The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame will honor its 2005 inductees Thursday evening at the Toronto Congress Centre near Woodbine.
David Willmot, chairman and chief executive officer of the Woodbine Entertainment Group, is among this year's inductees on the Thoroughbred side.
Willmot races and breeds horses as Kinghaven Farm, the highly successful outfit that he built in partnership with his father, the late D.G. Willmot.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The yearling sales stakes, six $125,000 races for local sales graduates that will be run here Sept. 4, will offer a new wrinkle this year.
Instead of the $15,000 bonus for the winning trainer, which was instituted in 2002, the trainers of the yearling sales stakes winners will receive a $10,000 credit toward the purchase of a yearling at this year's sales.
There has been one condition governing the bonus and now the sales credit, which is that the winning horse cannot have been claimed.
AUBURN, Wash. - Savvy handicappers believe that closing sprinters who are going long for the first time are among the worst wagering propositions in the game. They are usually overbet, and they rarely have the same kick in routes that they have in sprints.
There are exceptions to every rule, however, and No Giveaway reminded Emerald Downs fans of that in Sunday's Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockeys Rene Douglas, Corey Nakatani, and Patrick Valenzuela all were facing disciplinary action Wednesday from Del Mar's stewards following incidents on Monday, which included two inquiries, a disqualification, and a fight in the jockeys' room.
Nakatani and Valenzuela were the combatants in the fight and in one of the inquiries. Douglas was not involved in the fight, but had a mount disqualified and placed last in the day's second race after bumping with a runner ridden by Valenzuela.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - If Henny Hughes is as sharp at 5:18 p.m. Saturday as he was at 5:38 a.m. Tuesday, he should have little trouble winning the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes.
In his final preparation for the seven-furlong Hopeful, Henny Hughes worked a brilliant five furlongs in 59.65 seconds just before daybreak. Henny Hughes, under exercise rider Rodolphe Brisset, began his move several lengths behind stablemate Grand Survival, a debut winner here Aug. 6, and easily went by him in the stretch as he got his last quarter-mile in less than 24 seconds.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - It has been a summer of steady progress for Beautiful East at Monmouth Park, and the payoff might finally be at hand Thursday in the featured $51,000 allowance for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares.
While some horses tear through their conditions, Beautiful East has set a more deliberate course. This will be her fourth shot at the second-level allowance class. She has improved her Beyer Speed Figures in each of those races, going from a 54 to a career-best 76 last time out.
The $1 million Delta Jackpot will be a Grade 3 race when it is run for the fourth time Dec. 2 at Delta Downs, making it the first graded Thoroughbred stakes to be held at the Vinton, La., track since it opened in 1973.
The 1 1/16-mile race is the second-richest race for 2-year-olds in North America, behind the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
The Jackpot has also been moved back to a Friday after being held on a Saturday in 2004.
Texcess won last year's running over Closing Argument, who in May finished second in the Kentucky Derby.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - will make his highly anticipated return to the races in the $1 million Travers Stakes Saturday at Saratoga, trainer Nick Zito confirmed Tuesday morning.
Zito chose the 10-furlong Travers over the seven-furlong King's Bishop for several reasons including the presence of the undefeated Lost in the Fog in the King's Bishop. Zito said if for some reason Lost in the Fog did not enter the King's Bishop on Wednesday, he could very well change his mind. Entries for both the King's Bishop and Travers will be taken on Wednesday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Theoretically, betting on the races would be so much easier if handicappers were afforded the opportunity to ask trainers key questions about their horses before placing a wager. Such as, does trainer Tom Albertrani think will stay the 1 1/8 miles of Wednesday's $150,000 Albany Stakes at Saratoga?
Most handicappers won't get the chance to talk with Albertrani before the Albany, but he was available and willing to give his opinion when asked exactly that question during training hours on Monday.
