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News and notes from around the Thoroughbred racing world, compiled by Thoroughbred Racing Communications, Inc. (TRC) (212.371.5911..)  CHAMPION FOREGO DIES AT AGE 27 Eight-time champion Forego was euthanized Wednesday, Aug. 27, at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington, after fracturing the long pastern bone in his right rear leg. He was 27. 'My principal concern is for Forego,' said Forego's owner, Mrs. Martha Gerry. I did not want the horse to suffer. I feel that since he spent most of his life at the Kentucky Horse Park, that is where he should be buried.' Forego won 34 of 57 starts and earned $1,938,957 from 1973-78. He ran in 44 stakes races, winning 24, and was the race favorite 50 times. He was named Horse of the Year three times (1974-76), second only to Kelso, who was honored five times. The huge gelding (he stood 17 hands tall), didn't race at age two but was good enough to make the 1973 Kentucky Derby. He was beaten 11 lengths by Secretariat, but won half his 18 starts that year. He came into his own in 1974, winning eight stakes races and his first Horse of the Year award. Forego is best remembered for carrying huge weights to victory. He carried 130 pounds or more 24 times with 13 wins and toted 137 to win the 1976 Marlboro Cup by a head over three-year-old Honest Pleasure, who was carrying 18 pounds less. Forego was retired after a fifth-place finish in the 1978 Suburban Handicap, failing to become the first Thoroughbred to earn $2 million. NTRA TO CHOOSE FROM AMONG FOUR AGENCIES After a broad review of advertising agencies throughout the country, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association has selected four agencies to make strategic-creative presentations of proposed national branding campaigns for the sport. The finalists scheduled to make presentations in Atlanta are: BBDO South; DMB&B; Los Angeles; Merkley Newman Harty, New York; and The Richards Group, Dallas. The search process is being conducted for the NTRA by Brown & Martin Consulting which has also been retained by the NTRA to develop a 'best practices' training program to be made available to NTRA member racetracks. Both BBDO and DMB&B; have handled earlier assignments for the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and the National thoroughbred Association, industry groups which are participants in the NTRA. The NTRA brand advertising budget will be $12-15 million in 1998 and more than $20 million in 1999. A national television, radio and print campaign will be extended to the local market level through co-op advertising and promotions with individual tracks. The objective of advertising and other marketing strategies is to promote the sport's visibility and consumer awareness, to bring new fans to the tracks and, ultimately, to establish Thoroughbred racing as one of the top five sports in North America. VIDEO LOTTERY GAME TO FEATURE HORSES Daily Race Game Joint Venture, a partnership of Scientific Games International and TeleCom Productions, Inc., are planning to market the 'Daily Race Game,' an on-line television lottery, in January of 1998. The Daily Race Game is a 60-second, virtual reality horse race where bettors will be required to pick three horses from a 12-horse field. 'This joint venture is an ideal way for lotteries to solidify their on-line business while filling an important lottery market niche,' said William G. Malloy, president and chief executive officer of Scientific Games. 'With sales slumping nationally for traditional on-line games, innovative products are needed to invigorate the market.' FORT ERIE SALE IS COMPLETED The Ontario Racing Commission issued a conditional license to the Nordic Gaming Corporation to operate Fort Erie Racetrack in Fort Erie, Ont., on Wednesday, Aug. 27. The track was sold in May by the Ontario Jockey Club to Nordic. The license was conditional due to the investigations into the participants not yet being completed. Nordic was granted approval to continue with the original racing and simulcast dates approved for the OJC, including the remaining 35 live racing dates. TURFWAY PARK SET TO OPEN Turfway Park, in Florence, Ky., opens its 23-day Fall Meet on Sept. 3, highlighted by the fourth running of the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions on Saturday, Sept. 13. For the first time, the Cup will be aired on national television as part of ESPN's 'Racing to the Breeders' Cup' series. Turfway plans several promotions, such as a Family Fair on Sept. 27-28. Activities on tap will include pony rides, a petting zoo, face painting, a roving magician, NASCAR driver Bill Elliott's show car and Winston Cup points leader Jeff Gordon's Monte Carlo simulator, jockey autographs and stable tours.
Aug. 30, Racehorse Digest, 5:30-6:00 a.m., ESPN
Hopeful Stakes, 2yo, $200,000, 7 Furlongs, Grade I, Saratoga Del Mar Handicap, 3&up;, $250,000, 1 3-8 Miles Turf, Grade II, Del Mar Longfellow Handicap, 3&up;, $75,000, 6 Furlongs, Grade III, Monmouth
Chula Vista Handicap, 3&up; (f&m;), $300,000, 1 1-16 Miles, Grade II, Del Mar Diana Handicap, 3&up; (f&m;), $200,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Grade II, Saratoga Niagara Breeders' Cup Stakes, 3&up;, $250,000, 1 1-2 Miles Turf, Grade III, Woodbine Sussex Handicap, 3&up;, $125,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Delaware
Pennsylvania Derby, 3yo, $200,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Grade III, Philadelphia Park Del Mar Derby, 3yo, $300,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Grade II, Del Mar Forego Handicap, 3&up;, $200,000, 7 Furlongs, Grade II, Saratoga La Senorita Stakes, 2yo fillies, $75,000, 7 1-2 Furlongs Turf, Retama Noble Royalty Stakes, 3&up; (f&m;), $100,000, 7 1-2 Furlongs Turf, Calder Seneca Handicap, 3&up;, $100,000, 1 5-8 Miles Turf, Grade III, Saratoga |
