 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 22, 2014 11:30 AM
|
Race 10 was a Winner's Over $25,000 Lifetime Trot on Thursday (Aug. 21) at Harrah's Philadelphia. The wagering public put their faith behind 19-time winner Classic Martine.
As the wings closed, it was the Ron Burke trainee Quick Deal firing to the top, while the favorite ducked into the pocket. They remained in that order until three-quarters, when Opening Night emerged out of third, but his bid was short lived.
In the stretch, Quick Deal and Classic Martine dueled, with Classic Martine narrowly winning in 1:52, a track record for 4-year-old trotting mares. Uncle Peter finished third.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 22, 2014 11:27 AM
|
Racing action shifts north of the border this weekend to Mohawk Racetrack, and in the new and free HarnessRacing Weekend Preview, trainer Mark Austin gives his take on Metro Pace elim starter Sports Bettor, who is out to prove his 69-1 Nassagaweya division win last time out was no fluke. Trainer Linda Toscano also reveals why she expects ASAP Hanover to rebound in his Metro elim.
Read why Carl Jamieson believes Shakai Hanover could have been undefeated going into the She's A Great Lady eliminations, and why Dr. Ian Moore is looking for a big effort from State Treasurer in the Canadian Pacing Derby elims.
In his new Stretch Call, Dave Briggs takes another look at Ontario's plight in racing and sailing through the rough waters after the elimination of the Slots at the Racetracks Program. And Kathy Parker takes a round-up of all the other action in Ones To Watch.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 22, 2014 11:26 AM
|
With eight entrants for the Cane Pace heading straight to the $437,325 final on Labor Day, a quartet of Kindergarten Classic events headline this Sunday afternoon's card at Tioga Downs. Freshman trotting fillies contest races 8 and 10 on the 13-race card, with the latter division attracting Tompkins-Geers winner Allerage Star (post two) and Merrie Annabelle winner Mission Brief (post six). Four-time winner Mission Brief has amassed quite a résumé already, taking the New Jersey Sires Stakes and Merrie Annabelle finals, both in dominant front-end fashion, while taking a mark of 1:52.2 with Yannick Gingras in the bike. Gingras is once again listed to drive the daughter of Muscle Hill-Southwind Serena for trainer Ron Burke.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 21, 2014 1:18 PM
|
Tapestry brought heavy favorite Taghrooda's unbeaten record to a shocking halt Aug. 22 in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks (Eng-I) at York.
Winner of the Investec Epsom Oaks (Eng-I) and brilliant victress over males in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Eng-I) last time out, 1-5 choice Taghrooda took charge a quarter-mile out in the 1 1/2-mile test and briefly appeared set to go on to a fifth triumph.
Tapestry, however, was unwinding powerful strides when brought from the back of the field by Ryan Moore and took aim on the leader. Moving fastest of all through the stretch, she wore down Taghrooda with a steady rally and edged past in the closing stages for a half-length victory.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 21, 2014 1:17 PM
|
August started on a high note for trainer Jimmy Takter as he scored big victories at the Meadowlands in the Hambletonian with Trixton and the Oaks with Lifetime Pursuit. But as the month continued Takter found himself battling sickness in his barn, which affected several horses including Father Patrick, who made an early break in the Hambletonian and then suffered a stinging defeat next time out in the Tompkins-Geers.
On the good side, Trixton made his first appearance on the track Thursday morning since winning the trotting classic on Aug. 2 at the Meadowlands, scoring a resounding 14-length victory in 1:52.4 in a qualifier at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
"He was very good; he was awesome,” trainer-driver Takter told harnessracing.com by cell phone as he was leaving Pocono to head to Harrah's Philadelphia for the afternoon race card. "I was able to sit third until down the backside when I moved him and he came home in :27 and a piece.”
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 21, 2014 12:16 PM
|
Sophomore trotting colts will take the spotlight at Vernon Downs on Friday night (Aug. 22) as the New York Sire Stakes return with two strong divisions as part of the 12-race program.
The first division is carded as the sixth race with a purse of $59,100, featuring a field of six. The 9-5 morning line favorite is Flyhawk El Durado, owned by Martin Scharf.
Flyhawk El Durado (Conway Hall-El Paso Gal) is currently working on a three-race win streak entering Friday night. All of those wins have been in New York Sire Stakes races, two coming at Yonkers and one at Batavia. The colt will be driven by Mark MacDonald and is trained by Mark Ford.
