Tag: Horseplayers

With just six days of racing remaining in the RUNHAPPY Summer Meet, Ellis Park will be moving first post time to 3 pm CT on Fridays.

“As we enter the last two weekends of racing, we wanted to provide our community every opportunity to attend and felt a later Friday post time would allow patrons to finish their workday and head to the races,” said Vince Gabbert, Interim Director of Racing at Ellis Park. “The support for live racing this summer has been spectacular, and we look forward to a strong finish to our race meeting.”

The Friday card will consist of eight races, with five of those held on the turf course, weather permitting. The new $3 All-Turf Pick 3 wager, with 15 percent takeout, will begin in Race 5. The Pick 5, also offering a 15% takeout, will begin in Race 4.

Events still to come include, Charity Day on Aug. 20, where guests can engage with some of the charities and non-profits near and dear to Ellis Park's heart and participate in activities for donations benefitting one of four charities: the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson, Susan G. Komen, and Healing Reins of Henderson.

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) will be hosting a mystery jockey autograph signing with a jockey from Ellis Park's past benefitting the aftercare of retired Thoroughbreds. The official 2022 RUNHAPPY Summer at Ellis Park t-shirt will also be on sale for $18, with 10% of proceeds donated to the TAA. Healing Reins of Henderson will have their miniature ponies on site and the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson table will have a fun activity for kids. All Mutuel Clerks at Ellis Park will be wearing pink in solidarity of breast cancer survivors and Susan G. Komen. The Ellis Park staff will be partnering with all four charities on Saturday's Charity Day for blanket presentations throughout the card.

The 2022 Wiener Dog Championship Race, sponsored by Reditus Properties and Missy Mosby & Crew, will be held on Aug. 27. The top two finishers from July's qualifying races will take to the start line during the races for their chance at fire hydrant gold. Plus, as the official Ellis Park late entry, dachshund 'Prince' will represent the Ellis Park colors during the Final Race, owned by trainer Brittany Vanden Berg. Reditus Properties & Missy Mosby & Crew will also host a humane society event the morning of Aug. 27.

The RUNHAPPY Summer Meet at Ellis Park began on July 8 and will conclude on Aug. 28, 2022, a total of 23 days. Post time for Saturday and Sunday racing will remain 12:50 pm CT.

The post Ellis Park Pushes Back Friday Post Times appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The rules of the Minnesota Racing Commission are pretty clear: “All horses shall be ridden out past the finish line in every race.”

That didn't appear to happen in the fifth race at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., on Sunday, Aug. 14. Jockey Chad Lindsay had a commanding 5 1/2-length lead aboard Noel's Angel with an eighth of a mile remaining in the maiden claiming contest for Minnesota-bred fillies and mares. Noel's Angel, a 3-year-old filly by Rocky Bar, was making her second career start for owner-breeder-trainer Gabriel A. Silva Rodriguez and had led throughout the 5 1/2-furlong test at odds of 9-2.

“Noel's Angel is starting to get tired but is doing so with a big lead,” track announcer Paul Allen said as the fillies raced down the stretch. “Voodoo Fire flying from the back of the pack. Can this horse get there? Noel's Angel from Voodoo Fire who is flying.”

As Noel's Angel approached the wire still in front, her rider reached down with his right hand to give the filly a couple of gentle pats on the neck as if to say, “Well done, girl, you did it.”

But as baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once said about his struggling team's chances of winning a pennant, “It ain't over till it's over.”

Voodoo Fire and jockey Harry Hernandez were bearing down on the outside and in the final few strides passed Noel's Angel to win by a neck.  The footnotes from the Equibase chart said that Noel's Angel “lost some momentum late and just missed when it appeared her rider misjudged the wire.”

Lindsay has been riding since 2015 and has 277 career races from 2,625 mounts. He's 12th in the jockey standings at the current Canterbury Park meet with 12 wins from 95 mounts.

Horseplayers who backed Noel's Angel probably felt he should have registered another victory on Sunday.

As of Tuesday, there were no rulings on the racing commission website concerning Lindsay's ride.

The post ‘It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over’: Canterbury Rider Celebrates Win Too Soon appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Punters and racing industry participants will have access to live weather, wind and track information under a new digital service hosted by the Australian Turf Club and sports and racing technology experts tripleSdata.

The ATC Weather Tracker provides wind speed and direction, rainfall, humidity and air temperatures – updated live in some cases every 15 seconds – and from multiple points across a racecourse.

Linked to the industry-leading weather service will be information and data relating to tracks, including soil compression and water content, in addition to regular and current information of track ratings and rail positions.

All information will be available via mobile app, the Australian Turf Club website, broadcast platforms and across on-course TV screens.

