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  • Posts

    • The first episode of jockey/veterinarian Ferrin Peterson's podcast, Boundless, is now available on YouTube, Apple podcasts, and Spotify. Viewers can watch the episode, which features Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen, on YouTube here, or listen to it on Spotify here or on Apple podcasts here. Peterson, a professional jockey currently riding at Turfway Park, and a practicing veterinarian currently working in small animal emergency medicine, created the podcast to feature people's stories of resilience, risk taking and perseverence in horse racing. The hour-plus long podcast is the first in a series of a dozen, which will also feature jockeys Pat Day, Chris McCarron and Sandy Hawley, as well as Patty Cooksey and Perry Ouzts. The post Peterson Podcast With Steve Cauthen Drops on YouTube, Apple, Spotify appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Not ALL races though? I see BETCHA which is normally only Fixed Odds only has Tote Odds for Hong Kong.
    • Running Away did just that in the $125,000 Busanda Stakes, capturing her stakes debut in gate-to-wire fashion Jan. 18 at Aqueduct Racetrack.View the full article
    • The bombshell announcement issued last week by The Stronach Group (TSG) that Gulfstream Park could close within three years, if not sooner, sent shockwaves through the industry. To close Gulfstream would affect a lot more than Florida racing. It would have serious ramifications for virtually every faction in the sport. The Stronach Group is looking to decouple its casino and racing licenses and has threatened to close the track in three years if the horsemen's group does not back legislation allowing decoupling. Their hope is that they can use the property to build a ritzy new casino and hotel. And three years might be the best-case scenario. If the decoupling issue is not worked out to Belinda Stronach's satisfaction, there's nothing stopping her from closing the track immediately. The problem, at least for the horse racing community, is that the land that Gulfstream sits on is so valuable that using it strictly to run a racetrack and a small slots parlor that does not generate much revenue doesn't make a lot of sense. Estimates are that the land is worth somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion. Colleague Dan Ross was able to acquire a recording of a meeting between South Florida horsemen and Stronach's hired gun Keith Brackpool and here is what Brackpool had to say: “You're looking at land here worth several million dollars an acre. And the reality is, nobody can continue to race on land that is worth several million dollars an acre without appropriate redevelopment, at the very least, surrounding the horseracing property.” TSG is reportedly looking to form a partnership with a traditional casino company and has been told by those companies that they want no part of the deal if some of the revenue from the casino must be paid out to Gulfstream and its horsemen. Some of those trying to keep racing alive in South Florida are looking for ways to keep racing going at Gulfstream well beyond the three years that amount to the line drawn in the sand. That's admirable, but it's not going to work. Be it three days, three weeks or three years, it's hard to imagine any situation where Belinda Stronach decides that the right business decision is to continue to run racing at the Hallandale Beach location. Like him or not, Brackpool is right. Just as been the situation in other places, like at Hollywood Park, Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields, the land is worth so much that it doesn't make any economic sense to use it for horse racing. Santa Anita very well could be next. Gulfstream was once run by Frank Stronach and he might have been the one person who thought otherwise. He loved the sport so much that he made several business decisions that, frankly, made no sense, but he did so because he wanted to help racing. Daughter Belinda, who won a power struggle to take over the Stronach tracks, rarely grants interviews, so it's hard to gauge her sentiments about the sport, but it doesn't appear that she has the passion her father had for racing and still does. So the answer is not to fight to keep Gulfstream open but to find another facility to host horse racing in South Florida. The obvious place to do so is at the Palm Meadows training center. Keep in mind, that TSG has no incentive to keep Palm Meadows open. Why operate a race horse training center when you don't own a racetrack? It will be put up for sale. Palm Meadows, which is located in Boynton Beach, about 42 miles from Gulfstream, already has almost everything needed to operate a racetrack. It has dorms, stalls and a dirt and turf course that horsemen say are among the best racing surfaces in the sport. The main thing needed, of course, is a grandstand. But that doesn't have to be that expensive. With the exception of the big days like GI Pegasus World Cup Day and GI Florida Derby day, racing, even in Florida, is a studio sport with most players no longer leaving their homes to make a bet. Build a grandstand that holds 10,000 people and has the basic amenities. Nothing more than that is needed. “To race at Palm Meadows is an absolutely great idea,” said trainer Brian Lynch, who is based there. “It's a great idea, but there are some things that will have to be addressed, like zoning and the traffic getting in and out of there. It would be important to find a way to have access to Palm Meadows off the Florida Turnpike. That could be the answer to everything. You have the real estate there, you have the infrastructure there, you have everything to say that it could happen. Hopefully Palm Beach County would work with you and try to get something done.” It won't come cheap but, but the Palm Meadows land certainly is worth less per acre than the Gulfstream land, maybe much less.  