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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Brian Spearman, who has served as chairman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners since 2015, has decided to step away from his day-to-day role with the company at the end of this year. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A year-and-a-half after being told he only had about five months to live because of cancer, Bryan Bushey made the journey to Churchill Downs to support Point Dume in the $200,000 Claiming Crown Jewel Nov. 15.View the full article -
By Chief Stipe · Posted
Actually I used to have that opinion of Gary but before I worked out who he was I twigged to his sense of humour. Then I saw more of the humour in his posts. I daresay not many got it. If you watch his cameo appearances on his son's show and other comedy appearances you get an understanding of his dry and self deprecating wit. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Emerald Downs on Friday was approved to race 51 dates in 2026, the same number of programs that the suburban Seattle track was granted in 2025. Back in March, Emerald's president, Phil Ziegler, had said that the '26 race meet at the lone remaining commercial track in the Pacific Northwest could be in jeopardy because the fees imposed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) were expected to be nearly doubling under a new assessment methodology. Although the track's assessment for '26 did go up, Emerald had a better-than-expected 2025 season that resulted in increases to average daily handle (49%), average daily on-track handle (18%), average attendance (“about 10%”) and average number of starters per race (up 0.9% to 7.35). While there was no talk of abandoning or curtailing the '26 racing season during Friday's Washington Horse Racing Commission (WHRC) meeting, at which commissioners unanimously approved Emerald's status-quo request, there was still plenty of discussion about the daunting HISA assessment and what could be done to mitigate it. WHRC executive secretary Amanda Benton read into the record that Emerald's gross assessment for '26 is $1,302,706, but that potential credits for sample collection and drug testing could reduce the net fee to $1,015,000. That's still $642,132 more than '25, Benton said. But additional credits are still in the negotiation phase, and the track and horsemen are brainstorming ideas to lighten the financial hit even further, several stakeholders said during the meeting. Benton also cited an email from HISA's chief executive officer, Lisa Lazarus, that outlined “potential additional credits towards the assessment fee if Emerald Downs agrees to various items listed in the email.” Benton said that, “Those items, according to [Lazarus], could offer potential credits of $350,000, bringing the total assessment fee to $604,000. Some of the items on the list would result in a cost for Emerald Downs, but that credit would be greater than the costs.” Pat LePley, the president of the Washington Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said that even with the known reductions, the money that horsemen and the track must pay to HISA and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) is still concerning to everyone involved in Washington racing. “The costs that are imposed by HISA and HIWU, if we don't get some help along the way, some type of relief, either additional revenue or some type of a help from state government or local government, we're going to continue to be in serious trouble and in more serious trouble than we have been,” LePley said. “The owners of the horses that we have here, we don't run for enough money in terms of purses to be able to sustain the kind of expenses that HISA and HIWU want to impose upon us,” LePley said. “If we were required to pay $1.3 million in regulatory fees, I don't see how the racetrack can stay in business.” Emerald will open May 2 in '26, coinciding with the simulcast of the GI Kentucky Derby. With the exception of several tweaks because of the way the calendar falls, the season will largely feature racing on Saturdays and Sundays in May, with Friday night cards added to make three-day racing weeks June through August. The meet will close Labor Day Monday, Sept. 7. “Not many differences to [the '25] season,” Ziegler said. “A couple of minor changes. We did open a week earlier [in '25]. Our staff kind of likes getting a race day in before Derby day, when everybody shows up. But it was just too tough on the horsemen to be ready for that last weekend in April. “Derby day is the one day [of] overlap we have with Turf Paradise,” Ziegler noted. “So their meet ends on Derby day, and then we get [a number out outfits that] come up here [from Arizona]. We had very short fields and only a few races on opening weekend last year, so we went back to opening on Derby day.” Ziegler said Emerald's stakes and promotion schedules will be announced in the near future, and that the stable area is expected to open sometime in late February or early March. The post Emerald A ‘Go’ For 51 Dates In ’26, But HISA Fees Still Considered An Existential Threat appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
John Stewart's Resolute Racing silks were carried to victory for the first time in Australia when expensive filly Ernaux produced a commanding display to break through Nov. 14 at Canterbury Racecourse.View the full article
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