Quarter Horse racing

Steve Asmussen has indicated an interest in saddling a starter at the 2024 Sandy Ride at Red Mile Quarter Horse meet, according to stallionesearch.com. The Hall of Famer did not have a set number of confirmed runners, stall applications were due Thursday, Feb. 29, but Sandy Ridge racing manager Terry Oliver was reportedly instrumental in getting Asmussen back to his roots in Quarter Horse racing. His family had been involved in the industry in the early 1970s, originating with parents Marilyn and Keith Asmussen. It would be his first such...

Pierre Jean Amestoy Jr. has never been to the Kentucky Derby. Not even as a spectator. However, the 2023 renewal may very well change that fact after Practical Move (Practical Joke), who he owns in partnership with his wife Leslie and Roger Beasley, stamped himself a major Classic contender with a victory in last weekend's GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita. "My wife and I were very emotional after the win," said Pierre Amestoy. "It was phenomenal. It was exhilarating. We're just elated." "I guess we're heading to the...

Horseshoe Indianapolis is proposing a 2023 mixed-meet racing schedule of 123 dates that pares four dates from the Thoroughbred portion of the calendar, down to 117 from the 121 Thoroughbred dates that had been granted this year. Pending approval at this Thursday's Indiana Horse Racing Commission (IHRC) meeting, the 2023 mixed meet will run Apr. 18-Nov. 17. That's roughly the same template that Horseshoe Indianapolis used this past season, although next year's meet is scheduled to end on the Friday before Thanksgiving instead of running into the holiday week and...

By unanimous voice vote after zero public discussion among commissioners at a "special" meeting, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) on Tuesday quickly approved a license awarding a Quarter Horse racino license for a track to be constructed in the northeastern part of the state. The license is the ninth and final of its kind to be awarded in Kentucky. Although the focus of press releases announcing the deal accentuated the rebirth of Quarter Horse racing in a state better known as the nation's Thoroughbred epicenter, the real prize for...

As the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) begins the planning process for crafting 2022 race dates on both the Southern and Northern circuits, it appears as if there is some consensus for including a one-week break with no racing, although no exact time frame for any proposed hiatus has been publicly identified. At Wednesday's monthly meeting, CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales updated the full board on the two-hour dates subcommittee teleconference that took place Tuesday and included representatives from tracks and horsemen's groups. "We obviously didn't take a vote on...

Prairie Meadows will host media Monday, Apr. 26 at 9 a.m. in advance of the oval's opening day Apr. 30. The media will be provided with video footage, photos, and candid interviews with Prairie Meadows executives and racing personnel. To participate at Prairie Meadows' media conference, contact [email protected]. Opening day, with first post at 6 p.m., will be followed by the simulcast of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 1. Races can be viewed from three locations on property, with the largest area outdoors near the track....

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) voted 4-3 Jan. 21 to grant Los Alamitos Race Course a full-year Quarter Horse racing license for 2021, superseding a 5-1 vote from last month that awarded only a six-month license out of concerns that management wasn't doing enough to mitigate the 29 equine deaths that occurred at the track in 2020. In the immediate aftermath of that controversial interim licensure in December, Los Al owner Ed Allred had threatened to close his track and develop the property for a purpose other than racing,...

Jockeys Javier Castellano, Mike Smith, John Velazquez, Manuel Franco and Tyler Gaffalione have pledged a percentage of their earnings from the GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Kentucky Derby race cards to help rider 28-year-old rider Vinnie Bednar, who suffered a catastrophic fall at Los Alamitos Racetrack Aug. 22. Bednar is currently experiencing lower-limb paralysis following initial surgery at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. He remains hospitalized while awaiting transfer to the Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, a world-renowned, premier center for spinal and brain injury. The accident occurred in...

Roman Chapa, the jockey who has been suspended three times since the 1990s for possessing illicit shocking objects that can frighten a horse into running faster, rode his first race back on Monday since completing a five-year suspension and paying a $100,000 fine after getting caught with an electrical "buzzer" at Sam Houston Race Park in 2015. Chapa finished fourth on 27-1 Uzi (Overanalyze) in the $20,000 Inaugural S. on the June 8 opening-day card at Arapahoe Park in Colorado. In February, Chapa got his riding license reinstated by the...