Ralph Nicks began his racetrack career at age 16, and until this past year, he was always in perpetual motion.
“I’m 47, and I’ve had to move at least twice a year every year since I began on the racetrack,” Nicks said. “Until this year. With Gulfstream going year-round, we’ve been able to stay here and settle down. We haven’t had to move, and, boy, I’ll tell you, it’s nice. Thirty years as a transient was enough.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar has abandoned turf racing until Aug. 9 and will not conduct sprints or races for claimers on turf for the remainder of the summer meeting, the track announced on its website Friday.
The decisions were made after track and racing officials discussed options Friday, a day after a filly was seriously injured in a turf sprint on the troubled course.
DEL MAR, Calif. – There is a two-day carryover of $239,002 for Friday’s pick six at Del Mar.
The eight-race program begins at 4 p.m. Pacific.
The pick six covers the third through eighth race. The sequence offers several tricky races, with no morning-line favorite listed at lower than 5-2. Three races have morning-line favorites listed at 7-2.
The Illinois Racing Board on Thursday granted Hawthorne Race Course’s request to drop 13 racing dates from its 62-day fall meet and to pare to the bone the stakes schedule for the upcoming meet.
Hawthorne will host just one open stakes race this fall, the Hawthorne Gold Cup, which has been cut from $350,000 last year to $250,000 this year. In 2013, Hawthorne hosted four open stakes worth $700,000. The Hawthorne Derby, the Robert F. Carey Memorial, and the Indian Maid all have been removed from the 2014 schedule.
Owners David Frankham and Brian Carmody withdrew Smogcutter from Thursday’s first race at Del Mar to protest the presence of a rival horse that tested positive for a sedative in March, but whose trainer, A.C. Avila, has yet to be sanctioned.
Smogcutter was scratched at 12:55 p.m., a few minutes before he was due to be sent to the receiving barn before the race. Horses are sent to the receiving barn before proceeding to the paddock to be saddled. Not showing up at the receiving barn before a race is a violation of California Horse Racing Board rules.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Game On Dude is likely to be part of a crowded field when he attempts to win the $1 million Pacific Classic for the second consecutive year Aug. 24.
On Thursday, Game On Dude worked five furlongs in 1:01.40, galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.60, according to track clockers. Game On Dude worked alone under jockey Martin Garcia. Trainer Bob Baffert timed Game On Dude galloping out in 1:14.
A 7-year-old gelding, Game On Dude finished fourth behind Majestic Harbor in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28, his most recent start.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bad Read Sanchez’s appearance in Sunday’s $200,000 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar will determine how owners Paul and Zillah Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill campaign their 2-year-olds in the final days of this summer season.
The Grade 2 Best Pal is a key prep for the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity over seven furlongs Sept. 3, the final day of the meeting.
Bad Read Sanchez, second in the W.L. Proctor Memorial Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 13 in his stakes debut, easily could run in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity with a successful race Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After galloping to a four-length victory in a New York-bred allowance race at Saratoga on Wednesday, Willet could be headed to the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes, trainer and part-owner Jimmy Iselin said Thursday.
Willet, a 6-year-old daughter of Jump Start, earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 97 for running six furlongs in 1:09.49. It was her eighth victory in 17 career starts. She is a four-time New York-bred stakes winner whom Iselin is hoping to make into a graded stakes winner.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While Charlie LoPresti is delaying Wise Dan’s return to the races, he is moving forward with his 5-year-old gelding Villandry, hoping to turn him into a stakes winner in Saturday’s $100,000 Lure Stakes at Saratoga.
The Lure, at 1 1/16 miles, is the last of 11 races on the card and one of five stakes on the program.
The Downs at Albuquerque will open one of its most significant meets in years Saturday. Purses have more than doubled since last season, the stakes schedule has been expanded, and there are a host of new stables on hand for the 54-date mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that continues through Oct. 26.
Albuquerque has been able to put more money into its racing program due to a new casino built last year. In the past, the track’s slot machines had been housed within the grandstand. The new facilities have a patio outside overlooking the first turn of the track.
