Saturday, March 27, 2010

“Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)” plus 1 more

“Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)” plus 1 more

Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 10:26 PM PDT

Horse racing is returning to the Cochise County Fairgrounds.

Fairgrounds Manager Karen Strongin announced last week enough state funding has been allocated this year allowing her to put on one weekend of horse racing.

Strongin said the dates she was given were April 10-11.

"We plan to have a nice variety of Thoroughbred and Quarter horse races," she said. "The track has been maintained and we're excited to be able to bring the races back to Douglas this year."

The El Moro de Cumpas trials will be held in Douglas that weekend with the finals to be in Sonoita for the second straight year. The Sonoita Derby Trials will also take place in Douglas as will the John Ray Memorial.

Strongin is hoping to have at least 10 races each of the two days.

With the economic situation the way it is there will be no increase in the price of the admission or the cost of the programs.

A St. Patrick's Day dance is scheduled for this Saturday (March 20) from 8 p.m. to midnight. Money raised will be used for the upcoming horse races. There will be door prizes and green beer. Tickets are $5.

"This board is determined to continue onward with all the traditions we have here," Strongin said. "We're like everybody else … in a funding crunch."

Kingman has cancelled its horse races this year and Safford is running just one weekend like Douglas.

Safford will run this March 20-21, then Strongin said there will be no races the next two weekends.

Douglas will have its races; there will be no racing April 17-18 with Sonoita running April 24-25 and May 1-2 which is Kentucky Derby weekend.

Strongin says what happened last year was beyond her on anyone's on the boards control and they would have loved to have had the horse races but with the timing of the state budget cuts that was just not possible.

"Our legislators are working really hard for us," she said. "They don't want to see this go away either. … They just had to wait and see what kind of funding was going to be available for the fourth quarter period.

"We want to race, we will race but we had to wait to hear from the state as to if any funds were going to be available to help us put on these races. We weren't sure if there was going to be any funding at all."

Some of the money from the state is also purse money, Strongin said.

The fairgrounds manager said she met individually which each of our state representatives and explained to them how important this event is for this area and they were able to come through for her this year.

"This event is very important for this area," she said. "People around here really like the races and look forward to us having them each year. … But it takes a lot of money to put this on."

Some horses are already starting to work out on the track. Strongin expects most of them to arrive around April 1.

Strongin says she is also looking for race sponsors and volunteers.

"If anybody in the community wants to volunteer to help do something out here and they don't have a criminal background, we would love to hear from them," she said.

 

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Brazilian horse wins $10 million race in Dubai | Horse Racing (Seattle Times)

Posted: 27 Mar 2010 08:32 PM PDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Gloria De Campeao won the $10 million Dubai World Cup on Saturday in a photo finish, nosing out longshot Lizard's Desire to capture the world's richest horse race.

Gloria De Campeao, Lizard's Desire and Allybar practically hit the wire together on the all-weather track at the newly opened Meydan Racecourse.

"This is the best win of my life," jockey Tiago Pereira said. "It's unbelievable."

Two favorites — Britain-bred Gitano Hernando and U.S.-based Gio Ponti — never seriously challenged during the 1 ¼-mile race.

Gloria De Campeao, a 6-year Brazil-bred whose name is Glorious Champion in Portuguese, won last year's Singapore Cup. He ran in the previous two Dubai World Cups and was beaten by 14 lengths by Well Armed a year ago.

The World Cup was the highlight of an eight-race card worth $26 million. Despite the economic slowdown, Dubai's rulers shelled out $2 billion to construct two racetracks, a grandstand that holds 60,000 spectators, a 290-room luxury hotel, a marina and a horse racing museum.

Gloria de Campeao led all the way until almost getting beat at the finish. Lizard's Desire jockey, Kevin Shea, initially started celebrating before being told he had fallen short by a nose.

Mission Impazible wins La. Derby

NEW ORLEANS — Mission Impazible pulled ahead just past the sixteenth pole to win his first race as a 3-year-old in the $750,000 Louisiana Derby.

The Todd Pletcher-trained colt, ridden by Rajiv Maragh and starting from the second post at 7-1 odds, covered the 1-1/8-mile course in 1:50.32 on a dry and fast track at the Fair Grounds.

Mission Impazible was in the middle of the 13-horse field near the end of the backstretch, but moved up to third coming out of the final turn before passing A Little Warm for his second career victory in one of the final major prep races for the Kentucky Derby.

A Little Warm, trained by Tony Dutrow, held on for second, three-quarters of a length behind the winner and a neck in front of third-place finisher Drosselmeyer.

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Mission Impazible paid $16.20, $7.20 and $5. A Little Warm paid $8.60 and 5.80. Drosselmeyer, which started from the 13th post, paid $4.20.

Dean's Kitten rolls to win in Lane's End

FLORENCE, Ky. — Don't let all those turf races fool you. Dean's Kitten is ready to get on the dirt at Churchill Downs.

The 3-year-old colt took control at the top of the stretch and pulled away to win the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park.

Next stop: the Kentucky Derby.

Dean's Kitten entered the 1-1/8-mile race over Polyturf as a relative veteran with 10 lifetime starts.

Jockey Cornelio Velasquez had Dean's Kitten stalk pacesetter Ranger Heartley until the turn, then floored it coming home to beat Northern Giant by 2 ½ lengths and finish in 1:50.59. Dean's Kitten paid $15, $6.20 and $3.40 while picking up his third career win.

Northern Giant went off as second choice behind 8-5 favorite Connemara and tried to reel in Dean's Kitten but simply didn't have enough in the tank and paid $5.40 and $3.40. Connemara paid $2.10 to show.

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