When 1/ST Racing made public comments about moving the date of the Preakness Stakes to four weeks after the Kentucky Derby, the reaction from most of the Thoroughbred industry was one of surprise. According to comments given to bloodhorse.com, important stakeholders in Maryland were also among those surprised by the idea.
“No one in Maryland was consulted about those remarks, not the horsemen's group, the breeders, the state, anyone in regards to it,” Alan Foreman, longtime counsel for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, told bloodhorse.com.
In 2023, only one horse from the Kentucky Derby, the victorious Mage, returned two weeks later to attempt the Preakness at Pimlico. In 2022, the Derby winner Rich Strike skipped the Preakness altogether.
If the Preakness date were moved, the Belmont Stakes, currently run five weeks after the Kentucky Derby, would thus be held one week after the Preakness. NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna said there are no plans in the works to move the date of the third leg of the Triple Crown.
“NYRA has concerns about fundamental changes to the structure of the Triple Crown,” McKenna said. “We have no plans to move the date of the Belmont Stakes.”
Even with a shift to four weeks after the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness may yet have trouble attracting the best entries.
“Nothing will change with a week or two difference,” Tim Keefe, president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, told bloodhorse.com.
Foreman agreed.
“The connections of most Derby horses do not enter the Preakness and that is not going to change if the race is moved. There are too many other options today,” he said. “There is reluctance to move the Triple Crown into July because of concerns about attendance, conflicts with other sports, and ratings.”
The post ‘Nothing Will Change With A Week Or Two Difference’: 1/ST’s Preakness Date Proposal Leaves Stakeholders Uninspired appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
The 164th King's Plate generated the largest single-card handle in Woodbine Racetrack history on Sunday afternoon.
A total of $18,127,049.67 was wagered on Sunday's 13-race King's Plate card at the Toronto, Ontario, track, eclipsing the previous record of $18,005,973.60 from the 2019 Queen's Plate. The record handle is also a significant increase from last year's Queen's Plate handle of $13.6 million.
“It's exciting to have ushered in a new era for the Plate in record-breaking fashion,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of Woodbine Entertainment. “We felt good about the buzz surrounding the first King's Plate in over 70 years and that was clearly backed up on Sunday through the energy of our sold-out crowd and the wagering support.”
The King's Plate race, won by Paramount Prince, brought in $4,455,176.26 in wagering, including a new record Win Pool of $1,179,172.71. The 17-horse field for the Plate was the largest since 2011.
The strong wagering numbers for the King's Plate card can be attributed to many areas across the board.
The on-track handle spiked 17.6 per cent, while Woodbine's entire “home market area” brought in just shy of $3 million in wagering, an 8.6 per cent increase over 2022. The “Foreign Market” wagered $14.5 million, up significantly from $10.3 million in 2022.
“Our racing team did a great job putting together a competitive and appealing Plate card for horseplayers,” noted Lawson. “I'm very proud of our entire team behind the scenes at Woodbine for their efforts. Now we aim to carry this momentum through the remainder of the season and the upcoming major stakes in September and October.”
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According to a report published Aug. 22 by Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Puerto Rico's Camarero Racetrack has a serious problem with equine fatalities. An English translation of the report indicates that 108 horses were registered as euthanized there between January and May this year, up from 94 the previous year. The report indicated 55% of euthanasia cases in both years were due to fractures in horses' legs.
The report goes on to indicate that at least 675 euthanasias of horses have been reported to racing authorities there since 2021, 379 of which were put down due to fractures.
It's not clear from the report how record-keeping at Puerto Rico's only track may differ from reporting to the Equine Injury Database from mainland racetracks, which track racing injuries that result in a fatality within 72 hours of a racing event, or from state racing commissions, which monitor fatalities (usually, though not always euthanasias) from different causes in racing, training, or due to illness.
An infographic shows that of those 675 deaths, 57 were attributed to arthritis, 42 to laminitis, 26 to tendonitis and 18 to colic.
The report also suggests that the use of performance-enhancing drugs may be common by trainers who are able to evade regulatory scrutiny and import substances from South and Central America, in addition to the mainland United States. In 2016, trainer Gilberto Escobar was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Control and the Department of Homeland Security for smuggling medications into Puerto Rico for use on racehorses. Escobar pleaded guilty in 2017 and is back training, per the investigative report.
Welfare advocates on the mainland have expressed concern for the safety and welfare of horses that are claimed in cheap races and moved to Puerto Rico, which does not have the infrastructure to support a large-scale sanctuary or retraining facility for horses at the completion of their racing careers. Recently, Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, a non-profit dedicated to adoption on the island and the return of Thoroughbreds back to the mainland, announced it was running out of funding and could no longer accept new horses into its herd.
Read more at Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
The post Report: Equine Fatalities At Camarero On The Rise, And Well Above Mainland Averages appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
