March, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Oaklawn: Rosario, Geroux Each Handed One-Day Suspension For Careless Riding

The Arkansas Racing Commission handed out a pair of one-day suspensions for careless riding to jockeys Florent Geroux and Joel Rosario this weekend, according to rulings posted on the Association of Racing Commissioners International's online database.

Rosario's suspension stems from his ride aboard Mean Jakey in the ninth race on March 13, 2022. The Steve Asmussen trainee finished third, and was moved up via disqualification to second.

The Equibase chart states that Mean Jakey came in to bump another rival shortly after the start, then was steered out around the far turn and bothered a second rival. The disqualification stemmed from a third rival bothering Mean Jakey in the late stretch.

Rosario's scheduled suspension date is March 24.

Geroux's suspension stems from his ride aboard Wells Bayou in the eighth race on March 13, 2022. Trained by Brad Cox, the graded stakes-winning 5-year-old finished third in his second start off a 10-month layoff.

The Equibase chart states that Wells Bayou “showed the way into and through the first turn in the two-path, dueled the middle half while closest to the inside, began to weaken late in the final turn, managed to save the show.” The race replay suggests Geroux's suspension may have stemmed from a move early in the race, in which he have cut to the rail a bit early after the start, forcing another rider to check sharply.

Geroux's scheduled suspension date is March 31.

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Pennsylvania Leaderboard Presented By Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association: Beren Tops State Incentive Earners In 2021

With a campaign that saw him not afraid to travel or test deep waters, multiple stakes winner Beren finished last year as the leading earner of Pennsylvania incentive awards for his connections.

The now-4-year-old son of Weigelia generated a combined $288,815 in Pennsylvania-bred stakes purses, breeder awards, stallion awards, and owner bonuses, beating out 2020's leading incentive earner Wait For It, who finished second with $288,815.

Running as a homebred for Susan Quick's St. Omer's Farm and Christopher J. Feifarek, Beren won seven of 12 starts in 2021, and earned $483,970 on the racetrack. A portion of those earnings came from his efforts in Pennsylvania-bred stakes races, where he picked up $118,200 last year.

Beren made his first Pennsylvania stakes start in the summer after spending the spring in New York. He won both of his stakes races restricted to Pennsylvania-breds, both against 3-year-old rivals, handling the Crowd Pleaser Stakes at Parx Racing by 9 1/2 lengths, and later winning the Danzig Stakes at Penn National by two lengths.

The colt also generated six figures in breeder awards in 2021, bringing in $119,276 to Quick and Feifarek.

As a runner bred and sired in Pennsylvania, Beren was eligible for a 50 percent bonus on the purse for a maiden race run in the state, which he ticked off in his second start of the season, a 6 1/4-length drubbing of a Parx maiden special weight field. He then qualified for a 40 percent breeder bonus for in-state races, which included the two aforementioned state-bred stakes victories, along with a 6 1/2-length wire-to-wire route against open 3-year-old foes in the Parx Summer Sprint Stakes.

Quick and Feifarek also picked up $22,640 in owner bonuses with Beren. The colt qualified for multiple levels of this incentive, which includes a 40 percent purse bonus for races at Parx and a 20 percent boost at Penn National, both paid by the tracks.

Finally, Beren accounted for $28,669 in stallion awards for Wyn Oaks Farm, owner of sire Weigelia. Pennsylvania stallion owners receive a 10 percent bonus of the purse share for a registered Pennsylvania-bred and -sired horse that finishes first, second, or third at one of the state's tracks.

Weigelia was Pennsylvania's second-leading sire by stallion awards in 2021, with $149,591. He was bested only by the late perennial leading sire Jump Start, who generated $206,579 in stallion awards last year.

After leading Pennsylvania's incentive earners with $191,540 in 2020, Wait For It generated even more incentive money in 2021, combining for $263,217.

The bulk of that money came from Pennsylvania stakes earnings, earning $157,380 from four stakes races. He notched victories in the Page McKenney Handicap at Parx and the Hard Spun Stakes at Presque Isle Downs, a second in the Alphabet Soup Stakes at Parx, and he ran fifth in the Storm Cat Stakes at the same track.

Wait For It, a 7-year-old son of Uptowncharlybrown, was bred in Pennsylvania by Fantasy Lane Stable. In addition to his stakes earnings, he also generated $81,790 in breeder awards, $20,447 in stallion awards, and $3,600 in owner bonuses.

This story originally appeared in the OBS March issue of The Back Ring, our mobile bloodstock newsletter. To view the full issue, click here.

