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Tom Sage Executive Director Of The Nebraska Racing And Gaming Commission To Retire

Tom Sage, the executive director of the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, will retire Mar. 12, the organization said in a statement which was first reported on Friday by the Lincoln Journal Star.

As the executive director of the Nebraska Racing Commission since 2008, Sage added oversight of casino gambling after voters approved a petition to allow casinos at the state's horse racing tracks in November 2020. He oversaw a staff that began with a single member to now having over two dozen employees.

Sage's career in horse racing began as a security officer in 1988 at Omaha's Ak-Sar-Ben Racetrack. He graduated in 1991 from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a B.S. in criminal justice and started as an investigator for the Nebraska Racing Commission in 1993.

After graduating in 1995 from the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center, Sage became the commission's director of investigations in 2003. He was an instrumental board member for the Organization of Racing Investigators and currently is serving out his term as the chairman of the board of the Association of Racing Commissioners International.

In the Lincoln Journal Star article, Nebraska commissioner Tony Fulton called Sage a “good man” who is hard-working and diligent, and took on the task of regulating casino gambling in the state with vigor.

“This has been a very heavy lift, and he's done an admirable job,” Fulton said.

The commission also voted Friday to make Casey Ricketts, its current director of compliance, the interim executive director.

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Big A Succumbs To Big Chill As Saturday Card Cancelled; Laurel Too

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) canceled live racing on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack, as well as morning training at Belmont Park, due to arctic temperatures forecast to impact the New York metropolitan throughout the day, the organization said in a release Friday afternoon.

Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcasting on Saturday and online wagering is available through the NYRA Bets website. Saturday's featured race, the Listed $150,000 Interborough S., will be brought back Saturday, Jan. 27 with entries to be taken Wednesday, Jan. 24.

Live racing is scheduled to resume on Sunday with a nine-race card featuring the $100,000 Rego Park S. First post is 12:20 p.m. ET.

Shortly thereafter, poor weather conditions due to the ongoing winter storm in the Mid-Atlantic region caused the Maryland Jockey Club to cancel Saturday's 10-race program at Laurel Park, the club said in a Friday release.

Laurel, Pimlico Race Course, Rosecroft Raceway and the MJC OTB network will remain open Saturday for simulcasting. Live racing is scheduled to resume Sunday at Laurel with a 12:25 p.m. first post.

Earlier on Friday, the Maryland Jockey Club was forced to cancel the day's racing slate since conditions had deteriorated because of the storm.

Several tracks, including Oaklawn Park and Turfway Park, were forced to cancel their weekend programs due to inclement weather.

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Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Onsite As Official Charity Of The Eclipse Awards

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) will be in attendance as the official charity for the 53rd Eclipse Awards Jan. 25 at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida, the non-profit said in a Friday release.

“It's an honor to stand with NTRA and the whole racing community, celebrating the incredible talent and of the Thoroughbreds and the dedication of their connections,” said Stacie Clark Rogers, Operations Consultant for Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. “We are grateful for the opportunity to highlight our commitment to our industry's horses on this prestigious platform.”

“We are thrilled to welcome back Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance as our esteemed partner for this year's Eclipse Awards,” added NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney.

The NTRA also organized a 'Sip, Shop, and Support' event with three participating stores–Lilly Pulitzer, J. Mclaughlin and Oumere–who will donate a percentage of their proceeds to the TAA.

Additionally, TAA will hold a raffle featuring select items from these stores and 100% of those proceeds will be donated to their cause. Store hours are scheduled from Noon to 3 p.m. ET.

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C2 Racing Stable Sells An Interest In White Abarrio To HRH Prince Faisal Of Saudi Arabia

Brothers Mark and Clint Cornett, who race under the name of C2 Racing Stable, have taken on HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia as a partner in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day). The 5-year-old will make his next in the Feb. 24 running of the G1 Saudi Cup. Mark Cornett said that C2 remains the majority owner, but declined to say how big of a percentage was sold.

The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Mike Welsch.

Prince Faisal is the owner who lured trainer Jimmy Jerkens to Saudi Arabia to train a string of his horses.

“Winning the Saudi Cup is very important to them,” Mark Cornett said. “It's in his backyard and he'll be representing his country in an international race. You're going to have four or five Japanese horses, horses from all over the world. It's very important to them that they represent the Saudi people.”

Cornett said the deal has been in the works for about four weeks.

“We've been working on this for about a month,” he said. “They've flown over a couple of times to watch the horse breeze. Their vet has come over twice from France to do his due diligence. They ended up pulling the trigger on it and we consummated the deal this week. They're going to be great partners for us and we will be great partners to them. We look forward to doing additional things with them in the future.”

White Abarrio | Benoit

White Abarrio has remained at Santa Anita since winning the Breeders' Cup Classic there. Cornett said the gray will board a plane from LAX to Miami Feb. 13. From there, he will be joined by South Florida-based horses who will also be running on the Saudi Cup card before heading straight to Riyadh.

Though the owners have not committed to any races beyond the Saudi Cup, Cornett said the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 30 is definitely a possibility.

“The Dubai World Cup is definitely on our list of races,” he said. “He'll have to run the right way in the Saudi Cup and come out the race the right way. All the stars are going to have to line up. If that happens, we'll go in the Dubai World Cup. If not, we'll bring him back to New York and take a look at the Met Mile.”

White Abarrio worked four furlongs (:47.60, 6/73) on Friday morning at Santa Anita.

“The horse is doing better than he's ever done,” Cornett said. “I talked to (trainer) Rick (Dutrow) this morning. He breezed a half in :47 3/5 as good as he ever has and came out of the work great. The horse is definitely on his game.”

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