Horse Racing: I. Ortiz/B. Cox/Godolphin/Into Mischief top 2023; J. Rodriguez/B. Russell win Laurel titles on final day; L. Rice sets NYRA record for wins in a year

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

The worst of the weather in Philadelphia today is expected at night from a recent model forecast. No changes yet at Parx.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Parx's turf is listed officially as "soft" and as such racing is on-the-turf as of 10:00 am ET.

Meadowlands, Delaware, Pimlico and Aqueduct have canceled.

 

[RosensRug]

I'm taking a shot with West Coast Cowboy in the PA derby at 33-1 to hit the board. One win in the slop in the past.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

I'm taking a shot with West Coast Cowboy in the PA derby at 33-1 to hit the board. One win in the slop in the past.

I finished 1-3-4 in an exacta box.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Parx must have needed to visit Wells Fargo to pay out that finale. Damn. What prices.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saturday, September 23, 2023

• Cancellations due to rain/wind:
  • Charles Town (WV) -- final five races
  • Monmouth at Meadowlands (NJ)
  • Belmont at Aqueduct (NY)
  • Pimlico (MD)
  • Delaware Park (DE)
• Brad Cox had a 4-win day. The trainer won four of the five races he entered.
• Luan Machado rode a winner at Parx (PA) in mid-afternoon then traveled to Kentucky where he won at Churchill Downs (KY) last night. He was 2-for-2 on the day.
• Chad Brown had a light say sending out just three horses. Since a very successful Keeneland meet in April. he is 52 7-4-14 at Kentucky tracks (Ellis, Churchill and Kentucky Downs). In September, he has just six wins with 36 starters outside of NYRA tracks. He has won just 16 times with the past 125 horses sent out since August 22 in North America. While not abysmal numbers, that is a long stretch for a former and recent Trainer of the Year to have a less then productive barn. He will eventually ship to Florida where his numbers are usually strong.

Saratoga Harness (New York):

• Race 6: The winner paid $181.60. The $2 exacta returned $2,398. The $2 tri paid an astounding $22,000+. This payout coincided with Parx's outrageous totals in race 14.

Parx (Pennsylvania):

• Card: 10 of the 14 races were stakes or (one) handicap highlighted by the Grade I Pennsylvania Derby.
• Handle: More than $17 million.
• Track Conditions: Sloppy (sealed) for dirt. The turf began listed as soft, then labeled yielding with just one race run on turf the entire card. Eventually the balance of turf racing was moved to dirt.
• Spread Out: There were 14 trainers and 13 jockeys to win races. The exception was a 2-win day by John Velazquez.
• Chalk: Dominated the early half of the card with just one payout more than $5.
• Race 14: Boss Like Beth (Dexter Haddock/Janet Polachek) was the longest shot in a field of 12 but prevailed to pay $132.20. The 65-to-1 shot topped a 52-to-1 shot and the combination earned $2 exacta winners $2,901. The $2 tri paid over $19,000. The $1 super returned a massive $120,000+. The $.50 Pick 5 paid a gigantic $333,000+. The $2 Pick 4 was over $12,000.
• Race 13: Saudi Crown (Florent Geroux/Brad Cox) wired the field to win the Grade I $1 million Pennsylvania Derby. The 3-year-old son to Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming was sent off the favorite and won for the third time in five lifetime starts.

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• Race 12: Ceiling Crusher (Edwin Maldonado/Doug O'Neill) won the Grade I $1,000,000 Cotillion in gate-to-wire style. The horse was bred in California and she ran exclusively in southern California with her local connections.

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• Race 11: Damon's Mound (Junior Alvarado/Michelle Lovell) won the Grade 2 $400,000 Gallant Bob Stakes. Alvarado is 2-for-2 riding the Florida-bred since taking reins from Gabriel Saez who rode exclusively -- eight starts -- prior.

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• Race 10: Nimitz Class (Paco Lopez/Bruce Kravets) won the $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile. Gunite (Tyler Gaffalione/Steve Asmussen), a $2 million earner who was sent off the favorite, placed. Kravets won his first race in 1977 at Atlantic City (NJ).

