NEWS AND NOTES FOR JULY 18, 2014
LONE STAR PARK THOROUGHBRED MEET CONCLUDES
Last weekend marked the close of the Thoroughbred meet at Lone Star Park with four stakes races. The stakes action kicked off with the $50,000 Valor Farm Stakes for Texas-bred fillies and mares, and Judy Peek’s homebred Lasting Bubbles captured the event for the second year in a row. Ridden by Chris Rosier for trainer Kevin Peek, Lasting Bubbles scored a convincing three-length victory as the 9-10 favorite. The 6-year-old daughter of Pulling Punches covered six furlongs in 1:09.89. This was the fifth career stakes win for Lasting Bubbles and improved her lifetime record to 23-9-6-1 with earnings of $295,581.
In the fillies division of the $98,100 Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity, Louisiana-bred Vivian Da Bling romped to an easy 6 ¼-length victory under jockey Cliff Berry. Trained by Bret Calhoun and owned by JRita Young Thoroughbreds LLC, the daughter of Lane’s End Texas stallion Too Much Bling was sent off as the 1-5 favorite after breaking her maiden at Lone Star by 9 ½ lengths in her debut. Bred by Channon Farm LLC, the filly sold for $40,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Texas Yearling Sale from the consignment of Inside Move Inc., agent. The filly, who dashed five furlongs in :58.13, has already banked $70,740.
Calhoun struck again in the $103,180 colts and geldings division as Wes Melcher’s W V Jetsetter, by Jet Phone, scored an 8-1 upset under Jamie Theriot. The Texas-bred colt clocked five furlongs in :58.11. Bred by the late Clarence Scharbauer Jr., owner of Valor Farm where Jet Phone stands, W V Jetsetter came into the race off a maiden win at Lone Star and has now earned $75,868 in three starts. He sold for $29,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Texas Yearling Sale from the consignment of Beth Bayer, agent.
The $50,000 Assault Stakes for older Texas-breds going a mile had a fitting ending as Texas Bling and Texas Air battled it out in the stretch. At the wire, Hall’s Family Trust’s homebred Texas Bling prevailed by three-quarters of a length to give Texas stallion Too Much Bling his second stakes winner on the card. Trained by Danele Durham and ridden by Lone Star’s leading jockey David Cabrera, Texas Bling traveled the distance in 1:38.21. This marked the first stakes win for Texas Bling since he scored a 128-1 upset in the $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes as a 2-year-old in 2012. His record now stands at 25-4-3-2 with earnings of $338,327.
Leading horsemen for the meet were also announced. Jockey David Cabrera started the meet as an apprentice rider and finished as a journeyman with a total of 65 wins. He was crowned Champion Apprentice Jockey and Champion Jockey of the 50-date spring Thoroughbred season. These were his first riding titles of his young career.
Champion Trainer honors went to Karl Broberg, who finished the season with a total of 58 wins.
For the Champion Owner of the Meet, it ended in a tie between 2013 leading owner, Danny Keene, and 2012 leading owner, End Zone Athletics Inc., as they each finished the meet with 20 wins.
Horse of the Meet honors went to Grand Contender, winner of both the Grade 3 Texas Mile and the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap.
Lasting Bubbles, winner of the Wayne Hanks Memorial Stakes and the Valor Farm Stakes was named Texas-bred Champion while Perfect Tap, with six starts, three wins and one second earned the title of Claiming Horse of the Meet.
SADDLE BROOK JOCKEY CLUB (SBJC) TO OPEN ON MONDAYS THROUGH SEPT. 1
Race fans will be treated to the entire Saratoga meet starting today. Racing continues every day except Tuesdays. The meet will end on September 1st. With a 12 noon post time, Saddle Brook will open to the public on Monday’s at 11am and close at 6pm. Customers who have uncashed tickets can redeem them any time during the rest of the race week.
Del Mar’s 2014 race meet opened yesterday and continues through Wednesday September 3rd with 36 days of racing. Del Mar will be dark on Mondays (except Labor Day) and Tuesdays. Post times are 4pm local time except on Fridays, when the post time will be 6pm local time.
RACING AT GILLESPIE COUNTY FAIR THIS WEEKEND
This weekend, there are a total of 7 Thoroughbred races including the Texas Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes for 3-year-olds and up, carded as race 10 on Saturday. Morning line favorite is Gentry Farms’ homebred Berry Loud (Gold Alert – Be Berry Quiet) with odds of 3/1. The 3-year-old gelding trained by Danny Pish is seeking to boost his career earnings of $39,985 but will face some tough competition from Halifax Flyer (Early Flyer – Halifax Rose), trained by Karl Broberg for owners H and H Ranch. The 6-year-old has a career record of 53-10-7-8 and earnings of $196,430. Witt Way, On a Black Charger, Call Me Mr Special, Final Time, Stag Party, Fancy Ticket and N J’s Boy complete the field.
BASHFORD MANOR 1-2 FINISHERS MEET AGAIN
Cinco Charlie (Indian Charlie – Ten Halos), winner of the June 28th Gr. 3 Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill on June 28th will face 2nd place finisher Silverhill (Silver City – Indian Nation) in Saturday’s $150,000 Gr. 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga. Morning line favorite (2/1) Kentucky-bred Cinco Charlie running for Texans Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt of Houston is trained by Steve Asmussen. Accredited Texas-bred Silverhill (6/1) is trained by Bret Calhoun for owner Douglas Scharbauer of Midland. Best of luck to our Texas connections!
NOTES: The yearling portion of Fasig-Tipton’s July Sale saw total receipts rise 4.2% from 2013 from $14,635,000 to $15,253,000, while average increased 4.9% from $89,785 to $94,154, with a slight decrease in median from $72,000 to $70,000. The number of horses not attaining reserve was up from 26.5% to 30.7%…Los Alamitos Race Course officials said the 8-day summer Thoroughbred meet generated average daily total pari-mutuel handle of $5,070,966; it was the first Thoroughbred-only meet at the Southern California racetrack since the Orange County Fair session in 1991… The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify and make permanent bonus depreciation (H.R.4718). The bill would restore and make permanent 50% bonus depreciation for qualifying new property purchased and placed in service, retroactively from January 1, 2014, including assets used in the horse business… The Jockey Club hosts its annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing Sunday, Aug. 10, at the Gideon Putnam Resort in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and will provide updates on medication reform efforts in the U.S., a study on equine drug testing and enforcement, an analysis of racing trends and horse inventories, and a report on new fan and owner development initiatives…In case you missed it, here is a link to the ESPN.com article about Lone Star Park by Gary West: http://es.pn/1mVIKJP… Many thanks to all who have written letters, signed petitions and attended TRC meetings to voice your support for pari-mutuel wagering on historical races…Accredited Texas-bred Fiftyshadesofgold is being pointed toward the G1 $500,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga on August 2nd.