And this wouldn't appear to be a situation where there would be much demand from outside racing circles to acquire the property. This would not be the first time the idea of shifting racing to Palm Meadows has come up. In a 2004 article in the Daily Racing Form Mike Welsch spoke to then Gulfstream Park's president and general manager Scott Savin shortly after Palm Meadows opened and asked him about rumors that Frank Stronach was planning on shifting racing to the property. Welsch wrote: “Opening this year in conjunction with the 1 1/8-mile, 100-foot-wide main track are a seven-furlong, 176-foot-wide grass course as well as a European-style seven-furlong jogging path. The addition of new dormitories and a track kitchen gives Palm Meadows every amenity found at a top racetrack. In fact, all that appears to be missing at Palm Meadows is a grandstand. And visitors to the site cannot help but notice that ample room is available to construct an adequately sized grandstand/clubhouse stretching from the eighth pole to beyond the finish line. “This has led many to speculate that the site of winter racing in South Florida might someday shift to Palm Meadows if Magna (the name of Stronach's company before it was changed to The Stronach Group)  decides to sell off the valuable real estate on which Gulfstream Park is located.” “Palm Meadows wasn't built to be a racing facility,” Savin told Welsch. “There are no plans to turn it into a racing facility, and by law there is no way it can be turned into a racing facility. Our main intention was to build a satellite facility to enhance the quality of racing at Gulfstream Park.” It appears there might be more to the story. In Florida in 2002, each county was entitled to no more than one pari-mutuel license. The Rooney family, which owned the Palm Beach Kennel Club, had the one for Palm Beach County. Many believe that the only reason Stronach didn't turn Palm Meadows into his racetrack then and sell the land at Gulfstream is that the Rooney family stood in his way. Twenty-two years later, Palm Beach Kennel Club is not a kennel club. There's no more dog racing there and all that's left is an OTB and a poker room. Not that this solves every problem. There are 1,500 stalls at Gulfstream and they will need to be replaced. Adding that many stalls at Palm Meadows doesn't seem practical. Florida is fortunate to have two other top-flight training centers beyond Palm Meadows in Palm Beach Downs and Payson Park, but it's hard to imagine squeezing many more horses into those places. So a new training center would likely have to built. Now the biggest obstacle: Who's going to pay for this? Mike Repole immediately comes to mind as he has emerged as an important and outspoken industry leader, someone not afraid to take bold measures to help the sport. And he certainly can afford it.  But putting all of this on Repole's shoulders doesn't seem fair. Maybe a partnerships of owners and/or breeders, including Repole, could come together and pool their money to buy Palm Meadows. Racing is infamous for infighting and for people always putting themselves first and the good of the sport second. But this is too important for that nonsense. Make a plan, raise the money, buy Palm Meadows, run the racing there. Something needs to happen to avoid losing racing in South Florida, which would be nothing less than a crisis. Palm Meadows? This can be done. The post Solving The South Florida Racing Crisis, Is Palm Meadows The Answer? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • In the Fasig-Tipton Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds it was Simply Joking (Practical Joke–Imply, by E Dubai) who took home the prize with a gate to wire display and the 20 points which can be applied on the 'Road to the Kentucky Oaks.' The 3-year-old came into the race having only one other start under her belt when she captured the Letellier Memorial Stakes in New Orleans Dec. 21. Backed as the 8-5 choice here, Simply Joking was handed a rather easy lead and proceeded to make every pole a winning one. Unable to catch her heading into the lane, the field watched as she skimmed the slop to win by a length over the late running longshot Bless the Broken (Laoban). The final running time was 1:44.30. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0. Sales History: $65,000 '23 KEESEP. O-Grantley Acres, Ryan Conner and Berkels0813; B-Barlar LLC; T-D. Whitworth Beckman. The post Simply Joking Makes the Silverbulletday Stakes Look Routine As The Filly Earns Oaks Points appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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