Lone Star Park

Lone Star Park announced it was suspending live racing prior to its second race Sunday. A notice on the Texas track's Twitter feed announced, "Due to an abundance of caution, all racing operations at Lone Star Park have been suspended due to #COVID19. Racing will resume at a date to be determined." Lone Star Park opened for an abbreviated 36-day meet May 22 and began allowing fans into the grandstand for live racing June 14.

Lone Star Park, which kicked off its abbreviated 36-day meet May 22, released its revised stakes schedule, featuring 18 stakes worth $1.4 million. The meet continues through Aug. 2. Texas Champions Day, originally scheduled to be contested at Sam Houston Race Park Mar., but cancelled due to a blown transformer, will be hosted by Lone Star June 14. Texas Champions Day includes the Bara Lass S., Groovy S., Richard King Turf S., San Jacinto S., Spirit of Texas S., Star of Texas S. and Yellow Rose S. Three additional stakes-the...

Lone Star Park's 2020 Thoroughbred racing season will begin Friday, May 22. At this time, racing operations will be conducted with no spectators. Lone Star's Bar & Book Simulcasting will reopen Friday at 10:30 a.m. with occupancy limited to 25% capacity and all appropriate physical distancing measures in place. "The health and safety of our patrons and employees continues to be our top priority," a statement from Lone Star read. "We continue to monitor closely all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and public health advancements, and we...

With Lone Star Park announcing that it will open its stable area May 4 and with Texas Governor Greg Abbott going ahead with aggressive plans to re-open the state's businesses, Texas horsemen have said they are confident that racing will resume shortly at Lone Star Park. And there may even be fans in the stands to greet racing's return. There has been no racing in Texas since Mar. 28, when Sam Houston ended its meet ahead of schedule. The Lone Star meet was set to begin Apr. 16, but the...

The upcoming Texas Summer Yearling Sale Aug. 24 will now include a horses of racing age session in lieu of having broodmares and weanlings, the Texas Thoroughbred Association and Lone Star Park. For this year only, the mixed session will only be open to 2-year-olds and older horses of racing age. The change is due to the cancellation of the Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "After talking to consignors, we found there was strong demand for a horses of racing...

The Texas 2-Year-Olds-In-Training Sale scheduled to take place at Lone Star Park Apr. 3 has been canceled, officials at the Texas Thoroughbred Association and the track announced, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. All entry fees are refundable. "We are obviously disappointed to cancel this sale, especially with a record number of consignments, but it's really the only option at this point and postponing the sale simply was not feasible," said Mary Ruyle, executive director of the Texas Thoroughbred Association. "We are leaving the sale catalogue online and making some...

This year's Texas Summer Yearling and Mixed Sale has been set for Monday, Aug. 24 at Lone Star Park. The entry deadline is June 15. "We have a record number of entries for the Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale on April 3, and we anticipate added interest in this auction thanks to all the positive things going on with Texasracing," said Mary Ruyle, executive director of the TTA. Up to $25 million annually is being pumped into the Texas horse industry due to legislation passed last year, and purses at...

A record number of 175 juveniles have been entered for the Texas Thoroughbred Association's Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at Lone Star Park Apr. 3. The under tack show will be held Apr. 1, at 10 a.m. at the track. This year's head count is up nearly 35 percent from last year's 135 (including supplements) and more than double the number in the 2016 sale, which was the first held jointly by the TTA and Lone Star. "We expected to have more entries after the passage of beneficial legislation in...

Officials at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie have announced that daily average overnight purses for their 2020 racing season will reach $200,000, up a whopping 43% from the $140,000 in 2019. "This boost in overnight purses has energized Lone Star Park in a way that we haven't experienced in a lot of years," said Bart Lang, Director of Racing. "This is a very exciting time for the Grand Prairie, Texas racetrack." The purse increase is due to funds collected and distributed by the passage last year of Texas House...

Officials at Lone Star Park have announced the track's richest stakes schedule in a decade, topped by the inaugural running of the $300,000 Texas Derby (May 25) and the state's only graded race, the $300,000 GIII Steve Sexton Mile (Apr. 26). In total, Lone Star will play host to a dozen added-money events worth a combined $1.425 million, up $300,000 from 2019 and richest since 2011. Minor stakes races that previously offered $50,000 in purse money have all increased by 50% to $75,000 for 2020. "We are super excited about...

Roy Cobb's homebred Mr Money Bags (Silver City) will be crowned as the 2019 Texas Horse of the Year at the Texas Thoroughbred Association's annual meeting and awards banquet Mar. 21 at Sam Houston Race Park. The night will also celebrate divisional Texas-bred champions with awards based on points earned in stakes performances during the year. Mr Money Bags had six wins from nine starts and earnings of $328,470 as a 3-year-old in 2019. The gelding was undefeated in his home state, winning a division of the Clarence Scharbauer Jr....

The Texas Thoroughbred Association has announced two new incentive programs for buyers and sellers at its auctions. At the TTA's Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale, a portion of funds derived from the passage of H.B. 2463 will be used to provide rebates of up to half of the $500 consignment fee for all horses entered in the sale who pass through the ring (not just Texas-breds). Additionally, all sales graduates will be eligible for purse bonuses paid to owners of horses finishing in the top...