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• Race 8: Nobody Listens (Tyler Gaffalione/Tim Eggleston) won the lone turf race of the day, the Grade 3 $250,000 Turf Monster Stakes. The trainer won a graded stakes for the first time among his 63 lifetime victories and conditions mostly in Indiana. Nobody Listens, bred in Indiana, improved to 26 14-7-1 including 2-for-2 at Parx.

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• Race 6: Next (Luan Machado/William Cowans) wired the field to win the Grade 3 $200,000 Greenwood Cup by an improbable 25 lengths at the prohibitive odds of 1-to-9. Next was claimed for $62,500 in April 2022 and improved his lifetime earnings to $915,672. He is 6-for-8 since the claim. The 5-year-old is 19 9-0-1. and enjoys long races as he added this 1 1/2 mile victory to those that went 1 3/4 and 1 1/2 miles earlier this year. My Imagination placed by a nose at 84-to-1.

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Churchill Downs (Kentucky):

• Brad Cox won three of the four races he entered. times. He finished 5 3-1-0.
• Race 10: Lady Radler (Jesus Castenon/Michael Campbell) was the longest shot at 23-to-1 but prevailed to win the Grade 3 $300,000 Dogwood Stakes. Campbell is a small-stable trainer based in the Midwest who has been active since the 1970s. This is one of his biggest victories ever.

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• Race 6: Accredit (Luan Machado/Pavel Matejka) won a $140,000 allowance race. Machado, who missed earlier mounts due to being at Parx (PA), won a Grade 3 there earlier. Those two mounts were his only rides of the day.

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[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Keeneland's 80th September Yearling Sale produced the third highest total $394,127,900 -- 2,754 yearlings sold -- and largest average of $143,111.

A total of 168 horses sold for $500,000+.

 

[GKJ]

It wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been at post time for the PA Derby. I didn’t see it live, but the rain had let up a lot at that point in the day.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Belmont at Aqueduct is off-the-turf for today (Sunday).

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Sunday, September 24, 2023

• Conditions: Belmont at Aqueduct (NY) and Pimlico (MD) had reduced betting options due to excessive scratches resulting from yesterday's weather.
• Jorge Delgado won twice at Pimlico and also the feature at Gulfstream for a 3-win day with four horses sent out. Delgado, in his early 30s, settled in south Florida from Venezuela about 10 years ago.

Belmont at Aqueduct (New York):

• Irad Ortiz, Jr. rode three winners.
• Race 7: Bank Frenzy (Irad Ortiz, Jr./Lisa Lewis) gave the trainer her second win of 2023 and first since March. She has worked as a private trainer and sends out horses infrequently.

Pimlico (Maryland):

• Closing Day: Pimlico is now dark until its brief meet that includes the Preakness Stakes in May. Laurel takes the rein until then.

• Leading Jockey: Jeiron Barbosa. It is the fourth title for the 19-year-old jockey. Think about that for a moment. Again, he was my overwhelming pick for Apprentice of the Year in 2022. He has the second most wins in the state of Maryland in 2023 behind only Jaime Rodriguez who gets the top call for Jamie Ness's perpetual roaring machines.
• Leading Trainer: Brittany Russell. It was her fifth career title. The Pennsylvania native has surpassed career highs with 477 starters, 124 wins, and more than $5.7 million in purse earnings. Go get 'em, Brit!

• Race 3: Low Society (Jevian Toledo/Brittany Russell) was a stick out but still made an impressive debut on slop. Michael Dubb bought the World of Trouble filly, relatively cheap for him at $30,000. The horse was claimed after her maiden performance today. Toledo won for the 1,500th time and afterwards took a photo with Edy Russell, the daughter of winning trainer Brittany and jockey Sheldon, the latter whom has the same agent as the victorious rider.

