Page 242 - December_2023

NEWS BRIEFS
Leading Owner Pete A. Scarmardo
Lone Star Park Declares Leading Trainer & Jockey
Lone Star Park declared their Quarter Horse meet leaders. The 32-night meet for Quarter Horses, Paints, Appaloosas, Arabians and Thoroughbreds ran from Sept. 28 through Nov. 25. Average attendance for the meet was 2,913, average on-track handle was $94,748, and average off-track handle was $436,388.
Leading Jockeys Ali Rivera and Bryan Candanosa
The meet featured 333 races with 2,922 starters and 33 stakes races. The Leading Owner of the Fall Meeting of Champions
was Pete A. Scarmardo with eight wins. The Leading Trainer was Toby Keeton, who scored 25 wins. The Leading Jockeys were Ali Rivera and Bryan Candanosa, both with 34 victories.
Will Rogers Downs 2023 Meet
Will Rogers Downs 27-day race meet ran from Sept. 11 through Nov. 19, with a total
of 279 races held. There was an improvement
in average field size from 7.99 in 2022 to 8.22 in 2023, and the meet saw more than $5.2 million in wagers. The Appaloosa Queen For Cash (Hes Relentlesss QH-Ivory Queen, Ivory James QH), who is bred and owned by Gary Vaughan and trained by Jesus Ruiz, retained her title as 2023 Horse of the Meet. After winning the 2022 honors, the five-year-old mare won all three of her starts in stakes races by a combined 12-lengths earning over $25,000 and pushing her career earnings to more than $171,000. Five owners earned six wins each at the meet with earnings serving as the tiebreaker. The 2023 Owner of the Meet went to Brenda Reiswig with six wins and $137,728 earned. The Jockey of the Meet was awarded to Roman Cruz with 41 wins, and a 13-win lead in the competition. Jesus Ruiz, trainer of Queen for Cash, earned the Leading Trainer accolades with 25 wins.
New Rules For Sam Houston Race Park
Sam Houston Race Park (SHRP) will begin their 30th year of racing on April 19, running through June 15. The track, which opened
Dec. 1, has new procedures for the safety of horses, horsemen, horsewomen, customers,
and employees. SHRP will be opening under “Lockdown” protocols which mandates the following: 1) All persons entering restricted areas and participating in a capacity that requires a TXRC license, must be licensed prior to entry in the Sam Houston Barn Area; 2) Security Personnel at the Sam Houston Stable Gate will inventory all horses in the trailer and will inspect
truck beds, trailer tack rooms and trunks of cars; 3) All official horse paperwork for admission will be completed at the Stable Gate prior to horses being admitted. Hard copies of Health Certificates and Negative Coggins tests are required and a Current Negative Piroplasmosis tests for Arabians, Quarter Horses, Paints and Appaloosas, and vaccinations including EHV-1 given no less than 14 days and within 90 days
of the horses’ arrival. Digital documents will not be accepted; 4) After horses are unloaded at their barn, each horse will be officially identified and entered into the InCompass system. This will include the horses name and stall number; 5) A Security Gate has been installed at the
Exit at Sam Houston’s Stable Gate and each horse leaving will be identified and recorded
as leaving the grounds and will be entered into
InCompass; 6) When you plan to remove a horse from Sam Houston Race Park, you must notify the racing office 8 hours in advance so that the horse may be scheduled and identified prior to departing the grounds.
Ruidoso Downs Announces 2024 Hall of Fame Inductees
Members of the All American Ruidoso Downs Foundation have selected inductees for the annual Ruidoso Downs Hall of Fame ceremony to be held June 27th, 2024. The inductees to be honored include: Horse: World Champion Danjer - winner of 12 Grade 1 stakes races; Owner/Breeder: MJ Farms, Mac Murray and Dr. Janis Murray
- a top-ranked breeder and owner; Trainer: Mike Joiner - trainer of over $30 million and winner of the 2023 All American Futurity with Cowboys Gun Z; Jockey: Chris Zamora - rider of more than $17 million with over 2,000 wins from the late 1980’s through 2011; Special Achievement: Billy G. Smith - current New Mexico Racing Commissioner and a breeder/owner since the late 1970’s; Racing Official: Tom Dawson - a broadcast host for 50 years, including the Cowboy Channel, ESPN, NBC, Fox Sports and RIDE TV, and a prior racing secretary at Ruidoso Downs, Sunland Park and Albuquerque Downs. The inductees will be honored at a dinner and attended by hundreds of racing industry officials, Hall of Fame members, friends, and family members.
2024 Champion of Champions To Have $1,000,000 Purse
According to Ed Allred, owner of Los Alamitos, the 2024 Grade 1 Champion of Champions will have a $1,000,000 purse in 2024. “The Champion of Champions is a special race that is dear to my heart,” Allred said. “It’s a race that was dreamed up by the
Can you identify the
horse in this photo? Here’s a hint: The mare was named World Champion in 1996. The answer is on page 242.
Speedhorse Archives
SPEEDHORSE PHOTO ARCHIVES
240 SPEEDHORSE
December 2023