NEWS AND NOTES FOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
TEXAS-BREDS IN THE OK DERBY
Texas Bling, the 128-1 upset winner of the 2012 Springboard Mile at Remington Park, will take on seven foes in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby this weekend.
The 3-year-old colt by Too Much Bling has not competed since an eighth-place run in the Grade 1, Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in April, but has trained well in recent weeks. Owned by Hall’s Family Trust of Fort Worth and trained by Danele Durham, Texas Bling is part of a same-owner coupled entry with He Has Bling. At 10 – 1 odds, Texas Bling will leave the Oklahoma Derby starting gate from post-position one, while He Has Bling will leave from post-position four.
Rounding out the field are Carve at 8-1; Braveman at 10-1; Broadway Empire at 4-1; Holiday Mischief at 12-1, Cameo Appearance at 9-2 and Departing at 6-5.
Carded as race 9 on Sunday, the Oklahoma Derby is slated to go off at 5:14pm.
OCTOBER 1 STALLION STAKES DEADLINE
If you have an Accredited Texas stallion that is already nominated to the Texas Stallion Stakes Series for the 2013 breeding season, October 1 is the deadline for payment of any balance due.
That is also the deadline to late nominate Accredited Texas stallions for the 2013 breeding season. The fee to nominate is the greater of $1500 or the advertised stud fee for stallions standing their first season in Texas in 2013. For stallions not new to the state in 2013, there is also a $500 late fee.
Contact TTA with any questions at 512.458.6133 or email to jenniferg@texasthoroughbred.com.
KENTUCKY DOWNS CONCLUDES RECORD MEET
The five-day all-turf meet at Kentucky Downs ended Sept. 25 with record pari-mutuel handle for the day and the meet, as reported in Blood-Horse.
On closing day, all-sources handle of $3,371,476 was a record for the track – a 117% increase over the final day in 2012. Kentucky Downs reported record all-sources wagering of $12,814,966 for the meet, up 69.3% from a year ago. On-track handle of $645,343 increased 17% over 2012.
“This season showed what can be accomplished when we all work together,” Kentucky Downs president Corey Johnsen said in a release. “We were proud to offer quality racing with a low takeout, and horseplayers responded with record handle.”
Kentucky Downs’ total purse distribution doubled from last year to a record $4,121,142 for a daily average $824,228. The track said more than 70% of the total purses was derived from wagering on historical races, a form of electronic gaming based on outcomes of previously run races.
Historical races, modeled after the successful Instant Racing concept started by Oaklawn Park, have been deemed legal by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and state Attorney General but is the object of a suit currently pending before the state Supreme Court.
Kentucky Downs’ lucrative purses resulted in average field size of nearly 10 horses per race (9.96 versus 9.56 in 2012).
TWINSPIRES.COM SUSPENDS TAKING BETS IN TEXAS
TwinSpires.com has suspended wagering activity from Texas residents effective Sept. 25, following the dismissal of a federal lawsuit in which it challenged a ban on Internet gambling.
The suit was filed last fall after the Texas Racing Commission began enforcing a state law that requires all wagering on horse races by Texas residents to be placed in person. The court ruling noted that while the “in-person” bet provision had been in effect since 1986, it was amended by the legislature in 2011 to specifically prohibit Internet and telephone gambling on horse racing in the state.
TwinSpires.com continued to accept wagers from Texas residents and was issued a subpoena in June 2012, the court records indicate. Following a subsequent meeting in which commission representatives informed Churchill and TwinSpires.com that it would begin enforcing the Internet gambling ban, the track-operating company filed suit.
In his Sept. 23 opinion dismissing the Churchill suit, Judge James R. Nowlin of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, rejected all of the arguments by CDI and TwinSpires.com that the Texas ban violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Spokesmen for Churchill Downs Inc. and TwinSpires.com have stated their intent to file an appeal.
NOTES: HRTV will be providing on-site coverage Sept. 28 of 10 grade I Breeders’ Cup World Championships prep races from Belmont Park and Santa Anita Park…The Virginia Racing Commission has unanimously adopted the ARCI model medication rules, which set uniform thresholds for a list of 24 controlled therapeutic medications, to become effective January 1… Thanks to a $15-million renovation at Santa Anita, several key areas of the grandstand will sport new looks and patrons will notice a vast improvement in technology, with flat-screen monitors, audio-visual boards, and a new sound system…The Southern Racehorse magazine website at www.southernracehorse.com is now available in Spanish and Portuguese thanks to the Google Translate feature… The Texas Horsemen’s Partnership has announced there will be a horsemen’s meeting in the chapel of the Retama Park race office building at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 2nd…Thank you and best wishes to Delwin Lovell of Longview who has announced his resignation from the TTA Board of Directors, citing limited time due to a business promotion with additional responsibilities…The TTA Board will meet via conference call on October 1 to ratify a slate of candidates for the upcoming Board of Directors election and to elect a director to complete the remainder of Lovell’s term, which runs through December 2015…Retama Park will be taking entries on Tuesday, October 1 for racing on opening night – October 4th.