Tag: Horse Racing

Laurel’s Spring Meet Features Seven Stakes Worth $750,000

Laurel Park will offer seven stakes worth $750,000 in purses, including automatic qualifiers for the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Black-Eyed Susan (G2), Saturday, April 17 as part of its upcoming spring meet.

The 19-day spring meet opens Thursday, April 1 and runs through Sunday, May 2, serving as a bridge between Laurel's ongoing winter meet, which began Jan. 1, and the Preakness Meet at historic Pimlico Race Course.

Racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday during the spring meet, with the exception of Easter Sunday, April 4. Post time will be 12:40 p.m. with a special 12:15 p.m. post on Kentucky Derby day, Saturday, May 1.

Co-headlining the stakes program are the $125,000 Federico Tesio for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles and the $125,000 Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies at about 1 1/16 miles. The Tesio serves as a 'Win and In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, the 146th Preakness May 15, and the Weber City Miss is a 'Win and In' event for the 97th Black-Eyed Susan May 14.

Last year's Tesio winner, Wertheimer and Frere's homebred Happy Saver, went on to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) against older horses in his subsequent start to complete a perfect 4-0 sophomore campaign.

Sprinters 3 and up will go six furlongs in the $100,000 Primonetta for females and seven furlongs in the $100,000 Frank Y. Whiteley. Laurel's world-class turf course is scheduled to host its first stakes of the season – the $100,000 Dahlia for fillies and mares 3 and older and $100,000 Henry S. Clark for 3-year-olds and up, both going one mile, and the $100,000 King T. Leatherbury for 3-year-olds and up sprinting five furlongs.

Live racing returns to Laurel Park with an eight-race program Friday, March 5. The winter meet runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sunday, March 28.

 

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Polish Champion Relocates To France

Inter Royal Lady (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), champion of her generation in Poland in 2019 and 2020, will continue her career in France under the care of Arc-winning conditioner Jean-Claude Rouget, according to information on the France Galop website.

The daughter of Fearn Royal (Ire) (Ali-Royal {Ire}) was perfect and untested in six juvenile appearances and ran her overall winning streak to nine before tasting defeat for the first time when beaten a half-length by Night Thunder (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the Westminster Derby (2400 metres) at Sluzewiec Racecourse in Warsaw last July.

Inter Royal Lady returned to winning ways with a 3/4-length success in the Nagroda Liry (Polish Oaks) the following month (see below) and was given big-race entries for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, won by the Rouget-trained Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), and the G1 Prix de l'Opera. She was ultimately allowed to take her chance against the likes of next-out Breeders' Cup winners Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) and Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) in the Opera, and while never likely over the unsuitably soft ground, Inter Royal Lady finished a respectable eighth of the 12 runners, beaten just over six lengths.

Bred by Fergus Cousins, Inter Royal Lady was bought back on a bid of €22,000 when offered as a weanling at Goffs in November 2017. She was subsequently knocked down to Bobby O'Ryan, agent for owner Slawomir Pegza, from the Ballybin Stud draft at the 2018 Goffs Sportsman's sale and was trained in Poland by Adam Wyrzyk.

 

WATCH: Inter Royal Lady wins the 2020 Nagroda Liry (Polish Oaks)

The post Polish Champion Relocates To France appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Fair Grounds To Increase Purses 10 Percent Across The Board

For the third time in the 2020-21 meet, Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots has announced a 10 percent purse increase across the board. Much like the first two, the boost was inspired by strong simulcast handle. The purse increase, which includes both open races and Louisiana-bred races, goes into effect for the final 13 days of the meet, beginning with the Thursday, March 11 card. The draw for that card is Thursday, March 4.

“Our handle has continued to be strong, and we are pleased to be able to raise purses for the third time this meet,” Fair Grounds' racing secretary Scott Jones said. “We'd once again like to thank the owners, trainers and fans who have been supporting our day-to-day racing product. $60,000 for a maiden special weight pot is a very competitive number to get to.”

To make up for the weather-related Feb. 11 cancellation, Fair Grounds has also added Wednesday, March 24, to the live racing calendar. In addition, in order to accommodate the NBC broadcast, post time for the 149th Louisiana Derby Day card on Saturday, March 20 has been pushed back to 11:20 a.m. CT.

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‘Tougher Than Anyone I Know’: Jockey Scott Stevens, Elder Brother To Hall Of Famer, Retires Due To Injury

Veteran reinsman Scott Stevens will retire from the saddle after an injury suffered at Turf Paradise on Feb. 24, 2021, his younger brother, Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, reported via Twitter on Wednesday.

Scott Stevens was dislodged shortly after the start of the afternoon's third race at the Phoenix, Ariz. track, and suffered a broken C2 vertebrae along with other minor injuries. According to his younger brother, Stevens has feeling and no paralysis, but he will never ride competitively again.

“He is tougher than anyone I know,” wrote Gary Stevens on Twitter. “He is gonna move on and be fine. Great mentor and person.”

Like his younger brother, Scott Stevens began his Thoroughbred racing career at Les Bois Park in Idaho. His career achievements include induction into the Canterbury Downs Hall of Fame, the George Woolf Award in 2019 and nine riding titles at Turf Paradise.

The elder Stevens brother will retire with a record of 5,049 wins from over 33,000 starts, with a record dating back to 1976, according to Equibase.

Only 35 North American jockeys have reached the milestone of 5,000 wins. Stevens has ridden over 33,000 races for earnings of more than $43 million.

The post ‘Tougher Than Anyone I Know’: Jockey Scott Stevens, Elder Brother To Hall Of Famer, Retires Due To Injury appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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