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Saratoga: Season Tickets For Reserved Seats On Sale Beginning March 23

Thoroughbred racing fans will have the opportunity to purchase season tickets to Saratoga Race Course for the 2022 summer meet beginning Wednesday, March 23. Today's announcement is significant in marking a return to the traditional sales cycle and the first time in three years that visitors can plan ahead for the upcoming Saratoga racing meet. The previous two summers included the inability of fans to attend in 2020 and an expedited sales calendar in 2021.

Full-season ticket plans, which include admission and reserved seats for the entire 40-day meet, will be available for purchase online through NYRA.com. Fans can access the Saratoga Virtual Venue seating map to digitally preview their seat location and sightlines before purchasing their season tickets which come bundled with admission.

Highlighted by the 153rd renewal of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on August 27 and the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on August 6, the 2022 summer meet will open on Thursday, July 14, and continue through Monday, September 5. Following the four-day opening weekend, racing will be conducted five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, apart from the final week, when the meet will conclude on Labor Day.

“As we celebrate the official start of spring and look forward to the opening of the historic Oklahoma training track in mid-April, we are excited to launch sales for season tickets and season admission passes for the 2022 Saratoga meet,” said NYRA Vice President, Sales and Hospitality, Kevin Quinn. “This announcement marks a return to our traditional on-sale date for season tickets and is certainly meaningful in representing a return to pre-pandemic normalcy. We hope our fans are as excited as we are to once again be able to plan well in advance to attend Saratoga this summer.”

Season admission passes, which include entry to the track for all 40 days but not reserved seats, will go on sale Friday, April 1. Season passes for the grandstand will be available for $60 (daily grandstand admission is $7). Clubhouse season passes are available for $85 (daily clubhouse admission is $10).

Season passes provide enormous value to fans who regularly attend the races. A 2022 season pass will pay for itself in nine visits to Saratoga Race Course during the 40-day summer meet. In addition, a season pass includes Runhappy Travers Day, which would otherwise cost $20 for advance grandstand admission.

NYRA tracks are the cornerstone of New York State's horse racing industry, which is responsible for 19,000 jobs and more than $3 billion in annual economic impact. As a not-for-profit corporation, NYRA has continuously enhanced the quality of thoroughbred racing in New York while completing important capital improvement projects to improve the fan experience, modernize facilities and grow the sport.

Current and recent upgrades include this year's introduction of the all-new Paddock Suite and newly renovated Post Bar; last year's addition of the Stella Artois Spa Verandas and Tailgate at the Turn; the opening of the 1863 Club in 2019 and the Cutwater Stretch in 2018; and the addition over the last several years of hundreds of free picnic tables throughout the backyard.

At Saratoga Race Course, these investments have yielded consistent and sustained results, and further cemented the reputation of the Saratoga summer meet as the finest in the world. Excluding 2020 when fans were not permitted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 marked the sixth consecutive season of more than 1 million in paid attendance at Saratoga Race Course. Average daily attendance during the 40-day meet was 26,162.

Fans who are interested in booking full group spaces for their outing to Saratoga Race Course this summer may now do so for the following hospitality areas: Paddock Suite; Stella Artois Spa Verandas; 1863 Club, including The Rail, Resorts World Legends Hall, and Luxury Suites; Big Red Spring Tent and the Festival Tent.

Partial space reservations will be accepted beginning Thursday, March 24.

Group reservations may be made by phone at 844-NYRA-TIX, email at boxoffice@nyrainc.com or online at NYRA.com/Saratoga.

For more information about Saratoga Race Course, visit www.NYRA.com/Saratoga.

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Mystic Guide Resumes Training At Keeneland, Could Target Summer Stakes At Saratoga

Last year's Dubai World Cup winner, the Godolphin homebred Mystic Guide, has resumed galloping at Keeneland under the watchful eye of Godolphin trainer Johnny Burke, according to bloodhorse.com.

The 5-year-old son of Ghostzapper last raced in July of 2021, finishing second in the G2 Suburban Stakes, before heading to the sidelines for a surgery to remove some bone chips. Mystic Guide resumed breezing at the Fair Grounds in December, but went back to Kentucky when trainer Mike Stidham wasn't satisfied with those early workouts.

“Mystic Guide is doing well,” Stidham told bloodhorse.com. “We started him back but had to pause because we weren't quite pleased with how he came out of those first few works. So we sent him back to Kentucky, let Dr. (Larry) Bramlage (at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital) do a thorough check of him and he said he needed a little more time.”

Bred in Kentucky out of the millionaire, multiple Grade 1 -winning A.P. Indy mare Music Note, Mystic Guide has compiled a record of 4-3-2 from nine starts with earnings of $7,593,200.

Stidham will resume the daily training of Mystic Guide when his stable returns to Keeneland in a few weeks' time, and the trainer suggested he could be targeting the summer races at Saratoga.