match series

Deciding Vote (Mr Speaker) clinched the MATCH championship with a win in the off-the-turf Salvatore M. Debunda PTHA President's Cup S. at Parx Monday. The result landed her the overall MATCH Series championship for 2022 with 38 points. "This means a lot to Mr. and Mrs. Pape and it means a lot to me," said trainer Edward Graham, who is based at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. "We were so close to the series final and we all said, 'Let's give it a go,' and if she doesn't handle...

Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association CEO Alan Foreman joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to talk about the MATCH Series schedule, which kicks off in April at Laurel Park, and give the latest updates on the much-discussed renovation of Pimlico Race Course.

The Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) returns for a 9th season with a $2.2 million stakes schedule that spans April 16 through Oct. 3 and more than $400,000 in bonus money for owners, trainers and breeders. The Series, a competition among horses in four divisions, is designed to identify the best horses, and their owners and trainers, in the Mid-Atlantic region. It will be contested this year at Laurel Park, Hollywood at Penn Gaming, Colonial Downs and Parx, with Parx hosting this year's Championship Day. Horses competing in MATCH earn...

Colonial Downs Racing presented by Woodford Reserve, which kicks off its 27-day "More Racing, More Money and More Fun" Thoroughbred racing season July 11, has unveiled a $3.5-million stakes schedule highlighted by the 19th running of the GIII Virginia Derby. In all, 24 stakes will be contested over the nine-week campaign, 20 of which are scheduled for the Secretariat Turf Course, the widest grass racing surface in the country. Purses for the 2022 stakes program will increase by $850,000 over 2021 totaling over $3.5 million in stakes dollars up for...

The Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) will return to Virginia's Colonial Downs Monday, Aug. 23. It will be the first time in 20 years Colonial will have been an part of MATCH. Colonial was an original MATCH partner when the series began in 1997 and opted to rejoin the series in 2020 before it was cancelled due to COVID-19. For more details on the series, click here. A total of 139 horses, pending late mail, have been nominated to the four $100,000 stakes at Colonial. Horses in the MATCH series...

The Mid-Atlantic Championships Series (MATCH) returns May 14-15 at Pimlico Race Course after a one-year hiatus. This year's MATCH Series, to be run at racetracks in Maryland and Virginia only, will extend through Dec. 26, 2021. It will offer 24 stakes valued at $2.75 million and $282,000 in bonus money for owners and trainers. The first four stakes in the Series will be held Preakness weekend: GIII Allaie DuPont S., GIII Pimlico Special S., GIII Maryland Sprint H. and Skipat S. Please note that nominations for all the MATCH Series...

The 2020 edition of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) had been canceled due to the ongoing uncertainty of racing schedules and concerns about purse money due to the coronavirus. The series was set to debut with races split between Laurel and Charles Town Apr. 8. "Obviously, we are all disappointed, but it was the right thing to do", said MATCH Series creator and THA Chairman Alan M. Foreman. "No one wanted to compromise the quality of the event and the brand we are building. MATCH is a luxury, and...

The GIII Virginia Derby, the marquee event of the Colonial Downs season, highlights the New Kent oval's 2020 stakes schedule. The turf event for 3-year-olds anchors the 18-day meeting's closing day Saturday, Aug. 29. Also featured on Virginia Derby Day: the Virginia Oaks, Rosie's S. and Kitten's Joy S. The 2019 Rosie's winner Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) went on to win the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. The 2020 season kicks off July 23 with live racing days over a six-week period will run every Thursday, Friday and...

Monmouth Park will hold the $1-million GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational July 18 during its 75th race meet, which is scheduled to begin on Saturday, May 2. A total of 63 stakes (12 graded and 11 restricted to New Jersey-breds) worth $7.3 million will be held over the Jersey Shore oval's 56 days of live racing. The 2020 Haskell card will feature six stakes races, two of which have received $100,000 purse increases--the now $300,000 GIII Monmouth Cup and the $250,000 GIII Molly Pitcher S. The GIII Iselin S., part of...

The popular Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) has been renewed for 2020, with an expanded schedule and an increase in owner, trainer and breeder bonus money thanks to new partner racetracks, horsemen's groups and breeder associations, the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association announced Tuesday. The Series, which returned in 2018 after a 16-year hiatus and works toward the larger goal of coordination in a region with the largest concentration of daily racing in the United States, has grown to 35 stakes at eight tracks with a combined $3.75 million in purses for...