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• Race 10: Dancinonthebeach (Tais Lyapustina/Hugh McMahon) was the only first-time starter -- a favorite betting strategy -- in winning the finale at 9-to-1.
• Martina Rojas: Don't sleep on her. She won consecutive races and currently has a 5-pound bug. While she rides elsewhere in the region, Maryland traditionally has solid bugs. She is in her first year of riding and has 57 wins.

Gulfstream (Florida):

• Race 8: Omaha Girl (Samy Camacho/Jorge Delgado) wired the field at 4-to-1 to win the $65,000 Hallandale Beach Stakes.

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Churchill Downs (Kentucky):

• Race 4: Angelico (Francisco Arrieta/Brian Williamson) was the only first-time starter -- again, a personal favorite angle -- and won at 22-to-1, the longest odds in a field of 10. Lone first-timers happens infrequently but they are often worth value.
• Grade 7: Gorilla Tank (Julien Leparoux/Philip Bauer) was one of two first-timers in a deep field and managed to win at 13-to-1.

Remington (Oklahoma):

• Handle: $4.1 million, s portion of the card under the night skies.
• Card: Remington Park Oaks and the Oklahoma Derby highlighted the 10-race card. Seven races were stakes including two graded, plus there was one handicap.
• David Cabrera, second in the riders' standings, broke a femur Thursday night after being dismounted in a race. He had surgery Friday and is sidelined until next year some time.
• Stewart Elliott had a 3-win day and on Sept. 27 was named North America Jockey of the Week. He had 10 wins the past three days including a 5-win day on Sep. 22.

• Race 10: How Did He Do That (Stewart Elliott/Steve Asmussen) won the $400,000 Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at 44-to-1 in a 3-way photo finish. The Good Magic colt won for the fourth time in 14 lifetime starts and has run at nine tracks including Prairie Meadows (IA), Lone Star (TX), Zia Park (NM), Sunland (NM) and Louisiana Downs (LA) among other stops. The powerful jockey-trainer connections have more than 15,000 wins between them and form a formidable team in the southwest. Elliott had the mount for the second time, the two races the colt ran at Remington. The $2 double returned $697.

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• Race 9: Honor D Lady (Tyler Conner/Saffie Joseph) won the Grade 3 $200,000 Remington Park Oaks. The Honor Code filly won for the 3rd time in eight starts, mostly at the trainer's home track of Gulfstream. Conner, who rode yesterday at Parx (PA) and three times there for Joseph, rode this mount for the first time. Honor D Lady has won on three different track surfaces- synthetic, turf, and dirt.

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• Edwin Gonzalez-Herman Wilensky teamed to win twice, the trainer's only two starters on the card. Wilensky, a Florida-based trainer for 20 years who has a small stable, won a handicap and a stakes race. He has eight wins this year, nine is a personal high since 2014.

Los Alamitos (California):

• Closing Day of the Meet:
  • Leading Jockey: Juan Hernandez was a perfect 6 6-0-0 with four wins on the final day. Diego Herrera and Ramon Vazquez also had six victories, all had six wins.
  • Leading Trainer: Bob Baffert finished 7 5-1-0 including four wins on this the final day.
  • Santa Anita awaits for a meet that spans 9/29/2023-11/5/2023.

• Del Mar runs 11/10/2023-12/3/2023
• Juan Hernandez-Bob Baffert combined to go 4 4-0-0. Hernandez rode those four times. Baffert sent out five horses and finished 5 4-1-0.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Some NYRA-based jocks will head to Finger Lakes for Monday's card.

Purse $103,159. Five And One Half Furlongs. Purse $103,159. FILLIES TWO YEARS OLD, FOALED IN NEW YORK STATE AND APPROVED BY THE NEW YORK STATE BRED REGISTRY.

