Horse Racing: Monmouth (NJ) handle up 5%, more good news for the industry from New Jersey; Two Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races in Ireland

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Saratoga (New York):

• Handle: $27.7 million.
• Lane Luzzi began the meet 0-for-65 but won consecutive races over the past two days. This time he picked up a Javier Castellano mount who is injured. Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito with his second win of 2024.
• Irad Ortiz, Jr. secured the riders' title at the meet with five victories. He rode every race but the finale and ended the penultimate date of the meet 12 5-2-1.
• Flavien Prat, who could be with Irad Ortiz, Jr. as the top two honored for Jockey of the Year in North America, was cold today until winning with his final two mounts. Prat set a record for most graded stakes win at a Saratoga meet with 13.
• Chad Brown added two more turf wins to his collection.
• Race 12: Highland Falls (Flavien Prat/Brad Cox) won the Grade I $1,000,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup. The winning connections received an invite to the Breeders' Cup.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830371877908328820

• Race 11: Running Bee (Irad Ortiz, Jr./Chad Brown) won the $150,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830366532448514509

Kentucky Downs (Kentucky):

• Race 10: Chasing Liberty (Florent Geroux/Rob Atras) won the National Thoroughbred League Juvenile Sprint Stakes at 22-to-1 following a DQ to original winner Under Who's Radar (Jose Ortiz/Michael Maker).

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830379647995117816

Del Mar (California):

• Handle: $15,000,000+
• Race 8: Formidable Man (Umberto Rispoli/Michael McCarthy) won the Grade 2 $300,000 Del Mar Derby.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830401674550399310

• Race 7: Muth (Juan Hernandez/Bob Baffert) won the $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes. The $2,000,000 Good Magic colt has not lost in three starts this year and is 7 5-2-0 lifetime. He was last out in March at Oaklawn.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830391779473981496

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

New York is considering a July 4 date at the Spa. Not something totally from left field but with the rousing success of Belmont Stakes at Saratoga 2024, makes sense.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Through two races on turf today.

Chad Brown on turf in New York. W.

Chad Brown on turf in New York. W.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saratoga should surpass $10 million in handle prior to the sixth race today. The Spa is jammed. Can this meet continue?!

Update: $14.6 through seven races.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Lane Luzzi with a winner for the third straight day.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saratoga needed $24 million today to reach $800 million for the meet and around that to surpass last year's total of $799m. Far off from the 2022 record of $878m but a stellar meet nonetheless.

Saratoga is around $793m for the meet through eight races.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saratoga has surpassed $24 million today and with that has handled over $800 million this meet (official numbers yet to be processed and two races remain).

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Chad Brown on turf in race 11. He owns New York turf.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

From prior to his first race in late July, I mentioned Chancer McPatrick for the following day in which he won.

• Chancer McPatrick seems like value at 4-to-1. With Flavien Prat riding for Chad Brown, a $725,000 price tag and a solid final prep workout, this $100,000 MSW dirt race is of particular interest.

Then came today's Hopeful and once again at 4-to-1 he was overlooked. Chad Brown may have a Kentucky Derby hopeful after this colt's second career race.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Monday, September 2, 2024
HAPPY LABOR DAY

Saratoga (New York):

• Closing Day: A very successful meet:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830753887713681747

