Handle on Hoosier Park's simulcast signal reached record highs on consecutive nights last weekend as handle was more than $2.3 million on both Friday and Saturday evenings.
Friday's card handled a record $2,323,182 from offtrack sources and a combined total of $2,369,847 from ontrack and offtrack. The following night eclipsed that mark, as a combined total of $2,422,170 was wagered on the live card. Both nights set handle records for Hoosier's 11-year history of Thoroughbred racing.
Rockem Sockem's overwhelming 13-length victory in the Michigan Sire Stakes last month earned him repeat honors as Michigan horse of the year at Tuesday's awards ceremony at Great Lakes Downs. Rockem Sockem is owned by the meet's champion owner, Henry Mast, and trained by Dr. Bob Gorham.
Rockem Sockem won just twice this year, also taking the Wolverine Stakes in June, but was second in four other starts, including two stakes. Gorham said that Rockem Sockem, now 4, will get a 60-day rest before preparing for the 2006 Great Lakes meet, which opens on May 6.
Sandy Rettele, a behind-the-scenes stalwart of Nebraska racing for many years, died of a heart attack Oct. 22 at age 57. She was a fixture at program stands at the Columbus Races and did the lettering for the several hundred horse blankets presented each year by groups buying sponsorships at racetracks in Nebraska.
She is survived by her husband, former rider Jerry Rettele; her mother; six brothers; and four sisters, including trainer Sally Muckey of Grand Island. Burial was at Bellwood Catholic Cemetery in Bellwood, Neb.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The only two Woodbine-based horses competing in the Breeders' Cup on Saturday at Belmont came up empty, as A Bit O'Gold finished last of 13 in the Classic and Knights Templar finished sixth of 10 in the Juvenile Fillies.
But Catherine Day Phillips, who trains A Bit O'Gold, and Danny Vella, who trains Knights Templar, still were able to dream about what might have been as they looked back on a gloomy Tuesday morning here.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Halting a trend of recent years, the 2005 Thoroughbred season at Northlands Park enjoyed an increase of nearly 3 percent in total handle.
The 72-day meet saw a total of $20,821,859 wagered from all sources on Northlands races, compared to $20,249,751 for the same number of days in 2004. This year's daily average worked out to $289,192.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - is getting her act together and taking it on the road. Though it's only about nine miles from Belmont to Aqueduct, whether she really does have her act together for this little day trip could prove the key to Thursday's featured eighth race at Aqueduct, a six-furlong sprint with third-level allowance conditions and an optional claiming price of $75,000.
Broadway Gold is drawn on the outside with Javier Castellano, and is the lone 3-year-old in a field of five fillies and mares.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes-placed Top Notch Lady will likely be favored in Thursday's Woodbine headliner, a 1 1/16-mile allowance for 2-year-old fillies.
Top Notch Lady, owned by Robert Wilson and trained by Mark Casse, has run solid races in all four of her starts. She won her debut in a turf sprint after closing wide from mid-pack, and then finished fourth behind Knights Templar in the Ontario Debutante Stakes on the main track.
ARCADIA, Calif. - has not raced in nearly eight months, so when he runs 6 1/2 furlongs in the first of the two turf allowances Thursday at Santa Anita, is it just a prep race?
"First time back, down the hill, I think he'll probably run pretty good," said trainer Richard Mandella. Loosely translated, the analysis means "go to the window."
