Horse Racing News

The California Horse Racing Board has demanded that its five biggest horse racing tracks have synthetic track surfaces installed before the end of 2007 if they want to continue racing at their establishments. To adhere to the new ruling, $10 million has been spent on the Golden Gate Fields’ new track surface, a revolutionary surface that has already proved its worth at international racecourses such as in Hong Kong, England and Dubai. But it is the first time the Tapeta Footings surface has been installed at a racecourse in Northern California, and it is going to have to make believers out of the critics.

Read more »

The announcement made by Magna Entertainments Corporation, owners of the Great Lakes Downs horse racing facility, to close the track down by 6 November has sent shock waves through the thoroughbred horse racing fraternity in Michigan State. Great Lakes Downs is the only thoroughbred horse racing facility in Michigan and its closure will have a devastating ripple effect through the industry. To preserve the future of racing and compensate for the many jobs that will be lost, a new project has been created, the Pinnacle Race Course development.

Read more »

Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana, was opened in 1994 as the first pari-mutuel horse racing business in Indiana. Hoosier Park started off as a standardbred race track, later adding thoroughbred racing. This well-known and popular horse racing venue has all the amenities that one would expect from a top class facility and plans are moving ahead for extensions and renovations to Hoosier Park that are expected to attract even more visitors.

Read more »

This past weekend proved yet again that predicting the outcome of a race has a lot to do with luck. The sport of horse racing has always been a game of hopes, dreams and hot horse racing tips, but at Belmont Park victory was to be enjoyed by War Pass and not the race favorites. Winning the Grade 1 Champagne is not only a wonderful achievement for the racehorse, jockey, owner and trainer, but it means that War Pass has automatically secured a place in the Breeders Cup Juvenile.

Read more »

Missoula authorities that thought of stopping horse racing have second thoughts. Horse racing lovers bring in dollars to the County Fair Grounds, and form the bulk of the crowds as well. Just one company from Philadelphia, as we reported earlier, insures all Montana racetracks, and the monopoly has resulted in enormous increases in insurance costs. Fair authorities also crib about the ambulance and related emergency management costs that are inevitable when a terrible accident works: Missoula is known to have a couple of these every year.

Read more »

At 33-1 odds, no-one would have thought that Silver Birch stood a change in winning the Grand National. Which proves that you should never underestimate any horse that enters such a prestigious race. Aintree, in Liverpool, England, was the venue of great upset and triumph. With forty horses entering the race, only thirteen completed the course and there were no fatal or serious injuries amongst those that fell out of race.

Read more »

He passed on as he lived in horse racing - with dignity and surrounded by admirers. Twenty-seven is a good age for a horse, but that does not reduce anyone’s sorrow at the passing away of Desert Orchid. Few other thoroughbreds have evinced such universal respect in the world of horse racing.

Read more »

Horse racing is under attack! The nuances of this sport are not widely known everywhere. Pressures on land motivate most attempts to shrink the literal and figurative space we are willing to set aside for the sport. Many top race tracks have been swamped by fair grounds and modern forms of entertainment. There are non-financial values of breeding and raising horses, which find no place when accountants compare opportunity costs of horse farms.

Read more »

Many believe that jockeys are grossly undervalued and taken for granted in the world of horse racing. Bookmakers never lose, and owners always have another race to which they can look forward. Punters alternate between crests of joy and learning some rueful lessons for future use. Jockeys, who risk life and limb as a matter of routine, are rarely given their due credit. It is common to exult over a famous win, but to forget the incredibly courageous rider who nurses an aggressive colt, gelding or filly past the last post.

Read more »

Horse racing will now bring the Americas closer together! Top events in the United States will be relayed live to folk in Peru, Venezuela and Brazil, thanks to a satellite system established by Charlson Broadcast Technologies, based in Kentucky. Punters in these Latin countries can place bets and enjoy horse racing as though they were actually track side! This international and 21st century version of the sport can extend to all other countries. Venezuela is especially significant in Charlson's network, for it is hard evidence of how people can get together in peace, their politics notwithstanding.

Read more »