Note: 39 days of racing in 2024 vs. 40 in 2023​

• All-sources handle: $803,806,964 vs. $799,229,288
• Average daily handle: $20,610,435 vs. $19,980,732 (+3.2%)
• Total on-track handle: $136,295,228 vs. $142,918,763
• Total paid attendance: 1,051,092 vs. 1,105,683
• Average daily paid attendance: 26,951 vs. 27,642 (-2.5%)
• Races off the turf: 45 vs. 65
• Total races: 412 (257 dirt and 155 turf) vs. 410 (270 dirt and 140 turf)
• Average field size: 7.8 vs. 7.6
• Leading Jockeys: Irad Ortiz, Jr. with 52 wins and his sixth Spa title and Flavien Prat with $6.6 million earned.
• Leading Trainer: Chad Brown with 45 wins which was 23 more than his closest challengers. Brown won his fourth straight Spa title and his 32nd NYRA crown. He also won six Grade I races this meet.
• Leading owner: Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables earned a 28th owners' title at a NYRA meeting, The ownership finished with a 61-18-10-6 record.
• Chad Brown entered six races and won five times. He finished 10 5-0-2.
• Flavien Prat rode three winners, all for Chad Brown.
• Flavien Prat-Chad Brown teamed to go 18-for-62 (29%) at the meet
• Race 10: Chancer McPatrick (Flavien Prat/Chad Brown) swept to victory to win the Grade I $300,000 Hopeful Stakes. The most recent winner of this race to go onto the Kentucky Derby victory was Affirmed in 1977-78. Chancer McPatrick is a $750,000 McKinzie colt owned by Boston-area businessman Sean Flanagan.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1830726557406765376

Timonium (Maryland):

• Closing Day: The annual state fair wrapped today. Onto Laurel for Saturday's opener. That track operates into early May.

Ruidoso at Albuquerque (New Mexico):

• Closing Day: The place seemed to be crowded for the last day of the transferred racing dates from Ruidoso. Albuquerque hosts its own meet later this week.

Del Mar (California):

• Bob Baffert is 25 12-5-4 (48%) with 2-year-olds this year and he has had a sparkling meet at Del Mar. That would be his second highest percentage in his career second only to his dynamic 2018 season.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

June 7, 2025 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga is confirmed.

A possible 4-day Saratoga meet on July 4 weekend (presumably July 3-6) is in discussion as a separate meet from Saratoga's usual 40-day meet.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Gulfstream (FL) opens its Championship Meet on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28. Del Mar (CA) is not racing that day for the first time in 10 years.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

August 2024 saw a 5.5% increase compared to August 2023 as $1.1 billion was bet on U.S. racing. Ellis (KY) and Saratoga (NY) were among the leaders in increases.

Overall total for 2024 is $8.0 billion which is down from the $8.29 billion wagered through August 2023.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Parx (PA) plans to open its turf course by Sep. 21 for the card which includes the $1 million Penn Derby.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saturday at Kentucky Downs with an impressive six straight races holding $2,000,000 purses each.

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$170,000	Maiden Special Weight	6 1/2 F	Turf	16	11:30 AM CT
2	$170,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 M	Turf	16	12:05 PM CT
3	$200,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	1 5/16 M	Turf	14	12:40 PM CT
4	$170,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 M	Turf	15	1:15 PM CT
5	$190,000	Allowance	1 M	Turf	16	1:50 PM CT
6	$2,000,000	Light & Wonder Ladies Marathon S.	1 5/16 M	Turf	9	2:27 PM CT
7	$2,000,000	AGS Music City S.	6 1/2 F	Turf	16	3:04 PM CT
8	$2,000,000	Mint Millions S.	1 M	Turf	11	3:41 PM CT
9	$2,000,000	Aristocrat Franklin-Simpson S.	6 1/2 F	Turf	16	4:18 PM CT
10	$2,000,000	FanDuel TV Kentucky Turf Cup S.	1 1/2 M	Turf	11	4:55 PM CT
11	$2,000,000	Ainsworth Turf Sprint S.	6 F	Turf	13	5:31 PM CT
12	$170,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 M	Turf	16	6:05 PM CT

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saturday at Colonial Downs with the Virginia Derby highlighting a card with 10 turf races.

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$45,000	Maiden Claiming	6 F	Dirt	11	1:00 PM ET
2	$70,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	5 1/2 F	Turf	8	1:30 PM ET
3	$90,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	6 1/2 F	Dirt	7	2:00 PM ET
4	$60,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 1/16 M	Turf	11	2:30 PM ET
5	$150,000	Colonial Cup S.	1 1/2 M	Turf	6	3:05 PM ET
6	$125,000	Exacta Systems Rosie's S.	5 1/2 F	Turf	12	3:40 PM ET
7	$125,000	Kitten's Joy S.	1 1/16 M	Turf	11	4:20 PM ET
8	$150,000	Da Hoss S.	5 1/2 F	Turf	14	4:55 PM ET
9	$250,000	Virginia Oaks	1 1/8 M	Turf	13	5:40 PM ET
10	$500,000	New Kent County Virginia Derby	1 1/8 M	Turf	12	6:15 PM ET
11	$60,000	Maiden Special Weight	5 1/2 F	Turf	9	6:52 PM ET
12	$70,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	1 1/16 M	Turf	11	7:20 PM ET

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saturday at Del Mar with two graded stakes.

