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Mandatory Pick 6 Payout Scheduled For Saturday’s Season-Ending Card At Charles Town

When Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races offers its final racing program of 2021 on Saturday evening, Dec. 18, it will also be offering horseplayers a value-added opportunity with a mandatory payout of the track's Pick 6 carryover.

The Charles Town 6-12 carryover currently stands at $141,910 with 2 cards remaining prior to its distribution. The Charles Town 6-12 is a jackpot style Pick 6 covering the final six races on each Charles Town card and carries a low 12-percent takeout.

Due to the low takeout and size of the carryover, the mandatory payouts of the Charles Town 6-12 have typically resulted in a players' advantage of upwards of 13 percent paid out on top of the gross pool on the night of the distribution.

The first race on Charles Town's Saturday night program is scheduled for its standard 7:00 P.M EST post time, with the Pick 6 sequence beginning in Race 4 at 8:30 P.M. EST and culminating with the evening's ninth and final event.

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Jockey Of The Week: Arnaldo Bocachica Dominates Charles Town Standings For Fourth Year In A Row

With the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town 2021 meet quickly coming to a close, Arnaldo Bocachica has again run away with the leading jockey title. Last week he added eight wins to his already lofty total to earn the title of Jockey of the Week for Dec. 6 through Dec. 12. The honor, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.

The hard-working, personable Bocachica, known as “Boca” at the track, has led the jockey standings at Charles Town in wins and purse earnings for the last three years and is poised to make it four years in a row with 252 wins, 150 more than his closest competitor and nearly $5 million in purse earnings through Dec. 12. His winning percentage is a lofty 35 percent. The Charles Town meet closes this Saturday, Dec. 18.

Riding since 2006, the 33-year-old native of Puerto Rico has made Charles Town his home track riding first call for leading trainer Jeff Ronco as well as other top trainers at the track. The Ronco/Bocachica pair post a 37 percent win rate, and Bocachica won career race 2,000 on March 6, 2021 for Jeff Ronco.

Bocachica began the week on Wednesday by winning two races for Jeff Ronco and one for trainer Anthony Farrior. With no wins on Thursday, Bocachica won three on Friday, one for Ronco and two for Farrior. He continued his winning ways on Saturday with a win for trainer Victor Espinosa and one for Farrior.

Bocachica's weekly statistics included eight wins from 15 starts for 53.3 percent winners and 80 percent in-the-money finishers with total purse earnings of $127,060.

Other nominees for Jockey of the Week were Dylan Davis who won the Garland of Roses at Aqueduct, Mario Gutierrez who pulled the upset win in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity, Colby J. Hernandez who won the Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds and Luis Saez who won the G3 Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream Park.

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Sam Huff, 87, Passes: NFL Legend Played Big Role In West Virginia’s Thoroughbred Industry

Sam Huff and his partner Carol Holden were driving back to their West Virginia home after attending the inaugural Maryland Million races at Laurel Park in 1986 when Huff came up with the idea of having a similar day for state-breds.

“We're going to do that in West Virginia,” Huff said, according to a 2011 Bloodhorse.com article by Tom LaMarra.

Sure enough, they did. The first West Virginia Breeders' Classic was held at Charles Town Races less than a year later, thanks to Huff's tireless advocacy for horses bred in West Virginia and fueled by a fiercely competitive personality that earlier in life made him among the most feared players in the National Football League.

Huff and Holden sold sponsorships for the event and found additional revenue from uncashed pari-mutuel tickets. The initial running, which included Charles Town's first-ever $100,000 race, was a success, and it's steadily grown over the years, becoming second only to Charles Town Classic day.

The couple also bred and raced horses in West Virginia and hosted a radio show, Trackside, that ran for 28 years, ending in 2016, when Huff began suffering from dementia. His condition led to a court fight later that year between Holden and Huff's daughter over his custody and care.

Huff died on Saturday in Winchester, Va., at the age of 87.

Born Robert Lee Huff on Oct. 4, 1934, in Edna Gas., W.Va., Huff was called Sam at early age and never learned why, according to a 1988 autobiography. Growing up in Coal Camp No. 9, he was from a family of coal miners but escaped that occupation when he accepted a football scholarship to West Virginia University, where he played both offensive and defensive line positions and was named an All-American before being drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1956 NFL draft.

During his years in the National Football League, Huff was known for an aggressive defensive style that led CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite to narrate a documentary, “The Violent World of Sam Huff,” that aired as part of the network's “Twentieth Century” series. As the leader of the New York Giants defense, he helped the team reach the NFL title game six times in eight years before being traded to the team then known as the Washington Redskins, where he finished out his career and worked as a commentator on the team's radio broadcasts for 38 years, retiring in 2013.

Huff was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

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West Virginia Officials Awaiting Split Sample Results On Georgina Baxter-Trained Charles Town Oaks Winner

Georgina Baxter, one of five Florida-based trainers sanctioned on Oct. 1 by Gulfstream Park for violating the track's house rules on clenbuterol, may be in jeopardy of losing her biggest career win after a horse in her care, R Adios Jersey, tested positive for the anti-inflammatory flunixin (trade name Banamine) following the $400,000, Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks in West Virginia on Aug. 27.

West Virginia Racing Commission steward Denver Beckner confirmed the initial finding from Industrial Laboratories in Colorado and said officials are awaiting results of a confirmatory split sample before conducting a hearing to consider possible disqualification of R Adios Jersey and sanctions that could include a fine and/or suspension of Baxter.

R Adios Jersey, a Florida-bred 3-year-old filly by Adios Charlie, is owned by Averill Racing LLC and ATM Racing. Her front-running, 3 1/4-length victory under Paco Lopez was her fourth victory without a defeat. R Adios Jersey earned $230,400 and paid a $12.80 mutuel for the Charles Town Oaks win.

Banamine is a Class 4 drug with a Category C penalty under Association of Racing Commissioners International guidelines. For flunixin, under those guidelines, if the sample tests higher than 5 ng/ml, the recommendation is for a disqualification and loss of purse in the absence of mitigating circumstances. A trainer faces a maximum fine of $1,000 for a first offense in any jurisdiction and a $1,500 fine and 15-day suspension for a second offense in a 365-day period in any jurisdiction, under the ARCI guidelines.

Baxter, a native of England who was a jockey and exercise rider, took over the stable of Ralph Ziadie in 2018 after the latter was denied a license renewal by the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering because of multiple medication violations. Ralph's son, Kirk Ziadie, who won numerous South Florida training titles during his career, is serving a six-year license suspension for multiple clenbuterol violations that runs through Jan. 10, 2022.

According to the MyFloridaLicense.com website, Baxter has had six complaints filed against her for Class 4 medication violations since August 2018, most recently on Nov. 5, 2020. She served a 25-day suspension earlier last year for three violations that involved impermissible levels of flunixin and phenylbutazone.

According to Equibase, Baxter has won 132 of 502 starts (26%) and her horses have earned $3,999,741.

On Friday, Baxter was one of five trainers suspended by Gulfstream Park for violating the track's house rules concerning clenbuterol. The bronchodilator was detected in 12 horses from five of the 10 stables tested out-of-competition using hair and blood samples. The other trainers sanctioned were Rohan Crichton, Daniel Pita, Peter Walder, and Gilberto Zerpa.

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