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Woodbine Jockeys, Drivers Team for Charity Challenge

Woodbine Entertainment, in conjunction with Kraft-Heinz Canada, have announced the launch of the Heinz Challenge, six-week series during which a Thoroughbred jockey from Woodbine will be paired with a harness driver from Woodbine Mohawk Park to compete for a charitable donation of $5,000 from Woodbine. The series will be broadcast live during ‘Racing Night Live’ on TSN.

The four competing jockeys are Rafael Hernandez, Kazushi Kimura, Justin Stein and Emma-Jayne Wilson, while the participating drivers are Jody Jamieson, Bob McClure, Doug McNair and Louis-Philippe Roy, who replaces the injured James MacDonald. Every time one of the participating jockeys or drivers competes during a race aired on Racing Night Live, they have the opportunity to earn points towards their team’s challenge score.

The teams are as follows:

Team E=MC²

Jockey: Emma-Jayne Wilson

Driver: Bob McClure

#TeamEMC2

Team Club DJ

Jockey: Justin Stein

Driver: Doug McNair

#TeamClubDJ

Team Island Boyz

Jockey: Rafael Hernandez

Driver: James MacDonald (unable to participate due to injury, replaced by Louis-Philippe Roy)

#TeamIslandBoyz

Team Double Double

Jockey: Kazushi Kimura

Driver: Jody Jamieson

#TeamDoubleDouble

The team with the best ‘Points Per Race’ average at the end of six weeks will win the challenge. The point system is as follows: 10 points for a win, 5 points for a second-place finish and 2 points for a third-place finish.

Each member of the winning team will select a charity and Woodbine Entertainment will make a $2,500 donation on their behalf to make up the $5,000 winning prize.

The post Woodbine Jockeys, Drivers Team for Charity Challenge appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Runhappy Travers Returns to FOX Sports

For the second consecutive year, the $1-million GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga will be televised live on the FOX Sports broadcast network as part of a 1 1/2-hour telecast from 5:00-6:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

Post time for the 151st running of the Runhappy Travers, featuring a showdown between GI Belmont S. winner Tiz the Law (Constitution) and the unbeaten Bob Baffert-trained Uncle Chuck (Uncle Mo), is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. ET.

An expanded Runhappy Travers Day edition of Saratoga Live, presented by America’s Best Racing, Runhappy and Claiborne Farm, will air nationally on FS1 beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Coverage and analysis of the day’s races then shifts to FS2 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET and continues throughout the afternoon on FS1/FS2.

The complete Runhappy Travers broadcast can also be viewed live on the TDN homepage at www.thetdn.com.

With this year’s Saratoga summer meet currently closed to spectators, Saturday’s Runhappy Travers Day coverage on Saratoga Live will leverage 32 cameras at various locations throughout the property to capture all the action. The broadcast will also include the introduction of the “WinStar Cam,” which will provide in-race aerial coverage throughout the day.

“This exceeds the amount of cameras that you would see during a major league baseball telecast, college basketball, college football,” Tony Allevato, President of NYRA Bets & Executive Producer for NYRA TV, said on a conference call Thursday afternoon. “We’re excited. We’ve got a good show ahead of us. It’s a unique year across the country and it’s a unique year for horse racing with the Triple Crown being run out of order and the Travers being run in the middle of the Triple Crown. It’s really an unprecedented time, but it’s also made for some great story lines, and hopefully we’ll be able to convey that on the show.”

The post Runhappy Travers Returns to FOX Sports appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Wesley Ward Ships Live Chance To Del Mar For Saturday’s Best Pal

When Wesley Ward ships one in – standby. Mr. Ward does not come to play, be it anywhere in the U.S., or Europe, too. The man fires bullets from coast to coast and across the ocean.

Eight times already he's rung the stakes bell at Del Mar and Saturday he's aiming for another gong with a quick 2-year-old colt named Roderick, who ran away and hid from a straight maiden field at Belmont Park in New York on June 21 in his lone outing and – in a lineup that lacks a stakes winner – looks like a solid favorite for the 50th edition of the Best Pal Stakes.

The race, a six-panel spin for juveniles that carries Grade II status and a $150,000 purse, has drawn a field of seven runners and Roderick has drawn post No. 4 and Del Mar's leading rider, Flavien Prat. Ward, the former Eclipse Award winning jockey (top apprentice, 1984), is likely to watch his charge run from his headquarters in Lexington as his west coast guy – trainer Blake Heap – saddles his Into Mischief colt Saturday for his ownership group that goes under the name Breeze Easy.

The local hope with the best chance to outfoot the youthful invader appears to be Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Herd Immunity, a Union Rags offspring who won at first asking in a straight maiden race at Santa Anita in early June, then was shipped to Churchill Downs where he ran third in the Bashford Manor Stakes on June 27. For his go in the Best Pal, the Peter Miller-trained colt will be partnered by Abel Cedillo and break from post No. 5.

Here's the full field (in post position order with riders and morning line odds) for the 2-year-old headliner that is a key prep to the meet's top event for the juvenile set, the Grade I, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Labor Day, September 7:

Strauss, Suarez or Tsukashima's Sonic Brees (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1); Reddam Racing's Ambivalent (Mario Gutierrez, 5-1); Kaleem Shah's Schnell (Ruben Fuentes, 12-1); Roderick; Herd Immunity; Drakos or Hanson's Weston (Drayden Van Dyke, 5-1), and Altamira Racing Stable's Girther (Ricky Gonzalez, 6-1).

Weston, who is trained by Ryan Hanson, broke his maiden in good fashion at Santa Anita on June 21. The Kentucky-bred gelding by the War Front stallion Hit It a Bomb, has had three solid works at Del Mar since and gets his chance to step up a notch Saturday.

Girther, also trained by Peter Miller, scored his initial victory in his second start here at Del Mar on July 11, hanging on for a nose tally at five furlongs. He's a Florida-bred colt by the Giant's Causeway stallion Brody's Cause.

The Best Pal will go as the sixth race on an 11-race card that also features the Grade II, $150,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for fillies and mares. First post Saturday is at 2 p.m.

The post Wesley Ward Ships Live Chance To Del Mar For Saturday’s Best Pal appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Tensions Between Arizona HBPA, Management Of Turf Paradise Continue To Create Uncertainty

Last week, a press release from Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Az. announced that track management would push the start of the meet back from Oct. 17 to Nov. 27, and said that Turf Paradise was working with Bob Hutton, president of the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA), on when horses could begin shipping in.

According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, Hutton emailed a list of 17 questions to Turf Paradise Management on behalf of the horsemen, including such things as coronavirus contingency plans and a promise not to shut down the meet early.

Management's responses to the AZHBPA's questions were not comforting, Hutton said. As such, he plans to send his own horses to other tracks for the winter.

“My recommendation (to other horsemen) would be to, based on the track not being able to guarantee that they'll run the entire meet, then you'll probably need to make other plans,” Hutton told the TDN.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post Tensions Between Arizona HBPA, Management Of Turf Paradise Continue To Create Uncertainty appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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