Month: December 2022

Karl Broberg, Cristian Torres Capture Meet Titles At Remington Park

Karl Broberg has become the burr in the saddle of the country's all-time winningest trainer Steve Asmussen and Remington Park's all-time winningest owner Danny Caldwell, ending both their streaks of capturing their respective annual trophies at Remington Park.

If not for Broberg of Mansfield, Texas, Asmussen would have won 16 Chuck Taliaferro training titles in a row at Remington Park and have 19 overall instead of his record 17. As it is, Broberg ended Asmussen's reign of six titles in a row going into 2022 by winning this year's trophy with 48 wins to Asmussen's 30, good for second in the standings.

This was Broberg's second training title at Remington Park, also ending another Asmussen streak in 2015. Asmussen had won eight in a row from 2007-2014. His wins have diminished for four years in a row, however, even when he was winning titles. He won a record 104 times in 2018. That fell off to 83 wins in 2019, 73 in 2020 and 42 last year.

“It was kind of Steve to let someone else win it for a change,” Broberg said with his usual caustic humor. “This means much more to me than winning the leading owner title. I think Barack Obama was President the last time I won. I have to thank all my great help in the barn. Couldn't have done it without them.”

Aside from numerous victories in the claiming ranks and in allowance races, Broberg also scored stakes wins in the $150,000 David Vance Sprint with Flash of Mischief and in the Ricks Memorial with Island Hideaway.

The final top five in trainers for 2022 were Broberg, 48 wins; Asmussen, 30; Scott Young, 25; Kari Craddock, 22, and Diodoro, 20. Craddock is the all-time leading female trainer at Remington Park.

By horses' money earned, Broberg also was at the top of the heap with $1,119,986. He was the only trainer this meet with more than a million. Second through fifth were Asmussen, $941,866; Young, $781,467; Craddock, $759,220, and Ray Ashford, $638,266.

The Chuck Taliaferro Award for leading trainer is named in honor of one of Remington Park's top trainers in its formative years until his passing in 1994.

Leading Owner – End Zone Athletics

It was a similar scenario in End Zone Athletics, Broberg's outfit, winning the Ran Ricks Jr. top owner trophy for the meet. He ended the streak of Caldwell of Poteau, Okla., who had won the last two in a row. If not for End Zone Athletics, Caldwell might have won the owners' title 12 consecutive times, but End Zone wound up with it in 2019 and 2022. Both times he broke Caldwell's streak. Caldwell also had won eight times in a row when Broberg was the party pooper in 2019.

The top five in the 2022 owners' race were End Zone Athletics, 34 wins; Caldwell, 25; Bryan Hawk, 20; C.R. Trout, 11, and Silva Racing (Miguel Silva), 9.

Caldwell was leading owner by horses' earnings with $644,544 to End Zone Athletic's (Broberg) $612,794. Caldwell moved to the earning top on the final night of the season when one of his all-time favorite horses, Rated R Superstar, won the $102,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial Stakes on the next-to-last race of the meet. That win gave him $60,000 more in purses than End Zone Athletics, who held a lead of $28,250 going into the Jeffrey Hawk. Those two were followed in money earned by Hawk with $556,083; Trout, $457,316, and Terry Westemeir, $347,876.

The Ran Ricks, Jr. Award for leading owner, is named in honor of the track's all-time leading owner at the time of his passing in late 1996. Ricks was the first owner to stable a horse at Remington Park in 1988.

Leading Jockey – Cristian Torres

In the jockeys' race, Cristian Torres, in his first-ever meet at Remington Park, ended a four-year streak by David Cabrera of winning the Pat Steinberg trophy. Torres finished with 71 wins in a runaway against runner-up Stewart Elliott, who had 59. They were followed by 3) Jose Alvarez, 45; 4) Gerardo Mora, 43 and 5) Leandro Goncalves, 41. Cabrera fell all the way to ninth place with 30 victories.

“I'm really grateful to all the trainers and owners that trusted me,” said Torres. “It was fun. I need to thank Robertino Diodoro and Broberg. And especially thank my family.”

The top jockey at Remington Park earns the Pat Steinberg Award, named after the track's all-time leading jockey at the time of his passing in 1993.

In horses' money earned, Torres also was tops with $1,742,742, followed by Elliott, $1,578,561; Goncalves, $1,411,265; Alvarez, $1,367,485, and Alfredo Triana, Jr., $1,167,043. Also surpassing the $1 million mark were Cabrera, Weston Hamilton and Mora.

Tracked by more than 172,000 fans on Facebook and 10,700 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $311 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park live racing will return in March 2023 with the start of the American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa season. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

The post Karl Broberg, Cristian Torres Capture Meet Titles At Remington Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Sam Houston Executives Excited To ‘Test The Weekend Market’ In 2023

With a towering wave of momentum behind it, Texas' horse racing season begins Friday, Jan. 6, at Sam Houston Race Park, followed by a new racehorse owners' seminar the next day. Cue the trumpets. The Thoroughbred season continues through April 8, with 43 days of racing at Sam Houston, and then Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie will provide the stage for 44 days of racing.

