December, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rising Star Witty A Dominant Winner Of $200,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes

Witty, a half-brother to graded stakes winner Caravel, handily defeated nine rivals in the $200,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes at Parx Racing in a five and a half length triumph.

A homebred for Elizabeth Merryman, the 2-year-old Pennsylvania-bred son of Great Notion earned his second career victory and gave McLane Hendriks his first career winner as a trainer in the Pennsylvania Nursery.

After being forced to steady early, Witty moved up into contention on the backstretch under Carol Cedeno, settled in to save ground as the leader, Wispering Springs approached the quarter pole. Once in the clear, Witty responded when asked and drew away in the stretch.

“Very exciting…it's obviously a little bit stressful to train for your parents, but it makes it that much sweeter when you win,” said trainer McLane Hendriks. “I always kind of thought he was a turf horse, but he's been training so well on the dirt and handles it so well. We wanted to stretch him out a little bit here today and I do think he can get some more ground. It's exciting to have a horse like this and have a future wide open.”

Witty went off as the 2-1 favorite and returned $6.60 to win. Uncle Buddy ran second and Vine Jet completed the trifecta. The final time for the seven furlongs on a fast track was 1:26.44.

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Wraps Off Lope de Vega Notable at Kempton

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday's Observations features a half-brother to Group 3 winner Love Locket (Ire) (No Nay Never).

5.30 Kempton, Novice, £6,500, 2yo, 8f (AWT)
NOBEL (IRE) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), a 825,000gns purchase at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale, is a half-brother to the G3 Leopardstown Fillies Trial S. winner Love Locket (Ire) (No Nay Never) and the listed scorer Raakib Alhawa (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) who starts for Qatar Racing and the Andrew Balding stable. Out of a relative of High Chaparral (Ire), the March-foaled chestnut is met by the similarly unraced Hugo Palmer trainee Sky Legend (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), a 450,000gns Book 1 graduate who is a son of the G3 Prix Imprudence scorer and dual group 1-placed Spectre (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}).

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TPA Installs New Officers for 2022-23

During the Turf Publicists of America award luncheon at the Global Symposium Tuesday, Dave Zenner and Tom LaMarra were re-elected as secretary-treasurer and vice-president, respectively, and Ryan Martin was elected as vice-president; his first time on the board.

Dave Zenner is a freelance publicist, a racing official at Hawthorne, and was the stakes coordinator at Arlington Park. Tom LaMarra holds a diverse set of positions including Communications Director for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horseman's Association, and Coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships. NYRA's Ryan Martin is a racing communications specialist. The new slate of officers was installed immediately and will serve a two-year term.

LaMarra, Zenner, and Martin join TPA President Wendy Davis and Vice-Presidents Najja Thompson, Kevin Kerstein, and Clare Crawford, each of whom was elected last year to serve for 2021-22.

The post TPA Installs New Officers for 2022-23 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Rachel Blackmore To Contend For BBC SPOTY World Sport Star Award

The first female jockey to claim the Cheltenham Festival Leading Jockey title, including a Champion Hurdle win aboard Honeysuckle, Rachel Blackmore is the leading fancy for this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year World Sport Star award. According to the Irish Independent, voting for the award opened on Monday at bbc.com and will close at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 14.

The award will be presented during the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show live on BBC One on Sunday, Dec. 19.

Also in 2021, Blackmore became the first woman to ride the winner of the iconic Grand National with her success on Minella Times. Prior to Blackmore's win, the closest a female jockey had come to winning the world's most famous steeplechase race was Katie Walsh's third on Seabass in 2012.

In her post-race interview, Blackmore told the world: “I don't feel male or female right now, I don't even feel human. This is just unbelievable.”

Blackmore will be awarded the 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards in December.

Other nominees for the 2021 BBC World Sport Star award include: boxing champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, American football's Tom Brady, tennis' Novak Djokovic, five-time Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen.