Northfield Park's experiment on Kentucky Derby Day to forego live racing and instead beam the Churchill Downs program - and racing from 39 other tracks - was a good one, said Vice-President Dave Bianconi.
Northfield Park's experiment on Kentucky Derby Day to forego live racing and instead beam the Churchill Downs program - and racing from 39 other tracks - was a good one, said Vice-President Dave Bianconi.
The move to simulcast racing only on Saturdays at Northfield will continue through the Triple Crown races and into June.
"We're pretty pleased with the results," Bianconi said. "It was the first year, but fan response was positive. It's hard to fit everyone in one place for the Kentucky Derby. Cedar Downs, Northfield and Thistledown gave racing fans plenty of options.
"The Kentucky Derby is the biggest event in horse racing. There's no reason it shouldn't have the biggest attendance. To go with 20-horse fields was ingenious. It does a great job of growing the race."
Thistledown officials reported wagering was down on Saturday, in part because of nearby Northfield Park offering the Kentucky Derby simulcast, but attendance was up significantly. Thistledown had a 17 percent increase in food and beverage sales and a 15 percent jump in program sales.
The evenly-matched field and the special lure of the derby lured a record crowd of 164,858 to Churchill Downs. With free admission, there are no attendance figures from the local tracks.
Thistledown fans wagered $1,218,051 on live and simulcast races on Saturday, a decline from $1.5 million last year and a large drop from a high of $1.94 million in 2007. Northfield Park bettors wagered $581,355 on the all-simulcast, day-and-night event, a jump from last year's $206,000 wagered on live racing. Saturday's statewide Kentucky Derby Day handle at six Ohio race tracks and the Cedar Downs betting parlor was $4.9 million, down almost 10 percent.
Cribbs picks No. 16: The Cleveland Browns' Josh Cribbs was on site at the Kentucky Derby. It was a natural Cribbs would be a fan of 20-1 winner Animal Kingdom. Cribbs wears No. 16 on his uniform, and Animal Kingdom wore No. 16 in the big race. Cribbs wagered a couple of hundred bucks on No. 16, according to a tweet by ESPN's Cindy Brunson, a nice bonus during a lockout.
Derby payoffs: Drawing names of race fans from a barrel to assign them the 19 Kentucky Derby horses, Northfield Park put $5,000 on the line on Saturday. Long-time harness fan Louie Brown of Bedford Heights took home the jackpot after Animal Kingdom's big win.
Pamela Pietromica of North Olmsted won Thistledown's Road to the Derby contest. For her winning picks in the Kentucky Derby prep races she collected $1,000.
Happily married: Michael and Laura Sivo of Willoughby Hills were married in the winner's circle at Churchill Downs on May 3, then watched their horse, Mucho Macho Man, finish third in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. The couple owns a small slice of the horse as part of the Dream Team syndicate.
"There was a split second of disappointment with not winning, then a lot of jubilation for finishing third in the Kentucky Derby," said Michael Sivo. "The wedding was wonderful. It rained most of the day, but the sun came out about a half-hour before the ceremony. Someone was watching over us. It was a terrific experience, and we're so proud of our horse."
Catlaunch scores: The "Cat" is back, and the 10-year-old thoroughbred is racing like a youngster.
Most likely one of the oldest stakes winners in the history of the sport, Catlaunch has been tearing up its rivals in the Ohio-bred stakes for a long time. On Saturday's closing card at Beulah Park, Catlaunch and jockey Ivan Gonzalez grabbed the early lead in the $50,000 Babst/Palacios Memorial Handicap and dominated a field of six in the six furlong test. In its first start of the year, the brown gelding won by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:10 for owner Scioto Farms and trainer Ivan Vasquez.
Thistledown fans are familiar with the old-timer. He won the Rowland Memorial and Lewis Memorial at Thistle in 2010, as well as the $75,000 Best of Ohio Endurance, a lengthy, 1 1/4-mile race. Catlaunch also won the Gendelman Memorial at River Downs.
Saturday's win pushed his win total to 35 in 84 outings with earnings of $923,944.
After winning the Endurance by an impressive four lengths last year at Thistledown, owner-breeder Ron Fields said he couldn't believe how much Catlaunch races like a youngster. When asked if Catlaunch would be racing in 2011, Fields said he had to let the son of Noble Cat enjoy himself on the race track for at least another season.
Sigh of relief: Horse racing officials were breathing a sigh of relief that Archarcharch's condylar fracture of his left front leg suffered in the Kentucky Derby was not a life-threatening injury. Surgery was performed on the three-year-old to place pins in its ankle, a common procedure. Trainer Jinks Fires was told Monday his three-year-old, and first Kentucky Derby entrant after 50 years of training, would have to retire.
Around the tracks: Saturday Night at the Races, the satellite radio show featuring harness racing action on Sirius Channel 93 and XM Channel 209, returns May 28 with 10 consecutive Saturday night broadcasts covering the major races . . . Horsemen were stunned Thursday when jockey Michael Baze, who had ridden Nehro to a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, was found dead in his car in a Churchill Downs parking lot. Louisville police do not suspect foul play . . . The Preakness field of 14 on May 21 could have seven Kentucky Derby starters, including Animal Kingdom, Nehro, Mucho Macho Man, Shackleford, Santiva, Dialed In and Midnight Interlude . . . The winner of Saturday’s $495,000 George Morton Levy Series Final at New York's Yonkers Raceway, Real Nice has been named April's Horse of the Month by the U.S. Trotting Association.