Shorter Meet with Record Purses Set for the 2011 Sam Houston Race Park Thoroughbred Meet - special report by Martha Claussen

The 2011 Sam Houston Race Park Thoroughbred racing season kicks off on Friday, Jan. 21.  Although racing dates have been scaled down from 60 days last year to 27 days this year, purses of $160,000 per day have piqued the interest of many longtime Texas conditioners and new outfits this year.

Fourteen Stakes Set for Meet

Texas Champions Day will highlight opening weekend with seven stakes races restricted to Texas-bred Thoroughbreds. Supported by the Texas Thoroughbred Association (TTA), the feature race will be the running of the $100,000 Star of Texas Stakes.

On Saturday, Jan. 29, Sam Houston will be host to the Grade 3 John B. Connally Turf Cup, a mile and one-eighth turf handicap. The richest race of the meet received graded status in 2006. Running for the second year in a row at the end of January, the nominations are significant with interest from Fair Grounds and Gulfstream Park trainers such as Bill Mott, Michael Stidham, Marty Wolfson and Dale Romans. 

Other major stakes include the $100,000 Texas Stallion Stakes on Feb. 19 and the

$150,000 Maxxam Gold Cup on March 5. The purse for the Maxxam has been increased from $100,000 and has attracted some of the top older horses in the country, including Valhol, Sir Cherokee, Alumni Hall and Student Council.

Three of Nation's Top Ten Trainers Have Stalls

Sam Houston Race Park has attracted several of the top barns in the country for the 2011 meeting. Eclipse Award-winning trainer Steve Asmussen has won five titles in Houston and won 506 races in 2010 to finish first in wins and second in money to Todd Pletcher. Bret Calhoun, who added two Breeders’ Cup wins in November to his impressive resume', will return, as will Karl Broberg, who was the eighth leading conditioner by wins in North America last year. Broberg tied with Danny Pish for leading trainer honors in the 2010 Sam Houston meet.

Broberg, who took over the barn of John Locke at the end of 2009, has built a powerhouse of claiming and allowance horses that hit the board in 52 percent of their starts last year. He will have a busy couple of months with runners stabled at Delta Downs, Oaklawn Park and Sam Houston.

“I hope I will be competitive in Houston,” Broberg said. “I’ll be spread out between Oaklawn and Louisiana, but I think we will do well.”

The jockey colony will be strong as well, with last year’s leading rider, Paul Nolan, Bobby Walker Jr., Eguard Tejera, Larry Taylor and Quincy Hamilton, who returns to ride full-time for the first time since he won titles in 2005 and 2006. Nolan was injured at Canterbury Park on July 2. The Sam Houston meet will be his first since recovering from trauma to the T-12 vertebrae.

“The shorter meet with be tough, but exciting,” commented the British rider. “My agent, Travis Church, has been lining up business, and I look forward to riding for some new people.”

Hamilton, who attended high school minutes from Sam Houston, began his career in Texas before branching out to win more than 1,100 races in Oklahoma, Illinois and Hot Springs, Ark. He will ride first call for Broberg.

“I had a mediocre meet last year at Oaklawn, and was looking to make a change,” said the 28-year-old rider. “Looking at options, I decided I would ride in Louisiana in 2011. Karl gave me the opportunity to ride first call and we seem to click.”

Another new face will be Lyndie Wade, who has been riding the Illinois circuit for the past four years and decided to winter in Texas.

“The Chicago weather gets to you,” said Wade, 21, who has worked horses for Bret Calhoun, Joe Offolter and Randy Mayfield since arriving in Houston two weeks ago.

Monday Afternoon Racing Returns

Live racing is set for Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.; Sunday at 5 p.m. and Monday afternoon at 1:20 p.m. Sam Houston will offer free admission each Monday, and special events include Party on the Patio featuring 50-cent draft beer and $1.50 wine specials every Friday; Dollar Day on Jan. 23, and the entertaining Wiener Dog Races on March 12. 

Thoroughbred racing concludes on Monday, March 7 with a quick transition to live American Quarter Horse racing on Friday, March 11. “America's Fastest Athletes” will run through Sunday, May 15 with races every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For the full calendar of Sam Houston Race Park’s 2011 live race dates, visit www.shrp.com.

Cirque Du Soleil Will be a Major Attraction

With its expansive parking lot, Sam Houston Race Park will welcome back a second “big top” Cirque du Soleil production. OVO, explores the world of biodiversity and beauty of a colorful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. The national performance will run from March 10 to 27 under the Grand Chapiteau at Sam Houston Race Park. Tickets are on sale at http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ovo/tickets/houston.aspx.
 

Expanded Gaming on the Horizon?

Racetrack officials in Houston and across the state are hopeful that legislative efforts will gear up in Austin for VLTs at Texas tracks. Two years ago, more than 40 bills supporting VLTs and casino gaming were filed, but none passed House approval. With a budget shortfall of $27 billion, the state’s racing, equine and agricultural industry members feel that lawmakers may devote some serious consideration to expanded gaming. For more background and timely updates, visit the Texas HORSE website at http://texashorseweb.com.

Martha Claussen has been prominent in the Texas racing industry since 1997 as a publicist, writer and handicapper.