Oklahoma Racing

A federal judge on Aug. 1 refused to grant an "emergency" request for a temporary restraining order that eight licensed racetrackers in Oklahoma requested on July 29 to keep the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) from being enforced in that state before the Remington Park meet begins there Aug. 16. Chief Judge Timothy DeGiusti of United States District Court of Oklahoma (Western District) wrote in an order issued Thursday that, "Upon review, the Court finds the Application is facially insufficient to satisfy the requirements of Rule 65(b)(1) for issuance...

This fall, the lone name change on the upcoming Remington Park stakes schedule is the former Trapeze Stakes will now be called the Toby Keith Stakes, in honor of the late Oklahoma country singer/songwriter and horseman, the track said in a Thursday release. Keith, a horse owner and breeder who raced primarily under his stable name of Dream Walkin Farms, earned more than $18 million on the racetrack, according to Equibase statistics. The star passed away in February at the age of 62 after a battle with stomach cancer. The...

Racetrack veteran Kelly Cathey has been named the director of racing at Remington Park and will oversee the operation for all breeds competing at the Oklahoma City facility. The American Quarter Horse, Paint, and Appaloosa season begins Mar. 9, with the Thoroughbred season set to kick off in late August. With more than 30 years of experience in racing and a trainer for a father, Cathey has served as a groom, pony person, assistant trainer, valet, and assistant starter before moving into track management in 1998 at Retama Park in...

With the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit set to hear oral arguments Dec. 7 in a case that seeks to reverse a lower court's decision to dismiss a constitutional challenge of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), the two opposing sides have filed new documentation pertaining to a separate but related Nov. 18 decision by the Fifth Circuit that did, in fact, declare HISA unconstitutional. Although it's tough at this stage to get a consensus on what might happen with HISA over the next six...

During the most recent "Let's Talk" Podcast put on by the TDN, Eclipse Award winning trainer Brad Cox stated, "I think there's a lot of negativity around the game and if we want to draw new people in, we should probably try to kill it with the negativity, if we could, and promote the game." I completely agree with this sentiment, and I do think most racing publications do try to promote and showcase the good of the sport along with the bad. I know at ThoroFan we try to...

A federal lawsuit spearheaded by the state of Oklahoma to try and get the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) voided for alleged constitutional violations was filed Monday, meaning there are now two active legal challenges in the United States court system attempting to derail the regulatory powers of the HISA "Authority" prior to that regulatory body's planned 2022 phase-in. According to a press release issued by the state attorney general's office in Oklahoma, the suit is challenging that "HISA gives a private corporation broad regulatory authority over Oklahoma's horse...

Live Thoroughbred racing is scheduled to return at Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs Mar. 22 and will continue through May 26. The meet will include eight stakes races with six exclusively for accredited Oklahoma-Breds. Post time is 1:00 p.m. daily. "As one of only a few tracks running last spring, we are now very rehearsed in conducting a safe race meet under pandemic restrictions and CDC guidelines," said John Lies, racing secretary, announcer and oddsmaker at Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs. Stakes races begin Apr. 12 with the $50,000 guaranteed...

The first foal from Code West (Lemon Drop Kid--Charitabledonation, by Saint Ballado), a five-time stakes winner who raced mostly in the southwest, was born out of the Newfoundland mare Sephora early Tuesday morning. Code West, who originally raced for Gary and Mary West before being acquired by Bryan Hawk and becoming a mainstay at Zia and Albuquerque in the mid-2010s, earned $828,727 in 37 career starts. He stands at WestWin Farms in Purcell, OK for $1,500 LFSN.