August, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Whitney Day Fundraiser For Local Breast Cancer Support Planned

Pink will be the theme of Whitney Day Aug. 5 at Saratoga Race Course in recognition of local breast cancer survivors, the track said in a release Thursday.

To Life!, a Capital Region non-profit organization that provides personalized breast cancer education and support services, will be accepting donations and sharing information at a trackside table inside Gates B and C.

“It is an honor for To Life! to be at Saratoga Race Course on Whitney Day,” said Executive Director Eileen Howe Bird. “Celebrating the strength and courage of breast cancer survivors is just one way we can bring awareness to this cause, as it has impacted us all in some fashion. We are grateful for the show of support from NYRA and the opportunity for our survivor honorees to be recognized and appreciated.”

Breast cancer survivors and their supporters will participate in the day's activities: Darlene Bauer will sing the National Anthem and To Life! representatives will announce the ceremonial call for “Riders Up” prior to Saturday's fourth race named in honor of the organization.

Fans are invited to take part in a “Best in Pink” fashion photo contest from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. across from the Travers Bar. Each fan who participates will receive a commemorative photo magnet and will be judged for their flair to wear pink.

The post Whitney Day Fundraiser For Local Breast Cancer Support Planned appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Brick Fundraiser To Celebrate Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Flagship Second Chances Program

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) is pleased to announce the launch of a brick pathway fundraising campaign at the Wallkill Correctional Facility in Wallkill, NY. Honoring the flagship location of the TRF Second Chances Program, and the partnership between the TRF and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, this fundraiser will commemorate 40 years of “Saving Horses and Changing Lives.”

The Wallkill Correctional Facility's Equine Handling Program has a long history of not only rehabilitating horses and incarcerated individuals, but a record of providing vocational training. That training includes construction and farm work, dating back to the first decade of operation. By the 1960s, Wallkill was running the nation's first prison optical program. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “There's something about the outside of a horse that's good for the insides of a man.”

Today, the daily care of 40+ powerful and dependent equines continue to change inmates' outlook toward other living things, and in turn, themselves. Horses help people become better members of society by learning impulse control and boundaries. When humans approach horses with the horse's best interest in mind, they also learn to be present and honest with themselves. These ideas are at the core of the program. At Wallkill, the retired racehorses are the teachers, having found a new career and a lifetime sanctuary.

In order to continue caring for the equines who call the Second Chances Program home, the TRF relies on private donations. To support its mission, a brick pathway will be constructed on the horse farm near the historical Walstein Childs House, located at the center of the farm. Fundraising and bricks will be available from the TRF starting July 12, 2023, through the summer of 2024, with a planned installation and unveiling in Fall 2024.

For more information and to purchase a brick, visit: www.trfinc.org/bricks

About TRF: Founded in 1983, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is a national organization devoted to saving Thoroughbred horses no longer able to compete at the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse, and slaughter. As the oldest Thoroughbred rescue in the country, the TRF provides sanctuary to retired Thoroughbreds throughout their entire lifetime.

Best known for its pioneering Second Chances Program, the organization provides incarcerated individuals with life-changing vocational training through an accredited equine care and stable management program. At eight correctional facilities across the US, including one juvenile justice facility, this program offers second careers to its horses and a second chance at life for program graduates upon release from prison.

The post Brick Fundraiser To Celebrate Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Flagship Second Chances Program appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Del Mar: Five Fillies Face Off In ‘Win And You’re In’ Clement L. Hirsch

Your basic small but select field – five 4-year-old fillies, all of them graded stakes winners – will go for a Grade 1 prize at Del Mar Saturday in the 53rd edition of the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, a mile and one-sixteenth on the main track that carries the honors of the game's top stakes event, as well as a $400,000 prize.

Additionally, the Hirsch is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” challenge race that guarantees the winner an admission free berth in the $2-million Breeders' Cup Distaff, which will be run this year at Santa Anita in November.

Trainer Bob Baffert, who won the Hirsch in 2020 with Fighting Mad, will send out a pair of solid candidates in the Saturday headliner in Michael Lund Petersen's Adare Manor and Jill Baffert or Connie Pageler's Fun to Dream.

Trainer Phil D'Amato, who'll be in quest of his first victory in the stakes, also will saddle two of the runners in Little Red Feather's Elm Drive along with H & E Ranch's Desert Dawn. Finally, trainer John Sadler, with five notches already on his belt in the Hirsch, will send out Keith Abrahams' Kirstenbosch.

Adare Manor, an Uncle Mo offspring who has five victories and four seconds in 11 careers starts, well could be the favorite in the crucible. The speedster comes into the race off a trio of scores, the last two coming in Grade 2 stakes at Santa Anita. She figures to be on or near the lead throughout and she'll have the saddle services of her regular rider, Juan Hernandez, for the test, which goes as Race 10 on an 11-race card.

