Laurel Park has canceled its Friday and Saturday cards due to the continuing deep freeze that has gripped the Northeast for more than a week.
The temperature Friday morning in Maryland is forecast to be around 10 degrees, rising to the upper teens in the afternoon. Accuweather is predicting winds of 17 miles per hour, gusting up to 28 mph. Similar conditions are expected Saturday.
The Maryland Jockey Club canceled the Friday program on Wednesday and the Saturday races Thursday.
Vince Reed, a longtime racing analyst at Parx, died on Saturday at age 76.
Reed, whose actual name was Anthony Iacovelli, had bouts of light-headedness in the days before his death. He died at the Aria Health Torresdale Campus in Philadelphia after having fallen.
Reed, a Maryland native, worked at WBCB radio station in Levittown, Pa., since 1966, first as the news and sports director and later as a broadcaster. His specialty was high school sports.
Parx Racing has canceled its Saturday card due to frigid conditions that are expected to follow the Thursday blizzard in the Northeast.
Saturday temperatures in Bensalem, Pa. are expected to stay in the teens. Winds of 16 miles per hour, gusting to 28 mph are forecast.
Last Tuesday's card at Parx was canceled after a horse broke down in the first race and was euthanized. Temperatures on Tuesday were in the lower 20's with wind speed in the teens.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park jockey colony will get even stronger with the arrival of Irad Ortiz Jr., who will begin riding regularly here on Friday.
According to his agent, Steve Rushing, Ortiz just had enough of the cold weather and growing string of weather-related cancellations this winter at Aqueduct in New York. He made the decision to switch his tack to south Florida and join his brother Jose at Gulfstream following another spate of frigid weather and cancellations in New York this past weekend.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Dale Romans has confirmed plans for two of his top 3-year-old prospects, Tiz Mischief and Dak Attack, after the pair turned in eye-catching works just minutes apart on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jorge Navarro said that up until 7:30 on Sunday morning, he really didn’t want to run Sharp Azteca in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational. But that all changed in less than two minutes, the time it took Sharp Azteca to work five furlongs in 59 seconds and gallop out like a freight train over his home base at Gulfstream Park West.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A forecast that calls for more frigid temperatures later this week and through the weekend is making it complicated for New York Racing Association officials to reschedule five stakes races lost due to the cancellation of more than three racing programs last week.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though the year came to a premature end with the cancellation of Sunday’s card, it had no impact on who the leaders were in several categories at New York Racing Association tracks in 2017.
Irad Ortiz Jr. led all jockeys on this circuit in victories with 296, more than 100 wins ahead of runner-up Manny Franco (184), Jose Ortiz (181), John Velazquez (121), and Javier Castellano (119). Irad Ortiz Jr., who also led all riders in wins in 2014 and 2015, also led in purse money won in 2017 with $19,767,044.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Ippodamia’s Girl will be on a race-a-month schedule for early 2018 after winning her stakes debut in Sunday’s $85,320 Blue Norther Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.
Trainer Mike Puype said Monday he wants to keep Ippodamia’s Girl on turf through the year, with an emphasis on the lucrative races for the 3-year-old filly division this summer.
Puype said the $75,000 Sweet Life Stakes on the hillside turf course Feb. 11 and the $75,000 China Doll Stakes at a mile March 10 will be considered in advance of the Grade 3 Providencia Stakes on April 7.