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$75,000	Maiden Special Weight	5 F	Turf	14	1:30 PM PT
2	$29,000	Claiming	6 1/2 F	Dirt	11	2:00 PM PT
3	$75,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 M	Turf	14	2:30 PM PT
4	$300,000	FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante S.	7 F	Dirt	7	3:00 PM PT
5	$100,000	Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf S.	1 M	Turf	12	3:30 PM PT
6	$75,000	Maiden Special Weight	5 1/2 F	Dirt	11	4:00 PM PT
7	$76,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	1 M	Turf	14	4:30 PM PT
8	$76,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	6 1/2 F	Dirt	14	5:00 PM PT
9	$250,000	John C. Mabee S.	1 1/8 M	Turf	7	5:30 PM PT
10	$76,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	6 1/2 F	Dirt	14	6:00 PM PT
11	$75,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 1/16 M	Turf	14	6:30 PM PT

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Tuesday's Fort Erie card which includes the Prince of Wales, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.

Triple Crown (Canada)

Date	Race	Track	Distance	Purse	Edition	Billing	Winner
August 17	King's Plate	Woodbine Racetrack (ON)	1 1/4 miles	$1 million (Ca.)	165th	The oldest continuous race run in North America.	Caitlinhergreatness​
September 10	Prince of Wales Stakes	Fort Erie Race Track (ON)	1 3/16 miles	$400,000 (Ca.)	89th	Niagara’s most prestigious sporting event.
September 29	Breeders' Stakes	Woodbine Racetrack (ON)	1 1/2 miles	$400,000 (Ca.)	133rd	The third and final jewel of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown.

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$15,000	Maiden Claiming	6 F	Dirt	6	1:00 PM ET
2	$13,500	Claiming	6 F	Dirt	7	1:29 PM ET
3	$15,750	Claiming	5 1/2 F	Dirt	7	1:59 PM ET
4	$19,800	Claiming	About 7 F	Turf	8	2:28 PM ET
5	$19,800	Claiming	5 1/2 F	Dirt	8	2:58 PM ET
6	$30,000	Le Cinquieme Essai Cup S.	6 1/2 F	Dirt	7	3:27 PM ET
7	$100,000	Rondeau Bay S.	6 1/2 F	Dirt	7	3:57 PM ET
8	$100,000	Lake Erie S.	6 1/2 F	Dirt	8	4:26 PM ET
9	$30,000	Molson Cup S.	1 1/16 M	Turf	8	4:56 PM ET
10	$400,000	Prince of Wales S.	1 3/16 M	Dirt	10	5:35 PM ET
11	$15,750	Claiming	1 M 70 Y	Dirt	8	6:09 PM ET

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Sunday at Del Mar: Bob Baffert has over $1.6 million in three horses, currently 4 4-0-0 lifetime, in the Del Mar Futurity.
Race 10 Del Mar Futurity (Grade I) POST Time - 6:02 PM PT

P#	PP	Horse	A/S	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1	Getaway Car (KY)	2/C	J J Hernandez	123	B Baffert	6/5
2	2	Gaming (KY)	2/C	F Prat	120	B Baffert	7/2
3	3	R Heisman (KY)	2/C	U Rispoli	123	P Miller	20/1
4	4	Brother Tony (KY)	2/C	R Gutierrez	118	P Miller	10/1
5	5	Rank (KY)	2/C	A Fresu	118	D F O'Neill	15/1
6	6	McKinzie Street (KY)	2/C	K Kimura	120	T Yakteen	4/1
7	7	Citizen Bull (KY)	2/C	M E Smith	120	B Baffert	9/2

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saturday, September 7, 2024 (to be updated)

New York:

• Dark: In between meets, NYRA is dark until September 13.

