Month: June 2022

Three stakes worth a combined $425,000 highlight the 2022 Los Angeles County Fair meet at Los Alamitos.

The nine-day season will begin Saturday, June 25 and continue through Sunday, July 10. Racing will be conducted Saturday-Sunday the first week (June 25-26), Friday-Monday (July 1-4) the middle week and Friday-Sunday (July 8-10). the final week. Post time will be 2 p.m.

The richest of the stakes races is the Grade 2, $200,000-guaranteed Great Lady M. Stakes. The race at 6 ½ furlongs for fillies and mares – 3-year-olds & up – will be offered Monday, July 4.

The initial stakes of the season is the $100,000 Bertrando for 3-year-olds & up bred or sired in California. The one-mile race will be run Saturday, June 25.

The other stakes event is the $125,000 Los Alamitos Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles. The Derby will be offered Saturday, July 9.

Grandstand admission is $3 and $2 for seniors 62 and older. Admission to Burgart's and Vessels Club is $10. Tickets can also be purchased online at http://losalamitos.com/. Los Alamitos offers free general parking. Preferred parking is $5.

The wagering menu includes a pair of $1 Pick 4's on races 2-5 and the final four races along with a $2 Pick Six as well as the popular Players' Pick 5 – a 50-cent minimum bet with a reduced takeout rate of 14% rate – on the first five races.

The Pick Six will have the standard 70-30 split with 70% of the pool going to those tickets with six winners with the remaining 30% going to tickets with five of six winners.

There will also be a handicapping contest Monday, July 4 and the Los Alamitos Racing Association will offer a cash prize and a pair of berths in the 2023 National Thoroughbred Racing Association Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas.

Cost to enter is $500. Of that amount, $100 will be placed in the contest prize pool with the remaining $400 going towards a live money wagering card.

Tournament races will include the entire card at Los Alamitos with permitted wagers including win, place, show, exactas, trifectas and daily doubles.

Each entry must bet at least $50 on a minimum of five races that day, but there is no wagering limit.

The player with the highest bankroll at the end of the day will be declared the winner and the player with the second highest bankroll will be the runner-up.

The winner will receive 50% of the prize pool. The remaining payoffs: 20% (2nd place), 15% (3rd place), 7.5 % (4th place) and 7.5% (Most Money Wagered).

Entries for opening day of the LACF meet will be taken Wednesday, June 22.

The post Los Angeles County Fair Meet At Los Alamitos Begins June 25 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Magnier, Tabor, Smith, Westerberg, and Brant's The Antarctic (IRE) and Amo Racing And Omnihorse Racing's Walbank (IRE) lead 11 runners in Thursday's 5-furlong Norfolk Stakes (G2) for 2-year-olds at Royal Ascot. The Norfolk Stakes winner will receive an automatic starting position in the US$1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 82 stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which is scheduled to be held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, on Nov. 4-5.

The Antarctic, a full brother to champion sprinter Battaash (IRE), has won both his starts. Trained by Aidan O'Brien, the gray son of Dark Angel (IRE) broke his maiden in a 5-furlong Irish Stallion Farms EBF race at Tipperary on April 21, and came back to win again by three-quarters of a length in the 5-furlong Coolmore Stud Calyx Race at Naas on May 15. O'Brien has saddled three winners of the Norfolk, starting in 2001 with Johannesburg, who went on to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Belmont Park. Ryan Moore has the mount on The Antarctic.

Walbank, trained by David Loughnane, has a race over the Ascot course when he finished second on debut behind favored Noble Style (GB) in the Jemima Howden Novice Stakes at 5 furlongs on May 7. A son of Kodiak (GB), Walbank broke his maiden in style his next start, winning the 5-furlong Sky Bet Sunday Series EBF Novice Stakes by 7 lengths at York as the odds-on favorite. Loughnane saddled Go Bears Go (IRE) to a second-place finish in last year's Norfolk Stakes behind Perfect Power (IRE). Go Bears Go ran second to Twilight Gleaming (IRE) in the Breeders Juvenile Turf Sprint last year at Del Mar. Rossa Ryan has the mount on Walbank.

