Nine Races Carded For April 13 Opening Day At Indiana Grand

Nine races will kick off the 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing Tuesday, April 13. The program features eight Thoroughbred and one Quarter Horse race with a first post time of 2:25 p.m.

Featured on the card is a $37,000 Indiana sired allowance in the sixth race. The eight-horse field brings the return of several Indiana winners from last season, including Sudden Shift from the Bob Gorham Stable. The three-year-old Unbridled Express gelding finished second in his final start of 2020 in the $75,000 Indiana Futurity. DeShawn Parker, 2020 leading rider at Indiana Grand, will guide Sudden Shift from post seven.

Parker earned his first leading jockey title at Indiana Grand in 2020 with 106 trips to the winner's circle. The jockey with more than 5,800 career wins adds the title from Indiana Grand to his impressive resume with numerous leading jockey titles from Mountaineer Park. Joining Parker in the race for leading jockey in 2021 is Marcelino Pedroza, Jr., who won his second leading jockey title at Indiana Grand in 2019. Pedroza was sidelined for most of the 2020 season due to injury.

In the trainer category, Genaro Garcia returns seeking his fifth straight title. He topped the standings last year with 43 wins over the shortened 96-day racing season. His stable, Southwest Racing, teamed up with Steve Lewis last year to also win leading owner honors.

The 120-day racing season extends through Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. The stakes schedule has been expanded to include several new stakes, bringing the total count to 40 with purses exceeding $3.6 million. Highlighting the stakes season is the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby and the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks set for Wednesday, July 7. Also featured is the state's richest turf race, the $150,000 Caesars Stakes (Listed) set for Wednesday, Sept. 8.

Live racing is conducted Monday through Wednesday at 2:25 p.m. with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. Six all-Quarter Horse days have been set beginning with the first one Saturday, June 5 at 10 a.m. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.indianagrand.com.

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Opening Day: Fire At Will, My Girl Red Headline Friday Stakes At Keeneland

Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will, winner of last fall's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) here at Keeneland, will face five rivals in Friday's 33rd running of the $150,000 Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3) for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

The Transylvania will go as the ninth race with a 5:30 p.m. post time.

Trained by Mike Maker, who saddled Field Pass to a victory in the 2020 Transylvania, Fire At Will returns to the turf after finishing eighth in the Fountain of Youth (G2) on dirt in his most recent start. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount and will break from post position four.

Top threats to Fire At Will could come from Bantry Farms' Barrister Tom, winner of the More Than Ready Juvenile at Kentucky Downs last fall, and Stuart Janney III's Scarlett Sky, runner-up in the Palm Beach (L) at Gulfstream Park in his most recent start.

Trained by Michael Ewing, Barrister Tom will be making his 2021 debut and break from post five under Drayden Van Dyke.

Joel Rosario has the mount on Scarlett Sky and will break from post one for trainer Shug McGaughey, who won the 2011 Transylvania with Air Support.

The field for the Transylvania, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Scarlett Sky (Rosario, 118 pounds), Palazzi (Chris Landeros, 120), Breadman (Luis Saez, 118), Fire At Will (Gaffalione, 123), Barrister Tom (Van Dyke, 120) and Earls Rock (IRE) (Florent Geroux, 120).

Erich Brehm's My Girl Red, stylish winner of last summer's Sorrento (G2) at Del Mar, headlines a field of seven 3-year-old fillies entered Monday for Friday's 36th running of the $150,000 Beaumont (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select.

Run over the Beard Course of 7 furlongs, 184 feet, the Beaumont offers 17 points toward the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the first- through fourth-place finishers.

The Beaumont will go as the afternoon's eighth race with a 4:57 p.m. post time. First post time for Friday's 10-race program that opens the 15-day Spring Meet is 1:05.

Trained by Keith Desormeaux, My Girl Red will be making her 2021 debut on Friday. James Graham will be aboard for the first time and break from post one.

Two fillies coming out of Florida may provide challenges to My Girl Red.

West Point Thoroughbreds, John Ballantyne, William Freeman and Michael Valdes' Lady Traveler finished second in the Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream in her most recent start on dirt. Trained by Dale Romans, Lady Traveler will break from post five under Corey Lanerie.

G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s Farsighted, winner of the Any Limit at Gulfstream in her most recent start, returns to Keeneland where she broke her maiden last fall before running second in the Songbird on the Breeders' Cup's Future Stars Friday undercard. Julien Leparoux has the mount and will break from post three.