Also of note in the first division is a horse named Lukas Hall. While Lukas Hall (Conway Hall-Goddess Of War) might be 10-1 on the morning line, his ownership tandem is worthy of an extra look. Former New York Jet wide receiver Wayne Chrebet is part owner with Little E LLC, which represents Vernon Downs owner Jeffrey Gural. Chrebet played 11 seasons with the Jets and is the team's fifth all-time leading receiver.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 21, 2014 12:15 PM
|
Octavio Vergara Jr., a regular atArlington International Racecourse, captured the inaugural "Canadian Apprentice Invitational" at Woodbine by recording a win and a second-place finish from two races on the Aug. 20 evening card.
The event featured 10 apprentice jockeys from across North America competing for bragging rights and a trophy in a two-race riding event where points were assigned based on finishing position.
Vergara finished with a total of 45 points, having earned 25 points for his victory and an additional 20 points for a second-place effort, followed by Woodbine-based Erika Smilovsky (39), and Laura Carson (32), who rides at Parx Racing, Delaware Park, and Belmont Park.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:33 AM
|
Southwind Roulette and Well Hello There won Pennsylvania Sires Stakes divisions Friday at The Meadows, giving Yannick Gingras and trainer Ron Burke a sweep of the $223,960 event for 2-year-old filly pacers. Although Southwind Roulette captured her third PASS split and assured herself a spot in the championship, her trip Friday wasn't as memorable as her July 18 victory here, when she had to negotiate her way through a flock of angry geese. Gingras remembered — and was afraid his filly would, too. "No joke — I looked for them at the half,” Gingras said. "Even though she didn't get scared the first time, I wanted to make sure they weren't there.”
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:33 AM
|
Hope For Paddy pulled off a large 35-1 upset in the Fillies and Mares Preferred pace Friday night at Mohawk. A field of seven mares, highlighted by the 2014 debut of last year's 3-year-old pacing filly of the year I Luv Nitelife, lined up for the $30,000 feature race. I Luv The Nitelife, who has been sidelined since last November with a knee fracture, was sent straight to the lead by driver Jack Moiseyev and got to call the shots throughout the mile. After setting fractions of :26.4, :54.4 and 1:23.3, I Luv The Nitelife was confronted at the three-quarter pole by the first up challenge of Hope For Paddy and driver James MacDonald. In the stretch, Hope For Paddy overtook the lead from I Luv The Nitelife and held off second-place finisher American In Paris, who was towed around the final turn second over, and third place finisher Voelz Hanover, who got a two-hole trip behind I Luv The Nitelife, to pick up the victory in 1:50.4.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:32 AM
|
Friday's (Aug. 15) Racing Roundup features results stories from Scioto Downs Racino, Vernon Downs, Tioga Downs, Batavia Downs and Saratoga Casino and Raceway.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:32 AM
|
Sweeping three-wide on the backstretch to pounce on a pressured pace, Pan Luis Obispo ($6.00) drew off for a 4-1/4 length win in Friday (Aug, 15) evening's $15,000 Fillies and Mares Open Pace at Tioga Downs. Vinny Ginsburg kept the four-year-old No Pan Intended mare well off a :54.2 first-half battle between Inittowinafortune (Aaron Byron) and Keystone Wanda (Corey Braden), moving a closer second-over on the backstretch before making a three-wide push past the fading Keystone Wanda. Pan Luis Obispo continued into the lead at the apex of the far turn, taking over from a softened up Inittowinafortune past a 1:22.3 three-quarter split. She drew clear of her six rivals at will through the stretch, keeping pocket rival Southwind Trini (Jim Marohn, Jr.) 4-1/4 lengths at bay for a 1:51.2 triumph. Cloris Hanover (Brandon Simpson) was an even--but all-out--third off her ground-saving trip. Robert Bresnahan trains Pan Luis Obispo for winning owner Robert Bresnahan Jr.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:30 AM
|
By any measure this has been a banner year for driver Scott Coulter of Brantford, Ontario. Any day now he will win his 4,000th race and surpass $25 million in earnings. In June, his first child, a baby girl named Quinn, was born.
“You know what, everybody tells you it’s a game changer and they’re not kidding. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” Coulter said.
A professional driver for nearly 20 years, Coulter, 44, said he owes a lot to a horse named The Rogue that he drove early in his career.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 10:20 AM
|
|
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 22, 2014 11:28 AM
|
California Chrome, the unlikely hero of this year's Triple Crown series who won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and Preakness Stakes (gr. I), will make his return from a brief layoff in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II) Sept. 20.
