PLEASANTON, Calif. The Alameda County Fair canceled next Wednesday s scheduled day of live racing.
Racing secretary Tom Doutrich said late Friday afternoon that the California Horse Racing Board had given approval to cancel Wednesday racing. There is no racing scheduled that day at Hollywood Park.
The track ran six straight days over the July Fourth weekend, stretching the horse population.
MIAMI - For all the big-name trainers with horses shipping in for this year's $350,000 Princess Rooney Handicap, the only Grade 1 winner in the lineup belongs to the modest stable of the Kentucky-based Joan Scott, who is bringing the speedy and versatile Dr. Zic to Calder for the main event on Saturday's Summit of Speed program.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Any time you win a Kentucky Derby, it's been a phenomenal spring meet at Churchill. For the uncanny Calvin Borel, the 2010 spring meet not only was highlighted by the unprecedented feat of winning the Derby for the third time in four years, but at least one other noteworthy accomplishment as well.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. − Gayego, a multiple stakes winner who holds the track record for 6 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood Park, will make his 2010 North American debut in the $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap here July 10.
Rick Mettee, the New York-based assistant to Saeed bin Suroor of Godolphin Racing, said Gayego is ready for his first start since running in March in the Middle East.
"He's done really well," Mettee said. "He's done a couple of really good pieces of work. It looks like a good spot out there [in California]."
Jockey Tad Leggett suffered a cervical, or upper, spine injury and fractured a vertebra Wednesday night in a spill at Fair Meadows in Tulsa and was scheduled to undergo surgery Friday afternoon in Oklahoma, said his agent, Cynthia Smith.
Leggett, 45, was injured in the third race, when he was thrown from his mount after the wire and the horse subsequently fell on him. Smith said one of Leggett's vertebra popped out during the accident, then went back into place. His surgery was to address the resulting ruptured tissue.
Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of Allen Jerkens's first victory as a trainer. It came with the horse Populace in a claiming race at Aqueduct.
"He was a big bay horse.," Jerkens recalled Friday morning at Belmont. "I claimed him from Main Chance Farm, Elizabeth Arden had that outfit. I don't know if he won any more races or not."
Jerkens said he believed he claimed the horse for $5,000 and he won for a tag of $6,500 or $7,000.
"In those days, the highest price was $12,000,'' Jerkens said.
Rightly So, beaten one-half length by Hour Glass in the Grade 2 Vagrancy Handicap last out, tries again for her first graded stakes score when she meets seven fillies and mares entered in Monday's Grade 3, $150,000 Bed o' Roses Handicap.
Rightly So, a New York-bred daughter of Read the Footnotes, was 5 for 8 against New York-breds before running a game race in the Vagrancy, in which she dueled through hot fractions before giving way grudgingly to Hour Glass.
"I thought it was a great effort,'' trainer Tony Dutrow said.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The purse structure for open company races for the upcoming Saratoga meet will mirror that of last year, while those for New York-breds will be slightly less than 2009, New York Racing Association officials said this week. The 40-day Saratoga meet opens July 23.
While the purses for New York-bred races will be down from last year's Saratoga meet, they will be up $4,000 when compared with the current Belmont spring/summer meet. A maiden New York-bred race that was $44,000 last year - and $36,000 at Belmont - will be $40,000 this summer at the Spa.