The field for the Beaumont, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: My Girl Red (Graham, 120 pounds), Slumber Party (Joel Rosario, 118), Farsighted (Julien Leparoux, 118), Amalfi Princess (Tyler Gaffalione, 118), Lady Traveler (Lanerie, 118), Cilla (Colby Hernandez, 118) and Twenty Carat (Luis Saez, 118).

Lindy Farms and Ice Wine Stable's Fauci, never worse than second in four career starts, will begin his 2021 campaign Friday when he headlines a field of 10 3-year-olds entered Monday for the second running of the $100,000 Palisades Turf Sprint going 5½ furlongs on the grass.

The Palisades Turf Sprint will go as the seventh race Friday afternoon with a 4:24 p.m. post time.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Fauci ran second to stablemates Golden Pal in the Skidmore at Saratoga and Outadore in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs to close his 2020 campaign.

Tyler Gaffalione has the mount on Fauci and will break from post position eight.

Returning to Keeneland, where he won the Indian Summer (L) Presented by Keeneland Select last October, is Kristin Boice and Marylou Holden's Bodenheimer.

Trained by Valorie Lund, Bodenheimer closed 2020 with an eighth-place finish behind Golden Pal in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) here. Brian Hernandez Jr. will be back aboard and break from post two.

The field for the Palisades Turf Sprint, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Lookin for Loki (Mitchell Murrill, 118 pounds), Bodenheimer (Hernandez, 120), Chasing Artie (Joel Rosario, 118), Blameworthy (Florent Geroux, 118), Smokin' Jay (Luis Saez, 118), Rustler (Corey Lanerie, 118), Unitedandresolute (James Graham, 118), Fauci (Gaffalione, 118), Lock Up (Drayden Van Dyke, 118) and J C's Champ (Emmanuel Esquivel, 118).

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‘This Is About To Become A Crisis’: COVID Restrictions May Affect Woodbine’s Opening Day

Opening day at Woodbine Racecourse is scheduled for April 17, 2021. However, the Thoroughbred Daily News reports that the Ontario track is currently designated a coronavirus “Grey Zone,” where racing is among the activities that is not allowed. This is the same restriction that forced the track to close two weeks early at the end of 2020.

“I am very concerned and this is about to become a crisis for us,” Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson told the TDN. “It's a crisis because soon there will be 2,000 people back there looking after these horses. If these people lose their jobs, there's nothing else that they can do. Especially after I had heard from trainers that may not come back, I am trying to impress upon people that we are on the cusp of a very big problem that could do irreparable damage to us as a business. We will need some answers very soon as to whether or not we can make an Apr. 17 opener.”

The Woodbine backstretch is open and horses are able to train; it is the afternoon racing which is currently restricted by the provincial government.

“We have made the argument all along that this is an outdoor activity and we wouldn't be allowing spectators,” Lawson said. “Our risk profile in the afternoon is the same as our risk profile in the morning. We should be able to run.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Delta Downs: 96 Entered For Nine-Race Card On Nov. 24 Opening Day

Delta Downs' racing office took entries on Tuesday for the opening day program of its upcoming 2020-21 Thoroughbred season. The 84-day stand will kick off on Tuesday, Nov. 24 and run through April 16. First post time each day of the meet will be at 12:55 pm Central Time at the Vinton, La. track.

A total of 96 horses, including also eligible horses, were entered in the nine-race program to start the season. The first week of live racing will include programs on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 24 and 25. The track will be dark on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday the 26th before the week wraps up with live cards on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27 and 28.

Following opening week, Delta Downs will settle into a Monday through Thursday schedule for the remainder of the season with the only exception being Thursday, Dec. 24, when the track will be dark on Christmas Eve.

The opening day feature race is the $60,000 B Connected Stakes carded as the eighth event on the card. The race attracted a group of 12, which includes two also eligible horses. The top earner in the field is Thomas L. Holyfield's 7-year-old gelding Bistraya, who has banked $235,346 during his 38-race career. Bistraya is trained by David Gomez and will be ridden by Gerardo Mora.

Race fans will be treated to one stakes race per day for the first six days of the season. In addition to the B Connected on opening day, the $60,000 Lookout will take place on Wednesday of opening week. The $100,000 Treasure Chest takes center stage on Friday, and the $100,000 Delta Mile will headline the action on Saturday. On Monday, Nov. 30, it will be the $100,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes before the $100,000 My Trusty Cat spotlights the Tuesday, Dec. 1 card.

For more information about the upcoming season, including the entire stakes schedule, visit the track's website at www.deltadownsracing.com. Fans can also get information about the track through Facebook by visiting the page 'Delta Downs Racing'. The track's Twitter handle is @deltaracing.

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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