track renovation

Mountaineer Park's premier stakes, the GIII West Virginia Derby, will shift to the first Sunday in August with a later post time this year in an effort to make the $500,000, nine-furlong race for 3-year-olds better stand out against national simulcast competition. The West Virginia Derby, plus the supporting GIII $200,000 West Virginia Governor's S. at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds and up, will now be carded Sunday, Aug. 6, after the track received unanimous permission for that change at Tuesday's West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC)  meeting. The purses for...

Keeneland has completed construction of six new barns and other enhancements at The Thoroughbred Center (TTC), its 245-acre, year-round training facility on Paris Pike on the northeast side of Lexington. The six new barns contain a total of 240 stalls and feature: • Wider shedrows to accommodate safe winter training for horses housed year-round; • Interior and exterior wash stalls; • Dedicated interior feed rooms along with dedicated hay/bedding storage; • Office tack rooms for trainers; and • A stall layout design that maximizes lighting and airflow with spacious windows...

The renovation of the Oklahoma Training Track at Saratoga Race Course has been completed, according to a press release from the New York Racing Association, Inc. Horses and riders, who were welcomed to jog and gallop over the surface beginning Wednesday morning, were met with a completely reconstructed Oklahoma track featuring a limestone base, renovated surface layer and modernized drainage systems. The training track has been widened by 10-to-14 feet in most areas to address the increasing population of horses training over the Oklahoma annually from April to October. Additionally,...