Racing News

Carmen Auciello, who currently sits in second place with 19 wins as a conditioner this season on the WEG Circuit, will be the guest on Woodbine Racing Live's pre-game show this Saturday (March 15), beginning at 6:45 p.m.

Auciello celebrated a career year last season with 120 victories and more than C$2 million in earnings.

The Stouffville resident will send out a combined eight starters on Saturdays program.

It was just a few years ago when a youngster by the name of Jordan Stratton displayed an innate talent for driving harness horses at a very tender age and Monticello Raceway fans watched the emergence of “the Kid,” who became the youngest driver to win a Mighty M driving title. He has moved on and now competes, and very successfully, against the best drivers at Yonkers Raceway.

Shades of Stratton have again come to mind here as fans watch another developing young talent in Austin Siegelman, who just turned 22 years of age late last month. Although he has yet to reach the heights that Stratton did during his tenure here, Siegelman appears to have the talent to do so. And since he has great aspirations he may not stay here long enough to produce similar numbers.

On the Wednesday afternoon (March 12) card the youngster again won three races, but this time it was on an eight-race card. It also happened to be his second hat trick in the past two weeks. Now with 27 wins at the current meet, Siegelman is in sixth place on the local leaderboard.

The first time Kevin McDermott trained Noble Falcon, he thought he made a big mistake buying the horse.

It didn’t take long for the pacer to prove he was worth the money.

More than six seasons later, the 10-year-old gelding is proving he’s still worth it.

His present did not arrive exactly on Dec. 25, but just because this gift was not under the tree on Christmas morning doesn’t make Paul Kelley any less excited. Especially when that special package was the newly turned 3-year-old colt trotter Exodus Hanover.

“I’ve had him for about the last two months here at Sunshine Meadows down in Delray Beach,” said the conditioner. “He was purchased privately right between Christmas and New Year’s. We are really, really excited to have a horse like this in the barn. He’s a very talented colt and we very much enjoy being around him.”

Initially purchased as a yearling for $42,000 at the 2012 Standardbred Horse Sale and campaigned last year by co-owner/trainer Steve Elliott, the late Angelo Frassetto, Kenneth Klein and Old Block Stables, Exodus Hanover is a son ofAndover Hall and the mare Exotic Destination, who annexed the 2007 Filly World Trotting Derby as a sophomore and was third in the 2008 Breeders Crown at age four.

Northfield Park has announced the dates of six “Hard Rockin’ Claiming Series.  “These new late closers are just part of the increased opportunities offered here at Northfield,” said Dave Bianconi, Executive Vice President of Racing and Simulcasting.  “As our purses increase, we would like to fill more straight claiming races.  These series will give claimers a real opportunity to race for solid purses in each leg and a big money final.” 

Mondays (March 31, April 7 and April 14) will host The Hall of Fame Series, for $8,000 claiming trotters, and The Legend Series, for $8,000 claiming pacers.  Each of the three legs will carry purses of $6,500.  

Veteran driver-trainer Jim McDonald, who recently celebrated his 1,000th career training win, joined the 1,000 win driving club by guiding Etruscan Hanover to victory in a lifetime best 1:55.4 performance on Monday night (Feb. 24) at Pompano Park.

The Newfoundland, Canada native, generally known for his excellence in training Standardbreds, came to Florida in the mid-1970s with so little capital that he slept in a hand pitched tent on the grass adjoining Miami International Airport. Since then, he has established himself as one of the finest horsemen in the sport, having developed many stakes and free-for-all competitors that have banked close to $5 million for his owners.

Though McDonald rarely makes an appearance in the sulky these days, Etruscan Hanover vaulted him into the 1,000 club with victories in his last three outings.

 In an exciting announcement for the Pryde’s EasiFeed Great Southern Star, it has been revealed that star United States reinsman Corey Callahan will be in Australia for the International extravaganza on March 22.

In just its second year, the A$400,000 Pryde’s EasiFeed Great Southern Star trotting series held across one sensational night at Tabcorp Park Melton has attracted some massive names and it continues with Callahan adding his name to the list of visitors for the richest squaregaiting event in the southern hemisphere.

Having only started his career at the age of 27, eight years later he has quickly become one of the leading drivers in North America.

Santa Rosa Racing Stables' Storming Intimakes his graded stakes debut March 1 seeking to preserve a four-race win streak in the $150,000 Palm Beach Stakes (gr. III) at Gulfstream Park.

The 3-year-old son of Stormy Atlantic  has won four of five starts for trainer Chad Brown, including a wire-to-wire season debut by a head over grade I winner We Miss Artie in the Jan. 19 Kitten's Joy Stakes.

Veteran Midwest-based jockey Corey Lanerie has been named the winner of the 2014 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

Lanerie, currently competing at Gulfstream Park, plans to venture to Santa Anita Park to accept the award in March or April. The Louisiana native who won his first career race in April 1991 atEvangeline Downs outpolled four other finalists: David Amiss, Dennis Carr, Aaron Gryder, and Scott Stevens.

Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950, the Woolf Award is one of the most highly coveted honors in all of racing as it recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for both the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing.  

Jockey Anne Von Rosen will undergo a second surgery following a March 11 spill in a Quarter Horse race at Turf Paradise in which Von Rosen suffered a serious spinal injury.

The Jockeys' Guild reported March 12 that Von Rosen currently has paralysis from her waist down. Guild national manager Terry Meyocks said the rider is preparing for a second surgery March 14. He called for prayers for Von Rosen, a member of the Guild.

The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders' Association has announced its 2013 champions. An award presentation and Horse of the Year announcement will take place at the organization's 2014 annual meeting May 24 at the Equine Sales Company of Louisiana in Opelousas, La.

Perfect Alliance continued her perfection on the racetrack on Thursday night (Feb. 27) with another powerful win in the $15,000 first division of the second leg of the Charles Singer Memorial.

Wednesday’s (Feb. 26) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Meadows, Dover Downs and Buffalo Raceway.

Princess of Sylmar, a four-time grade I winner in 2013, has been named Pennsylvania Horse of the Year by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.

Coming off one of the best years ever for a Pennsylvania-bred, Princess of Sylmar was also named the state's outstanding 3-year-old filly. She won the Longines Kentucky Oaks, the TVG Coaching Club American Oaks, the Alabama Stakes, and the Beldame Invitational (all gr. I) during a season in which she won six of eight starts with earnings of more than $1.5 million.

A finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 3-year-old filly division, Princess of Sylmar was bred by Ed Stanco and raced for Stanco's KIng of Prussia Stable. The chestnut filly is by Majestic Warrior  -Storm Dixie, by Catienus.

Yannick Gingras says it will be a challenge for Time To Quit to win the Charles Singer Memorial Series at Meadowlands Racetrack, but for now the Big M’s leading driver is focused on Thursday’s second round.

Time To Quit, who is unbeaten in four starts this season, races in the second of two $15,000 second-leg divisions of the restricted series for 3- and 4-year-old trotters. Trained by Ron Burke, the 4-year-old gelding is joined by entry mate Winbak Sullivan at 4-5 on the morning line.

Perfect Alliance, a 4-year-old female trotter racing out of the stable of trainerJulie Miller and undefeated in three starts this season, is the 3-5 morning line choice in the first division.