ARCADIA, Calif. – Betfair Hollywood Park will run a fall meeting in November and December, ending months of speculation whether the track would continue to conduct racing or be closed for development at the end of the summer.
In a brief speech to the racing board, track president Jack Liebau said, “We can confirm that Hollywood Park will run the fall dates.”
The seven-week fall meeting is scheduled from Nov. 6 through Dec. 22.
Officials at Fair Grounds Race Course made a preemptive and prudent decision Wednesday to postpone two of the five stakes scheduled for its “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” program Saturday in New Orleans.
Both of those grass races, the $125,000 Col. E.R. Bradley and the $75,000 Marie Krantz Memorial, will be run a week from Saturday, on Jan. 26. The move was made because of a heavily saturated turf course and the fear that those stakes would be decimated if they were carded this Saturday and had to be transferred to the main track.
Sam Houston Race Park opens Friday night with a number of changes to its racing program, led by the creation of the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic. The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares on Jan. 26 will be the richest Thoroughbred stakes run during the past year in Texas, and it will share a card with the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mucho Macho Man, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to close out his outstanding 2012 campaign, will be the marquee name on Saturday’s Florida Sunshine Millions program at Gulfstream Park.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Get Happy Mister, who won the $100,000 Gold Rush Futurity at Arapahoe Park in August with a Beyer Speed Figure of 91, is now based at Oaklawn. The horse was freshened after the futurity by trainer Butch Gleason, who this fall made arrangements to send Get Happy Mister to trainer Kelly Von Hemel.
"He's a big, good-looking colt," said Von Hemel, who is based at Oaklawn.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Slew’s Exchange has been a model of consistency every time she’s been sent five furlongs on the turf, having finished third or better in all five such starts. But even trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. knows the waters will get even deeper when Slew’s Exchange goes postward among the key contenders in Friday’s $57,500 main event at Gulfstream Park, an optional $62,500 claimer at five furlongs on the grass.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Horses were back training at Oaklawn Park on Wednesday after a three-day hiatus, and jockey Calvin Borel found himself in the unusual position of watching the proceedings. Borel has been healing from an injury to his left wrist that has put his bid for 5,000 career victories on hold. But during a visit to Oaklawn on Wednesday, he said he was quite hopeful the cast he is wearing will be removed in 14 days.
“I’m doing good,” he said. “I go back to the doctor on Tuesday.”
A quarter crack will keep The Lumber Guy from starting in Saturday’s $150,000 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita.
Trainer Neil Drysdale said on Wednesday that The Lumber Guy was not entered in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes over six furlongs.
Owned by Barry Schwartz, The Lumber Guy has won 4 of 8 starts and $736,050. He was second in the BC Sprint here on Nov. 3, but was seventh as the 4-5 favorite in the Malibu Stakes here on Dec. 26.
“He came up with a quarter crack after the Malibu,” Drysdale said. “We’re being very conservative.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – My Miss Aurelia, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2011 and a finalist for champion 3-year-old filly of 2012, will have a late winter and early spring campaign geared toward the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 12, co-owner George Bolton said.
My Miss Aurelia is currently in training with Steve Asmussen at Santa Anita, and could have a prep race in February or March before the trip to Oaklawn.
“The Apple Blossom is the goal,” Bolton said. “We’re considering giving her a prep and then the Apple Blossom.”
The New York Cosmos, a North American Soccer League team, has submitted a proposal to the Empire State Development Corporation seeking approval to build a 25,000-seat stadium and 175-room hotel on property at Belmont Park, the team said in a press release.
The stadium and hotel would be built in the parking lot across Hempstead Turnpike from the track’s grandstand. The lot is currently used for overflow parking.
