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News and notes from around the Thoroughbred racing world, compiled by Thoroughbred Racing Communications, Inc. (TRC) (212.371.5911..)  NTRA NAMES WILSON CHIEF PLANNING OFFICER Mark Wilson, president of Hubbard Enterprises, has been named interim Chief Planning Officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA). 'Clearly, we've reached the stage where some areas need more than part-time attention,' said NTRA president D.G. Van Clief Jr. 'Nowhere is this truer than in the complex and intensive process of developing the business plan.' Wilson is chairman of the NTRA Legislative Task Force, which works with the American Horse Council on federal issues and preparing a situation analysis of all relevant legislative matters, on a state-by-state basis. KEENELAND SALES POSTING RECORD NUMBERS The 1997 Keeneland September Yearling Sale posted a 10.6 percent gain from last year's record figures after its first three sessions, Sept. 8-10. The sale got off to a rousing start with a sales-record $2.3 million purchase of a Mr. Prospector colt by Satish Sanan's Padua Stables. Also on the first day, Michael Tabor and John Magnier purchased a Danzig filly for $950,000, another record. Day two also had a million-dollar sale when Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum's Shadwell Estate Co. paid $1.7 million for a son of Gone West. After three days, gross receipts totalled $97,391,200 for an average of $122,197, up 13.2% from 1996's record pace. The sale continues through Sept. 17. FLORIDA HORSEMEN MAKE DONATION TO EQUINE RESCUE The Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association has donated $3,200 to the Equestrian Horse Rescue program, an Ocala, Florida-based program which provides homes for unwanted horses. 'A lot of people think that once a horse's racing career is over that he no longer has any value,' said Kent Stirling, FHBPA executive director. 'We have to ask ourselves, 'Are horses a disposable product?' We say no, and this is our way of helping a very worthwhile cause.' Equestrian Horse Rescue is a private organization which has placed 160 horses in new homes after their racing careers ended. ATLANTIC CITY TO GET AUTO RACING TRACK--BUT WHERE? O. Bruton Smith said Wednesday that his Speedway Motorsports Inc. will build an auto racing track in the Atlantic City vicinity. While Smith only said that he is considering three sites in the area, Atlantic City Racecourse has been seeking government approval to convert into an auto racing track that would continue to have some live horse racing. Residents are opposing the plan because of fears about noise and increased traffic. Smith intends to entice a NASCAR race, despite the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup schedule having 33 events, the largest in its modern era. 'This is a great market with more than 62 million people in a 300-mile radius,' Smith said. 'The enthusiasm from state and local governmental agencies has convinced me to pursue this project.' Speedway Motorsports Inc. already owns and operates Texas Motor Speedway in the Fort Worth-Dallas market, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. TRACK SEARCHES FOR FIRST-BORN GRAND NATIONAL BABY Aintree Racecourse, home of England's Grand National steeplechase, is searching for the first child born in Britain during the running of this year's race. An IRA bomb scare forced the abandonment of the 150th running of the world's most prestigious steeplechase, which was re-run on Monday, April 7. Racecourse officials want to present a silver horseshoe to the baby who was born immediately after the 5:01 p.m. post time. Another horseshoe will be buried in a time capsule to be set into the foundations of a new 6 million-pound grandstand currently under construction. 'We believe that a baby born on that day will have the longest living connection with the time capsule, so we thought that would be a nice move,' said track spokesman Joe McNally. 'The re-run race was such an historic occasion, we thought the horseshoe idea would be an especially poignant thing to do.' The time capsule will be buried on Sept. 29 and will also contain a lock of three-time Grand National winner Red Rum's hair, a phial of water from the water jump at Becher's Brook, a BBC video recording of the 1997 Grand National and a program signed by the jockeys and trainers who took part in the 1997 race. McNally said that if race organizers find the baby, the child and parents will be invited to the ceremony to lay the horseshoe in the capsule. BOLUS HONORED AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY MUSEUM The Kentucky Derby Museum, located at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Ky., is holding a commemorative exhibit honoring the late Jim Bolus, considered the leading authority on the Kentucky Derby. The exhibit, which will run through Nov. 30, feature photographs, awards and memorabilia from Bolus' extensive career as a sportswriter and Thoroughbred historian. Bolus served on the advisory committee for the Kentucky Derby Museum and held the position of official Derby Curator for the Museum since 1995. He attended 38 Derbies and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and numerous books on the subject. Bolus passed away May 14.
Sept. 12, 1970: Nijinsky II won the St. Leger Stakes and became the 15th winner of England's triple crown. He is the last horse to have won the English triple. Sept. 12, 1973: Fully recovered from a virus that had beset him at Saratoga, Secretariat worked five furlongs in 57 seconds as his last preparation for the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap. Sept. 13, 1974: D. Wayne Lukas won his first Thoroughbred stakes victory, saddling his own three-year-old colt, Harbor Hauler, in the second division of the Foothill Stakes at Pomona to earn $6,312. Sept. 13, 1989: Jockey Pat Day won eight of the day's nine races at Arlington International Racecourse. In his only loss, Day finished second on Wayne's by George. Sept. 14, 1853: West Australian won the St. Leger Stakes by three lengths and became England's first Triple Crown winner. Sept. 14, 1959: The new $32 million Aqueduct, operated by the New York Racing Association, opened. Sept. 15, 1973: Secretariat won the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap in the then-world record time of 1:45 2-5 for 1 1-8 miles. He defeated his stablemate, Riva Ridge, by 3 1-2 lengths. The winner's share of the purse, $150,000, made Secretariat a millionaire. Sept. 16, 1972: Sent off at odds of 1-5, Secretariat won the Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park by 1 3-4 lengths, creating a minus show pool at the track of $4,985. Sept. 16, 1978: For the first time in history, two Triple Crown winners met in a race, the Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park. Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown winner, defeated Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown winner, by three lengths. Sept. 17, 1973: Penny Chenery announced that Secretariat would make his inaugural start on the turf in the Oct. 8 Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park. Sept. 18, 1920: Carrying the top weight of his career, 138 pounds, three-year-old Man o' War won the Potomac Handicap, conceding 24 pounds to his nearest rival, Paul Jones, and 30 pounds to the second-place finisher, Wildair. Sept. 18, 1943: The U.S. Army occupied the grounds of Hollywood Park as part of the war effort.
Sept. 13, Racehorse Digest, 5:30-6:00 a.m., ESPN
Floral Park Handicap, 3&up; (f&m;), $75,000, 6 Furlongs, Belmont Rare Perfume Stakes, 3yo fillies, $200,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Grade II, Belmont Summer Stakes, 2yo, $100,000, 1 Mile Turf, Woodbine Violet Stakes, 3&up; (f&m;), $100,000, 1 1-16 Miles Turf, Grade III, Meadowlands Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies, 2yo fillies, $100,000, 1M, Turfway Park Kentucky Cup Juvenile, 2yo, $100,000, 1 1-16 Miles, Grade III, Turfway Park Kentucky Cup Sprint, 3&up;, $150,000, 6 Furlongs, Grade II, Turfway Park Turfway Breeders' Cup, 3&up; (f&m;), $250,000, 1 1-16 Miles, Grade II, Turfway Park Kentucky Cup Classic, 3&up;, $500,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Grade III, Turfway Park
Natalma Stakes, 2yo fillies, $75,000, 1 Mile Turf, Woodbine Noble Damsel Stakes, 3&up; (f&m;), $100,000, 1 1-16 Miles Turf, Grade III, Belmont |
