turfway | Horse Racing Free Tips

Variable Winter Weather Wreaking Havoc With Racing

Winter weather conditions on the East Coast and the Midwest continue to impact racing operations at a variety of racetracks.

Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia cancelled Monday's scheduled live program in the morning hours and by mid-afternoon, word was circulating that the live card for Tuesday was also called off. Temperatures well-below freezing prompted weekend cancellations at Aqueduct and Laurel and although temperatures in the region flirted with the 40-degree mark on Monday, the thawing and re-freezing of racing surfaces is surely causing nightmares for track superintendents.

Temperatures had once again sunk to sub-freezing by nightfall Monday, but the forecast is slightly more positive–albeit rainy–over the next 72 hours. According to weather.com, the lowest low temperature is 33 degrees during the overnight hours Tuesday into Wednesday, with a predicted high temperature of 61 degrees by Friday.

The next scheduled card at Parx is this Wednesday.

Officials at Oaklawn Park were forced to cancel its entire slate of racing last weekend and conditions were forecast to moderate over the coming days. That fact notwithstanding, training has not been taking place at the Hot Springs oval and according to a communique to the local horsepeople, the track will not open for training before 2 p.m. this Wednesday, Jan. 24. A further update was expected by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Turfway Park was able to conduct live racing last Wednesday and Thursday, but were forced to cancel both Friday and Saturday's programs.

Racing is scheduled to resume Wednesday at Turfway and Friday at Aqueduct, Laurel and–tentatively–Oaklawn.

The post Variable Winter Weather Wreaking Havoc With Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

2024 Kentucky Race Dates Set

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) on Tuesday approved a Thoroughbred racing calendar for 2024 that largely mirrors the template that has been in place for the past three seasons.

The board's unanimous approval included a conditional “optional dates” placeholder for Ellis Park's July and August calendar that has to be solidified into a three-dates-per-week commitment before the end of this year.

The gaming company Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), which owns Ellis, Churchill Downs Racetrack, and Turfway Park, had requested additional time to figure out if swapping Fridays for Mondays will be feasible for 2024.

So Ellis got awarded 18 mandatory dates (which will be run on Saturdays and Sundays) and 30 optional dates. Waqas Ahmed, the KHRC's executive deputy director, told commissioners that he expected Ellis would eventually end up picking up seven more mandatory dates from that optional allotment of 30.

“The obvious goal at Ellis is to run three days a week,” Gary Palmisano, Jr., CDI's executive director of racing, said during the KHRC meeting. “As we approached the race dates application deadline, the idea was tossed around of potentially running Saturday, Sunday, Monday rather than [this season's] Friday, Saturday, Sunday.”

Leaving that placeholder for now, Palmisano said, “is going to allow our team a little bit more time to conduct some due diligence [and] make sure the horsemen are on board; make sure test barn workers can get there; make sure we can actually cover potential Monday racing.”

CDI must notify the KHRC by Dec. 31 as to how it will satisfy the commission's condition that calls for “at least” three days of racing per week at Ellis in 2024.

Assuming Ellis ends up with 25 mandatory dates, the total number of race dates in Kentucky will rise slightly in 2024 compared to the assigned dates for 2023, up from 211 to 215. The total mandatory dates for the other tracks are Churchill (83), Turfway (67), Keeneland (33) and Kentucky Downs (7).

Here's a chronological look at the state's 2024 Thoroughbred schedule:

Turfway: Jan. 3-Mar. 30 on a Wednesday-Saturday evening schedule.

Keeneland: Apr. 5-26 on a Wednesday-Sunday schedule.

Churchill Downs: Apr. 27-June 30 on a Wednesday-Sunday schedule, with exceptions on GI Kentucky Derby week and the Memorial Day holiday week.

Ellis Park: July 4-Aug. 27 with Saturdays and Sundays anchoring the schedule, plus additional dates to be announced and an opening-day Thursday card on Independence Day.

Kentucky Downs: Aug. 29-Sept. 11 for seven dates with three “optional” dates in case of rainouts.

Churchill: Sep. 12-29 on a Wednesday-Sunday schedule.

Keeneland: Oct. 4-26 on a Wednesday-Sunday schedule.

Churchill: Oct. 27-Dec. 1 on a Wednesday-Sunday schedule.

Turfway: Dec. 4-28 on a Wednesday-Saturday evening schedule with a Christmas Day exception.

The post 2024 Kentucky Race Dates Set appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Turfway MSW Purses Projected to Hold Steady at $70,000

Turfway Park purses for maiden special weight (MSW) races are projected to stay level at $70,000, the same as last season. The dovetailed 2023-24 meets that run through March will open Nov. 29.

