People | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘All-Around Good Man’: Inaugural Sam Spear Memorial To Be Held At Golden Gate On Labor Day

Sam Spear, a Northern California media icon and sportscaster who promoted thoroughbred racing in the Bay Area for five decades, passed away in October of 2021 at the age of 72. In memory of Spear and his devotion to thoroughbred racing and sports, Golden Gate Fields will run the Sam Spear Memorial annually, beginning this year.

The 2022 edition is set to take place on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 5.

Formerly known as the Rolling Green Stakes, the Sam Spear Memorial is a mile and a sixteenth turf race for 3-year-olds and upward. A $50,000 purse is offered. 29 colts and geldings made the nominations list, with official entries for the Sam Spear Memorial and the rest of the Monday card to be drawn this Friday.

Throughout a large portion of his career, Sam Spear held the position of publicity manager at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows. He hosted “At the Track with Sam Spear,” a popular morning radio show every Sunday, and a daily race replay show that debuted in 1978 and ran through 2018 on KTSF-TV. Spear had strong connections with Bay Area newspapers, radio and TV stations and was a key figure in working with those channels to promote horse racing. He also consulted several notable figures who showed a passion for horse racing. Among them: rapper MC Hammer, Hall of Fame baseball player Joe Dimaggio, and Hall of Fame baseball manager Earl Weaver.

“Sam was an all-around good man,” said Golden Gate Fields Vice President and General Manager David Duggan. “He was an encyclopedia of sports knowledge, very well connected and did a lot for local communities. He was a massive part of Bay Area horse racing for a long time, and he will always be remembered in a very positive light.”

Live racing resumes at Golden Gate Fields this Friday afternoon. A four-day race week is in store, with our traditional Friday through Sunday race programs and the Labor Day Monday Holiday card. First post each race day is 1:45 PM. For more information, please visit goldengatefields.com.

The post ‘All-Around Good Man’: Inaugural Sam Spear Memorial To Be Held At Golden Gate On Labor Day appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Riding A Dream Academy Launches Residential Course For Non-Riders

The Riding A Dream Academy which supports young people aged 14-18 from diverse ethnic communities and underprivileged backgrounds is launching a special course aimed specifically at those with little or no riding or horse experience.

The Academy was established last year to help make horse racing more accessible to young people from diverse communities and was set up after Khadijah Mellah became the first British Muslim woman to win a UK horse race. Having run a riders' residential course in its pilot year, together with its flagship Khadijah Mellah Scholarship, the Academy, which is funded by the Racing Foundation, will now offer an introductory course for those with little or no riding experience.

Khadijah Mellah said: “After the success of our pilot year we wanted to make sure that we were providing opportunities that would allow as wide a group of young people as possible to spend time learning how to look after racehorses and finding out more about horse racing. This is an amazing opportunity for young people who love animals and are wanting to try their hand at something new, whilst also finding out more about the opportunities for them within the sport.”

Naomi Lawson, Director and Co-Founder of the Academy said: “When we first launched the Academy we had lots of applications from young people who had been inspired by Khadijah and wanted to get involved but didn't have the experience to join one of our riding-based courses. Thanks to the support of the Racing Foundation we are now able to offer these young people a specially tailored course which will introduce them to the world of horse racing, including how to care for our racehorses and all the different facets that make up the sport.”

Successful applicants will spend a fully funded residential week at the British Racing School in Newmarket Monday 24^th – Friday 28^th October learning about Britain's second biggest spectator sport and taking part in behind the scenes trips to racing yards, studs and racecourses. Applications close on Wednesday 21^st September and you can find out more at www.ridingadreamacademy.com/introductoryweek

The Riding A Dream Academy was set up to help provide opportunities within racing for young people from diverse communities and underprivileged backgrounds. To date, 74% of the Academy's students have come from diverse communities.

The post Riding A Dream Academy Launches Residential Course For Non-Riders appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

New Mexico-Based Todd Fincher Proving He Belongs At Del Mar

It may not look like it on paper, but trainer Todd Fincher is pleased with how his summer has gone at Del Mar. Sometimes progress is not necessarily measured in victories. Going into Saturday's racing, Fincher has one winner out of eleven starts with a second and two thirds.

“It's been okay,” Fincher says. “My numbers aren't the best but a lot of the horses have run good. We've brought some good horses and we're not running in claiming races so we're going up against the best. A couple have not run to expectations but we're getting a feel for them.”

Not quite what he's used to in New Mexico and in the Midwest at Lone Star Park and Remington Park, where Fincher has made many a trip to the winner's circle. He's compiled over $1 million in earnings every year since 2009.

Fincher has brought six horses to Del Mar this year. Senor Buscador ran third in the G2 Pat O'Brien Saturday and Slammed won an allowance by five lengths at Del Mar last month.

“I've been coming (to Del Mar) for years,” Fincher says. “The first time I came here with horses was 2018 and I just didn't bring the right type of horses. Live and learn through the years. Obviously, I wouldn't come here unless I have the quality. We have a Grade 2 and Grade 3 (this weekend), hopefully they'll run good because they're very nice horses.”

Fincher is all too familiar with how to play the game. He grew up in the racing business.

