Be mindful of those who suffer from depression or anxiety today – it’s real and mostly not controllable…
THEO AND LEXI say – wow, this has been one weeny winter! Hardly any snow, a few cold days, not much sunshine, Blah!!
Sovereign nominated photograph Ericka Rusnak shared this image
THOROUGHBLOG INTERVIEW :
SATURDAY IS SHIP-IN DAY AT WOODBINE!!
Training track/sand ring being worked on for Sunday opening (weather permitting)
Ladies and gents, bring us your horses!
It has been a weird winter in southern Ontario, not a lot of snow in the city limits and beyond.
How have the horses managed over the winter with more mud to stand in than cold, cooling snow?
Well, ship in day is Saturday and the training track is expected to be opened Sunday.
“Opening the training track and sand ring is actually going to be pretty easy,” said Irwin Driedger, Woodbine’s ace track manager. “It’s always a little nerve-wracking getting the track open, you don’t want anybody to mess any training days, so we have to monitor the weather all the time, anything can happen.”
But Driedger said that his crew has already begun to work the tracks and other than being slightly ‘uneven” because it has not been frozen underneath, the cold temperatures at night coming up should be perfect for the surface.
“It looks like the weather will be cooperating for a while,”, said Driedger. “On the one hand, it has been a nice winter, but it has not been consistent, with thaws, sun, and then occasional freezing.”
Likely 3yo champion and a major contender for HORSE OF THE YEAR (April 5 Soveeigns) – INGLORIOUS is revving up! Dave Landry photo
INGLORIOUS BACK ON THE WORKOUT TAB
Queen’s Plate/Woodbine Oaks winner INGLORIOUS (Hennessy) worked half a mile in 50.60 on Monday at Palm Meadows and is getting ready to return to racing.
Trainer Josie Carroll did not offer up much to THOROUGHBRED DAILY NEWS as to what races the 4yo filly, owned by Donver Stable, would be pointed to, but figures she should come to hand quickly/
“We were looking for a little better than a two-minute lick, to stretch her legs and go an easy half and not even ask her to do anything,” explained trainer Josie Carroll. “She did that really in a gallop.”
read more at www.thoroughbreddailynews.com
PEGASUS SALE IN WASHINGTON
The second annual Pegasus Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in Redmond, Washington, put on by Pegasus Training and Equine Rehabilitation Center founder Dr. Mark Dedomenico and prominent Canadian owner Glen Todd was held yesterday in Redmond, Wash.
A colt by Pleasantly Perfect topped the sale at $125,000 and was bought by Jerry Hollendorfer.
Todd paid $97,000 for a filly by Songandaprayer out of stakes winner Glitter Star.
OCALA – THIS LAND IS…STRONACH’S LAND
Coming soon, ‘Adena Springs Ranch’ with huge numbers of beef cattle
BY FRED HIERS, Ocala. com
If Frank Stronach were to build Disney World in Marion County, he would already have enough land to do it.
The Canadian–based businessman has increased his Marion County land holdings in the past two years nearly sixfold, making him the largest private property owner in the county with 29,000 acres. (Walt Disney World in Orlando encompasses somewhere around 25,000 acres.) Only the U.S. Forestry Department, which owns the Ocala National Forest, and Florida’s various state agencies have more land in Marion County than does Stronach.
And he’s looking for more.
READ MORE – http://www.ocala.com/article/20120204/ARTICLES/120209851
PARX RACING YESTERDAY
The first and last race at Parx yesterday were tough to take for horsepeople and racing fans. A horse in each race broke down and was put down. The first race, a $25,000 maiden claiming event, saw HERE MSS KITTY died as a 9 to 2 contender. In the final race, the favourite, ACE ON TOP, broke down and ran some distance before he was caught. That was also a maiden race, for $10,000.
Both horses, incidentally, were trained by William Hedus.
PAULICK REPORT TALKS ABOUT STARTER’S FEE
Yes, any horse that starts in a race gets some money, it is probably not good that Parx Racing has a sliding scale – $1,500 for just starting in a race is asking for trouble, no?
Certainly racing secretaries and racing management urge horsepeople to enter horses when cards are light, that has to also come into consideration. And yes, there are horsepeople out there who are just going to run their horses no matter what.
Indeed, all potential worries:
Are starter fees a source of trouble in horse racing?
by Ray Paulick | 02.07.2012 | 2:51pm
One of things I found interesting in last week’s story about Star Plus, the Argentine Group 1 winner who is now the center of a dispute between his former owner, Earle I. Mack, and his present owner, George Iacovacci Sr., is that the horse earned $1,000 in his last start at Parx Racing despite finishing last in a seven-horse field, beaten more than 43 lengths.
Star Plus finished last in his three previous stars in 2011 for Iacovacci but still got his owner a check each time, earning $450 at Mt. Pleasant Meadows July 24, $674 at Mountaineer Park Nov. 21, and $258 in another race
TWO HORSES DIE DURING FILMING OF ‘LUCK’
New york observer.com report
Breaking: HBO Responds to Racing Show Luck’s Real-Life Horse Fatalities
By Drew Grant 2/06 5:17pm
Critics have already been effusive in their praise for Luck, the new HBO show created by David Milch. Executive produced by Michael Mann and by star Dustin Hoffman, the series sets out to expose the seedy underbelly of the thoroughbred racing scene.
But eagle-eyed viewers may notice one detail missing from the pilot episode, as well as one additional installment: the American Humane Association’s usual seal of approval certifying that “No Animals Were Harmed” during the filming of the show. Instead, those two episodes state merely that “The American Humane Association Monitored the animal action.”
That’s because while Luck takes a hard look at those who exploit animals for money, the show itself has come under scrutiny after two of the horses used in the production broke their legs during filming and had to be euthanized.
PETA was the first to latch on to Luck‘s bad luck, in a January 27 article, “Nothing But Bad Luck for Horses in ‘Luck,’” that noted:
read more at:
SIGN OF THE TIMES?
The battle for slots money in PA:
BLOOD HORSE – By Tom LaMarra
PA Horsemen Blast Plan to ‘Raid’ Slots Fund
The Pennsylvania Equine Coalition has blasted a budget proposal by Gov. Tom Corbett to take roughly $72 million in each of the next three years from the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund to pay for other agriculture-related programs.
Corbett’s 2012-13 budget proposes no tax hikes but instead shifts existing revenue. The PHRDF, which gets revenue from slot machines at racetrack and non-racing casinos, would take a substantial hit under the governor’s proposal.
According to line items in the general fund budget, the PHRDF would provide the following on an annual basis: $44.7 million to the Agricultural College Land Scrip Fund, $27.8 million to the University of Pennsylvania for veterinary activities, $971,000 to county fairs in Pennsylvania, and $248,000 to the University of Pennsylvania for control of infectious diseases.
