Racing News

During the 2013 season Bruce Aldrich, Jr. won his fourth driving title at Monticello Raceway. His 450 winners were 146 more than runner-up Jimmy Marohn’s 304 and although his 450 wins were second best behind Zeke Parker’s 526 in 1995, for Aldrich that was just half of the story.

Tyler Smith started 2014 by driving five winners on Wednesday (Jan. 1) at Northfield Park.

Smith’s winners included Artistic Dreamer ($13.00) in race four, Sand Royal Blu ($12.60) in race nine, Mooveit ($10.80) in race 11, Lima Lucky ($24.60) in race 13 and Jumpin Jack J ($13.80) in race 12.

Nearly replicating the tracking running style he used to win an allowance optional claiming race Nov. 17 at Gulfstream Park, Singanothersong nailed down his first career stakes win Dec. 28 at the Hallandale Beach, Fla. track.

With jockey Juan Leyva again showing the way, third choice Singanothersong tracked early leader Star Harbour  before surging past the 6-5 favorite in the lane on his way to a 1 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes (gr. III).

Fernando De La Cruz, who was in the midst of his best meetings ever and was holding a comfortable lead in the local rider’s standings, will be sidelined at least four weeks as he recovers from injuries suffered when he went down in a spill during the stretch run of Friday’s ninth race.

De La Cruz, who has won 23 races at the meet, was battling for the lead in midstretch of the mile and a sixteenth turf race aboard favored Poster Girl when the 3-year-old filly suddenly ducked to the inside and crashed through the portable inner rail, unseating De La Cruz.

Kathleen Rose won the $58,000 Jupiter Purse for California-bred fillies and mares by a half-length at Santa Anita on Friday.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Kathleen Rose ran one mile on the turf in 1:34.69 and paid $3, $2.40 and $2.10 as the 1-2 favorite.

Mangita returned $6 and $4. Warren's Rosebud was another 1¼ lengths back in third and paid $2.80 to show.

Sent off as the heavy 1-5 heavy favorite in the Derby Italiano del Trotto at the Agnano track in Naples, the Dutch owned Robert Bi, driven by Robin Bakker, was an easy winner in a new race record.

Robert Bi, a 3-year-old colt sired by Toss Out, could be the next superstar in the European trotting scene. It was just a walk in the park for him, winning the Derby over the 1-5/16th mile distance in a new race record of 1:57f; the old record was 1:57.3f.

Dutch reinsman Robin Bakker directed Robert Bi to the lead after the first five-eighths of the mile and Robert Bi won in a hand drive, followed three lengths back by Rod Stewart, driven by Enrico Bellei.

Heir Kitty overtook 4-5 favorite Sweet Lulu in the final furlong to post a 13-1 upset in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes (gr. I) on opening day at Santa Anita Park Dec. 26, giving Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens his first win in the race since 1998 (VIDEO).

The 50-year-old Stevens, who launched a comeback early in 2013 following a seven-year retirement, won the La Brea for the fifth time in his career. His first La Brea victory came in 1987 with Family Style for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

 The United States Harness Writers Association today released the majority of their 2013 human award winners for excellence in the Standardbred industry. Heading the list is Joe Thomson, winner of the Stanley F. Bergstein-Proximity Achievement Award.

“I don’t know what else to tell you. Tax the pot growers.”

Those were the words of California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Chairman David Israel atlast Thursday’s meeting in Santa Anita, where a representative of the Humboldt County Fair (HCF) requested special consideration for 2014 and 2015 race dates.

At the end of the meeting, the fair walked away with just one extra day of a money-making “host” status — a big disappointment from the fair association’s boast earlier in the year that it looked like Humboldt would get two weeks unoverlapped from the state board.

The fair’s only success before the board in receiving one week of lucrative stand alone dates was in 2010 — the results of which helped grow the fair’s reserve at the beginning of this year into the largest ever.

Pure Barre, the only mare in the field, took top honors in Pompano Park's $10,000 Open Handicap Trot on New Year's night, kicking off the new year with a splendid 1:54 lifetime equalling best performance.

The 6-year-old daughter of Classic Photo, handled by Mickey McNichol for owner-trainer Tom Gonsalves, took command after a very brief tussle for supremacy early and wired together panels of :27.4, :57.2 and 1:25.3 en route to her three length triumph over the late charging Jolenes Pinehonker (Mark O'Mara). Keystone Thomas, prominent throughout the mile, finished third for Joe Pavia, Jr. while Jessesjo and Mr Web Page earned the final two awards in the field of seven. Favored Andover America, off at 8-5 on the board, couldn't overcome the handicap of his outside post and finished sixth.

San Fran Lady N and Bj’s Sweetheart, both clocked in 1:53.3, won the $15,000 Filly and Mare Winners-Over split divisions on Monday, Dec. 30 at Dover Downs.

With no live racing on New Year’s Eve day, San Fran Lady N and Bj’s Sweetheart closed out the 2013 portion of the six-month long meet in diverse styles.  Owner-trainer Peter Tritton’s recent import, San Fran Lady N and Tony Morgan took no prisoners en route to her first U.S. victory in her fourth local start, overwhelming a field reduced to five starters with a convincing :27.4 final panel. Timmylynn came on for Montrell Teague to finish second in front of Mystra and Chris Page. Including her earnings in the states, San Fran Lady N, a 7-year-old daughter of former American-breds, Live Or Live-Emcill, has won 19 races and $130,350 lifetime.

Trainer Wayne Catalano has all but ended his four-year association with leading North American owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Catalano confirmed Friday.

A few Ramsey horses still are in limbo, housed in Catalano’s stalls at Keeneland, but Catalano said he had given up about 15 other Ramsey-owned horses. Some, like the good Illinois-bred Coalport, who is with Mike Maker’s string in Florida, already have begun showing up with other trainers.

North America’s winningest horse is among three 14-year-olds racing for the last time this Saturday (Dec. 28) at Northfield Park.

As the calendar will soon be turning to 2014, Armbros Revenge A, Anvil Raider N and How Forever Feels will be forced into retirement per the rules of the United States Trotting Association.

Armbros Revenge A (Armbro Operative-Family Revenge-JJ’s Pennant) drew the rail in the sixth race on Saturday’s 14-race program. He will be making the 279th start of his career. He enters Saturday’s race with 50 wins to his credit and a career bankroll of $247,439. His richest and fastest win was for a purse of $8,100 when he topped a $10,000 claiming event at The Meadows in 1:53.2 at age 11.

Saturday night’s $10,600 finale of the Bob Gordon Pacing Series at Cal Expo is named for the noted driver/trainer and track executive who passed away at the age of 65 in 2006.

Bob Gordon started his 40-year career in Ohio and learned his lessons under the outstanding horseman Bob Farrington. He eventually settled in California and was a mainstay at the top of the trainer standings from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, conditioning such stars as Stand By N, Theora Hanover and Pack Leader.

Stand By N raced under the banner of Bob and Loretta Staats stable and she was his all-time favorite. The Down Under import had a 1:52 career standard and banked $255,000 in a brilliant career on the racetrack, then went on to be an equally ou

To the surprise of no one in particular, Brian Sears and Ron Burke left town with Yonkers Raceway's 2013 titles as leading driver and trainer, respectively.

The 231-program meet (pared down by seven weather cancellations), which ran from Jan .11-Dec. 21, saw Sears--who turns 45 next month--claim his first Westchester title in his first full-fledged Yonkers season. He won 471 races from 2,034 starts (23.2 percent), 44 more victories than two-time defending champGeorge Brennan (427 wins). Jason Bartlett (337), Dan Dube (226) and Jordan Stratton (217) rounded out the leading quintet.

Sears' $8,736,133 in purses also led the legion.

It’s not like it was totally unexpected but Monticello Raceway’s Au Revoir, the race exclusively for 14-year- olds who will be forced into retirement on Jan. 1, 2014, failed to attract enough entries.

“When we opened the (entry) box this morning we only had three entries,” noted Eric Warner, the track's Director of Racing. “Actually I was somewhat surprised because we worked hard on filling the race and there seemed to be quite a lot of interest.”

However, Warner shouldn’t be too surprised since after the Mighty M first staged the race for the retiring crew back in 1991 only four other times in the 22 following years did the Au Revoir fill.

Although the race was presented three times in the last four years, getting enough entries is never a given.

Top Monticello Raceway trainers Danny Gill and Bob Lounsbury have light heartedly taunted one another for months as to who will be the leading trainer and for most of the time Gill, with more horses in his stable than Lounsbury, was the one on top.

Although he constantly trailed, Lounsbury would tease Gill with “I’m gonna catch you” to which Gill would reply with “if I can’t out-train you I’ll out-start you,” referring that he had more horses racing than his friendly adversary.

When Gill, and his wife Brenna, went on their annual vacation to Disney World in early December Lounsbury warned Gill that he shouldn’t go.