P#	PP	Horse	A/S	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1	Unicorn Cake (NY)	2/F	K Carmouche	120	J C Englehart	4/1
2	2	Lika Rolling Stone (NY)	2/F	J Flores	120	P W Barrow	8/1
3	3	Soloshot (NY)	2/F	M Franco	120	G Weaver	5/2
4	4	Maggy's Palace (NY)	2/F	J A Davis	120	K M Grusmark	10/1
5	5	Ixodes (NY)	2/F	H K Harkie	120	R D'Alessandro	20/1
6	6	Moon Chariot (NY)	2/F	K J Coa	120	L K Dixon	20/1
7	7	Nicky Jolene (NY)	2/F	I Ortiz, Jr.	120	R N Falcone, Jr.	7/2
8	8	Redwineandwhiskey (NY)	2/F	E De Diego	120	M Fadlovich	10/1
9	9	A Thousand Plans (NY)	2/F	K Davis	120	G E Brooks	6/1

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Laurel has a beauty of a card for Saturday.

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$52,000	Maiden Special Weight	6 F	Dirt	8	12:25 PM ET
2	$28,000	Claiming	1 1/16 M	Turf	16	12:56 PM ET
3	$40,000	Starter Optional Claiming	About 1 1/16 M	Dirt	8	1:27 PM ET
4	$36,000	Maiden Claiming	1 1/16 M	Turf	15	1:58 PM ET
5	$48,000	Allowance	7 F	Dirt	9	2:29 PM ET
6	$150,000	Selima S.	1 1/16 M	Turf	10	3:00 PM ET
7	$62,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	7 F	Dirt	9	3:31 PM ET
8	$100,000	Japan Turf Cup S.	1 1/2 M	Turf	15	4:02 PM ET
9	$100,000	Twixt S.	About 1 1/16 M	Dirt	9	4:33 PM ET
10	$150,000	Laurel Futurity	1 1/16 M	Turf	16	5:05 PM ET
11	$44,000	Maiden Claiming	7 F	Dirt	9	5:36 PM ET

Churchill Downs' card for Saturday has also been released.

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$56,000	Claiming	1 1/16 M	Dirt	8	12:45 PM ET
2	$66,000	Claiming	6 F	Dirt	7	1:14 PM ET
3	$68,000	Claiming	1 1/16 M	Dirt	9	1:43 PM ET
4	$127,000	Allowance	1 M	Turf	10	2:13 PM ET
5	$120,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 M	Dirt	12	2:45 PM ET
6	$54,000	Claiming	1 1/16 M	Dirt	8	3:18 PM ET
7	$134,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	6 1/2 F	Dirt	11	3:50 PM ET
8	$200,000	Jefferson Cup S.	1 M	Turf	11	4:22 PM ET
9	$400,000	Ack Ack S.	1 M	Dirt	7	4:55 PM ET
10	$500,000	Lukas Classic S.	1 1/8 M	Dirt	9	5:26 PM ET
11	$120,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 1/16 M	Turf	16	5:58 PM ET

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Tamara, the Richard Mandella trained 2-year-old Bolt d'Oro filly who has won by more than nine lengths in two career victories and starts, will train up to the Breeders' Cup Juvy Fillies race. She has caught California by storm. If she continues to do what she has done, comparisons to Songbird will be made.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Just reading about the death of Nobody Listening the Indiana-bred that made instant headlines after winning at Parx (PA) on Saturday in the lone turf race. He died during the van ride home, spooked by noise from nearby. Tragic for the entire barn and connections, especially for a small stable attaining such glory one moment.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

There are 12 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races Friday Sept. 29 through Sunday, Oct. 1.

Day	Track/Location	Name of Race	Breeders' Cup Division
Friday​	Newmarket/England	AL BASTI EQUIWORLD, DUBAI ROCKFEL STAKES	Juvenile Fillies Turf
Saturday	Aqueduct/New York	THE VOSBURGH​	Qatar Racing Sprint
	Churchill Downs/Kentucky	ACK ACK STAKES​	Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile
	Santa Anita/California	AWESOME AGAIN STAKES​	Longines Classic
	Newmarket/England	JUDDMONTE ROYAL LODGE STAKES​	Juvenile Turf
Sunday	ParisLongchamp/France	PRIX DE L'OPERA LONGINES​	Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf
	ParisLongchamp/France	QATAR PRIX MARCEL BOUSSAC​	Juvenile Fillies Turf
	ParisLongchamp/France	QATAR PRIX JEAN-LUC LAGARDERE​	Juvenile Turf
	ParisLongchamp/France	QATAR PRIX DE L'ARC DE TRIOMPHE​	Longines Turf
	ParisLongchamp/France	PRIX DE L'ABBAYE DE LONGCHAMP LONGINES​	Turf Sprint
	Aqueduct/New York	THE MISS GRILLO​	Juvenile Fillies Turf
	Aqueduct/New York	THE PILGRIM​	Juvenile Turf

