Belterra Park

The annual Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Mixed Thoroughbred Sale is to be held at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio, Wednesday Oct. 19 and it has drawn enthusiastic participation. The sale will start at 2:30 p.m. The grounds are open for previews/inspections at noon Oct. 18. There are a record-setting 120 entries with a variety of prospects among the 23 weanlings and 74 yearlings as well as 2-year-olds and broodmares. The 2022 edition of the sale includes a 36-entry dispersal from Mapleton Thoroughbred Farm, which has been atop...

Many will recall the peculiar story of Bold and Bossy (Strong Mandate), the unlucky filly who got loose before her juvenile debut at Ellis Park last summer and was caught over 30 minutes later after making it to the interstate and crossing state lines only to be involved in a barn fire the very next morning. Now, her trainer Michael Ann Ewing hopes that soon, people will remember Bold and Bossy for something more. Almost a year after that ill-fated weekend in Henderson, Kentucky, Bold and Bossy is not only...

Since the advent of the simulcasting era 30 years ago, I've never understood why some enterprising track somewhere hasn't seized a late-morning first-post slot and carved out its own niche at a time of day when no other pari-mutuel competition on the continent is running. Be it midweek in the winter, when most of the fair-to-middling Eastern time zone tracks do little to distinguish their products, or as a Saturday special during the summer when some C-level track could have an uncontested advantage for several hours as a lead-in to...

With a forecast for extreme temperatures and heat indexes, post time at Belterra Park for Tuesday and Wednesday, June 21 and 22, will be pushed forward by one hour, with first post scheduled for 11:35 a.m. on both days. Similarly hot conditions forced the cancellation of racing at Belterra June 14 through June 16, while officials at Churchill Downs about 90 minutes southwest of Cincinnati decided to call off live racing June 15 and 16. The live card at Churchill Wednesday, June 22, will begin at 10:30 a.m. in order...

It was back to business as ususal for jockey Sonny Leon on Friday afternoon as he returned to Belterra Park six days after his ride of a lifetime aboard Rich Strike (Keen Ice) in an unforgettable edition of the GI Kentucky Derby. Coming off his first-ever graded stakes win in the Run for the Roses, Leon ran second in race one, third in race two, and won going away in race three. Fittingly, the 3 3/4-length victory aboard Runway Rosie (Tonalist) in the $18,800 allowance contest was for trainer Eric...

A federal judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) against the present and former owners of Belterra Park that involves the OHBPA trying to recoup more than $2.7 in gaming revenues that the horsemen's group alleges the track wrongfully withheld between 2014 and 2018. Back on Dec. 18, 2020, the OHBPA's suit contended that Belterra never made good on a four-year difference between a placeholder rate first established for video lottery terminal (VLT) gaming and the eventually...

It takes a lot for a European trainer to become the biggest story in North American racing, but that's exactly what Charlie Appleby has accomplished, among many other things, this year. Capturing three of the four Grade I races at Woodbine plus the Jockey Club Derby at Belmont last weekend to follow up several other successful raids of top-level events in the U.S. this summer, Appleby has quite simply taken the racing world by storm at just 46 years old. Wednesday, during a short break from shopping the Goffs Orby...

The Kentucky Race Track Chaplaincy is hosting a golf tournament Monday, July 12, at the California Golf Course in Cincinnati, Ohio, to benefit the Chaplaincy at Belterra Park Race Track. The format is a four-person scramble, which will start at 12:30 p.m. with a shotgun start. The entry fee is $100 per player. Hole sponsorships are available for $250 apiece and include signage on the hole and recognition for the sponsor in the program. Each sponsored hole for long drive, closest to the pin and long putt will feature a...

The first of three in the Best of Ohio Stakes series kicks off at Belterra Park Friday. The event, which was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, includes five stakes races for Ohio-breds worth $100,000. The 2020 Ohio champions, which includes 15 categories, will also be crowned during this event.

The present and former owners of Belterra Park have filed a motion to toss out a federal lawsuit filed by the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) that seeks to recoup more than $2.7 in gaming revenues that the OHBPA alleges the track wrongfully withheld between 2014 and 2018. According to a motion to dismiss filed Feb. 16 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division), the defendants are alleging that "OHBPA has failed to state any viable claims against Defendants. OHBPA's cleverly labeled...

The Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA) filed a federal lawsuit against Belterra Park's present and former owners Dec. 18 seeking more than $2.7 in gaming revenues that the OHBPA is claiming the track wrongfully withheld between 2014 and 2018. "This action arises from Defendants' failure to pay the OHBPA its share of net-win video lottery terminal [VLT] commission from Belterra Park," states the complaint filed Friday morning in United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division). "The OHBPA has been deprived of these funds,...

Spendthrift Farm's Cinco Charlie (Indian Charlie) was represented by his first winner Tuesday when Patricia and Daniel Yates' Big On Big scored a hard-fought victory in his career debut. Showing a mostly pedestrian local worktab until perking up with a five-furlong bullet in 1:02 4/5 (1/7) July 18, the dark bay took a late punch to be 28-5 at the off and led narrowly as the middle marker in a three-way pace duel through a sharp :22.40 quarter. Starting to find a bit of daylight past a :47.26 half, he...