Laurel (Maryland):

• Opening Day: The meet opened today. Laurel will race through the winter into the meet for Pimlico which should begin in or around May.
• J.G. Torrealba, with little riding experience prior to coming to the US in 2023, rode four winners. Torrealba is in his early 20s and has developed a good reputation in his short time in Maryland. As his story has been told, he was not involved in the sport in Venezuela other than being a fan; he began riding there in 2019.

Colonial Downs (Virginia):

• Finale: Closing day of the meet was arguably the most thrilling card of the season.
• Handle: Over $5 million.
• Card: 12 races.
• Manny Franco, with New York closed, rode nine times and finished a remarkable 9 7-1-0. He won on his last five rides and that included four straight races (7 through 10). The track announcer said that the jockey "made Colonial Downs his own ATM" after winning both the $250k and $500k feature races.
• Christophe Clement sent out four horses and was a perfect 3 3-0-0 with Manny Franco riding.
• Style Points (Manny Franco/Christophe Clement) and Deep Satin (Mychel Sanchez/Cherie DeVaux) finished in a dead-heat in the $250,000 Virginia Oaks.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832539831542673632

• Race 10: Deterministic (Manny Franco/Christophe Clement) was sent off the favorite and won the Grade 3 $500,000 Virginia Derby by a neck in back-to-back thrillers at the track.:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832550204698193968

Kentucky Downs (Kentucky):

• Handle: Over $21 million bet.
• Card: Six straight races with $2,000,000 purses.
• Race 6: Neecie Marie (Joel Rosario/Butch Reid) won the Grade 3 $2,000,000 Ladies Marathon Stakes.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832502313199534345

• Race 7: Simply in Front (Luis Saez/Eddie Kenneally) won the Grade 2 $2,000,000 Music City Stakes.
• Race 8: Goliad (Flavien Prat/Richard Mandella) won the Grade 3 $2,000,000 Mint Millions Stakes.
• Race 9: Howard Wolowitz (Irad Ortiz, Jr./Jose D'Angelo) finished with a big bang to win the Grade 1 Franklin-Simpson Stakes. The $240,000 colt is now 4 2-2-0 with a over $1.2 million earned and won his first try in a graded stakes.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832532140359041250

• Race 10: Grand Sonata (Tyler Gaffalione/Todd Pletcher) won the Grade 2 $2,000,000 Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832541959656718521

• Race 11: Cogburn (Irad Ortiz, Jr./Steve Asmussen) won the Grade 2 $2,000,000 Ainsworth Turf Sprint Stakes. The 5-year-old Not This Time horse is 15 9-2-0, including 3 3-0-0 in 2024, with over $2.4 million earned.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832551971334812084

Del Mar (California):

• Handle: Exceeded $18 million.
• Kazushi Kimura rode the card and though he hit the board just three times, all three were winners.
• Phil D'Amato trained three winners.
• Race 11: The $1 Pick 6 paid over $110,000.
• Race 9: Hang the Moon (Kazushi Kimura/Phil D'Amato) was the second longest shot on the board at 20-to-1 yet won the Grade 2 $250,000 John C. Mabee Stakes in a compelling drive from last to first.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832582517104505124

• Race 4: Tenma (Kazushi Kimura/Bob Baffert) won the $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Debutante Stakes by a nose. Baffert sent out two horses including Nooni, the 4-to-5 favorite who faltered. Tenma, a $850,000 daughter to Nyquist, won her debut at 6-to-1. She has been partially overlooked in both career starts. She is owned by Taiwanese businessman, now of Massachusetts, Charlie Chu.