Clipper Logistics' Pillow Talk (IRE), trained by Karl Burke, is the only filly entered in the Norfolk Stakes. Dismissed at 18-1 on debut in the Watch on Racing TV Fillies' Novice Stakes at Nottingham on April 26, she closed strongly in the final furlong to finish second, defeated by a half-length. A daughter of Kodiak (GB), Pillow Talk broke her maiden in her next start at York on May 13 in the listed Knights Solicitors British EBF Marygate Fillies' Stakes at 5 furlongs. Racing strongly throughout in the center of the course, Pillow Talk battled stablemate Yahsat (IRE) inside the final sixteenth and prevailed by a neck under Danny Tudhope, who retains the mount for the Norfolk. Burke and Tudhope teamed up to win Wednesday's Queen Mary Stakes (G2) for 2-year-old fillies with Clipper Logistics' Dramatised (IRE).

Brian Goodyear's Brave Nation (IRE) was also impressive in his debut. A son of Sioux Nation, who won the 2017 Norfolk Stakes, Brave Nation dominated the Download The At The Races App EBF Maiden Stakes at Doncaster on April 23, going clear in the final furlong for a 6-length win as the 2-1 favorite. Brave Nation is trained by Michael Bell, who saddled The Lir Jet (IRE) to victory in the 2020 Norfolk Stakes.

Another son of Sioux Nation is Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah's Bakeel (IRE), who has a win over the course on debut. Trained by Andrew Balding, Bakeel captured the 5-furlong Royal Ascot Two-Year-Old Trial Condition Stakes on April 27 by 1 ¼ lengths. Jack Mitchell has the mount on Bakeel.

Trainer Richard Fahey won last year's Norfolk with Perfect Power, who went on to score back-to-back Group 1 wins in the Darley Prix Morny and the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes. This year, Fahey starts Steve Bradley's The Riddler (GB), who broke his maiden in his second start on May 6 in the British Stallion Studs Restricted Novice Stakes at Ripon. In his most recent start, The Riddler, a son of Brazen Beau (AUS), finished third, defeated by three-quarters of a length in the bet365 Two Year Old Trophy Conditions Stakes at Beverley on May 28. The Riddler will be ridden by Paul Hanagan.

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for the winner of the Norfolk Stakes to start in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, which will be run at 5 1/2 furlongs. Breeders' Cup also will provide a US$40,000 travel allowance for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships. The Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by the pre-entry deadline of Oct. 24 to receive the rewards.

The post Win And You’re In: Friday’s Norfolk Stakes Led By Full Brother To Champion Battaash appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Peter Blum Thoroughbreds' undefeated filly Society will make her two-turn debut in a compact field of five 3-year-old fillies that were entered in Saturday night's inaugural running of the $160,000 Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs.

The 1 1/16-mile Monomoy Girl will go as Race 5 of 11 with a post time of 7:57 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post for the Downs After Dark program is 6 p.m.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Society won on first asking in October at Keeneland. The Gun Runner filly was originally conditioned by Wayne Mackey before she was transferred to Asmussen's care where she won a first-level allowance event on Kentucky Oaks Day. Society will be ridden by leading rider Tyler Gaffalione from post position No. 2.

The other 3-year-old fillies that were entered in the Monomoy Girl were Keith and Margaret Long's 7 ¼-length maiden special weight winner Miss Yearwood; Ikhana Farm's two-time winner Imogene Malvina; Lou Dunn Diekemper Trust's stakes placed Tap Dancing Lady; and Kathy Wallace's recent Belterra Park allowance winner Glacken's Cause.

The Monomoy Girl is named after the stellar champion mare who was conditioned by Brad Cox. Monomoy Girl won six of seven starts at Churchill Downs including victories in the 2020 La Troienne (GI) and 2018 Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI).

Here's the complete field from the rail out (with jockey and trainer):

1. Tap Dancing Lady (John McKee, Ron Kahles)
2. Society (Gaffalione, Asmussen)
3. Glacken's Cause (Rogelio Miranda, Pat Huffman)
4. Imogene Malvina (James Graham, Ignacio Correas IV)
5. Miss Yearwood (Julien Leparoux, Ian Wilkes)

Racing on Wednesday and Thursday at Churchill Downs was cancelled because of excessive heat in the Louisville area. The action is scheduled to resume Friday at 12:45 p.m., although track officials will continue to monitor the forecast.

The post Unbeaten Society Headlines Inaugural Running Of Monomoy Girl Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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