In yet another sign that the sport is rebounding from the pandemic, the Far Hills Race Meeting Association announced that the purse of the American Grand National will increase from $150,000 last year to $250,000, when the 101st running takes place on Oct. 15. The increase will make the race the richest on the 2022 National Steeplechase Association calendar.
Month: April 2022
Jockey Josh Moore in critical condition after his recovery from heavy fall is hit by chest infection
Jump jockey Josh Moore was in the critical care unit of Aintree University Hospital on Wednesday night after suffering complications from a chest infection.
Ronnie Allen, Jr. ‘Excited’ For Comeback; 58-Year-Old Jockey Returns Six Months After Serious Injury
Ronnie Allen, Jr., has that familiar feeling in his stomach again.
After being sidelined since Oct. 19 following a freaky accident at Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania, Allen is named to ride two horses Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Maria Bowersock.
“I'm excited, and I'm nervous,” said Allen, who received a release from his doctor Monday to return to competition, about a month after he began working horses for Bowersock and trainer Tim Hamm. “My doctor tested my strength and range of motion and he said they're a lot better than they were before, and that if I feel OK I should go ahead.”
After working four horses Wednesday morning for trainer Tim Hamm, Allen felt strong and fit and brimming with confidence that he is ready to compete. He plans to start with a few horses a day at the outset of his comeback, building back to a level where he can soon regain his standing among the leading riders at Presque Isle and, hopefully, next season at Tampa Bay Downs.
The current Oldsmar meet runs through May 7, Kentucky Derby Day.
Allen is named to ride Lady in Heels, a 3-year-old filly, in Saturday's sixth race, a $25,000 claiming contest at a distance of 6 ½ furlongs on the main track. In the ninth race, a 1-mile maiden claiming race on the turf for 3-year-old fillies, he is named on Bowersock's filly Libertalia; the race drew an overflow field of 13, and Libertalia and Allen would need another filly to be scratched to draw into the race off the also-eligible list.
One, or two, will do for now for Allen, who turns 58 on Sunday. He began galloping horses in March, 5 months after breaking five ribs, suffering a collapsed lung, dislocating his clavicle joint and tearing ligaments in his left shoulder in a post-race spill at Presque Isle that took place when his mount fell unexpectedly while galloping out after finishing third in the second race.
Doctors originally said he could return to race-riding in 6-to-8 weeks, but ongoing issues with his clavicle joint restricted the range of motion in his left arm, making it next-to-impossible to breeze horses, let alone compete in a race.
After undergoing steroid injections and five weeks of physical therapy, the four-time Tampa Bay Downs riding champion considered surgery. But as his pain gradually subsided during his return to morning workouts, he elected to postpone that option indefinitely, with the approval of his doctor.
“He said (riding races) shouldn't create any more damage,” Allen said. “Surgery would put me out of action for at least another 3-to-5 months, but he said I don't need it for now.
“I'd like to start riding again and let everybody know that I'm back, and hopefully it goes well enough that I can ride through the summer (at Presque Isle, where Bowersock, his fiancée, trains). I've just got to take things one day at a time.”
Allen, who has ridden 3,888 career winners, has long been one of the Oldsmar oval's most popular jockeys. He won Tampa Bay Downs meet titles in 1984-1985, 1986-1987, 1987-1988 and 2010-2011. He is one of five jockeys to win the Grade 2 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes in the same year, accomplishing the feat in 1993 with Marco Bay (neither stakes was graded then).
Allen tied for fifth place in last year's Oldsmar standings with 42 victories and was eagerly anticipating a spirited return when he was injured.
“This is home. I started my career at Detroit (in 1983), but my dad (retired trainer Ronnie Allen, Sr.) and I came here every winter. I was leading bugboy (apprentice jockey) here and just kept on coming back,” he said.
Support from other jockeys and horsemen heartened Allen in his bid to return to the saddle.
“Everybody wants me to come back. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and said 'Hey, when are you going to start riding?' or 'I've got some horses for you to ride.' ”
Now they have the answer everybody was hoping for, and time will tell if Allen has a storybook comeback to deliver.
“It's in my blood. What happened is just life in this business, and I have to deal with it,” Allen said.
The post Ronnie Allen, Jr. ‘Excited’ For Comeback; 58-Year-Old Jockey Returns Six Months After Serious Injury appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Field Pass Gets Class Relief In Laurel’s Henry S. Clark Stakes
Three Diamonds Farm's well-traveled Field Pass, a multiple graded-stakes winner approaching $1 million in purse earnings, will get some class relief as he steps out of graded company for the first time in nearly two years in Saturday's $100,000 Henry S. Clark at Laurel Park.
The 22nd running of the one-mile Clark for 3-year-olds and up is among five $100,000 stakes on the second of consecutive Spring Stakes Spectacular Saturdays, and one of the first three scheduled for Laurel's world-class turf course along with the Dahlia for females 3 and older, also at a mile, and 5 ½-furlong King T. Leatherbury for 3-year-olds and up.
