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Los Al Derby Won’t Be Run Saturday, Will Be Brought Back Sunday As Extra

The GIII Los Alamitos Derby will not be run as originally scheduled Saturday, July 3, Los Alamitos announced Wednesday. The race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles will be brought back as an extra for Sunday, July 4 in hopes of drawing more entrants. Sunday is the penultimate day of Los Alamitos's Summer Thoroughbred Festival.

Entries for the July 4 program will be taken Thursday, July 1.

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Record Stakes Schedule for Keeneland Fall Meet

Keeneland, which is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year, will offer a record $6-million in stakes purses and expanded 22-race stakes schedule at its upcoming fall meet. The meet, which covers 17 days of racing from Oct. 8-30, will open with the signature Fall Stars Weekend, feature 10 Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” races, offer two new $150,000 stakes for 2-year-olds and reposition several stakes to create a total of six race cards with multiple stakes.

“The Keeneland Fall Meet is incredibly important, and 85 years of racing at Keeneland is a testament to the uncommon vision of our founders, who tirelessly worked to create an entity that would take a leadership role in the global Thoroughbred industry and in the Central Kentucky community,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “This summer, as we look forward to welcoming back fans and the superstars who will compete here, we feel the anticipation building for the Fall Meet and we look forward to celebrating the anniversary.”

All existing stakes for the 2021 Fall Meet have been restored to 2019 purse levels except for the GIII Rood & Riddle Dowager S., which received a boost from $125,000 to $150,000, and the GI Keeneland Turf Mile and GII Bourbon S., which remain at 2020 levels of $750,000 and $200,000, respectively.

“After thoughtful review by our racing team and input from horsemen, we made adjustments to our fall stakes program that will further elevate the quality of racing throughout the meet,” Keeneland Vice President of Racing Gatewood Bell said. “We feel the lucrative purse money and expanded racing opportunities, including two new stakes for 2-year-olds, now in place will broaden Keeneland's appeal to horsemen and fans alike.”

During Fall Stars Weekend, nine stakes are included in the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series Presented by America's Best Racing. Each winner receives an automatic starting position and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Nov. 5-6 World Championships at Del Mar:

$400,000 GI Darley Alcibiades (GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies) and $250,000 GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (GI Sprint) Friday, Oct. 8;
$750,000 GI Keeneland Turf Mile (GI FanDuel Mile), $500,000 GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (GI TVG Juvenile), $400,000 GI First Lady Presented by UK HealthCare (GI Maker's Mark F/M Turf) and $250,000 GII Thoroughbred Club of America (GI F/M Sprint) Saturday, Oct. 9; and
$500,000 GI Juddmonte Spinster (GI Distaff), $200,000 GII Bourbon (GI Juvenile Turf) and $200,000 listed Indian Summer (GII Juvenile Turf Sprint) Sunday, Oct. 10.

The fifth stakes on Fall Stars Saturday, Oct. 9, is the $200,000 GII Woodford S. Presented by TVG.

On Wednesday, Oct. 13, Keeneland will present its 10th Breeders' Cup Challenge race, the $200,000 GII JPMorgan Chase Jessamine S. (GI Juvenile Fillies Turf).

The Fall Meet's sixth Grade I stakes is the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Dixiana, an invitational turf race for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles, to be run Saturday, Oct. 16.

For the season, Keeneland has shifted the dates of several stakes. The first is the $150,000 GIII Sycamore S., a 1 1/2-mile turf event for 3-year-olds and up, which has been moved from Thursday to Friday, Oct. 22.

To enhance the final days of the Fall Meet, Keeneland has introduced two new $150,000 juvenile stakes, the Myrtlewood S. and Bowman Mill S.; revived the Perryville S. and Bryan Station S., both fixtures for 3-year-olds, and scheduled the GIII Valley View S. and GII Hagyard Fayette S. to create multiple stakes cards:

Joining the $250,000 GII Lexus Raven Run S. Saturday, Oct 23 is the $150,000 Perryville, a 7-furlong race for 3-year-olds.

