- (
) Coming soon: Horse racing
Plans for bringing horse racing to Hamilton County are in the home stretch, the owner of a soon-to-be-built one-mile racetrack said Tuesday.Glenn Richards said construction of the facility is set to begin in December. The facility should open for business next October. Thoroughbreds, Arabians and quarter horses will see action on the track, Richards said.Richards expects big crowds early on. "We've done a survey within a 100-mile radius, and a lot of people will come," he said.Business won't just come from trackside patrons, though. Racing at the facility will also be simulcast to off-track betting establishments throughout the country. "A couple of tracks in California will carry us and a number more in between," Richards said.Night racing will be a big draw as well. Richards said a $1.25 million lighting system is in the works as well.The track will be located eight miles north of Hamilton Jai-Alai and Poker, which Richards also owns. More>> - (
) Dolphin Jo Stakes Cup Claims
Country trainer Terry O'Sullivan believes Dolphin Jo is better prepared for the Melbourne Cup than a year ago after he posted his first win in 17 months.The five-year-old hadn't won since he took out the St Leger Stakes (2800m) at Flemington on Anzac Day last year but finally broke through on Saturday, streaking away to a 2-1/2 length win in the Listed Bart Cummings (2530m).
The Fuzz finished second a nose ahead of Light Vision.
Dolphin Jo finished 15th in the 2006 Melbourne Cup but is at risk of not getting a run this year as he is a lightweight with 50kg and 56th in order of elimination.
"I would love for him to get a penalty to help him get a run and keep my rider on," O'Sullivan said.
Apprentice Sebastian Murphy could have ridden Light Vision but stuck with Dolphin Jo who he has partnered throughout this spring campaign. More>>
- (
) Small triumphs can sometimes have big impact
Often obscured by stories about the sport's heavy-hitters are the lesser-known achievements on the racetrack.Street Sense and Lawyer Ron get the headlines. So do Carl Nafzger and Todd Pletcher.
Jim Dodgen didn't get a lot of headlines last weekend after winning the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Dash in a track-record 1:09.25 with Hold the Salt at Kentucky Downs.
But imagine how he must have felt: This was the trainer's first stakes win in more than a decade. And it was only the second stakes that Dodgen, 51, has won in his long career.
Hold the Salt's jockey, Charlie Woods Jr., is another heart-warming story. The 57-year-old rider won stakes all over Ohio and Kentucky during the height of his career. But it had been nearly five years since he won a stakes -- until he won two this summer. More>>
- (
) Horse Racing: Irish jockey Fallon slowed horse to lose race, court hears
LONDON : Champion jockey Kieren Fallon appeared to almost stop riding his horse while leading by a huge margin as he approached the finish of a race, to let another rider win, a court heard on Tuesday. Fallon should have won "at a canter" at Lingfield racecourse in March 2004, prosecutor Jonathan Caplan said on the second day of a race-fixing trial at the Old Bailey in London. A large amount of money had been put on Fallon's horse to lose, including 74,000 pounds by businessman Miles Rodgers, one of five other co-defendants in the trial centred on suspect races between 2002 and August 2004. Caplan said that, with two furlongs to go, Fallon was five or six lengths in front on Ballinger Ridge. "But Fallon then dramatically slows his momentum to the point where he is doing virtually nothing. More>> - (
) Boat boss at home with jet race idea
A CARMARTHENSHIRE entrepreneur has returned home in a bid to drive sales for his racing boat venture.Viper Jet Boats, a racing boat which can spin on a penny, is the brain child of 49-year-old Mike Tucker, a passionate rallying and power boat enthusiast who wanted to introduce a new spectator sport to Wales.
What started out more than eight years ago as a hobby has now escalated into a £150,000 turnover company, with the hope of increasing turnover by 175% over the next 12 months by moving to Wales.
Specialising in the design and manufacture of racing boats, the company also organises events to showcase the boats, which allow spectators to view up-close the 14ft long boats reaching speeds of 60mph powered by the 200 horse power engine. The jets cost anything from £22,000 upwards. More>>
- (
) LANDMARK DOUBLE FOR EDDERY
Pat Eddery achieved his first double as a trainer, as well as his first successes at Brighton, when Replicator and Spirit Of Adjisa obliged at the seaside course on Monday.Both were given splendid rides by Pat Dobbs, with Replicator taking the EBF Median Auction Maiden Stakes and Spirit Of Adjisa landing a gamble in the Weatherbys Bloodstock Insurance Handicap.
Replicator benefited from Dobbs' sensible idea of heading towards the far side as he mastered Spic 'N Span to score by a length and three-quarters.
Eddery was full of praise for his 3-1 winner and said: "He lost a shoe last time and was caught on the post the time before.
"He's as game as they come and you could say he's been unlucky, but today things worked out well for him."
Some of Eddery's owners availed themselves of 33-1 about Spirit Of Adjisa, who was returned at 16-1 after his seven-length drubbing of Chant De Guerre in the mile-and-a-quarter handicap. More>>