Month: December 2020

Racing Canceled At Multiple Northeastern Tracks Due To Snow Storm

Racing has been canceled on Thursday at multiple tracks in the Northeastern portion of the United States due to extreme winter weather conditions. Among those announcing cancellations are: Aqueduct in New York, Charles Town in West Virginia, and Laurel Park in Maryland.

Press releases from each track follow:

– The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has canceled Thursday's live racing program at Aqueduct Racetrack due to a powerful winter storm currently impacting the New York metropolitan area with heavy winds, accumulating snow and coastal flooding.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a winter storm warning for the downstate New York region extending through 1 p.m. Thursday. The current NWS forecast, which aligns with NYRA's independent weather services, calls for sustained high winds with gusts up to 50 mph and total snow accumulations of 9-12 inches. In addition, the NWS has issued a coastal flood watch for southern Queens as of Thursday morning.

As a result, NYRA has canceled Thursday's eight-race card in the interest of the safety of all participants. Live racing at Aqueduct is scheduled to resume on Friday, Dec. 18, with a nine-race card kicking off at 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

For additional information on the 2020-21 winter meet at Aqueduct, as well as a complete stakes schedule, visit NYRA.com.

– Due to a winter storm that moved across the region bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain, the Maryland Jockey Club announced live racing at Laurel Park has been cancelled Thursday, Dec. 17. The Maryland Jockey Club's simulcast locations will remain open. Live racing will resume Friday at Laurel with a nine-race program beginning at 12:25 p.m. The eighth and ninth races will be part of the popular Stronach 5. Laurel's eighth race will serve as the opening leg of the Stronach 5 at approximately 3:49 p.m. Eastern.

Fans can watch and wager on Laurel Park and the Stronach 5 at www.1st.com/bet and xpressbet.com.

– Due to the continued impact of the winter weather moving through the area over the past 24 hours, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races has cancelled its live racing program for Thursday, Dec. 17. The track will remain open for limited simulcasting until mid-afternoon. Live racing is currently slated to resume on Friday, Dec. 18, with a first race post time of 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

The post Racing Canceled At Multiple Northeastern Tracks Due To Snow Storm appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Pegasus Turf Contender? Social Paranoia Scores Off The Layoff For Pletcher

The Elkstone Group LLC's Social Paranoia distinguished himself as a serious candidate for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), scheduled for Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park, with a gutsy triumph in Wednesday's feature race at the Hallandale Beach, Fla. track.

The 4-year-old son of Street Boss, sent to post at the even-money favorite in a field of nine, came off a five-month layoff to score a hard-fought half-length victory in the 7 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance on turf.

“It's always nice to have a win off a layoff like that. He came back and we got a quality win out of him. We were hoping for a good effort,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We'll see how he comes out of it and maybe keep an eye on the Pegasus Turf.”

Social Paranoia joined Pletcher trained Largent, the winner of last Saturday's Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream, on the list of Pegasus Turf candidates. He ran 7 ½ furlongs over a firm course in 1:27.48.

Social Paranoia rated off the early pace before making a five-wide sweep on the turn into the homestretch, outkicking Olympic Runner to the wire while galloping out strongly under Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Wednesday's victory was Social Paranoia's third in four starts over the Gulfstream turf. He broke his maiden by eight lengths in May 2019 and won the Appleton (G3) last March over the grass course.

“It feels great. Todd did a great job getting him ready, but he's won on the layoff before, so I was very confident in Todd,” said The Elkstone Group's Stuart Grant. “We're very excited. As you know we have our eye on late January back here and I think he showed that he deserved a spot there. This is his third win out of four [on Gulfstream turf].”

The post Pegasus Turf Contender? Social Paranoia Scores Off The Layoff For Pletcher appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Dundalk Adds Four Fixtures

Four additional Dundalk fixtures have been added for early 2021 to cope with the recent high number of entries at the track and the significant number of horses that have been balloted out of races at Dundalk’s last three meetings.

The additional meetings will take place on Jan. 11 (afternoon), Jan. 20 (evening), Feb. 1 (afternoon) and Feb. 17 (afternoon).

Jason Morris, HRI director of racing, said, “We have had representations from the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, the Restricted Trainers Association and the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners, all of whom have expressed serious concern. We are therefore pleased to be able to provide these additional opportunities during January and February to augment the existing programme. We envisage scheduling four or five races at each of these new meetings to allow for potential divides of multiple races to create eight-race cards at the additional fixtures. This approach has worked well in the past.

“We are grateful to Dundalk Racecourse for agreeing to contribute towards the funding of these meetings, as is the case with any additional fixtures allocated to racecourses. The dates and times for these meetings have been reviewed with SIS to identify the most beneficial slots from a betting turnover perspective and we are grateful to them for supporting the scheduling of these additional meetings. We have also liaised closely with Racing TV to ensure that we are maximising broadcast coverage for these new fixtures.”

The post Dundalk Adds Four Fixtures appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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