Racing News

Wednesday’s (Feb. 5) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Meadows and Buffalo Raceway.

Veteran horse trainer John G. Wengerd will long remember this winter of racing at Northfield Park, and it has nothing to do with the bitterly cold weather. It’s all because his six-year-old pacer Action-Ear-To-Ear has found success as a trotter.

Wengerd insisted last week the best has yet to come from the born-again trotter.

“I know he can win a lot of races this winter,” said Wengerd. “And I’m sure he can handle moving up in class, as well as trot a mile under 2 minutes.”

Charles Stewart and his stable were looking for a place to settle down for the winter months with Hoosier Park closed during that time.

His choice? Buffalo Raceway. It's a selection that has proved to be the right one and a profitable one thus far.

"I looked around and I thought the horses I had would fit very well into the conditions at Buffalo Raceway," Stewart said. "Hoosier Park is a seven-eighths-mile track but I have some horses with experience on a half-mile track like Buffalo so I figured it would be a good place to go. The purses are equal too, if not better, than at home (in Indiana)."

Willis Horton's champion Will Take Charge arrived by van early the morning of Feb. 4 at Gulfstream Park, where he is slated to make his 2014 debut in the $500,000 Donn Handicap (gr. I) on Feb. 9.

The 4-year-old son of Unbridled Song and multiple grade I winner Take Charge Lady, named last year's champion 3-year-old at the Eclipse Awards ceremony last month, appeared alert and bright after his journey from Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., the winter base of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall invites the public to submit nominations for 2014 from both Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries in seven categories.

They are Male Horse; Female Horse; Person, Jockey, Driver or Trainer; Builders, included but not limited to Breeders, Owners, and Officials; Communicators, those who have told the story of horse racing in Canada including broadcasters, announcers, writers, photographers, etc.; Veteran Horses, whose careers have been completed for 20 years; and Veteran People which recognizes those whose careers and impact on racing took place a minimum of 20 years ago.

All nominations received will be considered by the Nomination Committees of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Both people and horses are eligible for nomination and in turn election to the CHRHF, regardless of whether they have Canadian connections, but have either raced in Canada or made a significant contribution to the betterment of racing in Canada.

The New Mexico Horse Breeders' Association honored its 2013 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse champions Jan. 30 during the Zia Awards Banquet at the Marriott Uptown Hotel in Albuquerque.

During the banquet, emceed by Chris Kotulak, a total of 21 awards were presented. Breeders Mike H. Carson and Bill D. Carson were honored with the 2013 Julep Cup from The Blood-Horsemagazine. The Carsons bred and raced 2013 New Mexico-bred champion Thoroughbreds Mr. Wizard andLady Genius.

After consecutive fast wins, 8-1 Dancin Yankee moved into the $30,000 Preferred to another win to highlight a strong Thursday, Jan. 30 card at Dover Downs. 

Overlooked in the betting despite two straight impressive victories, Dancin Yankee, driven by Chris Page, blew past the leaders in the stretch to record a 1:51.1 triumph in the $30,000 Preferred, the top purse race of the week. The 6-year-old son of Yankee Cruiser-Dancewiththebest gave trainer Josh Green his second win on the program. Owned by Bob Briley, Rich Lombardo and Baron Racing, it was his 27th lifetime win and brought his career earnings to $614,822. Second-place Texican N led in the stretch for Ross Wolfenden with Special Forces, third, reined by Corey Callahan. Nova Artist (Allan Davis) led early and tired in the stretch.

Racing fans will want to take a short break from pre-Super Bowl hype Feb. 2 to check out the $200,000 Palos Verdes Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita Park, where Eclipse Award sprint finalists Secret Circle and Sahara Sky are set for battle.

The grade I winners who lost out on the end-of-the-year award to Points Offthebench are part of a field of just five entered for the six-furlong test for older horses. The Palos Verdes goes as race 4 on the Sunday card with a 12:30 p.m. PST scheduled post.

Secret Circle captured last fall's memorable Xpressbet Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) at Santa Anita, and gets back to work for Bob Baffert. His Hall of Fame training colleague, Jerry Hollendorfer, counters with Sahara Sky, the defending Palos Verdes winner who was last seen winning the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) by a nose May 27 at Belmont Park.

When Duane Lowe transported Final Breath to his new trainer, Hugh ‘Sandy’ Beatty, last February he certainly did not mince any words and his assessment of the recently crowned Ohio Horse of the Year and 3-year-old champion trotter’s ability was spot on.

“I’ve know Hugh for some years,” said the 80-year-old Malta, Ohio, resident, who also bred the now 4-year-old gelding. “Right when I took this horse to him, I told him he was the best horse in the state.”

The son of Victory Sam and First Breath is the product of a family Lowe has owned, bred and raced for four generations. His dam, by Hold Your Breath, earned $102,093 and was an Ohio Sire Stakes champion as a 3-year-old before becoming a prolific producer.

