Tag: saratoga

Belmont Stakes Racing Festival to Feature 23 Stakes Worth $10.1 Million

Highlighted by the 156th edition of the GI Belmont S. on Saturday, June 8, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has revealed the stakes schedule for the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which will be held at Saratoga Race Course from Thursday, June 6 through Sunday, June 9.

The 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 23 stakes races with purses totaling $10.1 million, the highest purse levels and number of stakes offered since the launch of the multi-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival in 2014.

NYRA has increased the purse of the Belmont S. from $1.5 million to $2 million in 2024, which is the first significant increase since 2014. The 2024 Belmont Stakes will be contested at 1 1/4 miles in 2024 rather than the traditional 1 1/2 miles due to the configuration of Saratoga's main track.

In addition, NYRA has increased the purse of the GI Resorts World Casino Manhattan from $750,000 to $1 million and boosted the GI New York from $600,000 to $750,000. As a result, the total purses offered at the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will exceed $10 million for the first time.

NYRA has also boosted the purse of the GIII Poker from $200,000 to $350,000 and added $100,000 to the purses of the GI Woody Stephens, the GI Jaipur and the GII True North. Accordingly, the Woody Stephens and Jaipur will offer a purse of $500,000, with the True North rising to $350,000.

Differences between the circumference of Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park will require slight distance adjustments to a number of races scheduled for the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. On the main track, four races previously run at a one-turn 1 1/16 miles on the main track (Acorn, Ogden Phipps, Commentator and Critical Eye) will be run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns.

On the turf, the Manhattan and New York will be contested at 1 3/16 miles rather than the customary 10 furlongs. The Jaipur and $200,000 GII Intercontinental, which saw un upgrade from Grade III status last year, will each be run at 5 1/2 furlongs rather than the customary six furlongs.

The Festival opens with four stakes on Thursday, June 6 led by the $250,000 GII Belmont Gold Cup for older horses traveling two miles on the turf. The June 6 program will include the Listed $150,000 Jersey Girl for sophomore fillies sprinting six furlongs; the Listed $150,000 Tremont for juveniles sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs and the $150,000 Astoria at 5 1/2 furlongs for juvenile fillies.

Friday, June 7 will feature three Grade I events among four stakes topped by the New York for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up; the $500,000 Acorn for sophomore fillies and the $500,000 Just a Game at one mile on the turf for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up. The GII Intercontinental for older fillies and mares rounds out the stakes action on the second day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

A blockbuster Belmont Stakes Day at Saratoga awaits on Saturday, June 8 with a program to include six Grade I events among nine stakes races in total, culminating with the Belmont S. and featuring three Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” qualifiers: the $1-million GI Metropolitan H. for 3-year-olds and up going one mile out of the Wilson Chute [Dirt Mile]; the $500,000 GI Ogden Phipps for older fillies and mares [Distaff]; and the $500,000 GI Jaipur for 3-year-olds and up [Turf Sprint]. In addition, the prestigious and historic Grade I races on Belmont Stakes Day will include the $1-million Resorts World Casino Manhattan for older horses, and the seven-furlong $500,000 Woody Stephens for sophomores.

Belmont Stakes Day at Saratoga will be bolstered by the GII True North for older horses sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs; the GIII Poker for older horses at one mile on the turf and the $350,000 GII Suburban for older horses at 10 furlongs.

The 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga will conclude on Sunday, June 9 when New York-breds take center stage for a special New York Showcase Day featuring six stakes exclusively for New York-breds.

For the complete Belmont Stakes Racing Festival stakes schedule, visit BelmontStakes.com/schedule.

The post Belmont Stakes Racing Festival to Feature 23 Stakes Worth $10.1 Million appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Travers Runner-Up Disarm Reloading for 2024

Disarm (c, 4, Gun Runner–Easy Tap, by Tapit), sidelined since finishing a closing second behind Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Travers S. at Saratoga Aug. 26, has returned to training with Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen at the Fair Grounds.

A respectable fourth at 27-1 in the GI Kentucky Derby, last term's GIII Matt Winn S. winner and GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby runner-up exited his second-place finish in the Travers with bone bruising, per David Fiske, longtime advisor to owner/breeder Ron Winchell.