The 3-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit , fourth in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) after injuring his right front quarter leaving the starting gate, has been training at conditioner Art Sherman's Los Alamitos Race Course since returning from a respite at Harris Farms July 17. The Belmont loss June 7 snapped a six-race win streak for the blaze-faced California-bred chestnut who also took the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) and San Felipe Stakes (gr. II) earlier in the season for owners Steve Coburn and Perry Martin.
For making the 1 1/8-mile Pennsylvania Derby California Chrome's first start off the bench, Sherman and the owners are guaranteed $100,000 each once he leaves the starting gate. The deal is part of a bonus that gives $50,000 each to the owner and trainer of any horse who has won any of five races—the Derby, Preakness, Belmont, Haskell Invitational (gr. I), or the upcoming Aug. 23 Travers Stakes (gr. I).
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 22, 2014 11:27 AM
|
Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred Big Blue Kitten used the 2013 United Nations Stakes (gr. IT) at Monmouth Park to propel his way to victory in back-to-back grade I races, and now looks to the $100,000 Cliff Hanger S (gr. IIIT) Aug. 24 to return to graded victory.
A winner off the layup of the 1 1/16-mile Lure Stakes at Saratoga Race CourseAug. 2—his first start since an eighth-place finish in the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Turf (gr. IT)—the Chad Brown trainee makes his second start of the season against six rivals in Monmouth's Cliff Hanger going 1 1/8 miles.
Big Blue Kitten, a 6-year-old son of Kitten's Joy , rattled off wins in the United Nations and the Sword Dancer Invitational Stakes (gr. IT) last summer, and was second in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational (gr. IT) before his Breeeders' Cup bust. He drew the outside post for the Cliff Hanger under regular rider Joe Bravo and carries 120 pounds.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 22, 2014 11:20 AM
|
TVG has announced it will feature a number of state-of-the-art production enhancements during its 90-minute special telecast of the TVG Pacific Classic (gr. I) at Del Mar Aug. 24.
The coverage in high definition, where available depending on carrier, begins at 4:30 p.m. PDT. Approximate post time for the 1 1/4-mile race is 5:46 p.m.
TVG, which is sponsoring the Pacific Classic for the fifth consecutive year, is adding several new cameras to its existing 17-camera Del Mar package, bringing the total to more than 20. Wireless cameras that are strategically placed among the race's participants will provide the audience with up close and personal views, TVG said in a release.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 21, 2014 1:18 PM
|
With eight entrants for the Cane Pace heading straight to the $437,325 final on Labor Day (Sept. 1), a quartet of Kindergarten Classic events headline this Sunday (Aug. 24) afternoon's card at Tioga Downs.
Freshman trotting fillies contest races eight and 10 on the 13-race card, with the latter division attracting Tompkins-Geers winner Allerage Star (post two) and Merrie Annabelle winner Mission Brief (post six).
Four-time winner Mission Brief has amassed quite a résumé already, taking the New Jersey Sire Stakes and Merrie Annabelle finals, both in dominant front-end fashion, while taking a mark of 1:52.2 with Yannick Gingras in the bike. Gingras is once again listed to drive the daughter of Muscle Hill-Southwind Serena for trainer Ron Burke.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 21, 2014 1:17 PM
|
What do two Florida State Senators, a professional race car driver and a television sports director all have in common? All four of these professionals will be casting aside their normal vocations and become harness horse drivers on Saturday (Sept. 13) at the inaugural Sunshine Stakes at Sunshine Meadows Equestrian Village in Delray Beach, Fla.
State Senators Joseph Abruzzo (D-Palm Beach) and Marie Sachs (D-Palm Beach/Broward counties), local professional race car driver Tristan Nunez and Palm Beach TV 12’s sports director, Matt Lincoln, will all compete in a one mile harness horse race as part of the festivities at Sunshine Meadows.
Nunez will also be bringing his Mazda Prototype Lites race car that will be on display.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 21, 2014 12:16 PM
|
Thursday's (Aug. 20) edition of Racing Roundup features a results story from Saratoga Casino and Raceway.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:33 AM
|
The driver-trainer combination of Randy Waples and Hall of Famer Bob McIntosh connected for victories in two of the seven C$18,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots events for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers on Friday night (Aug. 15) at Mohawk Racetrack.
Their first winner was Big Moment, a colt by Camluck who just got up near the wire after a second-over trip to take the fourth Grassroots split by a neck in 1:55.1. Pan Street USA (Steve Condren) had taken the lead in the lane after a two-hole trip but just fell short at the finish, and heavy favorite Seaforth (Mike Saftic), the leader at the top of the stretch, had to settle for third.
