Sam Houston Race Park will race 43 dates for Thoroughbreds from Jan. 5 through April 7 next year after receiving approval for the calendar during a Texas Racing Commission meeting on Wednesday, the Houston track announced.
Sam Houston was also granted a 25-date meet for Quarter Horses from April 19-June 15.
More than $175,000 in purses from 12 races run at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos from June 2 to July 4 were recently ordered redistributed by Santa Anita stewards for medication violations following rulings issued earlier this year by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.
The horses involved including eight runners trained by Milton Pineda, three by Peter Miller, and one by Cesar DeAlba. The affected purses involved included eight winners, including seven trained by Pineda, two second-place finishers, a fourth-place runner and a seventh-place runner.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario—Woodbine Entertainment has announced the appointment of former politician Monte McNaughton as Executive Vice President of Industry Relations and People Experience.
McNaughton, who was most recently Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development for Ontario, served in public office for more than 15 years and was a Member of Provincial Parliament since 2011 for the Progressive Conservative party.
Lindy probably earned a trip to the Breeders’ Cup with a closing second-place finish Saturday in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.
The French-bred filly, second in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas) before being sent to trainer Brendan Walsh in America, was coming hard at pacesetting Mawj in the QE II, and while her rally fell a half-length short in that 1 1/8-mile race, Lindy earned a strong 99 Beyer Speed Figure.
Despite finishing second as a heavy favorite on Sunday in the Franklin Stakes at Keeneland, Caravel will ship to Santa Anita late this month with designs on a repeat victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Caravel’s intended participation brings to eight the number of trainer Brad Cox’s expected Breeders’ Cup starters, just one fewer than the number of Breeders’ Cup winners he has sent out from a mere 31 starters, an exceptional strike rate in races as competitive as these.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockeys Jose Lezcano and Joel Rosario will be serving three-day careless riding suspensions Thursday through Saturday while jockey Javier Castellano has appealed a three-day suspension handed him by the track stewards.
Rosario was handed his suspension for his ride aboard Spirit Prince in the Grade 2 Pilgrim Stakes on Oct. 4. Spirit Prince came in and bumped Fulmineo, who finished second while Spirit Prince was declared to be in a dead heat for third with Liam’s Journey.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jody’s Pride, winner of the off-the-turf Matron Stakes, is being pointed to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita, trainer Jorge Abreu said Monday.
Abreu has twice tried to run Jody’s Pride on turf, but both races were rained off to the main track and Jody’s Pride won both handily. A daughter of American Pharoah, Jody’s Pride has only run 5 1/2 furlongs and six furlongs. The Juvenile Fillies is run at 1 1/16 miles.
“It’s a concern,” Abreu said of the distance, “but I think she’ll be able to handle it.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Clapton, winner of the Grade 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs on Sept. 30, is being trained toward a start in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.
Trainer Chad Summers was planning to work Clapton Tuesday at Belmont Park and then ship to Southern California on Saturday so that he can get a work over Santa Anita’s main track the last weekend of October.
Summers has gone as far as to secure a jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, for the Classic.
Del Mar has cut overnight purses for its 13-day autumn meeting from Nov. 10 to Dec. 3.
The reductions were expected. The track announced earlier this month that stakes purses for the season would drop $400,000, to $2.05 million. The purses of six stakes were cut.
For overnight purses, some categories have been affected more than others. A maiden special weight will be worth $61,000, down 12.8 percent from $70,000 at the 2022 autumn meeting. A first-condition allowance race will be worth $63,000, a decline of 12.5 percent from last fall’s purse of $72,000.
Led by Arabian Knight, the winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 2, trainer Bob Baffert gave several prominent horses workouts at Santa Anita on Monday, less than three weeks before the Breeders’ Cup.
“We started picking up the tempo a little bit,” Baffert said.
Arabian Knight, unraced since the Pacific Classic, worked seven furlongs in 1:24. A winner of 3 of 4 starts, Arabian Knight is rated as a leading contender for the $6 million BC Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Nov. 4. Arabian Knight won his first try at 1 1/4 miles in the Pacific Classic.