“My dad was a jockey and he rode for 25-to-30 years,” Fincher says, “and my mom trained so I grew up in it. When I was 16, I was a jockey for 10 years. I won over 900 races on Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds but I couldn't keep my weight down anymore. I did it as long as I could and I was blessed to do it.”

He approaches the task of training the same way he did riding, and the results have been encouraging.

“We've built our business from the ground up,” Fincher says. “We're doing great in New Mexico and we're expanding and getting better quality Kentucky-breds. We're going to Remington and Lone Star, Texas and Oklahoma.”

The New Mexico circuit has been very good to Fincher. He scored his first and only graded stakes race with Runaway Ghost in the 2018 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park. The son of Ghostzapper would win six of his eight races at Sunland, all stakes, and eventually compile $783,509 in earnings.

But with all of the success Fincher has enjoyed in New Mexico, Del Mar remains a summer destination.

“Obviously, if we got good enough horses we want to come here,” Fincher says. “Everybody loves it. The horses love it, I love it, the owners love it. If you got the quality you want to come out here and run against the best.“

The post New Mexico-Based Todd Fincher Proving He Belongs At Del Mar appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Lesson Horses Presented By Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders And Owners Association: Wesley Ward’s Long-Term Payoff With Unfinished Symph

You never forget the name of your first lesson horse – that horse who taught you what you need to know to work with every one that follows.

In this series, participants throughout the Thoroughbred industry share the names and stories of the horses that have taught them the most about life, revealing the limitless ways that horses can impact the people around them. Some came early on in their careers and helped them set a course for the rest of their lives, while others brought valuable lessons to veterans of the business.

Question: Which horse has taught you the most about life?

Wesley Ward, trainer: “I think every trainer needs a horse to kind of get them going. Everybody's here to be in the big races, and that's what everyone from Beulah Park to Saratoga or Del Mar, or even Royal Ascot, are doing. They're trying to get a horse that can compete on the big stage.

“I started training, and didn't really know what I was doing, even though I was a jockey and rode all over the world. I was figuring things out and learning, and thought my only chance to get a good horse would be to go to the sales, instead of claiming. It was a lot easier to claim, because the owners you're trying to get to invest in your stable want instant gratification and action, so with claiming, you get one, and a couple weeks later, you run it back. When you first start training, it's hard to get someone with patience. A lot of the farms that I train for now are breeders, but then, they wouldn't give me a shot because I was unproven.

“After a year or two, I figured claiming wasn't going to get me where I wanted to go, to hopefully get me a good horse. I was always going to stay at a claiming level, and even though I was a young guy, I'd be looked at as a claiming type of guy.

“So, I started going to the sales, but I could only afford inexpensive horses where I could put a group together. At the 2-year-old sales, I tried to focus on the horses with the fastest times, because at least they could run, but they had to have issues to where I could afford them.

“I came across a horse named Unfinished Symph that had thick shins, and looked like he was going to need a lot of time. His pedigree didn't look great, but he could obviously run, being as though he had the fastest time.

“We bought him for $13,500, and I could only afford a quarter of the horse at the time. We gave him time, and got him over his shins and ran him. We tried to give him an easy race, but he came back with a shin after the race, but he got the race experience.

“I gave him a long time off, from August to January, and at that time of the year, when the horses turn three, the shins are gone, and you're on to other issues. We ran him, and away he went, and he just took me to where I wanted to go, and gave me a kick start in my career. He just got beat in the Breeders' Cup Mile, he won the Shoemaker Mile, and all these mile turf races. He was a great horse where he put me in a different light at that time from prospective owners and clients to where I could get them to invest in better horses.

“Everyone needs that certain horse that can get them going. I'll never forget him.

“He was a great horse to be around, too, just a positive type of horse. Always up at the front of the stall, always happy. When he came over to the races, he never got hot or washed out. He was always bouncing.

“Everyone needs something to get you going, and he was the one.”

About Unfinished Symph
B. h., 1991, Aloha Prospector x Accuwoman, by Akureyri

Bred in Maryland by Stanley Joselson, Unfinished Symph was purchased by Ward at the 1993 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale. He raced once as a juvenile, finishing eighth in a Del Mar maiden claimer.

Unfinished Symph broke his maiden in his 3-year-old bow, a maiden claiming race at Santa Anita Park, then he won an allowance race at the same track a month later. He was facing graded stakes company by the spring of his 3-year-old season, first finishing second in the G3 Spotlight Breeders' Cup Handicap, then winning the G3 Will Rogers Handicap and G3 Cinema Handicap in succession.

Near the end of his 3-year-old season, Unfinished Symph shipped to Churchill Downs to compete in the 1994 Breeders' Cup Mile, where he spent most of the race on the lead, and held on gamely to finish third behind Irish-born Barathea.

The colt's 4-year-old season included scored in the G2 San Francisco Mile Handicap and the G2 Shoemaker Mile. He retired with six wins in 18 starts for earnings of $651,145.

Unfinished Symph had a brief stud career, siring just one crop of five foals before his death in 1998. Four of those foals would become winners on the racetrack. Three of Unfinished Symph's five foals were trained by Ward for at least part of their on-track careers.

The post Lesson Horses Presented By Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders And Owners Association: Wesley Ward’s Long-Term Payoff With Unfinished Symph appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post