Texas

Willie Stuard Hickman, who served in several roles in the Thoroughbred industry in Texas and Louisiana, passed away Mar. 15. Had been hospitalized with pneumonia and was 64 years old. Born in Red Rock, Texas, Hickman at various times trained racehorses and worked in the racing office at Sam Houston Race Park for over two decades. As stall superintendent, jockey room coordinator and most recently, stakes coordinator, Hickman had lasting relationships with horsemen in both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing. He also did an excellent job as jockey agent to...

Last Friday, on the same day that Bob Baffert's New York Racing Association (NYRA) suspension hearing was ending in New York, the Texas attorney general filed a motion in a Texas federal court to join the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (National HBPA), et al., in arguing that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), enacted late last year, was unconstitutional. Baffert had challenged his suspension, which was summarily instituted by NYRA without a hearing May 17 after the Baffert-trained Medina Spirit (Protonico) had tested positive for betamethasone in...

GISW Poseidon's Warrior (Speightstown--Poised To Pounce, by Smarten), sire of Grade I winner and multi-millionaire Firenze Fire, is relocating from Pennsylvania to Century Acres in Hempstead, Texas, for the upcoming breeding season in a deal brokered by Jamie LaMonica and Brenden Heeney. He will stand the 2022 season for $3,500 S&N. In addition to Firenze Fire, Poseidon's Warrior is also represented in 2021 by stakes winners Warrior's Pride and Navy Commander.

Grade I winner Mr Speaker (Pulpit--Salute, by Unbridled) has been purchased by Lori and Mark Collinsworth and will be relocating to their Forks of the Paluxy Farm in Bluff Dale, Texas for the 2022 Breeding Season. He will stand for $5,000. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to stand a horse of Mr Speaker's caliber in Texas," said Mark Collinsworth. "He was a very talented racehorse, and he is off to a great start in his stallion career with a number of stakes horses already to his credit. With...

The 25th season of Thoroughbred racing at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie just outside of Dallas concluded July 11 with handle figures their largest since 2006. The figures do not include last year's pandemic season. Daily merged (i.e. live, on-track plus export) handle totaled $1,693,866 for the 48-day meet, while a daily average of $1,459,096 in export handle. On-track fans wagered $234,770 daily, the most since 2018. Average daily attendance on weekends and holidays for the meet was just over 4,000 per day, just a 4% decline from 2019....

Officials at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie have announced that all overnight purses will be raised across the board by 20%, beginning with Friday's live racing program. Purses that ranged from $12,000 for bottom-level claimers to $39,000 for open allowance races will now carry prize money between $14,400 and $46,800. The Thoroughbred meeting at Lone Star Park continues through Sunday, July 11.

When lifelong owner and breeder Nathan Granger picked up a filly by his late stallion Bind, bred by his partner Jay Adcock, for just $13,000 at the ESLA September Sale, he knew right away that she was something special. So special in fact, that he gave her a name of the highest honor in the Granger family, WUPKAR, which stands for Wake Up, Pray, Kick Ass, Repeat. This was the slogan of Granger's son Ross, who was diagnosed with an astrocytoma in his brain stem shortly after his high school...

Sam Houston Race Park set a record for handle during its 10-race Houston Racing Festival card Sunday, Jan. 31. Besides the $300,000 GIII Houston Ladies Classic S. and $200,000 GIII John B. Connally Turf Cup S., the fixture also featured the $200,000 Texas Turf Mil S., $100,000 Pulse Power Turf Sprint S., the $75,000 Stonerside Sprint S. and the $75,000 Jersey Lilly Turf S. A record total of $5.3 million was wagered at the Houston-area track. "We are thrilled with the success of this year's Houston Racing Festival and setting...

With Retama Park opting to race only Quarter Horses in 2021, Sam Houston Race Park (46 dates) and Lone Star Park (42 dates) will make up the bulk of the Thoroughbred schedule in Texas next year. The Texas Racing Commission (TRC) approved the changes and granted the requested slate of race dates at its Sept. 29 meeting. Retama had switched its schedule to exclusively Quarter Horses this season, swapping out Thoroughbred dates to other tracks in deference to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will continue that format into 2021. Sam Houston's...

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...