Penn National

Parx will begin installing a new turf course in March with the goal of racing on it by late summer 2026. There has been no grass racing at Parx since September 2024. In August of that season the course was closed after a catastrophic equine injury during a stakes resulted in a euthanization, triggering a safety review by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). The track was cleared to reopen by HISA within several weeks, with Parx agreeing to put new protocols and maintenance procedures in place. But another...

Eleven weeks ago, jockey Tyler Conner lay on the turf at Colonial Downs calm, but for all the wrong reasons. "I couldn't feel anything," he said. "I was totally calm which was weird but it was because I wasn't in any pain." Conner was involved in an incident in the seventh race in Virginia July 24 when his mount, the Elizabeth Merryman-trained Stanza (Great Notion), clipped heels with eventually-disqualified race winner Montador (Nyquist) and fell around the far turn. Francisco Arrieta, who was aboard Montador, was suspended 15 days by...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has appointed Eric Johnston to the position of stakes coordinator, according to a Friday morning press release by the track operator. Johnston brings more than four decades of racing industry experience to his new role, and was previously the director of racing and sportsbook at Penn National. As the new coordinator, Johnston succeeds Andrew Byrnes, who had held the position since 1999 and will retire at the conclusion of the summer meet at Saratoga. Johnston will assume his stakes coordinator responsibilities Oct. 3....

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Sigh No More in the Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth. Boiling Springs Stakes To Sigh No More Heider Family Stables' Sigh No More ran out a 1 1/2-length winner of Monmouth Park's Boiling Springs Stakes at the end of last month (video). Conditioned by Brendan Walsh, the daughter of Starspangledbanner was making her second US start. Bred by Barronstown Stud out of the...

Dreams came true in the GIII Penn Mile Stakes Friday evening when Dream On (c, 3, Not This Time-Mamma Kimbo, by Discreet Cat)--winner of Aqueduct's Woodhaven Stakes in April--split horses in late stretch after trailing throughout to capture the first graded victory of his career. Cairo Caper (Cairo Prince), a stakes winner at two who finished seventh in the Woodhaven, got up for second while Out On Bail (Tiz the Law), who has never been off the board in eight career starts, held third after pressuring the frontrunning 3-5 favorite...

Executing a well-timed turn of foot like a seasoned professional, Laurelin (Zarak {Fr}) ran to her odds and in the process swept up the Penn Oaks at dusk. The chestnut came in as a deserving favorite, since her record was without blemish. After breaking her maiden at first asking during the Belmont At The Big A meet last October, the filly picked up the Tepin Stakes at the Big A in mid-November. Turned out for the winter, Laurelin returned to Ozone Park and promptly took home the Memories of Silver...

Following a couple of weather-related postponements, a field of eight will finally get their chance to run in the GIII Penn Mile as the sun begins to set over Grantville on Friday evening. Chad Brown won the second running of the Penn Mile with Bobby's Kitten (Kitten's Joy) back in 2014, and Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns) will start a warm favorite to pull the conditioner into a tie with Mark Casse on two wins. A two-time graded winner and low-odds seventh in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf last...

Already postponed once for rain from May 30 to June 20, weather has yet again pushed the four turf stakes on GIII Penn Mile day another week out. In a press release Tuesday morning, Penn National stated that the four stakes in question, the Penn Mile, Penn Oaks, Alphabet Soup Stakes and Lyphard Stakes will be now be held Friday, June 27. The release reads: "With significant, persistent rainfall in the local forecast for the next several days, the four turf stakes races carded for Friday, June 20th at Hollywood...

An 81-year-old Penn National-based veterinarian charged in February by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) with allegedly intentional, conspirational and repeated violations of intra-articular injection rules designed to safeguard the health of horses has consented to an "agreed order" of a lifetime ban of practicing medicine on Thoroughbreds covered by HISA. Allen Post Bonnell, a veterinarian who has been practicing for 45 years, signed the consent order May 7, according to documentation provided by HISA. Beyond his work as a veterinarian, Bonnell is barred from "participating in any activity"...

Live racing was canceled at Penn National Race Course Thursday evening due to the ongoing effects of winter weather in the area. Racing at the Pennsylvania oval is set to resume Friday with the first of 10 races scheduled to go off at 5:45 pm. Thursday's canceled 10-race Penn National card will now be run in its entirety next Wednesday and the track will race Wednesday through Friday next week. Also forced to cancel live racing Thursday, Mahoning Valley abandoned the card after the third race due to track conditions....

Trainer Murray Rojas spent nearly a decade fighting equine drug misbranding charges stemming from a years-long federal investigation of horsemen and veterinarians at Penn National Race Course. While other similarly indicted co-defendants opted for plea-bargain deals, Rojas maintained her innocence even through an ordeal that she said "wrecked" her career. In 2021 she took her case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, where her perseverance resulted in the overturning of a 27-month prison sentence and the vacating of all charges against her. Rojas has since regained her...

The Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission (PHRC) on Tuesday voted to grant Thoroughbred racing dates for 2025 that will feature 150 programs at Parx, 105 at Penn National, and 76 at Presque Isle Downs. Prior to the vote on the dates, however, executives from each track were asked to do something rarely required by racing commissions in this country: Principals from each venue were requested to explain the rationale behind the 2025 takeout rates that accompanied each licensee's dates request. Takeout rates, the per-bet pricing structure that tracks and states impose...