Have a comment or question about this week's update? Send an e-mail to davidh@texasthoroughbred.com. Read past updates in the Executive Director's Update archive.
SAM HOUSTON REOPENS FOR 60-DAY THOROUGHBRED SEASON ON NOVEMBER 27
Thoroughbred racing returns to Sam Houston Race Park next Friday night, November 27, for the first time in 18 months for a 60-night run through Saturday, April 3. The 2008-9 meet had to be cancelled due to damage to the grandstand and stable area caused by Hurricane Ike on September 13 last year.
Texas Champions Day will be renewed on Saturday, December 5, with the seven Texas-bred stakes carrying a cumulative purse value of $400,000. Some of them will determine year-end division champions. Nominations for Texas Champions Day stakes close Wednesday, November 25. Entries close the following Wednesday, December 2, and Sam Houston has planned to hold the draw for post positions in conjunction with a press luncheon.
Other monthly highlights of the meet include the renewal of the $200,000 Connally Turf Cup (G3) on Saturday, January 30, running of the third legs of the two $125,000 divisions of the Texas Stallion Stakes Series for 2007 foals on Saturday, February 20, and the $100,000 MAXXAM Gold Cup renewal on Saturday, March 27.
The promotionally minded Sam Houston staff has scheduled numerous special events for the meet starting with College Night at The Park on opening weekend. Beginning Friday, December 4, Sam Houston will offer 50-cent First Fridays the first Friday of each month throughout the meet. Sam Houston is Calling All Singers, ages 6 to 18, while seeking to find Houston’s best young vocalist in competition on four Friday nights in January beginning on the 8th. Party on the Patio Steak Nights are set for the first three Saturday nights in March with entertainment provided by Battle of the Bands contestants. Saturday night fireworks are booked after the races each Saturday night in March.
Also, there is a New Year’s Eve Celebration in conjunction with live racing on December 31, and a College Bowl 50-cent Friday Fest with draft beer specials on New Year’s Day. Racing will also involve Wiener Dogs and a pet costume contest on Friday, February 6, followed the next night by Big Game Dollar Day, labeled Houston’s biggest pre-game football party, on the eve of the Super Bowl. Fans can celebrate Valentine’s Day at the Park on Saturday, February 14, and end the season by enjoying Fan Appreciation Day on Saturday, April 3.
SAM HOUSTON’S STRATHAYR TURF CROSSING MESHES WELL WITH TURF COURSE
Sam Houston officials invited representatives of the Texas Racing Commission, Jockeys’ Guild, Texas Horsemen’s Partnership and Texas Thoroughbred Association to watch a horse and rider test the new StrathAyr turf crossing near the end of the backstretch on Thursday morning. The test run was completed without any incident and the course has been approved for immediate use on opening day.
TTA Director John Adger represented the breed organization and reported the trial went very well with horse and rider moving smoothly from the main turf course through the StrathAyr reflex mesh and back on the regular grass just before entering the far turn. The cut in the course had been made in late summer in 2008 to allow trucks and busses easy access to the infield show area. The course was not used last year after the meet had to be cancelled. The replacement section is on trays similar to the trays used at Reliant Stadium to move sections of the football field from within the stadium to outside the stadium. A trial over the course, including the reflex mesh, had been planned to assure safety of horses and jockeys.
TEXAS CHAMPIONS DAY WINNER’S CIRCLE DINING RESERVATIONS AVAILABLE
Eric Johnston, Sam Houston’s vice president of racing, has advised that 100 seats in the Winner’s Circle Restaurant have been reserved for Texas Thoroughbred Association members on Texas Champions Day. To make reservations, contact Shyrl at SHRP at 281-897-8760.
Fast furlongs...Bobby Frankel, the 68-year-old Hall of Fame trainer who lost his battle to cancer early Monday morning, recorded the biggest win of his career at Lone Star Park when he saddled Ghostzapper for a front-running, record-setting triumph in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2004...Carl Moore and Bill Martin’s Mr. Nightlinger, the speedy stakes-winning turf sprint specialist trained by Bret Calhoun, has been retired to stud at JEH Stallion Station in Oklahoma after earning $644,355...More reflections of the current economic times: the Sunshine Millions, the head to head competition between horses bred in California and Florida, will comprise six stakes worth $1.8 million in 2010 rather than eight stakes at $3.6 million as in past renewals of the stakes series...Gulfstream Park has changed the date of the 2010 Florida Derby to March 20 placing the major Kentucky Derby prep six weeks before the Run for the Roses...There will be six “Downs After Dark” night racing programs offered at Churchill Downs in 2010, four on Fridays during the spring meet and one Sunday night and one Friday night in the fall, it was announced this past Tuesday...Kip Deville, who went from being a $20,000 Fasig-Tipton Yearling Sales graduate in 2004 to win the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Mile, has been retired following recent colic surgeries and now a battle with laminitis...The owners of Ruidoso Downs, home of the All American Futurity, have made contingency plans to move to Las Cruces, NM, in 2011 unless tax relief is forthcoming from the state to help the track compete with two nearby Indian casinos...Magna Entertainment Corporation has extended the second round of bidding on its two Maryland tracks, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, by one week with bids now due by December 11...The Jockey Club has issued a reminder that February 1 is the deadline for naming foals of 2008 to avoid a late fee...Georgia legislators have begun considering the economic impact that legalizing pari-mutuel wagering might have as the Peach State, like so many other states, seeks ways to create jobs and generate new sources of revenue...Sammy Burton, who manages simulcast operations at the Race Barn on the Gillespie County Fairgrounds, will do double duty this spring when he returns to Manor Downs to serve as racing secretary...The Fasig-Tipton Texas Mixed Sale catalogs have arrived for the Monday, December 14, auction at the Texas Thoroughbred Sales Pavilion on the grounds of Lone Star Park...Team Zenyatta, comprising jockey Mike Smith, trainer John Shirreffs and the owners, Jerry and Ann Moss, will be honored as the Big Sport of Turfdom at the Turf Publicists of America luncheon prior to the Eclipse Awards ceremonies...The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission has given preliminary approval on an 8-0 vote to license the Chickasaw Nation as the new owner of Remington Park and has instructed its staff to develop formal approval documents...LOPE founder Lynn Rorke Reardon had a successful book signing event at BookPeople in Austin this past Thursday evening for her recently released “Beyond the Homestretch: What I’ve Learned from Saving Racehorses...Correction: In last week’s tribute to the late Leland Cook, I incorrectly stated that the Cooks had been the leading owners for the inaugural Lone Star meet in 1997, but the year they led the owners’ standings in number of wins was 1999...The next Texas Racing Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2, in Austin...Next week, the TTA office will be closed both Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday. Happy Thanksgiving to all!