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Fans Cheer Mighty Heart Home In Dominion Day Stakes

Horse racing fans were back in the stands at Woodbine Racetrack for the first time this season and cheered home Canada's reigning Horse of the Year Mighty Heart in the $150,000 Dominion Day Stakes (Grade 3) on Thursday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.

Jockey Daisuke Fukumoto, who was aboard the popular one-eyed colt when he won the first two-thirds of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown last year, was reunited with the champion for today's featured Dominion Day contested over 1-1/16 miles on the main track.

Trained by Josie Carroll and owned by Larry Cordes, the millionaire son of Dramedy established the lead out of the gate and crossed to the rail as he headed into the first turn. A pair of Mark Casse-trained graded stakes winners, Lookin to Strike stalked in behind with the favored March to the Arch just outside pressing the pace.

After a quarter in :25.23 and half-mile in :48.49, the pressure mounted as March to the Arch matched strides with Mighty Heart on the turn while Malibu Mambo rallied three-wide into contention as they passed three-quarters in 1:11.99. However, Mighty Heart fought back and pulled clear of his rivals down the lane to score in 1:43.33.

March to the Arch settled for second, 1-3/4 lengths behind the winner, while Malibu Mambo finished third in front of Lookin to Strike. Skywire, Canada's 2020 Champion Older Main Track Male, completed the field that was scratched down to just five starters.

“I'm glad to get the opportunity to ride this horse again,” said Fukumoto, who enjoyed a career highlight with Mighty Heart when they won last year's $1 million Queen's Plate. “I breezed him a couple times and today I was ready to go, and we did it today.”

Mighty Heart was well prepared for his return to Woodbine, coming off a victory in the Blame Stakes last time out on May 29 at Churchill Downs.

“I thought it [the Blame Stakes] just put him right where I wanted him,” said the four-year-old colt's Hall of Fame trainer. “In fact, he had two works after that, simply because he came out of it so well, we had to sort of take the high note off of him a little bit four days ago so he could settle in this race.

“I think he's just a good horse and he's maturing. We're pretty happy with him today.”

Mighty Heart now boasts five victories from 11 career starts for Cordes, who relished the moment to witness his homebred star in person and hear the fans trackside.

“It's quite a difference,” said Cordes from the winner's circle. “The feeling was much, much better, obviously, and so many fans were behind him.”

Sent postward as the 9-5 slight second choice in the wagering, Mighty Heart paid $5.80 to win.

The scratches were Atone and the Carroll-trained Breeders' Stakes champion Belichick, whose connections opted for an allowance race on Saturday's card.

Live Thoroughbred racing resumes at Woodbine Racetrack on Friday. Post time for the eight-race program is set for 4:50 p.m.

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National Museum Of Racing And Hall Of Fame Announces Special Summer Exhibits

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will feature several new and returning special exhibitions this summer for the upcoming Saratoga racing season. All summer exhibitions will debut on Thursday, July 1.

New Exhibitions

Muybridge and Motion: Selections from the Tang Teaching Museum Collection

(On display in the Link Gallery through Jan. 2, 2022)

This exhibition features a series of groundbreaking animal locomotion photographic studies by English photographer Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904) from the Tang Teaching Museum collection and paintings by American artist Henry Stull (1851 – 1913) from the National Museum of Racing collection.

Exhibited together, these works from two separate museum collections illustrate how the technological advancements in photography made by Muybridge forever changed the way motion is depicted and understood, particularly in the field of equine art. Muybridge and Motion is part of All Together Now, a regional collection-sharing project organized by The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation. For the duration of this exhibition, the Museum will offer complimentary admission to any visitor with a Skidmore College ID.

'Chasing Summer: The Art of Steeplechase

(On display in the von Stade Gallery through Sept. 30)

This year's fine art exhibition celebrates the Steeplechase Hall of Fame induction year with 31 works of steeplechasing art by British and American sporting artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. 'Chasing Summer also celebrates the return of 13 works from the collection that were previously on loan and have not been exhibited at the Museum in decades. Artists represented in this exhibition include Henry Alken, Samuel Henry Alken, Ann Collins, W. Smithson Broadhead, Paul Brown, June Harrah, Sir Alfred J. Munnings, Frederic Remington, Henry Stull, Franklin Brooke Voss, Eleanor Iselin Wade, and Charles Morris Young, among others.

New Exhibit Updates and Ongoing Exhibitions

Triple Crown Gallery

The Triple Crown Gallery features text panels and artifacts related to Triple Crown history and an interactive exhibit that allows visitors to learn about the 13 Triple Crown winners through historic race footage and photographs. Renovated in recent years to include America's 12th Triple Crown winner and 2021 Hall of Fame inductee, American Pharoah, additional gallery updates were added in 2019 to honor the most recent Triple Crown winner, Justify. This year marks the 75th anniversary of Assault's Triple Crown sweep of 1946. In honor of this milestone anniversary year, artifacts on loan from King Ranch Archives — including race-worn silks and photographs — will be featured in this gallery through 2022.

