Louisiana Downs has added two dates to its racing calendar. Both are Wednesday programs, on Sept. 10 and Sept. 17, according to Roxanne Tanner, the track’s director of racing.
“Our handle’s been showing an uptick this year,” she said of a reason for adding the dates.
Tanner said the move was made after discussions with the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. She said first post for the added dates will be 4:05 p.m. Central. Louisiana Downs will wrap up its meet Sept. 23.
The 71-year-old trainer Allen Landry is arguably operating the hottest barn in Louisiana. He will attempt to keep rolling Saturday when he saddles He’s Late Again in the $250,000, 1 1/8-mile Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.
Landry captured his first career training title this past spring at Delta Downs. Last weekend, he won three of the six Louisiana Cup Day stakes at Louisiana Downs. And on Monday, he picked up the training title at his base of Evangeline Downs.
Equibase, the racing industry’s official data supplier, has entered final race times into its database for the first three race cards at Kentucky Downs run last week that conflict with nearly all of the times registered by the track’s timing vendor, officials for the company confirmed on Tuesday.
Negotiations between representatives of Oklahoma riders and horsemen on mount fees paid to jockeys remained stalled on Tuesday morning, threatening the race cards at Remington Park already drawn for later this week.
Representatives of The Jockeys’ Guild and the Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma have been swapping proposals for a new mount fee schedule for weeks and have agreed on a new $100 mount fee for all losing rides, but the two sides remain stalled on two issues, according to Terry Meyocks, the chief executive of the guild.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though Saratoga still does big business and attracts large crowds hardly seen at most racetracks, there does appear to be a saturation point for the premier Thoroughbred meet in the country. It’s something even upper management recognizes.
“We’re really looking forward to getting back to 40 days,” New York Racing Association president and CEO Dave O’Rourke said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Scottish Lassie, the 15 1/2-length winner of the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, worked six furlongs in 1:13.86 Monday morning over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for a start in the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes on Sept. 20 at Parx.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It’s Our Time, the impressive 2-year-old son of Not This Time who won his career debut by 17 3/4 lengths on Aug. 16, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $400,000 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 4, trainer Tom Amoss said Sunday.
The Champagne is run as a one-turn mile and Amoss said he likes that as a gradual stretch-out to ultimately trying two turns, perhaps in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kenny McPeek sent out 2-year-old winners for three consecutive days in Saratoga and is now pointing that trio to stakes at Aqueduct this fall.
On Thursday, McPeek sent out the filly Rina’s Revenge to a 4 3/4-length victory going six furlongs. A daughter of Yaupon, Rina’s Revenge earned a 59 Beyer Speed Figure.
On Friday, McPeek won a 2-year-old maiden race with Stickupwithoutagun, a son of McKinzie who had finished sixth in a turf race here just two weeks earlier.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Thorpedo Anna, the reigning Horse of the Year who won a thrilling renewal of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign by a nose on Aug. 23, will most likely make her next start in the Grade 1 Spinster on Oct. 5 at Keeneland, trainer Kenny McPeek said Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Edgard Zayas was originally scheduled to spend this past weekend at Kentucky Downs. But a chain of events that began with John Velazquez taking himself off Be Your Best in the Flower Bowl here Saturday to ride Fierceness in the Pacific Classic instead led Zayas to Saratoga, where he won four races over a two-day span.
He also ended up with the mount on White Abarrio in the tumultuous Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race in which Irad Ortiz Jr. was unseated from Mindframe after a chain reaction of bumping after the start of the race.