The $150,000 Valley View S.will be run Friday, Oct. 29 alongside the new $150,000 Myrtlewood for 2-year-old fillies at 6 furlongs.

The $200,000 Hagyard Fayette, for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles, resumes its traditional role as the Fall Meet's closing-day feature. Joining the Hagyard Fayette Saturday, Oct. 30 are the $150,000 Bryan Station for 3-year-olds at one mile on the turf and the new $150,000 Bowman Mill for 2-year-olds at six furlongs.

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Saratoga General Admission Tickets on Sale July 1

Single-day general admission tickets for the 2021 Saratoga race meet will go on sale July 1 at 10 a.m. through ticketmaster.com. General admission tickets may also be purchased on the day of the event at all track admission gates. Single-day grandstand admission is $7 and Clubhouse admission is $10.

General admission tickets for the Aug. 28 GI Runhappy Travers S. are $15 when purchased in advance. Tickets may also be purchased at the gates on the day of the event for $20, pending availability. A limited number of Clubhouse admission tickets are available for $25.

“There is no change to our general admission policy for the 2021 summer meet,” said New York Racing Association's Senior Director of Communications Pat McKenna. “Fans can purchase their general admission tickets in advance or at the gates. We do, however, encourage fans to plan ahead and purchase their Runhappy Travers tickets in advance to save $5 and guarantee admission to the signature day of the summer meet.”

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NY Seeks to Prevent Jockey Appeals That ‘Game the System’

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) unanimously advanced a rule proposal Tuesday that seeks to end the resource-draining practice of jockeys appealing riding infractions during big-money race meets like at Saratoga, then withdrawing those protests once the meet is over for the sole purpose of delaying a suspension until it is more convenient for the penalized rider to serve the days.

The proposed rule, which first must be published in the state lawmaking register and then be subject to a public commentary period before coming up again for a final NYSGC vote, would give the commission discretion to instead make the jockey sit out a suspension at a subsequent meeting at the same track.

It will not pass through that process in time to be in effect for the upcoming Spa season.

“Subjectively, this tactic appears to be most frequently used during the Saratoga race meet, where purses are substantially larger than at other subsequent meets,” NYSGC executive director Robert Williams explained to commissioners prior to the June 29 vote.

“Following the stewards' punishment for transgressions, experience has found that many jockeys seek a hearing, which administratively stays the penalty pending commission resolution of the matter,” Williams said.

“And while commission staff has been diligent in attempting to hear cases during the meet where the alleged transgression occurred, the full adjudication process can extend beyond such meeting,” Williams continued.

“As a result, the jockey can seek to game the system by requesting a hearing and then withdrawing the request at the conclusion of the meet, serving the suspension during a [different] meet [that] the jockey prefers.

“This tactic has real impact on commission operations, as staffing spends resources in arranging and preparing for a hearing that fails to be conducted,” Williams concluded.

According to a brief written by NYSGC general counsel Edmund Burns that was included in the informational packet for Tuesday's meeting, the former Racing and Wagering Board, a predecessor agency of the NYSGC, once had a “Saratoga policy” that allowed the agency to require a suspension for a violation that occurred at Saratoga to be served at Saratoga, even if the suspension had to be stayed to allow it to be served there the following year.

But, Burns wrote, “the New York Court of Appeals struck down the policy, concluding that it required formal rulemaking to be valid.”

A request for comment on the proposed New York rule emailed to Terence Meyocks, the president and chief executive officer of the Jockeys' Guild, did not yield a reply prior to deadline for this story.

The proposed language of the rule follows:

“If a jockey commits a riding infraction and the penalty of a suspension or revocation is not served during the same race meeting, then the commission in its discretion may order that the penalty be served, in whole or in part, at a subsequent race meeting at the same track.”

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