer Brad Cox had a stakes triple at Louisiana Downs on Saturday, and his three winners, led by Super Derby hero Mr. Misunderstood, were back home at Churchill Downs by Sunday. There are varying plans going forward for the horses.

Mr. Misunderstood improved his turf record to 5 for 5 in the $200,000 Super Derby, which was run on the grass for the first time in its 38 runnings. He sat just off a pedestrian pace under Chris Rosier and darted home by three lengths in the 1 1/16-mile race. Mr. Misunderstood equalled his best Beyer Speed Figure, an 89.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 15:50

Apprentice rider Rosado wins on first mount

Barbara Weidl/EQUI-PHOTO
Jockey Johan Rosado won his first race Sept. 10 at Parx Racing when, aboard Tripocha, he defeated a field of six others including his father, Roberto Rosado.

Apprentice rider Johan Rosado won at Parx Racing on Sunday with his first career mount. Rosado’s father, Roberto, a mainstay in the Parx riding colony for 20 years, finished sixth in the same race.

Johan Rosado, 19, rallied Tripocha up the rail in the stretch of race 2 to win by a neck for trainer Scott Lake. Tripocha paid $4.40.

Rosado’s victory triggered an emotional winner’s circle celebration, which attracted a large crowd, including his mother and father.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 15:47

Announcer Mirahmadi gets clean bill of health

Monmouth Park track announcer Frank Mirahmadi, who has had two surgeries for colon cancer in the past year, aced his latest round of tests at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, and has been pronounced cancer-free.

Scans and other tests revealed no evidence of the disease. Mirahmadi is scheduled to undergo blood tests in March and have another round of scans in a year.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 15:20

Sagamore pair head back to Maryland

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Chris Block and owner Bob Lothenbach had a first and a second in Arlington stakes Saturday, with Bet She Wins taking the Arlington-Washington Lassie and Captivating Moon running second in the Arlington-Washington Futurity.

Trainer Horacio de Paz and Kevin Plank’s Sagamore Farm also had a first and a second in stakes on Saturday.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 15:10

Mazarine or Alcibiades next for Bet She Wins

Four-Footed Fotos
Bet She Wins romps to a 9 1/2-length victory in the Arlington-Washington Lassie.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Arlington-Washington Lassie lost its graded status in 2013 and now is merely a listed stakes worth $75,000, barely more than half the purse of a maiden race at Kentucky Downs.

Don’t bother telling that to Bet She Wins.

Bet She Wins powered home to a 9 1/2-length victory Saturday in the Lassie, and her winning time of 1:24.43 for seven furlongs over a slow-playing Polytrack produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 90. That’s the second-highest figure for a 2-year-old of either sex on any surface so far this year.

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 13:50

All-sources daily handle average shows slight gain for 2017

Handle at the Monmouth Park meeting that concluded Sunday showed a narrow gain in the all-sources daily average over the 2016 meeting, according to figures released by the track.

Handle at the 50-day meet averaged $3.47 million per day, up just less than 1 percent from the $3.44 million a year ago. Ontrack handle increased 7.9 percent to $424,556 a day, while money bet offtrack was up slightly to $3.05 million per day.

Total handle for the season decreased by approximately 11.5 percent, since the 2016 meet consisted of seven additional racing days.