Tag: People

Longtime California owner/breeder Marianne Millard, co-founder of Here Tis Ranch in Hemet, has passed away at the age of 91, according to a post on the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association website..
Best known as the co-owner and breeder of the multiple graded stakes winning and unbeaten California-bred Champion Melair, Millard, along with her late associate Bea Rous, were active California owners/breeders for several decades.

Melair, who garnered national attention on July 5, 1986 when she defeated an outstanding field of colts that included Santa Anita Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Snow Chief in the Silver Screen Handicap (G2) going a one-turn mile at Hollywood Park, was trained by John Sadler and ridden by Patrick Valenzuela.

Following her Silver Screen triumph, Melair sustained a bout with colic and retired unbeaten in five starts with earnings of $336,500.

A foal of 1983 by Debonair Roger out of the Viking Spirit mare Melrose Nugget, Melair is honored by Santa Anita annually with the $150,000 Melair Stakes for 3-year-old California-bred fillies at 1 1/16 miles. This year's Melair will be run on Saturday, May 28.

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It was a good Friday for Steve Asmussen, who became just the second trainer in Oaklawn history to reach 800 career victories when favored Chakra ($4.20) won the sixth race under Ricardo Santana Jr.

The late Bob Holthus, based on Daily Racing Form chart results and statistics from Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, had a record 867 training victories at Oaklawn before his death in November 2011.

Asmussen, a 2016 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, collected his 799th Oaklawn victory in Friday's second race with favored Hightailing ($3.40), who also was ridden by Santana.

After finishing seventh with his next starter Friday, Ottoman Empire in the fourth race, Asmussen reached the milestone with class-dropping Chakra, who beat older $10,000 female sprinters by 1 ¼ front-running lengths for owners Troy and Mike Langford of Jonesboro, Ark.

“On our way, you know,” Asmussen said following Friday's ninth and final race. “We feel like we're in the middle of it and it's a great milestone, but we've got a lot of winning left to do at Oaklawn.”

Based on volume and win rate, Asmussen should threaten Holthus' Oaklawn record next season. Friday's double pushed Asmussen's 2021-2022 meet-leading total to 45. He had 14 horses entered Friday and Saturday.

Asmussen is an 11-time Oaklawn training champion, capturing titles in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Asmussen and the late Hall of Famer Henry Forrest share the Oaklawn record for career training titles with 11. Holthus won nine Oaklawn training titles.

Asmussen started his first horse at Oaklawn in 1989 and won his first race Feb. 9, 1996, with Honest J. The following day, Asmussen won the Mountain Valley Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters with Valid Expectations, who was ridden by the trainer's older brother, French champion jockey Cash Asmussen.

Steve Asmussen has said the success of Valid Expectations, who won the Bachelor Stakes later in the 1996 Oaklawn meeting, opened doors to better stock because the colt was the first nationally prominent horse he trained.

“He was everything for us,” Asmussen said.

Asmussen entered Saturday with 800 victories, including 96 stakes, from 3,965 starts and purse earnings of $44,836,693 in his Oaklawn career. The stakes victories and purse earnings are Oaklawn records.

Asmussen set a single-season Oaklawn record for purse earnings at the 2021 meet ($6,057,877) and has at least one stakes victory at every Oaklawn meeting since his first with Valid Expectations in 1996. The 26-year stakes streak also is an Oaklawn record.

Asmussen became the all-time winningest trainer in North American history last August and entered Saturday with 9,710 in his career, according to Equibase. Asmussen had 9,712 worldwide because Equibase doesn't recognize Curlin's two victories in 2008 in the United Arab Emirates.

Asmussen, 56, started his first horse and saddled his first winner in 1986. He was honored with Eclipse Awards as the country's outstanding trainer in 2008 and 2009.

The post Asmussen Hits 800 Oaklawn Wins, Edges Closer to Holthus Record appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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An unidentified man was found shot to death early Saturday at Palm Beach Downs Training Center near Delray Beach, Florida, WPTV reports.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said the man's body was found about 4 a.m. (ET) near  the 10300 block of Atlantic Avenue.

Briana Nespral of WPTV in West Palm Beach reported that the man's body, discovered near a dormitory, has “one or more gunshot wounds.” The 85-acre training center has been closed to the public.

Sheriff's deputies said that there is no suspect as yet or motive for the shooting.

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Sir Mark Todd began serving an interim suspension imposed by the British Horseracing Authority on Feb. 16, after a video went viral on social media, showing him striking a horse with a tree branch after the animal balks at a water obstacle. On Thursday, April 14, an independent BHA disciplinary panel imposed a suspension of four months, with two months deferred. If Todd has no breaches during the next two months, the second two months of his suspension will disappear.

Since he has already served two months' suspension during the interim period, Todd is allowed to resume training immediately.

“We are grateful to the Disciplinary Panel for their time in considering this case and acknowledge the penalty handed down this afternoon,” the BHA said in a statement. “As Sir Mark has himself recognized in public statements since the video emerged and in accepting that he was in breach of Rule (J)19 [conduct prejudicial to the good reputation of horseracing], his behavior on this occasion fell short of the standard expected of all licensed individuals and ran contrary to the values of care and respect for the horse that underpin British racing.”

Todd, 65, is best known for his career as a professional eventer but stopped riding event horses professionally in 2019 to train racehorses and maintains a yard in Wiltshire.

A native New Zealander, Todd won Olympic gold twice in eventing in the 1980s, and has a total of five Olympic medals. He has won the Badminton Horse Trials three times and Burghley five times. He retired from the upper levels of eventing once in 2000 before returning in 2008. In the interim, he trained racehorses in New Zealand, including Group 1 winners Bramble Rose and Willy Smith.

The post Sir Mark Todd Allowed To Resume Training After Two Months’ Suspension appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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