“He was walking visibly off after the Travers,” Fiske said. “Got him back to the barn and whipped out the X-ray machine. We were all standing there looking at the X-rays and everybody looked at one another and went, 'Do you see anything? I don't see anything.' So, that was a big relief that it wasn't anything more serious. We got him down to Lexington and he was diagnosed with some bone bruising.”

He added, “We weren't gonna make any significant races at the end of the year, so we said, 'Let's just give him as much time off as he needs.'”

Following approximately nine weeks of recommended downtime, a positron emission tomography (PET) scan revealed that Disarm still “had some spots that lit up on him” and he was given an additional 30 days off before returning to training.

The 'TDN Rising Star' now has a pair of four-furlong breezes under his belt since returning to the worktab in New Orleans, stopping the clock in :53.80 (42/43) Jan. 8 and :50.80 (18/26) Jan. 18, respectively.

“We gave him some extra time and now he's back,” Fiske said. “He looks great, travels great and has always been a great-looking horse. Hopefully, we can make some noise with him this year.”

Disarm recorded four straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures last year, beginning with his aforementioned effort on the first Saturday in May. He earned a career-high 103 Beyer over a muddy surface in the Travers, his first career start racing with blinkers. The handsome chestnut has posted a record of 9-2-3-2 and career earnings of $1,000,200.

While acknowledging that it's still very early days, Fiske said that this summer's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, a race won by his leading sire in 2017, could be in play for the Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred.

“Given the level at which he ran last year, if he can get back to that, then you'd expect to see him in some of the bigger or biggest races around,” Fiske said. “It would be kinda cool if we could get him cranked up for the Whitney, but that's a long way off. We're gonna need to get some more works. He's still pretty early stages.”

One of nine 'Rising Stars' for Gun Runner, Disarm is a half-brother to Venezuelan champion stayer Tap Daddy (Scat Daddy), who was also a stakes winner and graded-stakes placed on these shores. Disarm's dam Easy Tap, a $300,000 FTKJUL yearling purchase, won one of five career starts.

The Gun Runner over Tapit cross, two of the best to ever carry the maroon-and-white Winchell silks, is already off to a flying start via GI Cotillion S. heroine Society; MGSW and GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint third Wicked Halo; GSW & GISP Red Route One; and GSW & GISP Il Miracolo.

The post Travers Runner-Up Disarm Reloading for 2024 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

GSW Verifying To Stand At Florida’s Pleasant Acres Stallions

Verifying (Justify–Diva Delite, by Repent), winner of the GIII Indiana Derby and a half-brother to Eclipse winner Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), will stand at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Florida for an introductory fee of $10,000 in 2024. Trained by Brad Cox after selling for $775,000 as a KEESEP yearling, Verifying began his career at two with a win in his first asking at Saratoga before placing in the GI Champagne S. at Belmont at the Big A in his second start. In addition to winning the Indiana Derby, he placed second in both the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. along with the GIII Matt Winn S. He retired with earnings of nearly $853,000.

“We are always looking for stallions we know will raise the bar in Florida,” said Pleasant Acres Stallions Owner Joe Barbazon. “We've had our eye on Verifying since he ran in the GI Champagne S. at Belmont. Not only has he shown athleticism and talent during his career, he has also lived up to his impeccable pedigree.”

Verifying joins stallions Bodexpress (Bodemeister), Chess Chief (Into Mischief), Curlin's Honor (Curlin), Doppelganger (Into Mischief), Gone Astray (Dixie Union), Gunnevera (Dialed In), Leinster (Majestic Warrior), Magic on Tap (Tapit), Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday), No Never No More (Scat Daddy), Simplification (Not This Time) and Sweetontheladies (Twirling Candy), at the farm located just northwest of Ocala.

