Charles Town will offer a track-record $2.8 million in purses for its 12 stakes for open company in 2010, according to a release issued by the track on Tuesday.
In the biggest change to the schedule, the purse for the second running of the 1 1/8-mile Charles Town Classic will be doubled to $1 million.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Kinsale King won his stakes debut in the Grade 3 Vernon Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park last Sunday, leaving trainer Carl O'Callaghan wondering if the gelding can show enough progress in coming months to merit a trip to Dubai in the spring.
Tuesday, O'Callaghan, who turned 34 on Monday, said he intends to start Kinsale King in the $150,000 Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita on Jan. 23 in an effort to gain a berth to the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen in late March.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Hawthorne Race Course has cancelled its racing programs for Wednesday and Thursday in anticipation of a winter storm's arrival in Chicago late Tuesday. Morning training also has been suspended until Friday, but the track will remain open for simulcast wagering.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the area around Hawthorne was forecast to receive 2 to 4 inches of snow, with much heavier storm totals forecast for northern Illinois and Wisconsin. Cold, blustery conditions are forecast for Thursday.
HOUSTON - Silver City, who this past spring spent time on the road to the Kentucky Derby, arrived at Sam Houston Race Park last Friday to begin preparations for a 4-year-old campaign. He has not raced since finishing fifth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Derby Trial at Churchill Downs on April 25.
Silver City emerged from that one-mile race with a suspensory injury, said his trainer, Bret Calhoun. The horse was given some time off, and has just resumed galloping. There is no specific comeback race being targeted for Silver City.
Jockey Tim Doocy sustained fractures to his ankle, knee, and hand during a morning training accident at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., on Monday. He was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday afternoon. Oaklawn, which is open for training, begins its meet Jan. 15.
Doocy, 54, was injured when a horse he was pulling up from a work collided with a pony chasing a loose horse. He was taken to St. Joseph's Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Last year at this time, Stud Muffin was enjoying a winter vacation after a successful 4-year-old campaign in which he won the Empire Classic and banked nearly $300,000. Had things gone according to plan in 2009, Stud Muffin would likely be about to embark on another winter hiatus.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The horses who have won four of the last five runnings of the Hollywood Gold Cup are probable starters in Saturday's $100,000 Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park.
But both Lava Man, the winner of the Gold Cup from 2005 through 2007, and Mast Track, the 2008 winner, have something to prove in the Grade 3 race over 1 1/8 miles.
The retired undefeated superstar Zenyatta worked a half-mile at Hollywood Park on Monday, but it does not mean that the winner of 14 races is going to have another start before being bred in 2010.
Trainer John Shirreffs said on Monday that Zenyatta needed the workout "to take the edge off a little." She breezed a half-mile in 50.40 seconds, the eighth fastest of 17 recorded works at the distance.
Zenyatta has not raced since becoming the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, at Santa Anita on Nov. 7.