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Due to TV commitments, NYRA has posted a 12:05 post time for Saturday's Belmont at Aqueduct card.

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$75,000	Maiden Special Weight	6 F	Turf	16	12:05 PM ET
2	$90,000	Maiden Special Weight	6 F	Dirt	13	12:36 PM ET
3	$250,000	Vosburgh S.	7 F	Dirt	6	1:09 PM ET
4	$102,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	1 M	Dirt	8	1:38 PM ET
5	$250,000	Gallant Bloom S.	6 1/2 F	Dirt	6	2:09 PM ET
6	$500,000	Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S.	1 1/2 M	Turf	9	2:40 PM ET
7	$400,000	Woodward S.	1 1/8 M	Dirt	10	3:11 PM ET
8	$80,000	Allowance	7 F	Dirt	9	3:42 PM ET
9	$90,000	Maiden Special Weight	1 1/16 M	Turf	16	4:15 PM ET
10	$80,000	Allowance	1 1/16 M	Turf	16	4:46 PM ET
11	$38,000	Maiden Claiming	6 F	Dirt	11	5:17 PM ET

 

[GKJ]

Nice to see Stew Elliott surface.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Santa Anita on Sept. 30:

Race	Purse	Race Type	Distance	Surface	Starters	Est. Post
1	$63,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	6 F	Turf	11	1:00 PM PT
2	$24,000	Claiming	1 M	Dirt	7	1:30 PM PT
3	$61,000	Maiden Special Weight	6 F	Turf	7	2:00 PM PT
4	$61,000	Maiden Special Weight	6 1/2 F	Dirt	7	2:30 PM PT
5	$63,000	Allowance Optional Claiming	1 M	Turf	9	3:05 PM PT
6	$200,000	Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. presented by Estrella Jalisco	6 F	Dirt	9	3:37 PM PT
7	$61,000	Maiden Special Weight	6 1/2 F	Turf	11	4:09 PM PT
8	$300,000	Awesome Again S.	1 1/8 M	Dirt	9	4:41 PM PT
9	$200,000	Eddie D S.	About 6 1/2 F	Downhill turf	11	5:13 PM PT
10	$200,000	City of Hope Mile S.	1 M	Turf	9	5:45 PM PT

Bob Baffert's Eda rides a 7-race win streak on Saturday at Santa Anita.

RACE 8 Chillingworth S. (Grade III) POST TIME - 4:36 PM PT​

Purse $100,000. Six And One Half Furlongs. For Fillies And Mares Three-Year-Olds And Upward.

P#	PP	Horse	A/S	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1	Clearly Unhinged (KY)	3/F	U Rispoli	118	M W McCarthy	4/1
2	2	Home Cooking (KY)	3/F	E A Maldonado	118	B Baffert	12/1
3	3	Kirstenbosch (KY)	4/F	H I Berrios	126	J W Sadler	8/1
4	4	Elm Drive (KY)	4/F	R Gonzalez	126	P D'Amato	3/1
5	5	Eda (KY)	4/F	J J Hernandez	126	B Baffert	4/5
6	6	Violent Runner (KY)	5/M	M Gutierrez	122	S R Knapp	30/1
7	7	Lady T (KY)	4/F	M E Smith	126	J A Shirreffs	12/1

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Belmont at Aqueduct, Belterra, Indianapolis and Delaware are all off-the-turf for Thursday.

