Friday, May 09, 2008
Like mother, like daughter in Hendrie Stakes?
TORONTO, May 8 - Trainer Malcolm Pierce may be saddling a Mother's Day hunch play in Sunday's Grade 3, $150,000 Hendrie Stakes at Woodbine.
The Toronto native will saddle five-year-old Saoirse Cat in the 6 1/2-furlong Polytrack test. Saoirse Cat's mom is the classy mare Saoirse, who captured the 2000 edition of the Hendrie.
A homebred daughter of Storm Cat, Saoirse Cat is long overdue to find the winner's circle, a local that has eluded her since November 20, 2006.
NEW RECORDS SET IN TAMPA BAY DOWNS’S 82ND SEASON
OLDSMAR, Fla. (May 8, 2008) – Tampa Bay Downs concluded a season consistent with that of last year with a new record set of $321,963,460 set for out-of-state handle; it is the seventh consecutive meet in which the out-of state handle has increased. The all-source handle also stayed flat from the 2006-2007 racing season with an average of $4,084,508 wagered on the Tampa Bay Downs product daily; it is only the second time in the Oldsmar oval’s history that daily all-source handle exceeded the $4 million mark. Tampa Bay Downs also boasted its highest non-Festival Day co-mingled handle on May 3 when $7,499,020 was wagered on the Tampa Bay Downs races.
The advent of Cotillion Festival Day on December 29, 2007 (which included the $65,000 Inaugural Stakes for two-year-old males and the $65,000 Sandpiper Stakes for two-year-old fillies) and Skyway Festival Day on January 19, 2008 (featuring the $75,000 Pasco Stakes for three-year-olds and the $65,000 Gasparilla Stakes for three-year-old fillies) as well as February 16’s Festival Preview Day and March 15’s Festival Day all contributed to the record out-of state handle plus gains in on-track attendance for those events. On Festival Day, Tampa Bay Downs boasted a new track record attendance of 12,746 fans as well as a handle of $10,282,952, the third highest in the track’s 82 year history.
NYRA, MID-ATLANTIC SIGN SIMULCASTING AGREEMENT
New York Racing Association simulcasts will return to 16 East Coast tracks, thanks to an agreement signed today between the NYRA and the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative.
The simulcast agreement will go into effective tomorrow, Friday, May 9, ending an impasse between NYRA and Mid-Atlantic that began with the opening of Belmont Park on April 30.
“NYRA is very pleased to have this agreement in place with such a major simulcast partner, “said Hal Handel, NYRA Executive Vice President and COO. ”We are glad to bring our races back to the fans at Mid-Atlantic tracks and I’m sure the fans will be happy to have NYRA races back, especially as we head into the heart of the New York racing season.”
