Top News | Horse Racing Free Tips

TOC Elects Two New Board Members, Reelects Three More

Members of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) have elected Southern California-based trainer Ryan Hanson and Northern California-based owner/breeder Lindsay LaRoche of Highland Yard to its Board of Directors. Incumbents Ed Moger, Stephanie Hronis and Rick Gold were also reelected. All five will serve three-year terms, effective July 1. A total of 6,003 ballots were mailed to eligible voters, and 1,579 qualifying ballots were received. The complete vote tally is available for viewing on TOC's website at www.toconline.com. The newly elected directors join Nick Alexander, Joe Ciaglia, Gary Fenton, Mike Harrington, Bob Liewald, Terry Lovingier, Jack Owens, Richard Rosenberg, Samantha Siegel, and Bill Strauss on the 2021-2022 TOC Board.

The post TOC Elects Two New Board Members, Reelects Three More appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Speightster Colt, Cupid Filly Fastest at Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita

Luis Garcia's L G consignment sent out the bullet furlong and quarter-mile workers during the under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in Arcadia Monday. A colt by Speightster (hip 109) worked the day's fastest furlong of :10 2/5, while a filly by Cupid (hip 54) turned in the day's fastest quarter-mile of :22 flat.

Hip 109 is out of stakes-placed Pankhurst (Artie Schiller), a half-sister to graded placed Pro Prado (El Prado {Ire}).

“I got him after the [OBS] April sale–he was with someone else there–and we made the decision to bring him out here,” Garcia said. “He has talent and he's been improving. He worked really well and we are very happy with him.”

Garcia is consigning the colt on behalf of TNT Equine Holdings, which purchased him for $30,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. The juvenile was a late supplement to the Fasig catalogue.

“He's an athletic-looking horse,” Garcia said. “You can tell he has speed. He looks like a Quarter Horse. It was kind of a late decision to bring him here because he had a little bit of sore shins after the April sale, so we had to take care of that. I made the decision at the last minute–I was just waiting to make sure he was sound. I just wanted to make sure he was ready.”

Hip 54 is out of Wild Mocha (Medaglia d'Oro), a half-sister to multiple graded stakes placed Zultanite (El Corredor). The filly was purchased by Valentin Jimenez for $13,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. Consigned by Jimenez's Bold Arrow Thoroughbreds, she RNA'd for $45,000 following a :21 2/5 work at the OBS April sale.

“She RNA'd at OBS with Bold Arrow and he sent the filly to us to sell out here for him,” Garcia said. “She worked a quarter at OBS and I breezed her a couple of three-eighths back home. She was always sound and she was ready to go a quarter. She is a long, nice filly. She's ready to go.”

Garcia has been galloping his consignment over the past week and said he was happy with the condition of the Santa Anita track.

“I thought the track was pretty good and safe,” he said. “It was a little heavy for everybody, but I think it's safe. I gallop my horses, so I was galloping them over it the last week. It's soft and I think it's pretty good for the horses.”

Garcia will be offering his first consignment at the second renewal of the Fasig Santa Anita sale Wednesday.

“It's the first time I came here to California and we wanted to break the ice,” Garcia said. “We have some really nice horses here. I like it here and the Fasig team has done a great job and helped us out a lot.”

Garcia and pinhooking partner Gina Fennell enjoyed a major score at the April sale where they sold a Classic Empire colt for $450,000. The youngster had been purchased for $70,000 last fall at Keeneland. But once the partners realized they would still have horses to sell at Santa Anita, they reinvested some of their profits in a pair of colts at the Ocala auction to ship to California.

“We had horses left after April and it was kind of close to make the Maryland sale, so we decided to come here,” Garcia explained. “Since we already had a couple, my partner Gina Fennell and I decided to buy a couple more. So I bought two at April just to bring them here.”

Garcia and Fennell purchased a colt by Pioneerof the Nile for $30,000 in April. Consigned to the Santa Anita sale as hip 31, he breezed Monday in :10 4/5. The partners purchased a colt by Union Jackson for $15,000 at April. Consigned to the Santa Anita sale as hip 87, the colt also worked Monday in :10 4/5.

Garcia said the under-tack show was well-attended and he was already starting to see traffic pick up at the sales barns Monday afternoon.