Edward P. Evans Gallery

The Edward P. Evans Gallery allows the Museum to showcase more of the treasures from its diverse permanent collection and honor the legacy of Mr. Evans and his passion for the sport of thoroughbred racing. Current featured exhibits include: Selections from the Edward P. Evans Trophy Collection, The Triple Crown, Selections from the James E. “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons Collection, The Legacy of Man o' War, The Grand National, Tiffany & Co. in the National Museum of Racing Collection, and A Salute to Hollywood Park. New for 2021, Fifty Years Ago, an exhibit highlighting the racing achievements of 1971 and showcasing trophies won by Hall of Fame horses Shuvee and Riva Ridge and Eclipse Awards won by Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham and Hall of Fame Pillar of the Turf Paul Mellon.

Women in Racing

(On display in McBean Gallery through Jan. 2, 2022)

Women have been involved in the sport of thoroughbred racing in America for more than 100 years. The pioneers and trailblazers of the past paved the way for future generations of horse lovers and racing enthusiasts, allowing them to continue to break boundaries in a male-dominated sport and industry. Featuring art, photographs, and multimedia from the Museum Collection and on loan, this special exhibition honors the women involved in every aspect of thoroughbred racing.

Some exhibition highlights include: a timeline of firsts celebrating the milestone achievements of the pioneers of the sport, artifacts from the career of pioneering female jockey Wantha Davis, items from Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone's historic Belmont Stakes victory, the inaugural Diana Handicap trophy won by the first licensed female trainer, Mary Hirsch, artifacts and portraits relating to every woman inducted into the Hall of Fame, historic silks, and an interactive exhibit featuring race footage and short films for visitors to explore.

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about the Museum, including special events and program offerings, please call (518) 584-0400 or visit our website at www.racingmuseum.org.

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Churchill: Mandatory Payout Of Derby City 6 Scheduled For Saturday’s Closing Day Card

A lucrative total Derby City 6 pool could await bettors Saturday for closing day of Churchill Downs' 38-day Spring Meet. There's a $150,160 jackpot carryover on Thursday (Races 3-8) after multiple tickets hit Sunday's six-race sequence for the 14th straight race day. The pool will be rewarding Saturday if there's not a single winning ticket Thursday or Friday.

The Derby City 6 jackpot pool only is paid if there is a single winning ticket. When multiple tickets contain six winners 90 percent of that day's pool is paid out and 10 percent is added to the jackpot carryover.

Because Saturday is closing day, there will be a mandatory Derby City 6 payout with all monies distributed to ticket holders with the most winners in the six-race series. Saturday's all-stakes Derby City 6, which only costs 20 cents per combination, will cover Races 7-12 starting at approximately 3:50 p.m. (all times Eastern).

Saturday's closing day sequence features 61 entered horses for an average of 10.2 entries per race:

· Race 7: $150,000 War Chant, 3-year-olds, one mile on turf, eight entries

· Race 8: $150,000 Debutante (Listed), 2-year-old fillies, six furlongs, 10 entries

· Race 9: $150,000 Bashford Manor (Grade 3), 2-year-olds, six furlongs, 11 entries

· Race 10: $300,000 Wise Dan (Grade 2), 4-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles on turf, 10 entries

· Race 11: $600,000 Stephen Foster (Grade 2), 4-year-olds and up, 1 1/8 miles, nine entries

· Race 12: $150,000 Tepin, 3-year-old fillies, one mile on turf, 13 entries

Takeout on the Derby City 6 is just 15 percent, which is one of the lowest multi-race wager takeout rates in American racing.

The last time the jackpot was paid was Saturday, May 29 – Stephen Foster Preview Day – when Churchill Downs had a mandatory force-out of the jackpot with a $150,655 carryover. That day's pool was $1,236,502 and all-sources handle on the 11-race program eclipsed $14 million.

Fans can wager on the Derby City 6 on track at Churchill Downs; www.TwinSpires.com, the track's official online wagering platform; other online wagering outlets; and select satellite betting centers throughout North America.

Saturday's 12-race closing day card featuring seven stakes events starts at 12:45 p.m.

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Eclipse Award-Winning Writer Steffanus Dies

Eclipse Award-winning writer and longtime Paulick Report contributor Denise Steffanus died June 20 after a long illness. A former trainer, Steffanus specialized in veterinary and horse management topics and served as a contributing editor at the Thoroughbred Times from 1995 until the publication's demise in 2012. Afterwards, she built a successful career as a freelance writer and editor.

A native of Pennsylvania, Steffanus studied journalism at Point Park College but grabbed bylines well before that, writing for her hometown paper at the age of 12. Steffanus prided herself on approaching complex scientific topics with a critical journalist's eye, focusing on the facts even in highly political subject areas. Her thoughtful approach earned her considerable recognition, including the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award in 2011 from the Foundation for Biomedical Research and the 2002 Award for Media Excellence (given by the predecessor of the U.S. Equestrian Federation).

In 2017, her feature on drug contamination published in Trainer magazine garnered the Eclipse Award for News/Enterprise Writing, which she described as “the epitome of my career.”

As a trainer, Steffanus based out of River Downs, where she saddled two winners from 42 starters between 1991 and 1994.

Steffanus signed on as a valued contributor to the Paulick Report's nascent Horse Care section in 2016, focusing on common equine management questions and myths. Her experience as a veteran journalist and hands-on horse person shaped the direction of the section. You can access a full archive of her work here.

No memorial plans have been set at this time.

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