ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine will be hosting the 11th annual gathering of track superintendents this Sunday through Tuesday.
The event will begin with a welcome reception on Sunday and presentations and demonstrations will be held on Monday and Tuesday.
The focus will be on the latest technologies affecting track maintenance, with the overall objective the promotion of the safest possible racing environment.
ELMONT, N.Y. - I'll Have Another will not move to the stakes barn, a detention barn for horses running in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, until Wednesday, just before the deadline, trainer Doug O'Neill said Tuesday at Belmont Park.
\SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Canterbury Park the and Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux have come to a 10-year agreement that will provide millions of dollars in purse enhancements for the track while providing the Sioux with security from a possible racino at the track. The two entities announced the agreement at a joint press conference Monday
ELMONT, N.Y. - Brilliant Speed has turned into a top-level turf horse for trainer Tom Albertrani since finishing third behind Ruler On Ice in the 2011 Belmont Stakes. Brilliant Speed will be in action once again on Belmont Stakes day when he goes 1 1/4 miles in Saturday's Grade 1 Manhattan. He tuned up for the assignment by working five furlongs in 1:00.40 over the main track here Monday.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Giant Ryan, the recently crowned New York-bred Horse of the Year for 2011, was vanned to Belmont Park from Florida last week and will start in Saturday's Grade 2, $400,000 True North Handicap at six furlongs.
Giant Ryan, trained by Bisnath Parboo, went 6 for 9 last year, including a victory in the Grade 1 Vosburgh over this track last October. He completed his year with an eighth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
ELKTON, Md. – Going back to last summer, John Velazquez has long admired Union Rags from afar. On Sunday morning, he got up close and personal with the Grade 1-winning colt for the first time, and it served only to confirm his admiration.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The union representing approximately 130 to 150 maintenance crew workers for the New York Racing Association – including the starting gate crew – has authorized a strike that could impact Saturday’s Belmont Stakes in which I’ll Have Another will attempt to win the Triple Crown.
The members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 voted recently to authorize a strike at the three NYRA tracks, although no date was selected for that strike to begin, according to Vincent McElroen, financial secretary for the IBEW.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It was only by circumstance that River Rush ran in last Sunday’s $151,200 Plate Trial.
Reade Baker, who trains the homebred River Rush for Stronach Stable, initially had entered the colt in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race scheduled for Sunday while reserving the Plate Trial as an option.
“I had to get a race into him,” said Baker. “There’s another maiden race Friday, but I didn’t know if that would go either.
“I had to run him in one of those three spots, if I was going to have a chance of making the Plate with him.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – For a guy whose colt will try to end a 34-year drought in the Triple Crown on Saturday and whose professional life has been repeatedly picked over in the past month, trainer Doug O’Neill looked awfully calm Monday morning at Belmont Park, just days before I’ll Have Another tries to become the 12th Triple Crown winner in the 144th Belmont Stakes.
The reason? I’ll Have Another.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Bob Tiller won four races last weekend at Woodbine, including the Ballade Stakes. He will try to keep the ball rolling in Wednesday’s third race with The Bull Got Shot, who will be the first or second choice in the Ontario-sired allowance sprint on the grass.
