Texas racing

Sam Houston Race Park has named industry veteran Bart Lang as its new Director of Racing. Lang will oversee the racing operations for Sam Houston Race Park, Retama Park in Selma, Texas and Zia Park in Hobbs, New Mexico. Each of the three racetracks are owned by Penn National Gaming. Inc. Born in Timonium, Maryland, Lang's first job was working for Bonita Farm, grooming, hot walking and learning the essentials of horse care and training from the highly respected Boniface family. He had tenures in the racing offices of Oaklawn...

Jockey Stewart Elliott picked up his second leading rider title at Sam Houston Race Park as the meet wrapped up its 50-day stand Saturday. Elliott had the support of trainer Steve Asmussen, riding first call for the Hall of Fame conditioner as he piloted 296 mounts, winning 62 races with earnings of $1,490,006. The successful union between Elliott and Asmussen began in Houston two years ago and has continued at Lone Star Park and Remington Park. "I have to thank Steve Asmussen and all the owners and trainers who gave...

With the end of his NFL career right around the corner, Mike Renfro was looking for something to do after his playing days were over. That's why he bought a Louisiana-bred in 1988 named Dr. Death. It couldn't have worked out any better. Dr. Death won his first start for Renfro and would go on to win six stakes races and finish third in the 1988 GI Hollywood Derby. "It was going to be my last season and I was looking to get into the real estate business, but real...

The Texas Thoroughbred Association and Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie have scheduled the 2022 Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale for Wednesday, Apr. 6. The breeze show will be held at the Dallas-area racetrack Monday, Apr. 4. "Based on what we saw with the Texas Summer Yearling Sale, I think there's a lot of anticipation for the upcoming Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in April," TTA Sales Director Foster Bridewell said. "I think we're uniquely positioned in the 2-year-old sales landscape to provide a quality sale for our owners, trainers,...

The Texas Thoroughbred Association stakes series will now include a TTA Derby and Oaks, it was announced Tuesday. The new TTA stakes schedule will offer purses totaling more than $500,000 and is restricted to graduates of the Texas Summer Yearling Sale Aug. 30 or Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale next spring. It will feature Futurity divisions for both colts/geldings and fillies, worth $150,000 apiece (up from $100,000), on closing day weekend of the 2022 Lone Star Park Thoroughbred meet; and a $100,000 Oaks and Derby to be contested at a...

Sam Houston Race Park announced Sunday that it will raise its overnight purses for the remainder of the 2021 Thoroughbred meet. The increases will go into effect starting Wednesday, Feb. 17 and will continue through closing day, Apr. 3. All main track purses will be increased by $7,000, while turf purses will see a $2,000 bump. The track cited strong handle figures, which are up 40% year over year including a record-setting handle of $5.3 million on the Houston Racing Festival card Jan. 31, as the reason for the changes....

Lone Star Park's Thoroughbred Racing Season will begin Thursday, April 22, 2021 and have an increased 48 days of racing before concluding July 11, the track announced Tuesday. The calendar features live racing every Friday, Saturday & Sunday at 2:35 p.m., select Thursdays at 6:35 p.m. and select Mondays at 2:35 p.m. Special Triple Crown post times of 1:35 p.m. and a July 4 twilight post time of 5:00 p.m. will round out the schedule. Lone Star's 2021 stakes schedule will run a total of 20 stakes worth a combined...

A record $2.1 million in average daily handle from off-track sources was recorded at Lone Star Park for its recently concluded Thoroughbred meet. The amount marked a 131% increase from 2019. The previous comparative high of $2 million a day was in 2002, but the Texas track did average a daily all-source handle of just over $2.2 million in 2004 when hosting the Breeders' Cup. "With the success of this season behind us, we are eager to keep the momentum going into next year and feel the future is bright...

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...

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...

Sam Houston Race Park was forced to cancel its stakes-laden Texas Champions Day card after the second race Saturday night when a transformer blew, and will not hold its final four days of racing, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Its 2020 Quarter Horse meet set to start Apr. 10 has also been cancelled. "We share in the disappointment this creates throughout the Texas racing industry and for our valued customers and employees," said Sam Houston Vice President and General Manager Dwight Berube. "Sam Houston Race Park looks forward to a time...

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....