Keeneland Race Course released its spring stakes schedule Wednesday with minimal changes and an announced value of more than $4.2 million for the 19-race schedule.
As usual, the meet will be front-loaded with major races, with the first seven days of racing to include the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes, Grade 2 Madison, Grade 2 Beaumont, Grade 2 Maker's Mark Mile, Grade 2 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup, Grade 2 Jenny Wiley, and the traditional meet highlight, the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes on April 15.
The Anne Arundel County Council in Maryland on Tuesday gave the owner of Laurel Park permission to create a multimillion-dollar commercial district at the Thoroughbred racetrack.
Precise details of the proposed project remained unclear even after the council approved the bill, 5-2. Officials of the Maryland Jockey Club, which owns both Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, said that the development could include restaurants, retail shops, and a hotel.
Andy Leggio has been saying all winter that he would let Happy Ticket tell him when she was ready to make her first start of the season, and with a blazing workout Sunday at Louisiana Downs, Happy Ticket spoke up.
"When I saw her gallop out in 57 [seconds], I said to myself, 'It looks like she's fit,' " Leggio said. "She did that with ridiculous ease."
It would be wrong for a racing season as short as the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs to go out with a whimper. And with purses having gone through the roof, and the entry box overflowing on a daily basis, this meet that began just eight weeks ago is ready to end with a bang.
Full fields and mild winter weather have led to booming business during the first two weeks of Beulah Park's winter-spring meet, which runs through Kentucky Derby Day on May 6.
Through the first eight days of the meeting, Beulah has averaged $1,586,380 in all-sources handle per day, up more than 14 percent over the same period last year, when the track averaged $1,362,961. Beulah has averaged more than 10 starters per race at the current meeting.
Those who frequent Lone Star Park can earn free mutuel vouchers, free food, and reduced admission prices as part of a customer rewards program introduced Monday.
Lone Star patrons who are part of the Star Player rewards program will earn points for visits to the track, wagers made, and food, beverage, and gift shop purchases. It is free to be part of the rewards program, and it is an upgrade over the former Star Player program.
Dixie Meister, who ran a strong second to Brass Hat last out in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap, will start as the 118-pound highweight in Saturday night's $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup at Sam Houston Race Park.
A 1 1/8-mile race, the Maxxam Gold Cup drew a field of 12 when entries were taken Wednesday.
Dixie Meister will spot his rivals between three and eight pounds. In the New Orleans, he rallied for second and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 99. One start before that race, Dixie Meister won the $100,000 Star of Texas for Texas-breds at Sam Houston.
Strategically may not have won last week's Cotton Fitzsimmons Handicap, but he has excelled in ways that surprise even his trainer, Jerry Atkin. Strategically has won four of his last five starts, including three stakes.
"What I can tell you is, this is a really good race horse," said Atkin. "He can run on the lead or from behind; it doesn't matter. He keeps getting better and I'm more amazed at just how good he is."
ARCADIA, Calif. - A four-day racing week begins at Santa Anita on Thursday with a massive one-day pick-six carryover of $185,319 that will overshadow the $75,000 Paseana Handicap.
The Paseana Handicap is the second race and a prep to the Grade 1 Santa Maria Handicap on Feb. 11. With Healthy Addiction a heavy favorite in the Paseana, the race is not included in the pick six, which covers the third through eighth races.
Instead, bettors have two turf races and four races on the main track to consider in a tricky pick six.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Rogue Agent has not won a race since May 2004, a losing streak that encompasses 17 starts. But there are a number of handicapping angles that might suggest that streak could end in Thursday's one-mile allowance feature at Gulfstream Park.
