OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- Law Professor, dominant winner of the Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 7, will be considered for a start in the Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 18, trainer Rob Atras said Thursday.
“It’s still a ways away, but that’s the race we’ll look at first,” Atras said. “We’ll see how he trains the next two weeks.”
Total wagering on races held at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston this year has plummeted 91 percent compared to betting last year through the first two weeks of the meet due to the inability of the track to accept bets from out-of-state markets.
Total wagering has dropped from $11.75 million on six days of live racing last year to $1.04 million on seven days of live racing this year, according to records obtained through the Equibase database. The average per-race handle has dropped from $217,595 to $16,697, a decline of 92.3 percent.
The last time a real Kentucky Derby horse came out of Chicago was 2002, when War Emblem won the Illinois Derby at defunct Sportsman’s Park for trainer Bobby Springer, subsequently was purchased by Ahmed bin Salman, and three weeks after the Illinois Derby won the Kentucky Derby for trainer Bob Baffert.
Fair Grounds in recent years has offered allowance race options for 3-year-olds either on the same day or the day before the Lecomte in January and the Risen Star in February. These are meant to accommodate runners not quite ready for prime time, but the first-level allowance on Saturday, race 9, doesn’t look like a much easier spot than the Lecomte, race 14.
Jimmy Gulick is still grinding away. A former longtime mainstay of a Chicago racing circuit that has been decimated by the September 2021 closure of Arlington Park, Gulick now trains year-round in Ocala, Fla., overseeing a small stable of horses at the Nelson Jones training center while tending to his broodmares and layups at the nearby family farm – not to mention some chickens, beehives, and pet pigs.
With a bevy of tweaks to purses, calendar placement, and the elimination of five stakes, the New York Racing Association on Wednesday released the 2023 Belmont Park spring/summer stakes schedule.
A total of 54 stakes worth $15.575 million in purses will be offered during the 40-day meet that runs from May 4 through July 9. Last year, there were 59 stakes worth $16.95 million offered over 44 days.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita may add Friday programs on Feb. 24 and April 21 to the racing schedule in coming months to compensate for two days of racing lost to inclement weather over the weekend, track officials said on Sunday.
The track has already carded an additional day of racing on Friday this week. The track has lost three days of racing to rain this month, including Jan. 1.
Zydeceaux earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure and Opus Forty Two a 76 in their respective photo-finish victories Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in twin seven-furlong races for 3-year-olds, the $125,000 Pasco and $50,000 Gasparilla.
Zydeceaux held off favored Champions Dream in the Pasco some 90 minutes before Opus Forty Two prevailed in a very tight photo over Charlie’s Wish in the Gasparilla. Between those races, Tap Dance Fever edged Pass the Champagne by a head in the $50,000 Wayward Lass, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, earning an 89 Beyer.
With 2022 in the books and a divisional Eclipse Award all but certain for Wonder Wheel, trainer Mark Casse is eyeing the Suncoast on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., as a potential comeback spot for the standout filly.
“Right now, it’s part of the plan,” Casse said. “I want to see how she trains and I don’t want to rush her, but her first work back was really good.”
The 88th running of the historic Prince of Wales Stakes has been scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 12, at Fort Erie, with a tentative post time of 3 p.m. for the border oval’s marquee card.
The $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, a 1 3/16-mile dirt route for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, is the middle leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. It follows the $1 million King’s Plate on Aug. 20 and proceeds the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes in October, both at Woodbine.
