The Oaklawn Racing Club has been formed to give fans an opportunity at Thoroughbred ownership, the Hot Springs, Ark., track announced Friday. There will be up to 200 shares available at $500 each in a horse that will be purchased privately and trained by Ron Moquett.
The plan is to purchase an unraced 2-year-old who would launch his career this fall, then be based this winter and spring at Oaklawn, which opens Jan. 12.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Kyle Frey, the champion apprentice jockey of 2011, will be sidelined until the fall after undergoing surgery last Tuesday to remove a rod and screws that had caused infection to a leg, according to his agent, Mark North.
Frey, who last rode at Del Mar on July 23, complained of pain, and an MRI revealed the infection.
“When they did the MRI, where the screws were, there was infection all around there,” North said on Friday. “They removed the rod and cleaned up an abscess.”
Frey underwent leg surgery in 2012 following a spill in Pennsylvania.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The two-time stakes winner S Y Sky is out until the winter with an undisclosed injury.
S Y Sky was recently sent from Del Mar to owner and breeder Nick Alexander’s farm in central California, trainer Phil D’Amato said. D’Amato said S Y Sky had developed “a little issue” that will keep her out of training until the Santa Anita winter meeting.
“She needs a little R and R,” he said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Klimt, second in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on July 15 in his first race of the year, is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 26, trainer Art Sherman said this week.
The $500,000 Jerkens Memorial is run in honor of the late Hall of Fame trainer and was previously known as the King’s Bishop Stakes.
Sherman said the time between the Los Alamitos Derby and the Jerkens Memorial appealed to him.
Charles Town Races in West Virginia will debut a jackpot pick six bet with a 12 percent takeout on its Aug. 17 card, the track announced on Thursday.
The daily wager, which is being called the Charles Town 6-12, will pay out 75 percent of its pool to those that have selected the most winners in the sequence, while reserving 25 percent of the pool for a progressive jackpot that will be distributed only in the event of a single ticket having all six winners. The progressive jackpot concept has been adopted by a number of racetracks over the past several years.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Weekend Hideaway, the 7-2 morning-line favorite, was scratched from Thursday’s $100,000 John Morrissey Stakes due to an injury to his left front foot, trainer Phil Serpe said.
Serpe said Weekend Hideaway had stepped on his own foot earlier this week. Serpe and his staff worked on the foot and thought they had it in good enough shape to run. But on Thursday morning, there was some heat in the foot, and Serpe had to treat the horse with antibiotics.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Paulassilverlining and Finley’sluckycharm, the 1-2 finishers in Wednesday’s Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap, are both likely to run back in the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina here on Aug. 26.
Paulassilverlining wore down Finley’sluckycharm by a neck in the six-furlong Honorable Miss, her third consecutive victory this year. She won the Grade 1 Madison and Grade 1 Humana Distaff by the same margin.
“She’s been a real nice addition to the barn,” trainer Chad Brown said. “She looked a picture leading her over to the paddock.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Fayeq took advantage of a contested pace to win a first-level allowance race Wednesday at Saratoga, and now his connections will mull over whether to take a giant swing in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes here on Aug. 26.
Fayeq, a half-brother to 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra by Malibu Moon, won for the second consecutive time in his first try around two turns. He raced on his left lead for the length of the stretch but ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.19 – the fastest time for that distance at this meet – and earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Curlin Road, claimed for $40,000 in April, may have earned a start in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 19 with his first stakes victory in Wednesday’s Grade 3 Cougar II Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on dirt at Del Mar.
Ridden by Flavien Prat, Curlin Road ($21.40) closed from fifth in a field of seven to finish a nose in front of 6-5 favorite Hard Aces. The outcome was not confirmed until the stewards conducted a review of the race after Santiago Gonzalez, who rode Hard Aces, lodged a claim of foul against the winner, alleging interference in the stretch.
