It is possible that 2-year-old champion Essential Quality already has done enough to again be voted at the top of his class with an Eclipse Award at 3. It is nearly certain he seals the deal with a victory in the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
Month: August 2021
Oaklawn Offers Pay Raises for Fully Vaccinated Workers
Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, one of the largest employers in Garland County, Arkansas, is offering all active and future fully vaccinated team members a vaccine incentive.
Beginning Oct. 10, wages for all current and future fully-vaccinated non-tipped, hourly team members will be raised to a minimum of $16 per hour. Tipped hourly team members will be raised to a minimum of $8.50 per hour and salaried team members will receive a 3% increase. Oaklawn's new starting annual salary for fully-vaccinated salaried team members will be $40,000 per year. Current team members are eligible for the vaccine incentive through Dec. 31.
“We live in challenging times right now,” said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. “We are struggling to fill open positions and COVID is still hanging on. With the vaccine incentive, we are looking to change the financial health of our current and future team members. Most importantly, Oaklawn believes in protecting the health of our team members, their families and our community. The vaccine incentive, coming on the heels of the FDA approving the Pfizer vaccine, should move those unvaccinated to become vaccinated.”
New and seasonal Oaklawn team members after January 1, 2022 will be eligible for the vaccine incentive by providing a valid vaccination card.
In addition to the vaccine incentive, Oaklawn will continue its COVID cash incentive drawings, which began Aug. 1. In total, Oaklawn is giving away $45,000 to Team Members who have provided documentation showing they have been fully vaccinated.
Team members are required to wear masks while at work and Oaklawn continues to provide and encourage its team members to get a free vaccine.
The post Oaklawn Offers Pay Raises for Fully Vaccinated Workers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Best Bets: Travers Day Tips, Pat O’Brien Play
America’s Best Racing and handicapper (and avid gambler) Monique Vág team up to provide horseplayers with their best bets of the weekend. Vág will identify her top picks as well as at least one longshot play of the weekend, a nice opportunity to swing for the fences on a win bet or to take a shot with a show bet. She also will occasionally look for strong exacta plays for the weekend or try to spot a nice opportunity for other wagers. This Weekend’s Bets
DeShawn Parker Wins 2021 Mike Venezia Memorial Award
The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced today that veteran jockey DeShawn Parker is the winner of the 2021 Mike Venezia Memorial Award.
Parker, based at Indiana Grand, was chosen in ballots cast by more than 350 professional jockeys at North American tracks. He outpolled a distinguished group of finalists including Junior Alvarado, Julien Leparoux, Scott Stevens and Gerard Melancon, and will be recognized in a special ceremony on Thursday, September 2 at Saratoga Race Course.
Created in 1989, the Mike Venezia Memorial Award is awarded to a jockey who displays the extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as the result of injuries suffered in a spill in 1988. Venezia, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., won more than 2,300 races during his 25-year career.
“It's an honor just to be on the ballot for this award,” said Parker. “It's extra special that my fellow riders are the ones who made the selection. I take a lot of pride in being a role model both on and off the track. I will cherish this award.”
In a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Parker, 50, was America's leading rider in 2010 with 377 wins, becoming the first Black rider to do so since 1895. He led all jockeys again in 2011 with 400 wins; and is now closing in on 5,900 career wins. A native of Cincinnati, Parker was a dominant rider for more than 20 years at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. He has also enjoyed considerable success at Indiana Grand, where he was leading rider in 2020, and at Sam Houston Race Park, where he was leading rider in 2015.
Winning the Venezia Award is another major accomplishment for Parker in a year he described as “personally emotional but exciting.” In early March, Parker lost his father, Daryl Parker, a longtime Ohio racing steward, to cancer. Parker called his father his mentor and inspiration for becoming a jockey, especially after telling his 5-foot-10-inch son to ignore the naysayers who said he was too tall to make it as a professional rider.
“My idol, my best friend and a great father!” Parker said of his father. “He meant so much to my life and my career. I can only hope to be as great as he was.”
Two weeks after the passing of his father, Parker was selected by a vote of jockeys nationwide as the winner of the 2021 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, presented by Santa Anita Park.
The Venezia Memorial Award is a 13-inch bronze sculpture with a title that reads, “The Jockey, A Champion.” Parker joins a legendary group of riders who have won the award previously, including Venezia, who posthumously earned the inaugural award in 1989, as well as Bill Shoemaker, Angel Cordero, Jr., Jerry Bailey, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, Richard Migliore, Edgar Prado, Ramon Dominguez, Joe Bravo and Javier Castellano.
For Migliore, the 2003 Venezia Memorial Award winner who is now with NYRA TV, the award continues the legacy of Venezia.
“Winning the award myself was one the proudest moments of my career because Mike Venezia embodied everything you look for in a rider,” said Migliore. “He continues to be an example for today's jockeys and for our sport. DeShawn Parker is a worthy addition to this group of jockeys.”
The post DeShawn Parker Wins 2021 Mike Venezia Memorial Award appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
