tracknews

At The Track

March 30, 1998

Aqueduct

Bay Meadows

Track announcer Paul Allen has resigned to move to Minneapolis and work as a sportscaster on radio there. He will continue to announce the races at Canterbury Downs in the summer.
Bay Area trainer Ross Brinson, 86, has retired after 66 years of training. Among the stakes winners he conditioned were Prince Don B., Billy Ball, and Cover Up, winner of the 1947 Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I) in a then-track record 2:00.

Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs has purchased Ellis Park, a small track in western Kentucky, and the Kentucky Horse Center, a training track in Lexington. Churchill Downs is expected to extend the days it is open, and shorten the racing schedule of Ellis Park.

Fair Grounds

Jockey Robby Albarado battled multiple title-winner Ronald Ardoin for the lead in the standings throughout much of this year's meeting, but pulled away at the end to score his first Fair Grounds riding title. Albarado previously won titles at Oaklawn Park in 1996 and '97, and at Arlington International Racecourse in 1996. Trainer Al Stall Jr. won the trainer title, also his first at the Fair Grounds. The two combined to win the Explosive Bid Handicap (gr. IIIT) on the last day of the meeting with Joyeaux Danseur.
Hawksley Hill missed the Explosive Bid because of an elevated white blood cell count. Trainer Neil Drysdale did not want to take the risk of shipping him from California.

Gulfstream

The 1999 Breeders' Cup will be held at Gulfstream Park. This marks the third time the Florida track will host the Breeders' Cup.

Oaklawn

This year is the 25th Anniversary of Oaklawn's Racing Festival of the South, beginning April 4 and continuing until the end of the meeting on April 11. With champion Favorite Trick expected to arrive by the end of the week, Oaklawn will have the reigning Horse of the Year on its grounds for the first time ever. The first shippers to arrive for Festival races were Mud Route, Different, Toda Una Dama, Occhi Verdi, Lord Cromby, Thesaurus, and King Caspian, all from California.
Custer was scratched from the Rebel Stakes (gr. III) because of a cough.
Drysdale, who finished eighth in the Rebel, cut himself in the race and will be out of training for a while.
Gary Stevens will have the mount on Glitter Woman in the Apple Blossom (gr. I).
Alex Solis will ride Victory Gallop in the Arkansas Derby (gr. II).

Keeneland

The eight-horse Budweiser Clydesdale team is stabled at Keeneland this spring. The team will make a special appearance on Bluegrass Stakes day between races, and in the morning one of the Clydesdales will be in the paddock during Keeneland's "Breakfast with the Works".
Hedonist shipped on March 30 from California to Keeneland for the Ashland Stakes (gr. I) on April 4.

Lone Star Park

Because this is the 25th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown sweep, Lone Star Park will honor his connections during the National All-Star Jockey Championship June 18. Secretariat's owner Penny Chenery, jockey Ron Turcotte, and trainer Lucien Laurin will be on hand to give autographs and answer questions about the great horse's career.

Santa Anita Park

Skeaping, formerly owned by John Magnier and Michael Tabor, has been sold privately to Bob and Beverly Lewis. Skeaping is still a possible entrant in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I).
After three weeks in the barn, major winner Gentlemen returned to the track to jog at Santa Anita. Gentlemen bled severely in the March 7 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) and finished last.
John Magnier and Michael Tabor purchased a half-interest in Sea of Secrets from Irving and Marjorie Cowan. The Cowans will still manage the colt's racing career, and Tabor and Magnier will manage his subsequent stud career.
Graded stakes winner Free House, who was second in the Preakness (gr.I) and third in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Belmont Stakes (gr. I), will return to training at Hollywood Park next week. He has been resting at owner John Toffan & Trudy McCaffery's farm, and is expected to make his first start in about two months.

Turf Paradise

For the third time this meeting, Turf Paradise president Lonny Powell has announced a purse increase, this time of 5%. Since Hollywood Park purchased the Phoenix track in 1994, purses have risen 42% overall.

Turfway Park

Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg has taken over the training of the Jim McIngvale stable.
John Battaglia Memorial Stakes winner Daniel My Brother scratched out of the Jim Beam Stakes (gr. II) because of a fever.
Between races on Jim Beam Day, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Media presented awards to the people in racing with the most victories at Kentucky tracks in 1997. The winners were: owner Overbrook Farm, with 40 victories; trainer D. Wayne Lukas, with 73 victories; and jockey Willie Martinez with 212. The award was Lukas' seventh in the last eight years.

Woodbine

Dawson's Legacy, who finished second behind champion and subsequent Horse of the Year Favorite Trick in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I), has been taken off the Triple Crown trail. He won a turf allowance race at Gulfstream Park in January, but has been sent to Canada to recover from nagging soreness. He will be out of training indefinately.

Miscellaneous

Because of jockey Pat Day's riding Favorite Trick in the Arkansas Derby (gr. II) on April 11, he has been forced to give up his rides on two other Kentucky Derby contenders. Gary Stevens takes over the mount on Halory Hunter in the Bluegrass Stakes, and Joe Bravo will get the leg-up on Parade Ground in the Wood Memorial (gr. I). Bravo broke Parade Ground's maiden at Belmont Park last September, so that is a reunion for him.
The three American horses who ran in the Dubai World Cup have returned home and all face a long rest. Malek (Chi), who finished fourth, will point toward the Hollywood Gold Cup in June as his goal, while Silver Charm is waiting for the Pacific Classic (gr. I) at Del Mar in August. Behrens, who finished fifth, has returned to New York, where he will not race until sometime this summer.
On behalf of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, Senate Bill 103 allowing participation by California owners in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association was pushed through the state legislature and signed by Governor Pete Wilson. The bill authorizes a percentage of purse money to be used to pay NTRA dues.

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