“There are people who are starting to look,” he said. “They waited for the horses to cool out, but they are starting to look now and hopefully we will get more later in the day. There were a lot of people at the breeze show, hopefully they will come over to look at the horses.”

The Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita sale will be held Wednesday in the track's winner's circle, with bidding beginning at 1 p.m. PT

The post Speightster Colt, Cupid Filly Fastest at Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Fixed-Odds Wagering Bill Passes in NJ, Expected to Begin Haskell Day

A bill legalizing fixed-odds wagering on horse races was passed unanimously by both houses in New Jersey and will now go to Governor Phil Murphy, who is expected to sign it. Expectations are that fixed odds betting will begin July 17, the day of the GI TVG.com Haskell S. at Monmouth Park.

“We've been pushing hard to get it up and running by the Haskell,” said Dallas Baker, the head of international operations for the Australian firm BetMakers, which will operate the fixed- odds betting. “That's always been our goal. We've got a lot of work to do, which is great. We've ve always been aiming for the Haskell and we're all confident that's when we can begin. It's go time.”

Monmouth Park has been a long-time advocate of fixed-odds wagering, hoping that it can do for U.S. racing what it did in Australia. Once legalized, fixed-odds betting exploded in Australia, leading to a sharp increase in total handle on racing and healthy purse increases.

“Our ultimate goal is to have what happened in Australia over the last 10 years or so and after online betting was deregulated happen here,” Baker said. “In that time, the handle has doubled and purse money doubled as well. That's what we want to see here, too. The opportunity exists in the U.S. to have that happen here and on a quicker time line than 10 years.”

With just 24.6 million residents, $25 billion is wagered annually on racing in Australia, or about $15 billion more than what is bet each year in the U.S.

Fixed-odds betting could also go a long way towards fixing what has become a serious problem for U.S. racing. Because large gamblers using computer programs to make their bets are allowed to bet at the very last second, it is common for odds to plunge on a horse during the running of the race. That, for obvious reasons, leaves a bad taste in the bettors' mouths.

With Monmouth long ago committed to the fixed-odds wagering, BetMakers has been looking to sign up other tracks to add to its betting menu. Baker would not say exactly how many have come on, but said he was pleased by the response.

“We've got quite a few tracks signed up and ready to go. Maybe a dozen,” Baker said. “What the bill allows is it provides the legalities to take fixed-odds bets as long as there are commercial terms in place with the other tracks. Quite a few signed up now and, hopefully, in next few weeks, we will get some more. We will also have a full menu of international racing.”

As of now, only New Jersey residents will be allowed to have fixed-odds accounts, but Baker said it should not take long for other states to come on board.

“We have spoken to a lot of other states and they have shown good interest in it,” he said. “But they were waiting to see the bill passed in New Jersey first. We see the roll out going very similar to what happened with PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act). The obvious ones to take fixed- odds wagering on horses are the ones that already have sports betting.”

Once fixed-odds betting is widely available, the hope, Baker said, is that sports bettors who are now ignoring horse racing will be enticed to give the horses a try. That a fixed-odds wager closely resembles a typical sports bet is seen as a major selling point.

“The important thing is to zone in on the phenomenon that is sports betting in the U.S.,” he said. “We want to get those punters betting on racing and right now they don't have an easy in when it comes to racing.”

According to playnj.com, the takeout on the fixed-odds betting will be 12.5%, which is considerably lower than the typical takeout on pari-mutuel win wagers.

The post Fixed-Odds Wagering Bill Passes in NJ, Expected to Begin Haskell Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

American Freedom Filly a Debut Winner at Delaware

6th-Delaware, $38,125, Msw, 6-21, 2yo, f, 5f, :59.81, ft, 1/2 length.
GORMAN (f, 2, American Freedom–How Nice, by Include), in the mix early, was shuffled back to near the back of a compact field while racing four wide. She rolled up five wide off the turn and closed resolutely to score by a half-length and become the third winner for her freshman sire (by Pulpit). R B's Star (Kantharos) was second, a neck in front of Seduce (Into Mischief) and it was another nose back to favored Buy the Best (Tapiture) in fourth. McGehee homebred How Nice, a half-sister to stakes winner House of Grace (Limehouse), produced a filly by Free Drop Billy in 2020 and a filly by Tapiture this year. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $22,800.
O/B-Dede McGehee (KY); T-Kelsey Danner.

The post American Freedom Filly a Debut Winner at Delaware appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post