ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Three weeks into the Arlington Park racing season, Frank Calabrese has reminded followers of the circuit that his operation will win races during the meet, regardless of which trainer - or combination of trainers - is saddling his stock.
Philadelphia Park plans to add Friday twilight cards and reduce live racing on Sundays during a 10-week period this summer.
Starting Friday, May 28, and continuing through the end of July, live racing will be held Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday.
All Friday programs will begin at 4 p.m. There will be Sunday racing on May 30, Father's Day (June 20), and July 4.
The Bensalem, Pa., track experimented with twilight cards last summer and it turned out to be popular.
Lone Star Park officials will seek approval at a stewards' hearing Thursday for new procedures for horses loaded into the starting gate wearing blankets. The move comes after an incident that led to Saturday's fourth race being declared a no-contest. One starter, Rocks and Rings, broke from the gate in the blanket she was loaded in and shed it while crossing over to the lead in the first turn of the one-mile race.
The blanket flared out before sliding off her and hitting the ground, with one of the horses hitting the rail and another jumping over the equipment as it fell.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The mood was decidedly upbeat on a rainy Tuesday afternoon as Monmouth Park hosted its annual kickoff press conference.
The Turf Club was packed with owners, trainers, jockeys, and media members for the first official event launching one of the most eagerly awaited seasons in the track's 65-year history.
The meet that gets under way Saturday will be unlike any other at Monmouth. The core summer season will offer 50 days of racing with purses averaging $1 million a day, the highest in North America. First post will be 12:50 p.m. for the 12-race card.
Snakebite Kit will be a flashy newcomer to the Louisiana Cup Day program on Saturday. He is set to make his first start against Louisiana-bred stakes rivals in the $100,000 Turf Classic, and could start as the favorite off his record of 4 wins from 5 career starts. The 1 1/16-mile race is one of six statebred stakes on the first major card of the meet at Louisiana Downs.
MIAMI - Sweet Repent, who went to the farm this winter riding a five-race winning streak, posted her first work on the comeback trail here Saturday, breezing an easy three furlongs in 38.60 seconds.
Trained by David Braddy, Sweet Repent steadily ascended the filly-and-mare handicap division, closing her 3-year-old campaign last year with four straight victories at Calder, including a nose victory in the Grade 3 Stage Door Betty Handicap in late December. She returned five weeks later and dominated the Sunshine Million Distaff at Gulfstream Park before going to the farm.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After Thursday, Kid Rigo can get started on his next 100 races.
By running in the first race Thursday at Churchill, a $7,500 claiming event, 12-year-old Kid Rigo will join the century club. He enters the one-mile race with 99 starts, 26 wins, 13 seconds, 11 thirds, and earnings of just more than $300,000.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The midweek resignation of Santa Anita track president Ron Charles adds to the growing list of challenges facing owner MI Developments.
Charles on Tuesday confirmed his resignation as president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Turf Club, which conducts racing at Santa Anita. Charles, track president since fall 2004, said Wednesday was to be his last day.
Jockey Roy Brooks, who at 68 is the second oldest jockey riding in North America, sustained a broken pelvis and torn urethra in an accident Saturday night at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. Brooks was injured behind the starting gate when his mount in a trial race for the Graham Paint and Appaloosa Futurity fell and rolled over Brooks.
ALBANY, Calif. - Golden Gate Fields is embarking on a five-day racing week beginning Wednesday, and the track's general manager, Robert Hartman, says that plans are to continue with five-day weeks until the conclusion of the meet on June 13.
Northern California's reduced horse population prompted the track to run four-day weeks during the winter months, and, when Hollywood Park opted to begin its meet with four-day weeks, Golden Gate followed suit.
Hartman believes Golden Gate will be able to fill its races despite adding an extra day of racing each week.