August, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Olympians Named Queen’s Plate Ambassadors

Penny Oleksiak and Kayla Sanchez, each a multiple medallist in swimming at the recently completed Summer Olympics in Tokyo, have been named celebrity ambassadors for this Sunday's C$1-million Queen's Plate at Woodbine.

“At Woodbine Entertainment we are so proud of our Canadian Olympians and how they represented our country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games,” said Jim Lawson, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. “We are thrilled to have Penny and Kayla participate in the traditions of The Queen's Plate which will also serve as a reflection of the gratitude and pride we have for them and all of our Canadian Olympic athletes.”

On Wednesday, Aug. 18, Sanchez will serve as the celebrity drawmaster when post positions are handed out for the Queen's Plate. Oleksiak, Canada's most decorated Olympic athlete after picking up three medals in Tokyo, will attend Sunday's race and will perform the ceremonial call of 'rider's up!'

The Queen's Plate breakfast will be hosted by Jason Portuondo. The festivities are scheduled to commence at 10 a.m. ET and a live stream will be available through Woodbine.com.

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Fields Out For Irish EBF Barrier Trials

Fields for the Aug. 18 Irish EBF Barrier Trials at Dundalk Stadium are now available here.

Wednesday's barrier trials, scheduled to begin at noon, will be run over five, six or seven furlongs and are open to unraced 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds. Operated by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and backed by the Irish EBF and IHRB, the trials will be recorded, timed, and made available to view online shortly after running on the ITM website and social media. In addition, a live stream will also be available to view on the ITM YouTube channel. For more information, please visit www.itm.ie/Buying/Barrier-Trials.

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Craig Duchossois: Blame Politicians, Not Churchill Downs For Arlington Park’s Demise

Craig Duchossois, son of former Arlington Park owner Richard Duchossois, said Illinois politicians are to blame for the pending demise of the suburban Chicago racetrack owned by publicly traded Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI).

In an interview with the Daily Herald, Duchossois said the 2019 legislation that gave Illinois racetracks the right to operate a casino came “too late” for Arlington Park. By the time the law passed, CDI already had purchased an interest in the Rivers Casino, about 10 miles away from Arlington Park. It now is the casino's majority owner.

Illinois horsemen were stunned when CDI officials announced months after the bill was signed into law that they would not seek a license to operate a casino at Arlington Park. CDI's chief executive officer, Bill Carstanjen, announced plans to sell the property last year and began accepting bids earlier this year. Among the interested parties are the NFL's Chicago Bears. At least one group is interested in keeping racing alive at Arlington by developing a portion of the property but maintaining the track, grandstand and stabling.

Arlington Park did not apply for 2022 racing dates.

“If they (Illinois lawmakers) would've gotten their head out of the sand and done it five or 10 years earlier, whole different ballgame,” Duchossois said. “Who knows what would have happened then. But at least we would've been given the chance to compete fairly, and they didn't allow that. And now they're saying Churchill is at fault? That just doesn't make any sense.”

Duchossois, like his father a former member of the CDI board of directors, told the Daily Herald discussions about closing Arlington and developing the property came up a number of years ago.

Arlington merged with CDI in 2000, making the Duchossois family the largest single shareholder in the company whose flagship racetrack, Churchill Downs, and its headquarters are located in Louisville, Ky. Churchill Downs also owns Fair Grounds in Louisiana and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania (both tracks also have casinos) but ceased racing operations at Calder in Florida (replacing it with jai alai to maintain a casino license) and sold Hollywood Park in California to a land development company that eventually closed the track and built a football stadium there.

In February 2021, CDI repurchased one million of the three million shares reportedly held by The Duchossois Group. The private transaction was valued at $193.9 million.

Craig Duchossois was interviewed by the Daily Herald on the afternoon of the track's signature event, formerly known as Arlington Million Day. The Arlington Million, inaugurated in 1981, had its named changed to the Mr. D. Stakes to honor Richard Duchossois, while the prize money was slashed from $1 million to $600,000. Duchossois, 99 years old, did not attend.

Charles Town Jockeys Refused To Ride Over Ongoing ‘Inconsistencies And Issues’ With Paychecks

The following statement was issued by The Jockeys' Guild on Monday, following the cancellation of races on Saturday, Aug. 14 at Charles Town Races in West Virginia:

“The decision by the jockeys at Charles Town to refuse to ride on Saturday, Aug. 14 was made with just cause and only after many discussions with management concerning timely payment for jockey's mounts. Receipt of payment in a timely fashion has been a problem on and off for several years at Charles Town and Saturday was not the first time the jockeys have considered refusing to ride over the issue.

“Representatives of the Jockey's Guild and members of the Charles Town jockey colony have had discussions with management and stewards several times in hopes of getting a permanent resolution. Concerns include, but are not limited to, changes to the day of the week the jockeys may get paid without notifying the jockeys and there have been instances when checks have been issued, jockeys were advised that there are insufficient funds in the account to cover the paychecks.

“Most jockeys live paycheck to paycheck and they felt they had no other recourse but to bring attention again to this on-going situation. The inconsistencies and issues of receiving payments consistently occurs nowhere else in the country, including at Mountaineer racetrack, which is also in West Virginia. Everyone can relate to doing a job and being paid in a timely manner. Jockeys are no exception. The jockeys at Charles Town put themselves in harm's way in each and every race and to not be paid in a timely manner is simply unacceptable.

“This is an issue that the management and stewards at Charles Town need to resolve immediately.”

Charles Town's vice president of racing operations Erich Zimny told the Paulick Report on Saturday that the issues, which resulted in the cancellation of races when jockeys refused to ride, revolved around delayed payments into the jockeys' account.

“We've tried damn hard to make racing, including all of the administrative functions involved, as normal as possible despite the situation we're all still in being far from normal.” Zimny said. “There was a temporary delay in money getting transferred for jockeys' checks into the normal account. The riders were told they could instead cash their checks at the casino cage and there would be no issue. Apparently, the delay was enough to choose not to ride and create a negative impact for everyone.”

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