The post GSW Verifying To Stand At Florida’s Pleasant Acres Stallions appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Most-Read TDN Stories Of 2023

As the year winds down, now is a relatively quiet time for horse racing. But there was nothing quiet about 2023, a year, it seems, where the bad news stories overshadowed the good news stories. What resonated most with TDN readers? Unfortunately, the answer seems to be our stories that reported on some of the darker aspects of the sport. Here are the top 10 most widely read stories of 2023 and the number of views they received:

1) Europeans Unleashed As Santa Anita is Struck by Tragedy, by Emma Berry (96,627 views). TDN European Editor Emma Berry arrived at Santa Anita as the sport and the Breeders' Cup was dealing with another blow, the death of Practical Move (Practical Joke) and the injury suffered by Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}), who would eventually be euthanized. She marveled at the beauty of Santa Anita and watched the European contingent prepare for the races, but found it hard to forget that it had been another difficult week for the sport. “Even with such brilliant beauty close at hand, it was hard to revel in what should have been a joyful morning as the image of the prone Practical Move lingered on in the mind's eye,” she wrote.

2) Racing Word Mourns Death of Lady O'Reilly, by Emma Berry (96,536 views). Berry reported on the passing of highly successful and longstanding owner-breeder Lady Chryss O'Reilly, the owner of Haras de la Louviere in Normandy, who died at the age of 73.

3) Fatalities Mar Travers Saturday at Saratoga, by Bill Finley (51,660 views). The Saratoga meet saw an unusually high number of breakdowns, but two stood out. Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) broke down a jump or two before the finish of the GI Test S., a race she was well on her way to winning. In an eerily similar scenario that had occurred on the GI Travers S. card, New York Thunder (Nyquist) had the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. all but won before breaking down a few feet before the finish. On the same card, a horse named Nobel (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire} was also euthanized. Bill Finley wrote of a Travers Day that was supposed to be about everything that is great with the sport turning into one of the ugliest afternoons ever at Saratoga.

4) Everything Was Done to Save Him: Derby Hero Desert Crown Euthanized, Staff Report (50,946 views). The story reports on the death of Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), the brilliant winner of the 2022 Derby, who was euthanized at Newmarket Equine Hospital after failing to recover from an injury sustained on the gallops in August.

5) Jockey Alex Canchari Passes Away, by Bill Finley (50,438). In one of the sadder stories of the year, Midwest-based jockey Alex Canchari passed away in March at the age of 29 after taking his own life, sparking discussions about jockeys' mental health.

6) Horse of the Year Havre De Grace Passes Away, by Alan Carasso (48,136). Havre de Grace (Saint Liam), the 2011 Horse of the Year, passed away in April. Wayne Sweezey, who boarded Havre de Grace at his Timber Town Farm, confirmed that the 16-year-old mare hemorrhaged multiple times and died after producing a colt by Into Mischief the afternoon of Apr. 28.

7) Pretty Mischievous Wins Test; Maple Leaf Mel Breaks Down at Wire, is Euthanized, Staff Report (41,426). Like the breakdown of New York Thunder later on in the meet, the breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel in the Test S. shook Saratoga and cast a pall over the meet.

8) HIWU Descends Upon a Shedrow, Upending Life For a Mom-and-Pop Stable, by TD Thornton (30,863). John Pimental is a small-time trainer who was well-liked, worked hard and had never been in any trouble during his long career. That all changed when agents for the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) descended upon John's stable and upended his world: one of his horses had tested positive for 193 picograms per milliliter of methamphetamine, a street drug of abuse that is classified as a “banned” substance in racing. The story details Pimental's fight to clear his name and takes a look at the tactics HIWU used to make the case that Pimental had violated its rules.

9) Sire Of Sires, WinStar Farm's Champion Speightstown Euthanized, Staff Report (30,066). The story reports on the passing of WinStar Farm's top sire Speightstown (Gone West) and his remarkable career as a sire.

10) The Week in Review: With Forte Non-DQ, NYRA Stewards Owe Public an Explanation, by Bill Finley (29,977). The Saratoga stewards decided not to disqualify Forte (Violence) from his win in the GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga, despite what appeared to be rough-riding tactics by Irad Ortiz Jr. that caused Forte to bump Angel of Empire (Classic Empire). But writer Bill Finley thought the bigger story was that there is next to no transparency in racing when it comes to stewards' decisions and that the bettors deserved an explanation over why there was no disqualification.

The post The Most-Read TDN Stories Of 2023 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights