Saturday, August 02 2008

JOHN PASSERO TO RESIGN AS NYRA DIRECTOR OF RACING SURFACES

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced that John Passero has resigned as Director of Racing Surfaces, effective September 1st at the conclusion of the Saratoga Race Course meeting.

Passero has served in the position, where he is responsible for 11 racing surfaces at Saratoga, Belmont Park, and Aqueduct Race Track, since January 2005. Prior to that he was Senior Vice President, Racing Surfaces, for the Maryland Jockey Club

NYRA also announced that Glen Kozak will assume the post of Director of Racing Surfaces on September 5th at the start of the Belmont Park Fall Championship Meeting.

Breeders’ Stakes Notes for Friday, August 1, 2008

Marlang looks to shake off sub-par showing

Marlang, who looked impressive in taking the Charlie Barley Stakes in June, will try and get back to his winning ways in Sunday's Breeders' Stakes, at Woodbine.

A bay son of Langfuhr, it was splendor in the grass for the bay colt in his first try on the turf, a 2 3/4-length score in the one-mile Charlie Barley.

Monmouth Park Barn Notes for Friday, August 1, 2008

OCEANPORT, N.J. * Big Brown blew out on the turf at Aqueduct Friday for Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational Presented by Vonage (G1) and is scheduled to school in the Monmouth paddock Saturday afternoon * The Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner goes from Post 4 in the mile and an eighth Haskell and is the 1-2 morning line favorite.

BIG BROWN, Post 4, 1-2 * The dual classic winner, who starts from the middle of the field in Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational Presented by Vonage (G1), had his final breeze for the race Friday morning at Aqueduct when he blew out three furlongs in :38 3/5 over the Big A turf course.

Night of Champions: Two-Year Old Trotters in Spotlight

Southern Rocketop Tries to Top Record-Setting Performance In Maxter

Stickney, IL---As part of Hawthorne’s annual Night of Champions that takes place tomorrow night, we’ll feature a pair of Trotting events, The Maxter and the Lil Bit Tuff, for ICF 2-year-olds.

Much of the attention will be focused on Claude Powers’ talented colt, Southern Rocketop, the probable favorite in the Maxter Final, for 2-year-old ICF Colt and Gelding Trotters. In a dominating and track-record shattering performance, Southern Rocketop, with driver Brian Carpenter in the bike, grabbed the immediate lead and never let a rival within three lengths of him, ultimately winning by nine lengths. He stopped the clock in 1:57.3, lowering the standard of 1:59.1, that was set last year by Maxter himself and equaled the previous week by Definer, another member of this field.

HIGHLAND TORREE, COCO BELLE WIN CERF HANDICAP DIVISIONS

Highland Torree and Coco Belle, two fillies with contrasting running styles, accounted for divisions of the featured C.E.R.F. Handicap Friday at Del Mar.

Highland Torree, ridden by Martin Garcia, rallied from off the pace to win the opening section of the six-furlong sprint for older distaffers, while Coco Belle, under Hall of Famer Mike Smith, led from start to finish to win her division.

Del Mar Stable Notes 8/1/8

JOEL ROSARIO IS TURNING UP THE HEAT IN JOCKEYS' RACE

Patience is a virtue, they say, and perhaps it's no more evident than on the racetrack.

Right now, that seems to be what's working best for young rider Joel Rosario, who has put together two consecutive three-win days to vault into second place in the jockey standings, just two victories behind season-long leader Rafael Bejarano's 16. Rosario's two triples give him six for the week and pushed him ahead of Tyler Baze 14-13.

Calder Barn Notes: 8-1-08

Awesome Alexandra Bids for Fifth Straight in Ema Bovary at Calder

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (August 1, 2008) – Farnsworth Stable’s 4-year-old filly Awesome Alexandra has posted four consecutive easy victories at Calder Race Course at the meet for trainer Marty Wolfson as she worked her way through starter/allowance and allowance conditions, and will take another step up in class Saturday as one of the choices in the $55,000 Ema Bovary overnight stakes.

Apprentice jockey Paco Lopez has been aboard Awesome Alexandra for each of her last four tallies and gets a return call for Saturday’s 6 ½ furlongs test, facing seven rival fillies and mares in her toughest challenge to date. Wolfson claimed the daughter of Awesome Again for Farnsworth at Gulfstream Park for $25,000 on Mar. 10 and has won five of six since then.

Arlington International Festival of Racing Barn Notes: Aug. 1

ARLINGTON ANNOUNCES $250,000 GUARANTEED FESTIVAL PICK 3 POOL

With the prospective field sizes for Chicago’s upcoming Arlington Million, $750,000 Beverly D. and $400,000 Secretariat Stakes all expanding over the last 48 hours, Arlington Park has announced that there will be a $250,000 guaranteed pool for an International Festival Pick 3 encompassing Illinois’ only three annually-contested Grade I events.

Arlington’s one-day International Festival of Racing, centerpiece event of Chicago’s Thoroughbred racing season that attracts horses from all over the world, is quickly approaching on the second Saturday in August.

Friday, August 01 2008

Saratoga Race Course to Commemorate 140th Season of Racing with Day-Long Celebration at the Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Saratoga Race Course will celebrate the history, culture and tradition of thoroughbred racing at the Spa with a day-long special event in honor of Saratoga’s 140th meeting, Saturday, August 9.

“Tradition Turns 140” will highlight nearly a century and a half worth of history which has earned Saratoga Race Course the title of one of the nation’s top ten sports venues.

“THE FRANCHISE HORSE” RETURNS TO SPA IN THE TEST

When they talk about Indian Blessing around trainer Bob Baffert’s barn, they don’t always call the Eclipse award-winning filly by name.

Sometimes they simply call her “The Franchise Horse.”

“She has been a blessing,” said Baffert of Indian Blessing, who heads a field of six for Saturday’s 83rd running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Test for three-year-old fillies. “She’s been so good to us all along. Around the barn she’s a real sweetheart, but when she gets on the track she has that competitive edge.”

Del Mar Stable Notes 7/31/8

MOOD QUIET BUT APPRECIATIVE AS POST-LAVA MAN ERA BEGINS

Two key men in Doug O'Neill's Del Mar barn were saddened by the announcement that 2006 Pacific Classic champion and earner of $5.2 million Lava Man won't be coming to the barn anymore.

The 7-year-old was retired officially Wednesday after tests at Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center showed that wear and tear on the gelding's ankles was enough to stop him from running again. Steve Kenly of STD Racing Stable, co-owner with Jason Wood, made the announcement.

Thursday, July 31 2008

A field of 10 set for Breeders’ Stakes

TORONTO, July 31 - Solitaire, third in the Queen's Plate, and the improving Sligovitz, highlight a wide-open edition of the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes, Sunday at Woodbine.

A field of 10 is set for the 1 1/2-mile turf race, third jewel in Canada's Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, which will go postward at 5:08 pm, with The Score airing a special one-hour telecast nationally across Canada from 4:30 - 5:30 pm ET.