Tag: saratoga

Brown Wins Seventh Consecutive Belmont Spring/Summer Title; Irad Ortiz Jr. Top Rider

Trainer Chad Brown notched a record-extending seventh consecutive training title at the Belmont spring/summer meeting with 47 victories, the record for most wins earned by a trainer at a Belmont spring/summer meet. Irad Ortiz, Jr. secured the leading rider title with 48 wins, while Michael Dubb paced all owners with 16 wins. The Belmont spring/summer meet was conducted for 44 days from Apr. 28 through July 10.

The previous training record of 44 victories, set by David Jacobson at the 56-day 2013 spring/summer meet, was broken when 3-year-old filly Demandsrespect (Union Rags) graduated at fourth asking in a July 4 maiden special weight over the main track.

“My team should be very proud of themselves and proud of what they did,” Brown said of setting the meet record. “Obviously, it's never been done and they deserve every bit of it.”

Brown's successes at the meeting include 12 graded stakes victories, and he closed out the meet with a record of 153-47-30-22, earnings of $5,776,633, a 30.72% win percentage and a 64.71% in-the-money clip.

The battle for leading jockey came down to the final day of the meet as Ortiz Jr. entered the card one win behind Dylan Davis. Ortiz Jr. evened the score with a victory aboard Lady Yellen (Central Banker) in the opener before coming away with a one-win advantage aboard First to Act in race five. With the top two riders slated to ride in two more races, Ortiz, Jr. clinched the title–his 19th on the NYRA circuit–with a thrilling finish in race seven aboard Queen Bourbon (Empire Maker) to post his 48th win of the meet.

“It feels great,” said Ortiz Jr. “Honestly, we've been working so hard since the year started. Hard work, a lot of dedication. We've been out there every day that they ask for me. It feels good when you win a title. We love to win the meet; it's not easy, but thank God we got it done today. Thanks to my agent Steve Rushing for doing an amazing job. It was great. Dylan had a great meet, also.”

Ortiz, Jr.'s meet was one to remember, scoring the Classic win of his career in taking the GI Belmont S. atop the Todd Pletcher-trained Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo).

Live racing resumes on Opening Day Thursday of the summer meet at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the $135,000 Wilton S. and $175,000 GIII Schuylerville S. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

The post Brown Wins Seventh Consecutive Belmont Spring/Summer Title; Irad Ortiz Jr. Top Rider appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Horses Of All Ages On Offer At Newtown Paddocks Monday

Fasig-Tipton will offer racehorses during their traditional July time slot for the 10th straight year Monday, but with an added twist. After adding a broodmare portion to last year's auction, most of which was a dispersal, the sales company has decided to incorporate breeding stock again this year and has therefore renamed the auction the Fasig-Tipton July Horses of All Ages Sale.

“Last year with the dispersal, it kind of sparked the concept,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “And you know, we had some people this year who reached out to us and said they'd like to try it again. You know, I think what we're seeing in the world that we live in is people are looking for trading opportunities and looking for liquidity options. There's a time and a place and often times circumstances change for every owner or particular consigner. It just creates an opportunity in the marketplace for a person to sell their horse and those horses were well received last year. I think that's why we've got another group this year.”

There are 216 horses catalogued to Monday's sale, 27 of which were late supplements added last week. There are several black-type winners on offer including graded stakes winners Newgrange (Violence), Ete Indian (Summer Front), Enforceable (Tapit), Easy Time (Not This Time) and Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro).

“The composition of a racehorse sale changes from year to year, but there are certainly a lot of attractive offerings as you go through the catalog or go online and evaluate,” said Browning. “The great thing about the horses of race age sale is that there are horses that fit in every circuit that's racing, both in the United States and internationally. So if you're looking for a horse that might be able to run a starter, we've got some of those. If you are looking for potential candidates for Grade I races or graded stakes races down the road, or even in the near future, we've got some of those too. It's a great composition in terms of variety of offerings and it continues to gain more and more momentum every year that we have the sale and more acceptance.”

The timing of the sale is key, just days before the start of two prestigious and very popular meets, Saratoga and Del Mar. With the big purses offered at this meets creating increased demand and the strong markets at the juvenile and breeding stock sales earlier this year, Browning said he expects the momentum to carry right into the July auctions.

“Racing is pretty good right now,” Browning said. “Purses are very, very strong on several of the key circuits. People seem to be generally enthusiastic about buying racehorses and racing prospects. So we think, hopefully, the positive momentum that we've seen in the last 18 months will continue.”

The July sale has had some pretty successful graduates, such as last year's second highest-priced horse Stilleto Boy (Shackleford), who brought $420,000 and has placed in four Grade Is and won the GII Californian S. for his new owners. The sale has also produced the likes of GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington) and GIII Westchester S. winner Nicodemus (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Bidding begins at 3 p.m. Monday at Newtown Paddocks and will be followed by the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale Tuesday.

The post Horses Of All Ages On Offer At Newtown Paddocks Monday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

New Exhibits Added to National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will open two new exhibitions to the public July 14, coinciding with opening day of the Saratoga. Betting on America: The Immigrant Experience and the Hall of Fame will debut in the McBean Gallery, while Jim Raftery: A Turfotos Retrospective (from the collection of Barbara D. Livingston) opens in the von Stade Gallery.

Betting on America: The Immigrant Experience and the Hall of Fame is an in-depth look the lives and impact on the sport of the Hall of Fame inductees born outside of the United States. The exhibit features multimedia content, artwork, memorabilia, photography, and much more to tell the stories of the 41 foreign-born members of the Hall of Fame and the 16 Hall of Fame racehorses bred outside the United States.

Jim Raftery: A Turfotos Retrospective (from the collection of Barbara D. Livingston) examines the remarkable career of photographer Jim Raftery, featuring more than 60 iconic images of the racing scene Raftery covered in his unique style for more than half a century. Additional Raftery images will be added throughout the summer to an online gallery on the Museum's website racingmuseum.org.

Two other special exhibitions also opened recently at the Museum. The Paintings of Richard Stone Reeves features a selection of original works by the legendary artist from the Museum Collection, including Hall of Fame racehorses Cicada, Exceller, Gallorette, Ruffian, Susan's Girl, and Sword Dancer, among others. This exhibition is located in the Museum's Link Gallery.

Along with Betting on America, the McBean Gallery is featuring the Charles H. Thieriot Collection, a seasonal exhibition featuring several paintings from the masters of British sporting art.

The post New Exhibits Added to National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights