Tag: Karl Broberg

Evangeline Downs’ Thoroughbred Season Begins April 28

Evangeline Downs Racetrack Casino & Hotel will kick off its 2021 Thoroughbred season on Wednesday, April 28. The 84-day meeting will run through September 18 with live racing scheduled each Wednesday through Saturday night beginning at 5:50pm Central Time.

Evangeline Downs offers a one-mile dirt track and seven-furlong turf course. The state-of-the-art facility is a perfect venue for race fans to watch the action from the track apron or high above the track in the climate controlled, indoor clubhouse. Either way, the crowd is sure to be entertained.

Many familiar names will return to the track to compete this year at Evangeline Downs. Jockey Tim Thornton will look to repeat as leading rider after taking the crown in 2020 with 73 trips to the winner's circle. Thornton recently won his third consecutive riding title at Evangeline Downs' sister racetrack Delta Downs during their recently completed 2020-21 season.

Karl Broberg will be the odds-on favorite to capture another training title in Opelousas this year. During the 2020 meeting he led all trainers with 23 wins and his barn earned a season high $374,150. Broberg recently won his 10th straight training title at Delta Downs and is annually one of the top conditioners in the country. He led the nation in wins from 2014 – 2019 before finishing second to Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen in 2020.

Other prominent horsemen who are expected to compete at Evangeline this year include Ron Faucheux, who recently won the 2020-21 training title at Fair Grounds; Scott Gelner, who finished second in the standings to Broberg at Delta Downs this year; and Isai V. Gonzalez, who finished fifth in the recent Delta Downs standings and whose barn has been getting plenty of notoriety in recent years.

Evangeline Downs will offer several stakes races for local horsemen to take part in this year. The 14-race schedule features $820,000 in total purse money with the richest stakes program of the season set for Saturday, June 5 when the track hosts another edition of Louisiana Legends Night. The action-packed program will include six added-money events highlighted by the $60,000 Chaval Stakes for 3-year-olds and the $60,000 Louisiana Legends Turf for older horse competing at 1-1/16 miles on the grass.

The stakes schedule will wrap up on closing weekend of the season, Friday, September 17 and Saturday, September 18 with two divisions of the 'Shine' Young Futurity. Last year's filly division was won by Larry Romero and Ron Faucheux's Mirabeau and the colts and geldings division was taken by Allen Landry's Chu Chu's Legacy.

For more information on racing at Evangeline Downs, visit the track's website at www.evdracing.com. Evangeline Downs' Twitter handle is @EVDRacing and the racetrack is also accessible on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EvangelineDownsRacing.

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Tim Thornton, Karl Broberg Wrap Up Titles At Delta Downs Meeet

The 2020-21 Thoroughbred season at Delta Downs wrapped up on Friday with familiar names topping the standings. Tim Thornton won his third straight leading rider title while Karl Broberg notched his 10th consecutive crown in the training ranks. Broberg and Matt Johansen's End Zone Athletics, Inc. earned their sixth straight leading owner title and their ninth in the last 10 years.

Thornton's season included 122 wins and $2,337,260 in mount earnings. The Louisiana native rode five winners alone on closing day. During the 2018-19 season, Thornton's first full meet at Delta Downs, he set the current record of $2,894,080 in earnings.

Thornton, a husband and father of three, won two stakes races during the meet, both with Broberg-trained and End Zone Athletics Inc.-owned horses. The trio teamed up to win the $100,000 Delta Mile Stakes with Hunka Burning Love on November 10 and the $40,000 Ragin Cajun Starter Stakes on February 10, Louisiana Premier Day.

Following Thornton in the jockey standings were Diego Saenz (73 wins), Joel Dominguez (64), Jose Guerrero (54), Thomas Pompell (45), Gerard Melancon (42), Joe Stokes (30), Alez Birzer (27), Kevin Smith (25), and Jansen Melancon (24).

Broberg continued his dominance at Delta Downs in 2020-21 by sending out 91 winners and totaling $1,651,170 in earnings. The accomplishment capped off a season that saw him win his 10th straight training title at the Vinton, Louisiana racetrack. During the Delta Downs season Broberg also finished second nationally in terms of wins with 329 victories to Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen's 421. It was the first time since 2014 that Broberg did not lead the nation in that category.

Rounding out the list of leading trainers for the Delta Downs meeting were Scott Gelner (30), Juan Larrosa (29), Isai Gonzalez (28), Eduardo Ramirez (25), Brett Brinkman (23), Allen Landry (21), Ronnie Averett (17-tie), Thomas Amoss (17-tie), and Ronnie Averett (15).

End Zone Athletics, Inc. saw a record 64 of their runners win and earn a total of $868,765, which also set a new mark for owners in that category. The old record for wins, 50, and earnings, $873,545, was also set by End Zone Athletics during the 2018-19 season.

Rounding out the top owners for the season were Red Rose Racing (Jimmy Johnson) (15), Joe Alfredo Castillo (14), Gerald L. Averett, Jr. (12), Adriel Gonzalez (11), Dale White, Sr. (10), Norman Stables, LLC (Robert A. Norman) (9), Rylee Grudzien (7-tie), Steven Asmussen (7-tie), Juan Larrosa (7-tie), and Maggi Moss (7-tie).

Delta Downs now looks forward to its upcoming American Quarter Horse season which gets underway on May 10 and runs through July 31. The 46-day meeting will generally feature live racing each Monday through Thursday. However, there will be two special Friday cards and four special Saturday programs to accommodate major stakes races and trials for those events. The first post time each day will be at 3 pm Central Time.

For more information about the Delta Downs Quarter Horse season, including specific race days, go to the track's website at www.deltadownsracing.com. Fans can also follow the track on Facebook and Twitter.

Delta Downs Racetrack Casino and Hotel, a property of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD), features exciting casino action, live horse racing and fun dining experiences. Delta Downs is located in Vinton, Louisiana, on Delta Downs Drive. From Lake Charles, take Exit 7 and from Texas, take Exit 4.

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‘I Wanted To Cry A Little Bit’: Lindsey Hebert Celebrates First Winner At Oaklawn

The last name is Hebert, the home state is Louisiana and the profession is jockey.

Got to be Cajun, right? Wrong.

Lindsey Hebert grew up in Delhi, a town of about 3,000 in northeast Louisiana, 40 miles west of the Mississippi River. While Hebert, 23, doesn't hail from south Louisiana, specifically, the famed Acadiana region, she does now have something in common with some of its most notable riding products, including Hall of Famers Eddie Delahoussaye, Calvin Borel, Kent Desormeaux and Randy Romero. Hebert is a winner at Oaklawn.

Hebert recorded her first career victory in Friday's third race aboard Time Heist ($31.40) for trainer Ron Westermann in a 5 ½-furlong sprint for conditioned $12,500 claimers. It was the 12th career mount for Hebert – all this year at Oaklawn – according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization. Time Heist, under a steady hand ride from Hebert, was a front-running four-length winner.

“I was really tired,” Hebert, with a laugh, said following training hours Saturday morning at Oaklawn. “I wanted to cry a little bit. It was just really amazing. To think that I'd come that far and I'd finally made it. It was an amazing experience.”

Hebert (pronounced the Cajun French, “A-bear”) grew up around horses on her family's 21-acre agricultural farm, but her only real connection to the Thoroughbred industry was through OTTBs, beginning about a decade ago. Although Hebert said she first dreamed of becoming a jockey around the age of 9, she had never been to a racetrack or seen a Thoroughbred race until approximately four years ago.

“I got into some ex-racehorses,” Hebert said. “I got them off the track to re-train and I just fell in love with them. I was like, 'You know what?' I've always wanted to be a jockey and I want to do it.' I want to go. I want to do it.' ”

Jumpers and showing horses in 4-H competitions led Hebert to Oklahoma after a friend, a former groom, got the aspiring jockey a job on a farm there in 2017.

Hebert said she began at the bottom, hotwalking and grooming, primarily babies. Adjacent to the farm, Hebert said, was a small training center.

“I crossed the fence and I would go get on Quarter-Horses, like match-racing horses,” Hebert said. “I started galloping those and met my fiancée (Andres Cambray). He taught me how to gallop. About six months into that, he was like, 'Let's go to Churchill. Got family there. Let's go.' I was like, 'Let's go.' ”

Hebert said she couldn't find work at Churchill Downs, so she went to Indiana Grand and began transitioning to Thoroughbreds by ponying and galloping horses. Hebert said she began working as an exercise rider for trainer Karl Broberg, the country's perennial leader in victories, around 2019 at Fair Grounds.

After working for Broberg for approximately a year, Hebert spent another year galloping for trainer Greg Foley. Among the horses Hebert said she got on for Foley were Major Fed, who finished 10th in last year's Kentucky Derby, and Sconsin, fourth in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“It was an amazing experience,” Hebert said, referring to Foley. “Great people.”

Hebert reunited with Broberg for the 2021 Oaklawn meeting – Cambray is an exercise rider for 2020 Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox – and rode her first race March 4.

“I didn't come here thinking I was going to get my (jockey's) license,” Hebert said. “I just came here in hopes of just gaining more experience and I was working a bunch of horses. The starter just said, 'We approve you.' I was like, 'OK.' It was a lot easier than I thought. I didn't really plan on riding, so it was a really big surprise that I got approved. I was like, 'OK, well I'm going to take the opportunity and run with it.' I kind of did.”

Eight of Hebert's mounts have come for trainer C. Blaine Williams, including her first (Sattersfield). Time Heist was making his first start since Westermann claimed the gelding for $10,000 March 6. Hebert said she had been galloping horses, including Time Heist, for Westermann at a local farm.

“I had a really good feeling about him,” Hebert said. “He'd always gone across the board and we had been working really hard. He'd been doing awesome. That's what we were hoping.”

Hebert came right back in Friday's fourth race and finished third aboard the Broberg-trained Secret House after leading for most of the 1 1/16-mile claiming race.

“That was even better,” Hebert said. “It was an amazing experience. Really, really grateful for the opportunities I got yesterday. It was very exciting.”

The 5-1, 95-pound Hebert, who doesn't have an agent, said she hopes to soon join Cambray at Indiana Grand and continue her work in the afternoon.

“I'm in this for the long haul,” Hebert said. “I really want to try and do the best I can. I want to go as far as I can go as a jockey.”

Hebert is named on three horses next Friday at Oaklawn.

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Goncalves Reaches 2,000 Wins In North America With Sam Houston Victory

Leandro Goncalves rode Russell Welch's Gurkha Gold to an upset victory in Saturday's fifth race at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas to give the Brazil native his 2,000th career victory in North America.

Trained by Karl Broberg, Gurkha Gold won the maiden special weight race for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on turf by 1 1/2 lengths and paid $20.80 to her backers.

Goncalves was on horses herding livestock by the age of 7 and two years later was riding in Quarter horse races. He attended Brazil's jockey school at age 16 and became the school's top apprentice. Goncalves moved to England briefly in 2004 but came to the U.S. the following year, struggled to break through, but won his first American race in 2007.

He's won as many as 298 races in a single season in 2011 and his mounts earned over $7.2 million the following year.

In 2017, Goncalves proudly became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

 

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