Colonial Downs has reached a deal to purchase a company owned by Magna Entertainment Corp. that had managed live meets at the Virginia racetrack, Colonial and Magna announced Thursday.
Colonial Downs, owned by Jacobs Entertainment Inc., will pay $7 million in cash and issue a $3 million one-year note to Magna for the company, Maryland-Virginia Racing Circuit Inc., which had operated Colonial's race meets since the track opened in 1996.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Career Oriented hasn't missed a beat this summer at Monmouth Park.
She has won all three starts here, marching smartly through her allowance conditions for trainer Joe Orseno.
Now comes the next step - a stakes race.
, a winner of 4 of 5 starts, takes the plunge in the $60,000 Miss Woodford for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at six furlongs.
"This seems like the next logical spot after the great meet she's having here," Orseno said. "We've been planning for this one since her last allowance race."
This will be a stiffer test.
MIAMI - Grass horses are supposed to hold their form better than their main-track counterparts, but you'd never prove that theory by using the local turf handicap division as an example. The unpredictable group will gather again at Calder on Saturday for the $40,000 Absent Russian Stakes, with any of at least a half-dozen members of the 12-horse field likely to come away with a victory in the 1 1/8-mile overnight event.
Trainer Karl Grusmark holds the hammer in Saturday's $40,000 Thomas F. Moran Stakes at Suffolk Downs, with a major player ready whether the race stays on the grass or moves to the main track. The Moran, for statebreds, is run at 1 1/16 miles and nine were entered.
Grusmark sends Monsterous Mitch, who posted 3 of his 4 career wins on the turf and will have a solid chance to win his first stakes after falling short in four previous tries, including last year's Moran, where he finished third.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Fresh off her upset win in the Frank "Buddy" Abadie Memorial Stakes at Evangeline Downs on July 30, Phone Affair heads the field in Saturday's $75,000 Elge Raspberry Stakes. Nine 3-year-old fillies bred in Louisiana will race a mile over the turf course.
In addition to her recent stakes win, Phone Affair finished third in the Chapel Belle Stakes in May. That race was on the local turf course and the experience should help on Saturday.
Two divisions of the same race, two completely different looks.
The $20,000 Yavapai Derby, for 3-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles, has been split into two divisions Saturday, races 7 and 8.
In the first division, We Brothers appears to hold all the aces and will be an overwhelming favorite. In the second division, recent winners At Sunrise, Lute Oatson, Captain Barbosso, Fool's Destiny, and the filly Reds Fling provide a deep, competitive event. Each division drew a field of eight.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - A rematch between Wind Dancer and Fargo Forbes in the $10,000 Shortgrass Heritage for 3-year old colts and geldings headlines Saturday's Heritage Day, the richest day of racing in the province. Saskatchewan-breds square off in four gender-restricted $10,000 races, two for 2-year-olds and two for 3-year-olds. The 2-year-olds run 6 1/2 furlongs while the 3-year-olds compete over 1 1/16 miles.
Trainers Steve Klesaris and Steve Asmussen appear to be holding all the aces in a pair of six-figure stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds on Saturday at Finger Lakes.
Klesaris and Asmussen have major contenders in both the $128,275 Aspirant, which drew a field of six colts and geldings, and the $132,575 Lady Finger for fillies. Both stakes will be contested at six furlongs.
The Lady's Groom, winner of a similar overnight stakes two starts ago, and Separato, narrowly beaten in a pair of $100,000 races earlier at the meet, head a group of older horses going 1 1/16 miles in the $55,000 Gate Dancer at Delaware Park.
Although the first three finishers from last year's Mister Diz Stakes are back for the race Saturday at Pimlico, they all might be running for second money if Procreate shows up with his "A" game.
The 7-year-old Procreate, who raced for a $2,500 claiming price three years ago, has been a sensational reclamation project for trainer John Zimmerman. Since coming under Zimmerman's care last year, Procreate has won six races, set a world record for five furlongs on turf at Gulfstream Park, and captured the Claiming Crown's Rapid Transit for grass sprinters.