Also on the 10-race program are the Native Dancer for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles and six-furlong Primonetta for fillies and mares 3 and older. The Clark, Dahlia and Primonetta are all part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series that launched its 2022 season April 16 at Laurel.
First race post time is 12:40 p.m.
Field Pass has made one start this year, running 10th behind defending champion Colonel Liam in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park, a race where he was bumped at the start and failed to reach contention, though he wound up beaten less than four lengths.
“We just gave him some time after the Pegasus race. He just got outrun. He had some trouble early on that might have cost him, but I don't think it was the difference between running 10th or winning,” trainer Mike Maker said. “Everything's well. It should be a good comeback spot for him.”
A 5-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid, Field Pass won the third of his four career graded-stakes in Maryland, taking the one-mile Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G3) last summer at historic Pimlico Race Course. Other graded wins have come in the 2020 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3), Transylvania (G3) and Ontario Derby (G3) as well as the 1 1/16-mile Seabiscuit (G2) to end 2021. His last 12 races have come in graded events, since finishing seventh in the August 2020 Saratoga Derby Invitational, now a Grade 1.
“He's been great. He's a sound horse, and it's been a lot of fun having him around,” Maker said. “I prefer him to go a mile and a sixteenth, but I don't think the mile is going to be a big issue with the class drop.”
Victor Carrasco is named to ride Field Pass, an eight-time career winner with $938,143 in purses earned from 24 starts at 11 tracks in five states as well as Canada. Fourth in the 2019 Laurel Futurity in his only try over the local course, he drew Post 6 in a field of seven.
“He's run well wherever he's gone. It's one less thing to worry about,” Maker said. “If there's no speed he can take control of the race and if not he can sit off it. It just depends on the draw and the others in the race.”
Lael Stables' Chez Pierre is undefeated in four starts, the first three of them in his native France prior to capturing his U.S. debut in a one-mile allowance March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs. The Clark will be his stakes debut.
“He was bought in France at private auction as a 2-year-old and he did very well. He won two races and he came back and ran a good allowance at the beginning of last year. Unfortunately, he hurt himself which required a little bit of time. We brought him back to America and he ran back at Tampa and won,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said. “The next logical step is to try a stakes now.”
His last race was the first beyond six furlongs for Chez Pierre, who Delacour said was being pointed to the Commonwealth Cup (G1) for 3-year-olds sprinting on turf last June at Royal Ascot prior being sidelined following a 1 ¼-length allowance victory the month before at Chantilly.
Chez Pierre raced in a stalking spot for much of his American debut, coming with a determined run to win by a neck over the firm course. Daniel Centeno, aboard that day, rides back from outermost Post 7.
“We always thought he could go the distance, especially in America with a little bit more pace in the races running on the flat ground, so we tried him at the mile and it worked out,” Delacour said. “I guess it was just circumstance, coming from sprinting and being a little fresh [but] he just put himself in the race very early. That wasn't by design. It took him probably a quarter of a mile to settle but eventually he did and he came with a run.”
Delacour said the timing and distance of the Clark made it an attractive spot to test stakes company.
“We had a few options. There was a seven-furlong race in New York a week or two after, but because he won at a mile we want to try him again at a mile and go from there,” he said. “We've been happy with him.”
Monmouth Stud's stakes winner Oceans Map is set to make his first start since finishing fifth in the 1 ½-mile Japan Turf Cup last October in his only previous race over the Laurel turf. He was entered but scratched from a stakes April 9 at Aqueduct when the turf came up soft.
“This race is a mile, and even though he's run well before in marathon races he's pretty versatile,” trainer Greg Sacco said. “We think this is a good starting point for the season for him.”
Oceans Map has been successful before in Maryland, winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance by 2 ½ lengths last May on the undercard of the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico. He was off the board in a pair of subsequent graded-stakes, including the United Nations (G1), before taking the 1 ½-mile Cape Henlopen at Delaware Park.
“He really came into his own last year, starting at Pimlico winning on Preakness Day. He's just kind of blossomed. He was a late foal and is maturing and really coming into his own. We hope he keeps improving this year as a 5-year-old,” Sacco said. “He hasn't missed a beat since he came back to us in January and he's coming into the race the right way. We feel he'll give a good account of himself on Saturday.”
In the Japan Turf Cup, Oceans Map was within striking distance of the leaders in third before dropping back and wound up five lengths behind Grade 3 winner Tide of the Sea, another Maker trainee. Feargal Lynch gets the riding assignment from Post 5.
“He made a big move and flattened out, which is uncharacteristic of him. He did scope with mucus so we treated it when we got back to New York and then sent him down to Florida for the winter,” Sacco said. “I think he would have had a better showing that day.”
Bruno Schickendanz's Mandate, winner of the Artie Schiller last fall at Aqueduct; American Made Thoroughbreds' Highway Bound, a 1 1/16-mile allowance winner on the dirt at Penn National April 1; Jennifer Truheart's Rock On Luke, a dirt stakes winner yet to race on turf; and Built Wright Stables' Sir Alfred James, sixth in the Frank Whiteley April 16 over Laurel's main track, complete the field.
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