Saratoga Season Starts

Saratoga Racecourse has been home to horse racing for more than a hundred years. With the racing season opening on 23 July 2008, workers have been increasing their efforts to complete their renovations to the buildings and new additions in time for opening day. The New York Racing Association has invested $1 million into the renovation project, as the historic buildings were in need of care, while the upgrading and adding of food stalls, for instance, were seen as vital for coming years. In the fall, the grandstand will be the next project on the workers checklists, but for now everyone is excited and geared up for the coming six weeks of racing action.

Art Official Rocks Meadowlands Pace

On Saturday, the 19th of July 2008, the Meadowlands Pace took place in New Jersey for the twenty-eighth year. Indeed, the $1.1 million harness racing event was one of the most anticipated races of the year. Of the estimated seventeen thousand spectators who were present, many came to see the legendary Somebeachsomewhere in racing action, and they walked away from the event knowing that they had just witnessed one of the most breathtaking harness racing events of the year.

Invitations Go Out for the Haskell Invitational

The Haskell Invitational will be run for the forty-first time this year at Monmouth Park on the 3rd of August 2008. This year, thirty-three top horses have been invited to partake in this Grade 1 race that has a total purse of $1 million, of which more than half will go to the winner. One of the horses to have already been confirmed is Big Brown, winner of the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby. He will be up against the Todd Pletcher trained Atoned. Pletcher won the Haskell Invitational in 2006, with Bluegrass Cat and last year’s winner, Any Given Sunday.

Record Breaking Attendance at Del Mar Racecourse

In 1996 Del Mar Racecourse saw thousands flocking into the grandstands to watch the legendary Cigar in action in the Pacific Classic. Attracting such a massive crowd is indeed a rare occurrence, but on the opening day of racing at Del Mar Racecourse on the 16th of July 2008, they came very close. More than forty-three thousand spectators rushed through the racecourse gates to get a good seat and place their wagers. It is a record number of spectators, just a few hundred short of the 44 181 who showed up to watch Cigar.

National Hunt Racing at Market Rasen Racecourse

Set in the picturesque surroundings of Lincolnshire, just outside the quaint town of Market Rasen in England, the Market Rasen Racecourse is one of the most popular National Hunt racecourses in the country. It is a right-handed course that is just over a mile in circumference and although National Hunt racing events are usually held in the winter, the Market Rasen Racecourse offers all year round National Hunt racing. At present, the racecourse is gearing up for one of its biggest events of the year, the Totesport and The Journal Ladies Day, also known as the Toteswinger Summer Plate Day, which takes place on Saturday, 19 July 2008.

New Health and Safety Initiatives

In the horse racing industry there are a few power houses that are known to all, and being the second biggest racetrack holdings company, Penn National Gaming Inc. packs a mighty punch when it makes decisions in regard to racing. Their new health and safety initiatives, released on 15 July 2008, will hopefully encourage other holdings companies and privately owned racecourses to follow suit, as Penn National Gaming Inc. are determined to improve the safety of horses and ensure that their welfare is taken seriously.

New Members Appointed to CHRB

The California Horse Racing Board is responsible for enforcing the horse racing laws of the state, ensuring that regulations are abided by, supervising racetrack wagering and taking action against the parties who violate the racing authorizations. There are seven members on the board and the last two places on the board were filled with appointments by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, namely Bo Derek and David Israel. The new appointments will have to be confirmed by the California Senate, and they will be attending their first official board meeting at the Del Mar Racecourse.

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