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Big Changes in Store for Texas Racing in 2004© Greg Melikov
Nov 1, 2003
Staging the 2004 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships in Texas next year has had a colossal domino effect on racing dates.
Two of the three major tracks are big winners: Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie and Sam Houston Race Park.
Retama Park, however, loses its quarter-horse meeting and 11 days from its originally scheduled 51-day thoroughbred meeting.
Since Lone Star will host the BC on Oct. 30, 2004, it received the OK from the Texas Racing Commission to conduct a 19-day thoroughbred meeting four days a week from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. In addition, it runs the 63-day spring/summer thoroughbred meeting from April 15 through July 11.
Lone Star's traditional fall quarter-horse meeting will be moved to Sam Houston. So will Retama's quarter-horse meeting.
Sam Houston will feature quarter horses for 95 days, from April 23 through Nov. 6. In addition, it will host thoroughbreds from Jan. 2 through April 10 and from Nov. 17 through December.
Thoroughbred racing at Retama will begin for the first time on a Thursday, July 22, and continue through Sept. 25.
Track officials were ecstatic that the 2003-quarter horse and thoroughbred meetings produced a significant hike in attendance, averaging about 9 percent.
"It is gratifying to see that our increased marketing efforts (for thoroughbreds) produced positive results," said CEO Bryan Brown. "We added a number of new ideas for 2003 such as a great "Seabiscuit" movie promotion and Las Vegas excursions."
Attendance during the 48-day thoroughbred meeting that ended Oct. 19 improved 8 percent over 2002 even though there were three fewer racing days. Despite the soft economy and continuing layoffs, on-track handle remained fairly steady, down only 2 percent.
Jeremy Beasley won his first Retama riding title by 23 victories over runner-up Weldon Cloninger Jr. Beasley visited the winner's circle 71 times in 312 outings, posting the top winning percentage - more than 22 ¾ percent. Cloninger ended up with 48 victories in 281 races. Beasley's mounts earned the most money, $$712,238.
Danny Pish captured his fifth consecutive trainers title, winning 43 races in 205 attempts. Steve Asmussen was the runner-up for the second straight year, winning 38 times in 120 contests, with nearly 31 ¾ percent winners. Asmussen's thoroughbreds banked the most cash, $507,362.
Other notable highlights:
Top Stakes Winners: Trainer Norman Cole saddled the most, five, one more than Asmussen. Beasley rode the most winners, five, followed by Cloninger and Ted Gondron, three. Front Nine led the horses with two stakes victories, capturing the $35,000 Longhorn on Oct. 4 and the $35,000 J.R. Strauss Memorial on Aug. 1.
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Sounds as if there will be a full plate set at the table in 2004. You served up a lot of good information for the Texas horse crowd. Great effort. ...
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