TEXAS-BREDS IN WEEKEND STAKES
Bred by Mike Neatherlin, Eurodevilwoman (Euroears – the Devil is Mine) will compete in a field of 8 in today’s $100,000 Dixie Belle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs at Oaklawn Park. Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg will saddle the filly for owner Jerry Caroom. Eurodevilwoman has been given odds of 20/1. Tom Durant’s Kentucky-bred Durango is the 2/1 morning line favorite.
The Scharbauer family home-bred More Than Most (Indygo Mountain – Better Than Most) will take on seven opponents in the $150,000 Silverbulletday stakes for 3-year-old fillies going a mile and 70 yards at Fair Grounds on Saturday. Trained by Bret Calhoun, she has been given odds of 6/1. She easily won her last out – the $75,000 M2 Technology La Senorita Stakes at Retama Park on October 3rd. Other Texas connections in the race include Carl Moore’s Louisiana-bred Jet Black Magic (5/1), also trained by Calhoun, W. S. Farish’s Kentucky-bred Banner Waving (20/1), and Mike Rutherford’s Kentucky-bred Stage Play (8/5), trained by Steve Asmussen.
Saturday at Delta Downs, J. R. Caldwell will saddle 8/1 Ring Necked (Too Much Bling – Wood Duck) in the $70,000 Fremont Stakes going one mile. Boasting a record of 25-7-3-4 and $130,025 in earnings, the 5-year-old gelding was bred in partnership by W. S. Farish and is owned by Penn Family Racing. The 7/5 favorite in the field of six is Carl Moore and Brad Grady’s Kentucky-bred Freestyler.
2016 THOROUGHBRED MEET KICKS OFF TODAY
Sam Houston Race Park is primed and ready to host its 23rd live racing season. Tonight marks the opening of the Thoroughbred meet and the men and women who serve our country will be entitled to Free Admission for Military (with valid ID).
Trainers Steve Asmussen, Karl Broberg, Bret Calhoun and Danny Pish have stalls for the 32-day meet. Each have solid credentials in the Thoroughbred racing world, and will divide their time between Houston and several racetracks across the country.
Asmussen ranks second on the list of all-time trainers with 7,182 wins since he began training in 1986. He has won a record seven training titles in Houston as well as three as leading owner. Honored in 2008 and 2009 as the Eclipse Award Winning Trainer, Asmussen completed 2015 as the third leading conditioner by wins in North America. In addition to his Sam Houston Race Park operation, Asmussen is currently running at Aqueduct, Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park.
Broberg has been operating at meteoric speed since going out on his own just six years ago. He was ranked #1 in wins in 2015, with prolific barns in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. He will also run at Oaklawn Park this year. Broberg has won the leading trainer title at Sam Houston Race Park in three previous seasons.
Calhoun has won 2,603 races, including two Breeders’ Cup stakes, since he began training in 1994. The second-generation horseman had a successful 2015, finishing his year as the ninth-ranked trainer by wins, according to Equibase. He is currently second in the Fair Grounds trainer standings.
Native Texan Pish was honored at Sam Houston as leading trainer four times, and has won the title at Retama Park 16 years in a row. Pish was ranked 24th in wins in 2015. He will have a full barn here with additional horses running at Delta Downs and Fair Grounds.
“Our critically acclaimed track surfaces continue to attract top trainers from across the country.” said Fred Hutton, Sam Houston Race Park’s racing secretary. “We look forward to an excellent race meet for all participating horsemen and fans as well.”
The track’s very solid jockey colony includes last year’s leading rider DeShawn Parker, David Cabrera, Lindey Wade, Iram Diego, Sasha Risenhoover, Ernesto Valdez-Jimenez, Adrian Ramos, T.L. Collier and Domingo Chacaltana. They now welcome aboard Danny Sorenson.
Born in Washington state, Sorenson was an established rider in Southern California with a career that began in 1977. He’s won 1,383 races at Hollywood Park, Del Mar, Santa Anita with graded stakes victories in the 1992 Frank DeFrancis Memorial Dash, 2000 Las Cienegas and 2004 Dahlia Handicap.
Last year, Sorenson and his wife purchased a 16-acre property in Callisburg, Texas, a small town in Cooke County, which they dubbed Sorenson Ranch. The couple is operating it as a full service layover facility, specializing in overnight horse boarding with room for up to 12 horses.
First post tonight is 7 pm and live racing gets underway on Saturday at 6 pm. There will be free admission for lunch-time racing every Monday and Tuesday afternoon with a 1 pm post time.
THP LITIGATION ON BEHALF OF HORSEMEN
The Texas Horsemen’s Partnership has stepped up for all Texas horsemen by filing a “Original Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Application for Temporary and Permanent Injunction” in the District Court of Travis County, against the State of Texas and Glen Hegar solely in his official capacity as Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Won’t you help in this effort by contributing to the THP Legal Fund? Simply mail a check to: Texas Horsemen’s Partnership at P.O. Box 142533 Austin, TX 78714 (checks should be made payable to the THP and ‘legal fund’ should be included in the memo line). Or you may contribute by phone – call (512) 467-9799 to ask for a donation to be made from your Horsemen’s Bookkeeper account.
LANE’S END TEXAS, VALOR FARM, DOUBLE INFINITY RANCH DONATE STALLION SEASONS TO BENEFIT THP LEGAL FUND
Both of Texas’ leading breeding farms have donated 2016 breedings to TTA’s online auction, with all proceeds to benefit the THP Legal Fund. Stallions at Lane’s End Texas include Congaree, Grasshopper and Too Much Bling. Valor Farm stallions include Crossbow, Early Flyer, Jet Phone, and My Golden Song. Double Infinity Ranch has also donated a breeding to Moro Tap. The second and final round of the online auction begins Monday, January 18 with a bid closing deadline of 5pm Central on Friday, February 12th. Place your bid at https://texasthoroughbred.com/stallion-register/online-stallion-auction/
PUBLIC COMMENT ON REPEAL OF HISTORICAL RACING RULES
The repeal of Historical Racing rules is now published in the Texas Register and will be voted on at the February 9 TRC meeting. We need to flood the Commission with letters opposing the repeal of these rules. Email, fax and snail mail letters will be accepted until February 1st and can be sent to: Chuck Trout, Executive Director, Texas Racing Commission, P.O. Box 12080, Austin, TX 78711. Email to info@txrc.texas.gov or fax to (512) 833-6907.
You may also use the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/Broadcast…/-_RbzYtN_FaNgobeL3tA2w
MARCH PRIMARIES
We urge you to contact each candidate in your House and Senate District and vote for the candidates you believe will support the Texas horse industry. If you don’t know who represents you and in which district you reside, go to: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx. In many ways, the primaries are much more important than the general election, as the primaries actually determine who will be in the fall elections.