FORT ERIE, Ontario – Following its annual board meeting on Tuesday, an official from the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium said that Fort Erie Race Track would close permanently on Dec. 31.
The Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium board includes representation from the Ontario Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Fort Erie Race Track management, unions involved with racetrack operations, the town of Fort Erie, and the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourist Corporation.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on the New York Racing Association and the union which represents the track’s maintenance and starting gate crew to settle their differences before Saturday’s Belmont Stakes in which I’ll Have Another will attempt to become the sport’s 12th Triple Crown winner.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas was kicked by his stakes-winning sprinter Hamazing Destiny at Belmont Park on Tuesday afternoon and was taken to a local hospital with a laceration to his head, according to a press release from the New York Racing Association.
Lukas, 74, a Hall of Fame trainer, will "need stitches," according to jockey agent Ron Anderson, who was with Lukas at the hospital.
Lukas has Optimizer in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Corey Nakatani, represented by Anderson, has the mount.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A little more than an hour after I'll Have Another completed his usual morning gallop Tuesday at Belmont Park, he was safely tucked away in his stall in Barn 9, groom Inosencio Diaz standing alongside him. Doug O'Neill, the trainer of I'll Have Another, had earlier that morning decided to delay by 24 hours I'll Have Another's relocation to the detention barn in which all the horses in Saturday's Belmont Stakes needed to be moved by Wednesday. As someone who is closer to I'll Have Another than anyone else, Diaz thought I'll Have Another would be just fine.
NEW YORK – The Belmont Stakes came to New York City on Tuesday with I’ll Have Another and his quest to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 the obvious center of attention in a special reception at Rockefeller Center. But it was trainer Dale Romans who stole the show.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Awesome Feather, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2010 who is undefeated in nine career starts, has recently resumed training and will be pointed toward a late summer/fall campaign, trainer Chad Brown said Tuesday.
Awesome Feather was sidelined with an unspecified setback in March and resumed jogging at Saratoga only this week. The setback was not related to the tendon issue that sidelined Awesome Feather most of her 3-year-old season.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Before sporting interest turns to a particular win streak by a colt racing Saturday at Belmont Park, the wagering challenge Thursday is to win six straight races at Betfair Hollywood Park.
A one-day pick six carryover of $107,825 is up for grabs on races 3-8, and bettors are expected to add at least $500,000 while chasing the first Sunday-to-Thursday carryover of the spring meet.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Decision time is fast approaching for Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
Sunday, Hollendorfer won the Grade 3 Affirmed Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park with Nonios, who was making his stakes debut and first start outside of Northern California.
The victory has led Hollendorfer to pore over the list of stakes for 3-year-olds around the nation, wondering what best suits Nonios, who has won 3 of 4 starts in his four-month career.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is down to his last chance.
After disappointing losses by Bodemeister in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes last month, the lightly raced Paynter starts in Saturday's Belmont Stakes as Baffert's final opportunity to earn a victory in the series of races he covets the most.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A decline in all-sources handle could lead to a purse cut at the current spring-summer meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park, according to the track’s president, Jack Liebau.
Liebau said last weekend that handle has declined 5 percent compared with the 2011 meeting, attributing much of the reduction to lower field sizes.