East coast turf players are probably counting the days to Tampa Bay. Two months to go.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

An extension into mid-Nov. so that Arizona can operate OTBs via live racing at Turf Paradise appears to be a formality. Horsemen are indicating a meet in 2024 could happen after all. Track owner Jerry Simms said within the last few days he is interested in selling the property and would close the joint October 1. The news is just breaking.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Saudi Cup weekend will take place February 23-24, 2024 with over $35 million in purse money including the world's largest purse -- the $20 million (US) Saudi Cup.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

More news from Arizona is due today but there are indications that both Arizona Downs and Turf Paradise could be sold to racing interests. The seemingly always contentious OTBs in the state are necessary as part of any deal. It will be interesting to see if Stronach's name arises.

 

[GKJ]

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Now with an update to the update above, there is potential optimism from Arizona.

New Turf Paradise buyer plans to continue racing in 2024

The new buyer for Turf Paradise racetrack in Phoenix will complete the deal within the next two months and plans to hold a live racing meet at the track at the beginning of 2024, if not sooner, Arizona racing officials said at a Department of Racing meeting on Thursday.

www.drf.com

The new buyer for Turf Paradise racetrack in Phoenix will complete the deal within the next two months and plans to hold a live racing meet at the track at the beginning of 2024, if not sooner, Arizona racing officials said at a Department of Racing meeting on Thursday.​

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The new buyer was identified as Frank Nickens by Turf Paradise’s general manager, Vincent Francia, and by the president of the Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, J. Lloyd Yother. Nickens approached Turf Paradise last week about buying the track after a potential sale collapsed 10 days ago, Francia and Yother said.​

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The rapid emergence of the deal led Dave Auther, one of the owners of Arizona Downs in Prescott Valley – which has not run a live meet since 2022 – to question whether Turf Paradise was attempting to keep control over simulcasting revenues through the end of 2023 even though Simms had announced that the track was going to close. Under Arizona racing regulations, licensed permit-holders retain a share of the offtrack betting handle in the state, as well as the source-market fees generated by account-wagering handle.​

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“Has anyone vetted this person?” Auther asked the commission, referring to Nickens. “Does he need a permit? Is it going to be under Turf Paradise’s permit? What is going on? Because all we hear is that Turf Paradise is closing and Jerry is going to his place in California and retiring.”​

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In answer to Auther, Chuck Coolidge, chairman of the commission, said that “the buyer is still going to have to go through all the things they have to do” in order to get a license. Simms said that Nickens had already received licensing paperwork from the commission.​

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Because of the new deal, the commission approved simulcast contracts with a number of tracks that will offer their simulcast signals in Arizona through the Nov. 12 date. In addition, it renewed the advanced-deposit wagering licenses for three account-wagering operators, two of which have authorization to operate in the state through an agreement with Turf Paradise.​

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As for a live race meet, Simms said that Nickens told him that the current plan would be to operate a live race meet in January. Turf Paradise has typically run a live race meet from early November to early May, and Simms said that Nickens might seek earlier race dates if the deal can be completed quickly.​

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Belmont at Aqueduct (New York):

• Card: Another off-the-turf racing day.
• Chalk: Favorites won six of nine races.
• Race 1: Caitlinhergrtness (John Velazquez/Todd Pletcher) was sent off the favorite and the Hall of Fame jockey-trainer combo won, as a team, for the 1,859th (26%) time.

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• Race 2: Beautiful Karen (Eliseo Ruiz/Rudy Rodriguez) topped a 20-to-1 and 33-to-1 $1 exacta that returned $416. The apprentice rider usually rides at Parx (PA).
• Race 3: Quality Chic (Isaac Castillo/David Jacobson) won in a severely reduced field of three.
• Race 5: Moonlight (Irad Ortiz, Jr./Todd Pletcher) was sent off the favorite and won. Pletcher sent out two horses in MSW races and won both. Malarchuk (Manny Franco/Chad Brown) placed at 7-to-1. Malarchuk is a son to Nyquist.

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The final blow to beautiful Arlington (IL):