VANCOUVER, British Columbia Beginning Saturday, overnight purses at Hastings will increase by about 10 percent. The increase is not across the board, however. Management at Hastings is hoping to spur the local breeding industry and attract better horses by putting more money toward allowance and high-end claiming races.
DEL MAR, Calif.-An upset win by Dusty Trail ($50.60) in Wednesday's sixth race led to a carryover of $138,349 for Thursday's pick six at Del Mar. First post Thursday is 2 p.m. Pacific, with the first pick six race, the third, going off at 3:04.
There are not many horses for bettors to consider in Thursday's pick six, which covers the third through eighth races. No race has more than nine entrants, and there are only six horses in the fourth race.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Lava Man's racing career has ended.
Wednesday, co-owner Steve Kenly said that concern over Lava Man's ankles has led to the decision to retire the seven-time Grade 1 winner, who earned $5,268,706 in a 46-race career that included 17 wins.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Zappa earned an automatic berth to the $500,000 Breeders Cup Marathon at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Oct. 25 with his win in Wednesdays $150,000 Cougar II Handicap at Del Mar.
First, co-owner Gary Barber has a more lucrative goal on his mind - the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 24.
Barber said Zappa would be considered for that race after the 6-year-old gelding led throughout the Cougar II Handicap, which was run at 1 1/2 miles on the synthetic main track.
The $55,000 Lincoln Handicap at Ruidoso Downs, in which Peppers Pride was to shoot for her 17th consecutive win, has not been rescheduled for this weekend as originally planned because the track is still recovering from seven inches of rainfall that forced it to cancel its entire card last Sunday.
A track spokesman said it is yet to be determined whether the Lincoln will be rescheduled.
Bruce Levine, the leading trainer at Monmouth Park, faces a 15-day suspension, a $500 fine, and loss of purse money for an overage of the anti-inflammatory phenylbutazone.
Levine and his attorney, Dennis Drazin, the president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, were present at a hearing conducted Wednesday morning by the Monmouth stewards.
Drazin said the stewards' ruling will be appealed to the New Jersey Racing Commission, as soon as it is officially issued.
A consortium of groups representing horsemen have asked a Kentucky judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Churchill Downs Inc. on the grounds that the horsemen have an ironclad right to block the export of racetrack signals to out-of-state locations.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Prussian returns to the scene of his dominant debut win nearly a year ago in an attempt to turn around what has thus far been a frustrating 3-year-old season when he runs in the $80,000 Majestic Light, the supporting feature on Friday's Saratoga card.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Justin Evans couldn't wait to start training racehorses, but about a week after getting his trainer's license at age 18, he was ready to head home to Chino Valley, Ariz.
"Conditions were pretty tough for a kid just starting out," Evans said.
Evans eventually persevered through his struggling start at Turf Paradise - and today he is very glad he did. At age 27, he is contending for leading trainer at Canterbury Park, where on Saturday he will have six runners in the 10th Claiming Crown.