The other Baffert filly, Fun to Dream, is a California homebred daughter of the trainer's Hall of Fame stallion Arrogate out of the Maria's Mon mare Lutess. She's won six of her eight outings and is the lone runner in the lineup with a Grade 1 tally already to her credit, that coming in the La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita last December. Hernandez had ridden the filly in all eight of her previous starts, but chose to go the other way for this affair. That left the door open for veteran Ramon Vazquez to pick up the mount.

Elm Drive, who'll have Ricky Gonzalez in the tack, is a five-time winner who has gone two turns only once before with results that were not promising. She's by the Tapit sire Mohaymen out of an Indian Charlie mare

Desert Dawn, who is also by a Tapit stallion, this one named Cupid, has only won twice after 14 starts, but has a pair of seconds and five thirds that have built her earnings up to $696,525, tops among all the runners in the lineup. She'll have regular rider Umberto Rispoli aboard as she goes again in a race where she ran second last year to the top mare Blue Stripe.

Kirstenbosch is a homebred by Midnight Lute with a trio of victories and six other placings to her credit. She'll be handled by Hector Berrios in the select field. In her most recent start, Kirstenbosch finished second to Adare Manor in Santa Anita's Santa Margarita Stakes on June 10.

In the race prior to the Clement L. Hirsch, 10 3-year-olds and up will travel a mile and one-sixteenth on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course in the $150,000 California Dreamin' Stakes. The race, limited to California-breds, is having its 18th running.

First post Saturday is at 2 p.m. The California Dreamin' should go off around 6 p.m. and the Clement L. Hirsch at approximately 6:30.

The post Del Mar: Five Fillies Face Off In ‘Win And You’re In’ Clement L. Hirsch appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Kavanagh: ‘To Be Associated With A Horse Like Vandeek Is Huge For Us’

Relief quickly turned to joy for Roderick Kavanagh on Thursday after Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), the highest profile horse to have graduated from his Glending Stables after fetching 625,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, confirmed himself a top-notch colt in the making when landing the G2 Richmond S. at Goodwood.

The joint top lot of that sale, Vandeek was knocked down to Anthony Stroud on behalf of KHK Racing Ltd and was making it two wins from as many starts for Simon and Ed Crisford at Goodwood.

After Vandeek made a successful debut at Nottingham last month, Kavanagh admitted that relief was the overriding emotion that he experienced.

However, with Group 1 targets put forward by connections after Thursday's triumph, the young operator explained that he was beginning to allow himself to enjoy the occasion and pointed to how special it is for his family to be associated with a colt who could now be bound for the Prix Morny in France.

He said, “It's a great accolade for the horse to come out and be unbeaten in his first two starts on a racecourse and to win such a prestigious race as the Richmond. It's a testimony to what is a family run business here at home between Glending, Kildaragh Stud and Alice [Kavanagh's sister] with AK Thoroughbreds. I can remember the first day I got the leg up on Vandeek, Alice was holding on to him, and he was a fine, big and strapping colt. Having capable people in place to do the job right and produce them at the sales in the best possible shape is a huge asset.”

Kavanagh added, “Even my mum [Antoinette] in accounts who manages the logistics of everything and my Dad [Peter] who has been a great guide from day one, it's been a massive team effort. We have some key people on the farm here as well but for us as a family, being associated with a horse like Vandeek, it means a lot.”

Vandeek was bred by Maywood Stud, who sold him as a foal to Childwickbury Stud at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale for 52,000gns. He was knocked down to Glending at the December Yearling Sale at Tattersalls for just 42,000gns before turning that mammoth profit less than six months later at the Craven Breeze-Up Sale, which has proved a major confidence booster for everyone at Glending, according to Kavanagh.

He explained, “We put in a new gallop at home and this year's two-year-olds were the first to come off it. I'm sure there are lots of other variables that make it work but the fact that the system is in place for producing horses for the breeze-ups and for them to go on and do the business on the track and continue to progress, it's very encouraging. We plan to go back and do something similar this year and results like this gives you the confidence to reinvest.”

Vandeek has already confirmed himself as one of the smartest juveniles in training in Britain but Kavanagh says that he is confident that the colt can be even better next year.

He said, “I know we are getting towards the back end of the season now but I didn't expect him to be doing it as he is. With Havana Grey, you'd be expecting precocity but I wasn't sure he was going to be as early as this. It's great to see him kicking on and getting to an international level of competition. The Morny will be the ultimate test but, at this stage, he has earned his place in the line-up in a Group 1.

“Cormac O'Flynn, who owned the horse in partnership with me, was talking about the Craven Stakes for the horse next year even before today. I was slagging him about that but it's looking like it could be a fair shout now. Hopefully he would be on course for races like that next season and, with his physical stature, you would be thinking that he can make up into a very good three-year-old.”

The post Kavanagh: ‘To Be Associated With A Horse Like Vandeek Is Huge For Us’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post