HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - At a time when businesses of every kind are feeling the crunch of the prevailing economic climate, including most racetracks throughout the country, Gulfstream Park has proven the exception to the rule this winter.
According to Gulfstream Park president Bill Murphy, business is up not only on the racing side of the ledger, but in the casino as well since the 2009 meet began on Jan. 3.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Last year, Steve Asmussen became the first trainer based in the United States to have a meet-long satellite division at Woodbine.
The Asmussen outfit was responsible for 264 starters and 40 winners, ranking sixth in each of those counts.
Asmussen again will have a Woodbine base this year, having been granted the same 32 stalls.
But he will be no longer be unique amongst U.S. trainers intending to have full-time divisions here as Vladimir Cerin, Dale Capuano, Steve Klesaris, and Michael Pino all have stalls for the 2009 meeting.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Matto Mondo, winner of the Grade 3 Thunder Road Handicap in February and third as the favorite in the Santa Anita Handicap last month, is out for the rest of 2009 with a tendon injury, trainer Richard Mandella said.
The injury was detected shortly after Matto Mondo finished 1 1/4 lengths behind Einstein in the Big Cap.
"When I galloped him, he had a thick edge on that tendon," Mandella said.
Mandella said that Matto Mondo has a tear in a tendon and recently underwent a surgical procedure.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Lord of the Game seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime claim. Trainer Tom Tomillo and owner Bill Slevin plucked him out of a $10,000 maiden claimer in his career debut at Hawthorne on Dec.o31, 2004, and Lord of the Game went on to win two graded stakes and more than a half-million dollars. The Tomillo barn has done it again with Hurta, although he has not yet hit Lord of the Game territory.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The 150th running of the Queen's Plate, North America's oldest continuously run stakes, will be among the highlights of the 167-day Woodbine meeting, which commences with a 10-race card Saturday.
The $1 million Plate, a 1 1/4-mile Polytrack event for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, will be run June 21. It is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, which concludes with the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes here Aug. 2. The second leg, the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, is scheduled for July 12 at Fort Erie.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Not that Jimmy Jerkens has or likely will ever need any help when it comes to training Quality Road into this year's Kentucky Derby. Obviously he's done just fine up to this point, having won both the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby. But should Jerkens be compelled to seek a little counseling somewhere along the Derby trail, all he needs to do is turn to Dad for some fatherly advice.
Dad is none other than Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens, who knows a thing or two about winning big races and has already been to the Derby on three occasions.
Jockey Leslie Mawing underwent emergency surgery Wednesday night at Highland Hospital in Oakland, Calif., after suffering compound fractures of the tibia and fibula in his left leg when his mount, Pasta Time, crashed through the turf course's inner rail during Wednesday's seventh race at Golden Gate Fields.
The surgery was to repair a tibia fracture and stabilize a fibula fracture, said the track's physician, David Seftel. Mawing will be hospitalized for one to two weeks and will be kept on heavy antibiotic medication.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Wrigley Field did it more than two decades ago. Now another American sports institution will hold events under lights.
Churchill Downs will conduct nighttime racing for the first time in its 134-year history when the track hosts three night programs late in the 2009 spring meet.
Pending approval on Tuesday from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Churchill will start 11-race cards at 6 p.m. Eastern and conclude at about 11 p.m. on Friday, June 19; Friday, June 26; and Thursday, July 2.