In recent years, the horse industry's progress in the state probably has been more significant than at any time since the passage of The Texas Racing Act in 1986 and the subsequent opening of major racetracks. Over the last few years, Thoroughbred purses in Texas have doubled, from $13,167,859 in 2018 to $26,489,975 in 2021, according to The Jockey Club. In other words, the purses, or prize money, returned to 2007 levels. And the typical Texas-bred starter went from earning $10,722 to bankrolling $18,062.

Progress on the racetrack inevitably leads to advances in the breeding industry. In this case, inter alia, it led to the arrival of Mr Speaker, the only Grade One winner to stand in the state who also sired a Grade One winner. And since Mr Speaker's arrival from Lane's End in Kentucky, his son Speaking Scout won the recent Hollywood Derby (G1) at Del Mar. Such a luminary deserves special treatment, and Lori and Mark Collinsworth created the Forks of the Paluxy Farm in Bluff Dale just to accommodate the state's most accomplished and promising stallion. Mr Speaker's first Texas-bred foals will take their first steps this year.

All this momentum and progress was largely a consequence of the Horse Industry Escrow Account, created by lawmakers in 2019 “to foster the growth of the Texas horse industry.” The HIEA has funneled more than $50 million into Texas purses, for all breeds.

With the purses increasing and the racing improving, one of the state's foremost leading trainers, Danny Pish, was inspired to develop his new 1880 Training Center in Lipan. When the Texas horse industry was going nowhere, Pish had been tempted to go elsewhere, but the momentum and progress kept him home.

And so what now? Sam Houston will begin with daily purses around $230,000, according to Bart Lang, the track's director of racing, who has worked many years in Texas racing, as well at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. But the Sam Houston schedule will be dramatically different from that of a year ago. For one thing, the track will race only three days a week: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, plus holiday programs on Martin Luther King Day and Presidents' Day. The season will feature afternoon racing, with a first-race post time of 1 p.m., compared to last year's largely nighttime schedule. And the 43 days are seven fewer than last year's season.

“This will be a good experiment,” Lang said, “a good opportunity. We'll test the weekend market and see how it all goes. Sometimes when you're forced into something, it leads to some good ideas. Everybody at the track is very excited about the new schedule.”

Last June, the executive director of the Texas Racing Commission, Amy Cook, issued a memorandum that, in effect, prohibited the racetracks from exporting their simulcast signals outside the state. The importing of simulcast signals was not affected, nor was intrastate simulcasting. But interstate simulcasting, it was argued, would trigger the involvement of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, or HISA. So Texas joined six other states — Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming — in declining to comply with HISA.

In November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found HISA to be “facially unconstitutional.” So Congress will have to modify the statute, and the imbroglio could very well return to the courts before it's ultimately settled and there are, it's hoped, nationwide standards, rules and regulations.

In the meantime, to compensate for the loss in revenue from the interstate simulcasting and, at the same time, in an effort to maintain daily purse levels, Sam Houston adjusted its season to something that looks like all-weekend-all-the-time. Cue the trumpets.

The leading stables from last season are all back, such as those of trainers Steve Asmussen, Karl Broberg, J.R. Caldwell, Austin Gustafson, Bret Calhoun and Pish. In fact, Sam Houston received about 1,800 applications for its 1,200 stalls in the stable area, Lang said. So there's literally a waiting list.

Once again the highlights of the season will be the Houston Racing Festival, this year on Jan. 28, and Texas Champions Day, on March 25. The Festival features five stakes worth $800,000, including the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic (G3) and the $200,000 John B. Connally Turf (G3).

The Ladies Classic has become the most significant race in the state for fillies and mares. The 2022 winner, Pauline's Pearl, went on to capture the Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs and to push her earnings to $1,695,200. Trained by Asmussen, the Texan who's the sport's all-time leader in victories and who topped the standings at Sam Houston in 2022, Pauline's Pearl has had six workouts at Fair Grounds in New Orleans as she prepares for her 2023 return to competition.

The 2021 winner of the Ladies Classic was none other than Letruska. She began her championship campaign at Sam Houston, going on to win the Apple Blossom (G1), the Ogden Phipps (G1), the Personal Ensign (G1), the Spinster (G1) and, of course, the Eclipse Award as the sport's outstanding mare. She has earned more than $3 million in her career.

 

Completing the stakes of the Festival are the $100,000 Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile, for 3-year-olds; the $100,000 Bara Lass Stakes, for 3-year-old Texas-bred fillies; and the $100,000 Groovy, for Texas-breds.

Texas Champions Day will feature seven stakes, each offering a purse of $100,000, including the inaugural Texas Thoroughbred Association Derby and TTA Oaks. For older horses there will be the Richard King, at nine furlongs on the turf; the San Jacinto, at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares on the turf; the Spirit of Texas, at three-quarters of a mile; the Yellow Rose of Texas, at three-quarters of a mile for fillies and mares; and the Star of Texas, at one mile.

Cue the trombones.

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