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.
MONMOUTH’S $1,000,000-A-DAY PURSES INCLUDE $12.1 MILLION STAKES SCHEDULE
On the heels of formalizing the revolutionary $1,000,000-a-day in average daily purses for the boutique 50-day summer racing season beginning May 22, Monmouth Park officials announced a $12.1 million stakes schedule, which is $3 million higher than last year. The $1,000,000 Haskell Invitational (G1) on the first Sunday in August is again the centerpiece of the 16 graded stakes.
Some of the other interesting plans for the 2010 Monmouth meet are as follows:
·Up to 12 races per day will be carded, which is 2 or 3 more than most Monmouth cards at recent past meets;
·There will be an average of 2.5 restricted New Jersey-bred races per program, with state-bred maidens running for $75,000, the same as open maiden special weight races;
·New Jersey-breds will earn a 20% bonus for finishing 1-2-3 in open races;
·Funding will also be available for New Jersey-breds that win out of state when there is no racing at Monmouth;
·The bottom claiming price has been set at $5,000 with purses for that level at $30,000, but, in order to protect local horsemen, many of those races will have conditions that restrict entries to horses that have not started for a claiming price of $12,500 or higher in the past year;
·Purse money will be paid back through last place.
Commenting on plans for the 2010 Monmouth Park meet in a recent Thoroughbred Daily News Op/Ed piece written by racing columnist Bill Finley, New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association Acting President John Forbes observed, “We’re surrounded by five states that have casino gambling and slots revenue. Our sense was that over the next five years we were going to be dying a slow death. We had to suck it up and focus on what we thought the customer wanted. Our business is going to be putting on horse racing and not bringing people to play slot machines. We felt unless we responded to what the customer was asking for, which was larger fields and better quality, then there wouldn’t be any other way to save ourselves from extinction.”
Finley concluded his Op/Ed with the following opinions: “Every racing jurisdiction in the country, in particular New York and California---two places where there should be a lot less racing than there is---should look at this (Monmouth plan), study it and copy it. Even in this depressed economy, there is plenty of money being bet on horse racing. The problem is that, with so many tracks racing, there are way too many slices of the pie.
“New Jersey racing was in critical condition. Now it’s got a future bright beyond relief. Racing has been searching for answers, and this one is a huge first step.”
TEXAS-BREDS CHIEF OF AFFAIRS, BECKYS EXPRESS, QUIET AGAIN IN THE NEWS
Texas-breds made news on three different racetrack fronts late last week. At Oaklawn Park last Friday, Chief of Affairs, owned by Larry Hirsch and Wayne Sanders and conditioned by Bret Calhoun, found a firm, fast racing strip much to his liking as he sped 5 ½ furlongs in 1:02.91, just .31 off the track record, to win an allowance race by 5 ¼ lengths. Chief of Affairs earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure and set himself up for a possible start in the $150,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) on April 9.
At Manor Downs, Richard Penn’s Becky’s Express, claimed for $25,000 at Arlington Park last summer and now trained by Michelle Lovell, set a new track record of 1:44.14 for 1 1/16 miles while winning the $50,000 Manor Downs Distance Cup in wire-to-wire style last Saturday.
Also on Saturday, Paul Thomason’s homebred Quiet Again posted a 7-1 upset in the $50,000 Bill Thomas Memorial Stakes at Sunland Park winning the 6 ½-furlong race by a head in 1:15.58.
SAM HOUSTON ENCOURAGED BY BUSINESS UPSWING ON MONDAY AFTERNOONS
Sam Houston Race Park officials are encouraged by the upswing in business during their March Monday afternoon live racing experiment in comparison with average live and outbound simulcast handle averages for racing on Thursday nights and in late afternoon on Sundays.
On March 15, the second of four March Mondays comprising the experiment, live on-track handle totaled $62,300 with the live outbound simulcast signal generating $1,169,000 in wagering. Thursday night programs have averaged $50,000 on track and $1,000,000 in simulcast export play, while the respective Sunday figures have averaged $45,500 and $900,000.
March 22 and the 29th are the two remaining Monday afternoon programs before the meet closes on April 3.
CHICK LANG, DEAD AT 83, MADE PREAKNESS DAY INTO THE BIG EVENT IT IS TODAY
Racing lost one of its most ardent fans and supporters with the passing of Charles John “Chick” Lang near his Maryland home this past Thursday at 83. Nicknamed “Mr. Preakness,” Chick is best remembered for transforming the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, from an afterthought into the special event it is today, but he also left his mark in Texas.
I first met Chick at Garden State Park in 1961 when he booked mounts for the late Hall of Fame jockey Bill Hartack. Soon thereafter, the late Lou Pondfeld hired Chick as general manager of Pimlico Racecourse. In 1965, Chick made the decision to open the Pimlico infield to fans on Preakness Day and the crowds grew from year to year until they regularly exceeded 100,000. The infield experience encompassed lacrosse games, volleyball games, entertainment, food, betting and drinks. It was one big party.
After Chick left Pimlico, he served as a consultant for several tracks and added Lone Star Park to his list of clients before it opened in 1997. Thanks to Chick’s longtime ties with prominent owners, trainers and jockeys and his recruiting efforts, Lone Star patrons had an opportunity to watch prominent horses like Isitingood, Anet and Skip Away and see them saddled by legendary trainers Bob Baffert and the late Sonny Hine. Lang’s close ties with riders proved invaluable to Lone Star as he was able to recruit many of the leading jockeys in North America to come to the new track to participate in the unique All-Star Jockey Championship, which proved to be a superb evening of entertainment and competition in Lone Star’s formative years.
Chick was truly one of a kind, and I will always treasure our longtime friendship. My deepest sympathies go to his wife, Nancy, and grandson, Bart, and the extended Lang family.
Fast furlongs...Texas Horse Organizations for Racing, Showing and Eventing (Texas HORSE) will meet next Thursday at the National Cutting Horse Association headquarters in Fort Worth to make early plans leading into the 2011 legislative session...Senator Kip Averitt (R-Waco), re-elected in the primary even though he did not campaign, officially resigned his seat at midday on March 17...Plans for the licensed, but unbuilt $50 million track and slots casino approved for Raton, NM, are reported in a March 13 story in the Albuquerque Journal to be “stuck in the mud” and drawing the ire of the state’s Gaming Control Board and the New Mexico Racing Commission...The Maryland Jockey Club has announced that the Pimlico Special (G1) will remain on the shelf for another year and the Grade 2 Allaire duPont Distaff is not on the stakes schedule for the 20-day Pimlico meet, which is highlighted by the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of the Triple Crown...The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has selected a British-based company, HFL Sport Science, to conduct post-race blood and urine tests on samples taken from horses racing at Kentucky tracks beginning February 1, 2011, by which time the firm will have opened a laboratory in Lexington...Martha Claussen, writing for last Monday’s Paulick Report, authored an excellent column on the lengthy career of Bob Bork, who left his executive position with Sam Houston Race Park eight months ago...A week ago the stars appeared aligned for Kentucky to legalize Instant Racing machines during the current session of the legislature, but the wheels came off and now the initiative appears dead...Now that owner Jess Jackson has decided that Rachel Alexandra will remain at Fair Grounds after her surprise defeat last weekend and will not take on Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park, I’m beginning to believe that the only way I’ll get to see them in the same race will be in my dreams.