​

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832542822802845811

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Southern Cal racing:

• Del Mar (CA) has an attractive card today, the closing day of the meet.
• Los Al opens September 13 and runs through September 22.
• Santa Anita commences September 26 and that meet ends October 27.
• Del Mar opens October 31 and the next two days form Breeders' Cup weekend.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Sunday. September 8, 2024

Kentucky Downs (Kentucky):

• Card: Four races worth $1,000,000 or more.
• Wednesday: Closing Day of the brief meet.
• Irad Ortiz, Jr. rode five winners. He currently stands as the second leading rider at the meet with seven wins on board 26 mounts. He began the meet with 14 straight losing mounts but has since won seven of his past 12 rides. In all probability, he will finish first or second as Eclipse Outstanding Jockey of the Year for 2024.
• Race 10: Beautiful Berti (Brian Hernandez, Jr./Cherie DeVaux) won the $1.5 million Gun Runner Stakes.
• Meet Schedule: Closing day is Wednesday.
• Leading Jockeys: Jose Ortiz (8 wins), Irad Ortiz, Jr. (7) and Tyler Gaffalione (7).
• Leading Trainers: Steve Asmussen and Joe Sharp (6 wins apiece).
• Michael Maker and Mark Casse, two of the most proficient conditioners in North America, are a combined 0-for-60 this meet with the former sending out 39 starters and the latter 21.

Del Mar (California):

• Closing Day: Today ended the meet. Onto Los Alamitos and then Santa Anita. Del Mar returns October 31.
• Handle: $503 million bet during the 85th Summer Meet, an average of $16.2 million per card.
• Leading Jockey: Juan Hernandez, who won three times on this day, with 47 wins. He won the Del Mar summer title for the third time, all the past three years.
• Leading Trainer: Bob Baffert with 23 wins. It was his ninth summer title at Del Mar but first since 2003. The record for one trainer is 11.
• Handle: $17 million.
• Bob Baffert won both graded stakes races this weekend for 2-year-olds.
• Race 9: Artislas (Reylu Gutierrez/Jeff Mullins), a 2-year-old Catalina Cruiser colt out for the second time, won the Grade 3 $100,000 Juvenile Turf Stakes.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832943763024683430

• Race 10: Gaming (Flavien Prat/Bob Baffert), a 2-year-old son to Game Winner, won the $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Futurity. Gaming's career has started much like his dad's, that is two wins at Del Mar including the Futurity second-time-out. Baffert won this race for the fourth straight year, 18th overall and the seventh time he has won both the Debutante and Futurity in the same calendar year.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832951942018130327

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Gun Runner. I will say it for the 1,000th time.but we are witnessing something special on and off track. A Gun Runner colt foaled in April was purchased for $2.2 million at today's Keeneland September yearling sale.

A Charlatan (first crop) baby went for $1.4 mil. Prices are flying.

Updated:

Final totals include $54.7 million spent on 98 head. There were 14 horses sold for $1 million or more, five Gun Runner babies.

2023 figures show $55 million spent, nearly identical to the 2024 opener, but average this year is 11% higher.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Prince of Wales (Fort Erie) card is posted above in an earlier post.

Churchill Downs' card on Saturday, to be posted later, starts the 2025 Kentucky Derby preps as the Iroquois awards 10 points to the winning connections. No turf racing at CD this meet.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Fort Erie (ON):

• Handle: $3 million.
• Card: Five of the 11 races were stakes highlighted by the Prince of Wales.
• Race 10: Vitality (Jose Campos/Randy Ladouceur) spanked the field by four lengths at 9-to-1 to win the 89th running of the $400,000 Prince of Wales, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. Vitality was cold on the board dropping from a 6-to-1 m/l. The gelding entered with just one lifetime win in eight starts and broke his maiden at Woodbine in his seventh start.

Triple Crown (Canada)

Date	Race	Track	Distance	Purse	Edition	Billing	Winner
August 17	King's Plate	Woodbine Racetrack (ON)	1 1/4 miles	$1 million (Ca.)	165th	The oldest continuous race run in North America.	Caitlinhergreatness​
September 10	Prince of Wales Stakes	Fort Erie Race Track (ON)	1 3/16 miles	$400,000 (Ca.)	89th	Niagara’s most prestigious sporting event.	Vitality
September 29	Breeders' Stakes	Woodbine Racetrack (ON)	1 1/2 miles	$400,000 (Ca.)	133rd	The third and final jewel of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown.