THE DAY AT THE RACES
The Breeders’ Cup will not be held at Belmont Park in 2013, according to a source close to the negotiations.
Belmont was as a frontrunner earlier this year, but a conflict with the New York City Marathon has caused the track to drop out of the running, as most of the hotels in the city are already booked due to the Marathon.
The Breeders’ Cup wouldn't confirm that Belmont was out of the running, saying only, “The 2013 site selection is still ongoing.”
Belmont Park last hosted the Breeders’ Cup in 2005. This year’s event will be held Nov. 2-3 at Santa Anita Park.
Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., which held the event in 2007, is rumored to be the favorite for the 2013 Cup.
The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association is donating $100,000 to the New York State Racing & Wagering Board’s Drug Testing and Research Program to advance research that will strengthen testing for illegal medications in the state. The funds will be used to study gene and blood doping substances, as well as snake toxins and proteinbased drugs.
“One of the responsibilities of NYTHA is to protect the interests of owners and trainers racing in New York,” NYTHA President Rick Violette Jr. said. “I know of no better way to protect those interests than by supporting our drug testing program and providing our labs with the resources needed to keep illegal medications out of New York racing.”
Dr. George Maylin, director of the Drug Testing and Research Program at Morrisville State College, will collaborate with Dr. Lawrence Soma at the University of Pennsylvania on the research.
“The desire to win at all costs by a few individuals has cast a dim light on the vast majority of participants, who play by the rules and don’t abuse drugs,” Dr. Maylin said. “Horse racing has the most
stringent rules to detect and deter performance-enhancing drugs. Many drugs that are prohibited in racing are permitted in Olympic athletes as defined in World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) rules and regulations. Despite horse racing’s stringent rules, drugs continue to be used, and steppedup surveillance is required to test for the new drugs that are introduced.”
Belmont Park holds the first of its three “Party at the Park” programs this afternoon. Post time for the opening race is at 3 p.m. and there will be live music and drink specials to go along with the live racing. Drink specials begin at 5 p.m. and the live music runs from 7 to 9 p.m. THURSDAY'S CARD 3RD: The next Uncle Mo, Onetwentyeight, who is trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Mike Repole, sure made a nice looking debut, wiring them to score by five lengths. Let’s hope he’s healthier than Uncle Mo was.