Big Moment, also a winner in Grassroots competition on July 21 at Grand River Raceway, is now three-for-five in the win column overall with earnings of C$26,160 for McIntosh, who also bred the colt with C S X Stables. McIntosh’s stable and partner Max Newham own Big Moment, the fourth foal out of the No Pan Intended mare Breathtacular. Breathtacular is related to two six-figure earners in Breathdefying and Lucky Encounter.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:33 AM
|
The driver-trainer combination of Randy Waples and Hall of Famer Bob McIntosh connected for victories in two of the seven $18,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots events for two-year-old colt and gelding pacers on Friday night (Aug. 15) at Mohawk Racetrack. Their first winner was Big Moment, a colt by Camluck who just got up near the wire after a second-over trip to take the fourth Grassroots split by a neck in 1:55.1. Pan Street USA (Steve Condren) had taken the lead in the lane after a two-hole trip but just fell short at the finish, and heavy favourite Seaforth (Mike Saftic), the leader at the top of the stretch, had to settle for third. Big Moment, also a winner in Grassroots competition on July 21 at Grand River Raceway, is now three-for-five in the win column overall with earnings of $26,160 for McIntosh, who also bred the colt with C S X Stables. McIntosh's stable of Windsor, Ontario, and partner Max Newham of Merlin, Ontario, own Big Moment, the fourth foal out of the No Pan Intended mare Breathtacular. Breathtacular is related to two six-figure earners in Breathdefying and Lucky Encounter.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:32 AM
|
War Cry Hall and Josh Sutton prevailed in the $20,000 Open II Trot At Scioto Downs on Friday night. The time of the mile, 1:54, was a record for War Cry Hall. War Cry Hall is a 5-year old gelded son of Cash Hall out of Winners Only. He's conditioned by Scioto Downs leading trainer, Virgil Morgan Jr for RBH Ventures Inc of New York. War Cry Hall was assigned post six in the field eight and selected as the morning line favorite. Sutton was in no rush as the gates folded, getting away an early fifth. A pair of outside starters, Final Breath and Fusion Man left hard for command. Trotting the opening quarter in :27.3, Final Breath and Hugh "Sandy" Beatty cleared Run And Tell Pap just past the quarter and parked Fusion Man, driven by Mike Micallef.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:32 AM
|
Yonkers Raceway's Friday night $44,000 co-featured Open Handicaps—for distaff pacers and all duly-licensed trotters--were won by the odds-on duet of Yagonnakissmeornot (Dan Dube, $3.80) and NF Happenstance (Brian Sears, $3.30). Yagonnakissmeornot, generously assigned post position 5, was thus put in play early. She was the first leader, then giving it up to Robin Cruiser (Jordan Stratton) before a :26.4 opening quarter-mile. After a :55.3 intermission, Virgin Mary (Eric Goodell) moved first-up from sixth. That one actually had about a head in front of the leader passing the 1:24.1 three-quarters, with Monkey on My Wheel (Sears) second-up. However, "Robin” fought back and fought back, though she could not stall a late surge by "Yagonnakissme.” The people's choice snuck past, winning by a neck in 1:52.1, Monkey on My Wheel, Virgin Mary and Classy Lane Rose (Brent Holland) rounded out the payees.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:32 AM
|
All Bets Off, overlooked by the betting public at odds of 7-1, took advantage of a perfect trip to win the inaugural $400,000 Carl Milstein Memorial for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers on Friday night (Aug. 15) at Northfield Park.
Matt Kakaley was in the sulky for trainer Ron Burke as the son of Bettor's Delight-Armbro Penelope won for the seventh time in 10 season's starts, while his share of the purse took his 2014 earnings to $511,175. All Bets Off is owned by Burke Racing Stable, Frank Baldachino, The Panhellenic Stable and Rosemary Shelswell.
|
|
Scooped by
RCI-Industry-News
August 18, 2014 11:29 AM
|
Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens was seated on a bench at Del Mar near the stable area racing office the morning of Aug. 15. Attired in a T-shirt and shorts, the right knee that he had surgically replaced exactly three weeks ago was on display for all to see.
"I'm no different than anyone else. They said the first two weeks (after surgery) would be hell, and they were," Stevens said. "But I've gotten rid of my cane, I'm walking and driving again, and that's the main thing."
Stevens, 51, has expressed intentions to ride again following rehabilitation, which would be an achievement believed to be without precedent in racing.
|