Jacks or Better Farm and Robert LaPenta's hearty Jackson Bend, a two-time grade I winner with earnings of $1.8 million who shows no signs of slowing down, heads a field of 11 as part of a one-two punch for trainer Stanley Gold in the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint (gr. III) Feb. 8 at Gulfstream Park.

The Florida-bred 7-year-old, who recently finished a good second behindLea in the one-mile Hal's Hope (gr. III), joins 5-year-old stablemate Fort Loudon, the 2013 winner of this race who looks to rebound from a disappointing finish in the Jan. 18 Sunshine Millions Sprint.

Tuesday's (Feb. 4) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Dover Downs and The Meadows.

As the 2013 racing season came to a close at Yonkers Raceway, three-time Yonkers leading driver Jason Bartlett picked up his 5,000th career victory on Dec. 19.

On Jan. 14, 2014 Seabiscuit's stud barn, located at Ridgewood Ranch in Willits, Calif., officially was listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

The 15-month nomination process conducted by Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation president Jacqueline Cooper was supported by individuals around the world, including Michael Howard, family historian of Seabiscuit owner Charles Howard; and organizations such as Santa Anita Park and Rotary Club of Willits, as well as the property owner, Golden Rule Church Association.

"While Seabiscuit's racing career ended prior to the construction of the stud barn, owner Charles Howard held the racehorse in such high esteem that he constructed a new barn, luxurious by equine standards, for Seabiscuit's use," said California state historian William Burg during a recent California State Historical Resource Commission meeting. "The barn featured a guestbook signed by over 5,000 visitors between 1940 and 1947." 

Laurie Lee Poulin and Mike Deters' Prairie Jaguar, who is currently on a seven race winning streak, including a pair of Pompano Park Open victories in January, has been named the United States Trotting Association's Horse of the Month.

During his streak, the Florida bred 6-year-old son of Spy Hard-Cat Lady has posted four winning miles in 1:50 or faster at Pompano Park, the most ever by any Standardbred in the track's history, stretching now a half-century. Prairie Jaguar is trained by co-owner Mike Deters and is driven by Jason Dillander.

In his first start of the month on Jan. 4, Prairie Jaguar was timed in 1:50 in the $10,000 Open Handicap Pace. In this contest he had to race from off the pace from post eight, but, when all was said and done, his winning margin was just short of four lengths. Northern Companion (Dave Ingraham), pacing his final three-quarters in 1:21.3, came from last in the octet to finish second while Lyons Johnny (Wally Hennessey) earned show honors, though 5-1/2 lengths away at the wire.

Mike Wilder doesn’t need to analyze it or dissect it. He just knows life is good right now, and he is happy just enjoying it.

The 41-year-old driver, based at The Meadows, is second in the 2014 win standings at the western Pennsylvania track and tied for fifth in North America. He has 38 victories as January comes to an end.

“It’s been good trainers, good horses and putting them in the right spot,” Wilder said. “It all happened so fast this year. I try not to dwell on it.

Wolf Pack Jack has been named the 2013 Iowa-bred Horse of the Year after winning four of six starts and earning $154,770 as a 3-year-old. 

That was just enough to best Boji Moon, whose earnings of $149,234 was a record for an Iowa-bred 2-year-old. Boji Moon also became the first Iowa-bred to win a stakes race in Kentucky, taking the $117,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Stakes.

Wolf Pack Jack, a Hat Trick   homebred for trainer Ray Tracy and his wife Sherri of Bondurant, Iowa, swept the two stakes races for 3-year-old Iowa-bred males at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, taking both the six-furlong Gray's Lake Stakes and the 1 1/16-mile Iowa Breeders' Derby by a neck. Wolf Pack Jack was also the top 3-year-old male.

Saturday night’s Joe O’Brien Pacing series finale is named for one of the most successful driver/trainers in harness racing history. He was born in Alberton, Prince Edward Island in 1917 and passed away in 1984.

In total, O’Brien drove more than 4,500 winners and collected more than $20 million in purses. He is enshrined in both the United States and Canadian Harness Racing Hall of Fame and is fondly remembered as “Little Joe”.

“Joe was the master,” said Cal Expo racing secretary Fred Kuebler. “He would jiggle those lines in his hands down the stretch and never even have to use the whip. He and Shelly Goudreau were the two best drivers I’ve ever seen.”

If all who say they are coming do so, Monticello Raceway is currently just one driver short of having an eight horse field for its Not-So Presidential Pace on Presidents' Day (Feb. 17).

“To recap; eligible drivers are those whose surnames are the same as former U.S. Presidents,” noted Eric Warner, Monticello Raceway's director of racing. “With a possible, or maybe probable, seven saying that they want to drive in our race we’ll have a contest, although I’d really like to have eight in the race.”

Those who expressed desire to compete include local drivers Cedric and Dennis “George” Washington, along with Howard “Zachary” Taylor, Allan “Lyndon” Johnson, Scott “Zachary” Taylor, George “James K.” Polk, Jr., along with Don “Herbert” Hoover, the former driver who is now the racing secretary at Saratoga Raceway.