Rosehill Gardens and Royal Randwick including meetings on the Kensington track will be the first to have the service starting from Saturday 20 August for the opening Group 1 race of the season the $750,000 Winx Stakes meeting, before the technology is further rolled out at Canterbury and Warwick Farm.

The information will be invaluable to trainers and participants as well as Racing NSW Stewards and Australian Turf Club tracks teams throughout racedays.

Australian Turf Club Executive General Manager Racing and Wagering James Ross said the service would be a leader in world racing.

“The ATC Weather Tracker provides instant and accurate information to punters, owners and on course customers and ATC Members, as well as all across the racing industry at Sydney racecourses,'' Mr Ross said.

“Punters can view via detailed graphics winds speeds, directions and weather conditions from every angle of our racecourses and as they change throughout a day.
“Sydney's world-class racing now has an extra new world-leading service for punters.''

Carlos Santo founder and CEO of tripleSdata said: “tripleSdata has been working for over two years to develop and deliver this industry-leading weather technology to Australian Turf Club racecourses for the benefit of punters and industry professionals.

“Weather plays a key role in how a track is prepared and ultimately races; it's a vital component to how horses perform.''

Links to each of the weather stations at Royal Randwick and Rosehill Gardens can be viewed here at Weather and Track Details along with the latest track update with Royal Randwick's Racecourse Manager Michael Wood.

The release of the ATC Weather Tracker coincides with further new links to training tracks and trainers information at Australian Turf Club training centers and stables.

The links include detailed biographical and training services for Sydney stables.

The links can be found here below:

• Royal Randwick
• Rosehill Gardens
• Canterbury Park
• Warwick Farm

The post Australian Turf Club Unveils Live Weather, Wind Data At Four Racetracks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Whip use continues to be a point of debate in American racing and throughout the flat racing world. At this year's edition of The Jockey Club Round Table, attendees got to hear about the gradual trend in several Scandinavian countries that led to eliminating its use altogether.

Dennis Madsen, head of racing for the Swedish Horseracing Authority, presented an overview of the culture shift in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. As far back as 1976, Madsen said the use of the whip was a point of concern for animal rights activists and for the public, leading Norway moved to ban its use. This was accepted by harness drivers at the time, but the change prompted pushback from flat jockeys and the policy was revised to allow some limited use. In the 1990s Sweden knocked down the number of total permitted strikes from ten in a race to five (one less than the maximum now allowed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's national rule).

Continued public pressure resulted in Norway once again banning whip use in 2009 despite a lack of dangerous incidents involving the whip in the prior 33 years. Sweden and Denmark reduced their maximum strikes from five to three at the same time, and in 2011 the rule changed to restrict use of the crop on the horse's shoulder, too.

In more recent times, it might have been clear what animal rights activists may think of the whip — but Madsen said, industry stakeholders wanted to know what horseplayers thought about it.

In 2021, Sweden's tote authority did two sets of studies about whip use. The company found that 30% of respondents believed they had watched an incident in racing wherein a horse had been poorly treated. Of those, 91% said the incident that concerned them had involved a use of the whip which was either too hard or too frequent. In addition, 25% of respondents said they actively avoid placing money on racing taking place in countries where they have welfare concerns about the participating horses.

Stakeholders discussed two possible rule changes in response — permitting just three taps on the shoulder, or eliminating whip use completely except in emergencies. Madsen said the industry wanted to act decisively and decided to abolish it.

The process wasn't without its challenges. Madsen said that after riders were told they could no longer use whips for encouragement, regulators noticed some riders swinging the extra loop of reins around horses' heads and necks to mimic the action of a whip. In an effort to stop this, authorities wrote a rule Madsen says now was “very rigid and perhaps too narrow,” requiring riders not remove their hands from a horse's neck or withers. This eliminated their ability to steer or shake the reins in the stretch and necessitated a revision allowing this side-to-side motion of jockeys' hands, but preventing them from weaponizing the end of their rein length. Whips may be carried, but must be held in the backhand position, may not be waved, and may not be pointed at the horse's head.

Despite those initial bumps, Madsen says his data show the change was a net gain for the sport. The lists of top trainers and jockeys are unchanged from prior to the rule update. Sweden's tote provider says there has been no change in wagering activity. Race times are no slower than before the change. Madsen says he believes there has been a gradual decrease in dangerous riding incidents as whip use has become more restricted, and that minor interference incidents may also finish down this year.

“There's still a winner,” Madsen said simply of viewing a race with the whip restrictions in place. “They're still fighting for the win. And it looks acceptable in my eyes.”

The post Round Table: Scandinavian Racing Let Go Of The Riding Crop; Here’s What Happened Next appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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