Retiring pacer Ira Chief made his final official start as a 14-year-old a winning one, conquering his peers in the $6,000 Auld Lang Syne race at Cumberland on Saturday (Dec. 23), which was part of the track’s third annual Au Revoir Retirement Showcase.
Year: 2023
Pre-holiday Hawthorne card a big hit
When a horse racing secretary takes a look at the entries for a particular program, it’s sort of like partaking in a Christmas grab bag undertaking — you just don’t know what you’re going to end up with.
MADC finds Slendorn and Chiodo victorious
With just two MADC races carded on Friday night (Dec. 22), a few days before Christmas, both events featured horses from way off the pace winning as the front end wasn’t where you wanted to be. A majority of the early races found horses coming from mid-pack to near the back at the start of the race, who charged home through the long Big M stretch.
Pick-8 goes unhit again, carryover carries on at Big M
With a sequence that saw five consecutive favorites score starting in the second leg, it appeared that the 20-cent Pick-8 would finally yield a winning ticket at The Meadowlands Friday night (Dec. 22).
Four wins for Siegelman on Friday at Freehold
Austin Siegelman won four out of 11 races at Freehold Raceway on Friday (Dec. 22).
USHWA sets schedule for Dan Patch Award releases
The United States Harness Writers Association has announced the schedule for the release of the Dan Patch Awards, presented by Caesars Entertainment, with the banquet to be held on Sunday (Feb. 25) at the Rosen Centre in Orlando, Fla.
Gray elder statesmen grab Frosty final at Cumberland
Two of Maine harness racing’s favorite elder statesmen, 85-year-old Bob Nadeau and his trusty 14-year-old gray steed Putnams Storm made quick work of the $7,000 Frosty final at Cumberland on Friday (Dec. 22), winning the pop-up series final in 2:02.1, and putting an exclamation point on a poignant career.
Roberts’ five bagger clinches Fall meet dash title at Rosecroft
Jonathan Roberts rallied on closing night to win five races and edge Johnathan Ahle in the Rosecroft Fall meet drivers standings.
Urtel remains positive as he waits for another kidney transplant
When Jim Urtel Jr. was 12, he fell in love with horses and harness racing. In the ensuing years, he enjoyed operating a small stable, often with his father, while also working for several other trainers, primarily in western New York and Pennsylvania. Thirty years after jogging and training his first horse, though, Urtel was forced to give up his days at the barn. The Batavia, N.Y., resident was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2012 and spent eight years on dialysis while waiting for a kidney donation. He finally received a transplant from a deceased donor in 2020, but the kidney has not functioned as hoped, leaving Urtel in need of another transplant.
Special Tuesday card set at Cal Expo
Rock’s Image and Rockin Sage, who both proved punctual favorites in last week’s eliminations, loom the main rivals in Tuesday night’s (Dec. 26) $13,700 Donald Arnstine Pace at Cal Expo.