Chip Bach, Turfway's general manager, reported that projection during the Oct. 3 Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory board meeting.

The overall purse structure, Bach said, will also be “similar” to the previous meet “even though we're adding days and races.”

Bach said Turfway plans on running Wednesdays through Saturdays with a 5:55 p.m. Eastern first post, with the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. program a traditional afternoon racing exception.

Exact 2024 racing dates have yet to be awarded by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, but Turfway's corporate parent, Churchill Downs, Inc., lists Mar. 23 as the date of the 2024 edition of the Jeff Ruby on its “Road to the GI Kentucky Derby” points races calendar.

In the recent past, Turfway has experimented with various under-the-lights first post times, and also tried running during some afternoons on Saturdays. This year management wants to establish a more consistent niche, timing-wise.

“We confuse the handicappers if we're all over the place,” Bach said. “We found once we start building a consistent pattern for them, it's better for us,” he noted, citing Turfway's 5:55 p.m. slot as being more profitable.

“We believe we have enough not only in purse money, but horse population to keep us running four days a week,” Bach said.

“We are planning on running nine races a day in December and January,” Bach said, adding that track management will evaluate that number mid-season to see if carding nine races nightly is still sustainable heading into February.

This season will be Turfway's second with its entirely rebuilt racing facility.

Prior to upping MSW purses to $70,000 last season, Turfway paid out $62,000 in MSW purses in 2021-22. The dual meets that season were conducted with temporary trackside amenities as the multi-year grandstand rebuild was nearing completion.

In 2020-21, Turfway paid just $32,000 for MSW races, when the dual meets were heavily compromised by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the initial phases of the grandstand construction that kept the northern Kentucky oval closed to on-track spectators.

During the 2019-20 season, Turfway paid MSW purses in the $46,000-48,000 range.

The KTDF advisory committee approved the requested recommendation of the Turfway allotment that the MSW purse estimates were based on. The full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission still has to vote on final approval of that funding.

The post Turfway MSW Purses Projected to Hold Steady at $70,000 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Botanical Perfect At Turfway With Bourbonette Oaks Score

Undefeated since announcing her arrival to Turfway Park with a 10 3/4-length romp to break her maiden last November, Botanical followed that performance up with two more jaw-dropping efforts at a mile on the tapeta including a last-out win in the Cincinnati Trophy S. Mar. 4. Off that race, which earned her a 91 Beyer Speed Figure, Botanical was slammed in even-money favoritism for her fourth straight Turfway appearance. Given the extra sixteenth to work with, the bay showed a good turn of foot from the blocks to set the pace from the opening strides, keeping things mild up front with a :24.58 opening quarter. Flashy Gem chased throughout but Botanical's win was never in doubt and she only increased the gap down the lane, pulling away to defeat Flashy Gem–who had chased valiantly throughout–handily. The winner, her dam's first foal, has a 2-year-old Omaha Beach half-brother and a yearling half-brother by Into Mischief. Her dam returned to the leading general sire for a 2023 foal. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

BOURBONETTE OAKS, $299,200, Turfway, 3-25, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m (AWT), 1:44.47, ft.

1–BOTANICAL, 124, f, 3, by Medaglia d'Oro
                1st Dam: Daisy (GSW, $162,925), by Blame
                2nd Dam: Lovely Stay, by Flower Alley
                3rd Dam: Ratings, by Caveat
($220,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-LNJ Foxwoods and Clearsky
Farms; B-Clearsky Farms & Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox;
J-Chris Landeros. $177,800. Lifetime Record: 6-4-1-0,
$374,410.
2–Flashy Gem, 118, f, 3, Bolt d'Oro–Garnet, by Smart Strike.
1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Malibu Farm, LLC
(KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $58,000.
3–Thirty Thou Kelvin, 118, f, 3, Bolt d'Oro–Wealthy Shipman,
by Midshipman. ($145,000 RNA Wlg '20 FTKNOV; $110,000 Ylg
'21 FTKOCT). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-SJB Stable; B-Horseshoe
Racing LLC (KY); T-John P. Terranova, II. $29,000.
Margins: 2HF, 7, 1 3/4. Odds: 1.03, 3.13, 32.91.
Also Ran: Miss New York, Ag Bullet, Always At Ease, Shewillghostu, Renegade Rebel, Bolivie (Ire), Medaglia Forever. Scratched: Olympic Prank.

The post Botanical Perfect At Turfway With Bourbonette Oaks Score appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post