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Santa Anita to Allow Walk-Up Admission for Autumn Meet

With tickets set to go on sale at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 1, Santa Anita's 16-day Autumn Meet, which opens Friday, Oct. 1, will mark the return of “Walk-Up” admission and a new inclusive pricing structure that combines Admission, General Parking and a Racing Program, Santa Anita announced Thursday.

Additionally, fans will now be able to access Santa Anita's Clubhouse and General Admission areas for the same $10 admission price, with open seating offered in the Grandstand, Sirona's Bar, Paddock Room and Seabiscuit Court. Santa Anita Thoroughbreds Club and XB Rewards members will get a discounted price of $5, which also includes General Parking and a Racing Program. Santa Anita's Infield Area will be open each weekend, with $5 Admission, which also includes General Parking and Racing Program.

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Judge Orders Zayat Brother to Comply With Subpoena

The judge handling the Zayat Stables bankruptcy case has ordered Ahmed Zayat's brother, Egyptian businessman Sherif El Zayat, to comply with a subpoena that directed him to turn over documents relating to the family's businesses and finances.

This comes after Donald V. Biase, the trustee overseeing Zayat's bankruptcy case, charged last month that Zayat and members of his immediate family were engaged in “an exercise in gamesmanship, obstruction and delay” to prevent the trustee from having access to financial documents.

Blaise is clearly zeroing in on Sherif El Zayat because he suspects that Zayat has assets in Egypt that are being controlled by his brother. In his July filing, Blaise wrote: “Documents obtained by the trustee from third parties strongly suggest that the debtor still possesses significant assets in Egypt.”

Sherif El Zayat has been ordered to email all documents and information requested in the subpoena by Sept. 8. The brother has also been requested to take part in a video conference examination.

Blaise noted in June that the family members had made only “paltry productions in response to the subpoena directed to them.” Subpoenas seeking documents were issued to Zayat's wife, Joanne, three of his four children, and to JPZ Holdings, a company run by Zayat's son, Justin.

The attempt to subpoena Zayat's brother is trickier because he is not a U.S. resident or citizen and it appears that the court has only limited powers to enforce the subpoena. With that in mind, the judge, Vincent Papalia, wrote in his Aug. 25 filing that if Sherif El Zayat does not comply with the subpoena, the court will issue an order of contempt requiring a United States Marshal to detain Sherif El Zayat upon his arrival in the U.S.

Sherif El Zayat has been involved with a number of Egyptian businesses over the years. He is listed as the CEO of the investment firm Egypt Kuwait Holding. In his bio on the Egypt Kuwait Holding company website, it lists Sherif El Zayat as the founder and former CEO of Misr Glass.

Ahmed Zayat has said that he sold his assets in Misr Glass in 2010 or 2011 for about $2 million, but Blaise has questioned that. In July, he wrote that Zayat's affiliation with Misr Glass continued past 2011 and that in 2015 the company was sold to a third party for $93 million.

In the July memorandum, Blaise wrote that Zayat and family members had not provided information and documents regarding the sale of Misr Glass.

In April, MGG Investment Group, the company suing Zayat, charged that his brother loaned Zayat at least $1.5 million in 2020, which allowed him to maintain a “lavish personal lifestyle.”

Born in Cairo, Egypt, Ahmed Zayat formed an investment group that bought the Al-Ahram Beverages Company in 1997. His brother came on board as the managing director and deputy chairman of the beverage company.

Zayat filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy last September after Zayat and Zayat Stables were sued by MGG Capital Group for defaulting on a loan. The company won a $24.5-million summary judgment against Zayat in June 2020.

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Oaklawn Offers Pay Raises for Fully Vaccinated Workers

Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, one of the largest employers in Garland County, Arkansas, is offering all active and future fully vaccinated team members a vaccine incentive.

Beginning Oct. 10, wages for all current and future fully-vaccinated non-tipped, hourly team members will be raised to a minimum of $16 per hour. Tipped hourly team members will be raised to a minimum of $8.50 per hour and salaried team members will receive a 3% increase. Oaklawn's new starting annual salary for fully-vaccinated salaried team members will be $40,000 per year. Current team members are eligible for the vaccine incentive through Dec. 31.

“We live in challenging times right now,” said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. “We are struggling to fill open positions and COVID is still hanging on. With the vaccine incentive, we are looking to change the financial health of our current and future team members. Most importantly, Oaklawn believes in protecting the health of our team members, their families and our community. The vaccine incentive, coming on the heels of the FDA approving the Pfizer vaccine, should move those unvaccinated to become vaccinated.”

New and seasonal Oaklawn team members after January 1, 2022 will be eligible for the vaccine incentive by providing a valid vaccination card.

In addition to the vaccine incentive, Oaklawn will continue its COVID cash incentive drawings, which began Aug. 1. In total, Oaklawn is giving away $45,000 to Team Members who have provided documentation showing they have been fully vaccinated.

Team members are required to wear masks while at work and Oaklawn continues to provide and encourage its team members to get a free vaccine.

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Deshawn Parker Wins Mike Venezia Memorial Award

Veteran jockey Deshawn Parker is the winner of the 2021 Mike Venezia Memorial Award, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.

Parker, based at Indiana Grand, was chosen in ballots cast by more than 350 professional jockeys at North American tracks. He outpolled a distinguished group of finalists including Junior Alvarado, Julien Leparoux, Scott Stevens and Gerard Melancon, and will be recognized in a special ceremony Thursday, Sept. 2 at Saratoga.

Created in 1989, the Mike Venezia Memorial Award is awarded to a jockey who displays the extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as the result of injuries suffered in a spill in 1988. Venezia, a native of Brooklyn, NY, won more than 2,300 races during his 25-year career.

“It's an honor just to be on the ballot for this award,” said Parker. “It's extra special that my fellow riders are the ones who made the selection. I take a lot of pride in being a role model both on and off the track. I will cherish this award.”

In a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Parker, 50, was America's leading rider in 2010 with 377 wins, becoming the first Black rider to do so since 1895. He led all jockeys again in 2011 with 400 wins, and is now closing in on 5,900 career wins. A native of Cincinnati, Parker was a dominant rider for more than 20 years at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. He has also enjoyed considerable success at Indiana Grand, where he was leading rider in 2020, and at Sam Houston Race Park, where he was leading rider in 2015.

Winning the Venezia Award is another major accomplishment for Parker in a year he described as “personally emotional but exciting.” In early March, Parker lost his father, Daryl Parker, a longtime Ohio racing steward, to cancer. Parker called his father his mentor and inspiration for becoming a jockey, especially after telling his 5-foot-10-inch son to ignore the naysayers who said he was too tall to make it as a professional rider.

“My idol, my best friend and a great father!” Parker said of Daryl “He meant so much to my life and my career. I can only hope to be as great as he was.”

Two weeks after the passing of his father, Parker was selected by a vote of jockeys nationwide as the winner of the 2021 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, presented by Santa Anita.

The Venezia Memorial Award is a 13-inch bronze sculpture with a title that reads, “The Jockey, A Champion.” Parker joins a legendary group of riders who have won the award previously, including Venezia, who posthumously earned the inaugural award in 1989, as well as Bill Shoemaker, Angel Cordero, Jr., Jerry Bailey, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, Richard Migliore, Edgar Prado, Ramon Dominguez, Joe Bravo and Javier Castellano.

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