DEL MAR, Calif. – As sharp as Clubhouse Ride was in winning the Grade 2 Californian Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park on June 1, he was a disappointment when fourth in the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 6.
“It wasn’t his day,” trainer Craig Lewis said Wednesday.
The final spring-summer meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park had an increase of 4.1 percent in average all-sources handle over last year’s corresponding meet, according to a statement released by the track on Tuesday.
The 49-day race meeting, which ended on July 14, had an average all-sources handle of $9,433,702, while the 2012 figure was $9,064,114. The track did not publish ontrack attendance and handle figures, but the track’s president, Jack Leibau, said in an interview on July 14 that ontrack handle was “down significantly.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – The durable Richard’s Kid has not won in 10 starts, the longest losing streak of his 45-race career.
An 8-year-old, Richard’s Kid will forever be known as a two-time winner of the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in 2009 and 2010. Whether he merits a fourth career appearance in that race on Aug. 25 will be better known after Friday’s $100,000 Cougar II Handicap over 1 1/2 miles on the Polytrack surface at Del Mar.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Brian Lynch came close to recording his first turf stakes win of the meeting here in last Sunday’s Grade 2 Nijinsky, sending out Hampstead Heath and Grand Arch for second- and third-place finishes and combined earnings of $70,000.
On Saturday, Lynch will look to break through with Five Iron, who is among seven horses entered in the open, $125,000 Toronto Cup at 1 1/8 miles on turf for 3-year-olds.
It has been a long time since Where’s the Remote won a race but he may have found the right spot to break his losing streak when he runs in a $17,500 claiming race that will serve as Friday’s feature at Northlands Park. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up drew seven horses and goes as the seventh race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Der Bee Buz won her maiden on the Polytrack, but going by her current form, she is now a turf specialist. She’s set to travel nine furlongs on the grass in Friday’s Woodbine headliner, a $52,500 allowance for Ontario-sired nonwinners of two.
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Ask any horseman, or horseplayer for that matter, what the most difficult distance for a first-time starter to handle is, and you’ll likely get seven furlongs for an answer, especially for a 2-year-old.
The horse racing industry will be closely eyeing the 13-day Sonoma County Fair that begins in Santa Rosa on Friday and runs through Aug. 11.
For the first time, the meeting will be conducted as an individual entity rather than under the auspices of the California Authority of Racing Fairs like the rest of the Northern California fairs.
CARF organizes racing at the fairs, performs administrative work, helps with track maintenance, and distributes purses. Santa Rosa fair manager Tawny Tesconi said the track can save money by doing these things in house.
Monzante, the Grade 1 winner whose euthanization after being injured in a $4,000 claiming race Saturday at Evangeline Downs has prompted a national discussion about racehorse safety and retirement, was sound going into the race, according to his trainer, and was put down only after his condition worsened after being transported to the track’s backstretch.
As a means of better showcasing its inaugural $300,000 Zia Park Oaks, Zia Park has pushed back the date of the mile and a sixteenth race for 3-year-old fillies a day, to Sunday, Nov. 24.
In addition, the four undercard stakes scheduled to support the Oaks, including the $200,000 Zia Park Derby and $150,000 Zia Park Championship, were moved to the same date in a change approved by the New Mexico Racing Commission.
