Happily Unbridled

Garrett Gomez made a valiant effort to break the record for purse earnings in a year when he won with his first three mounts at Santa Anita Dec. 31. But in the one race he had to win, the $76,400 Kalookan Queen Handicap, the 2007 Eclipse Award-winning jockey finished third aboard Baroness Thatcher.

Lethal Heat, who won six of nine starts in 2008 before going to the sidelines following a third-place finish in the Del Mar Oaks (gr. IT), starts a new year for trainer Barry Abrams in the $100,000 Monrovia Handicap (gr. IIIT) over Santa Anita’s hillside turf course Jan. 3.

Advance deposit wagering outlets owned by TrackNet Media, TwinSpires.com and XpressBet, as well as Youbet.com, will be taking bets on the upcoming 2009 Oaklawn racing season under an agreement announced Dec. 31.

Four Roses Thoroughbreds’ Anak Nakal, who was prominent on the Triple Crown trail in 2008 and later won the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II), will make his 4-year-old debut against 13 rivals during Gulfstream Park’s opening day $100,000 Hal’s Hope Handicap (gr. III) Jan. 3.

You Luckie Mann and Silent Valor figure to attract most of the attention in the $100,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes, the six-furlong event which kicks off Gulfstream Park’s 2009 series for 3-year-olds on opening day Jan. 3.

Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board (NYSRWB) has implemented a new rule concerning any winning pari-mutuel ticket purchased at a New York pari-mutuel facility that is not cashed within ten days and has a cash value of $300 or more.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers Association announced Dec. 31 that the Web site courier-journal.com of the Louisville Courier-Journal has won the 2008 Media Eclipse Award in the Audio and Multi-Media Internet category for its three-part series on injuries to race horses, which appeared on its site from Aug. 16-18, 2008.

Youbet.com has reached an agreement to take bets on Gulfstream Park for that track’s meet which begins on Jan. 3, Sam Gordon, president of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said Dec. 30.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers Association announced Dec. 31 that Billy Reed, long time sports writer and columnist, has won the 2008 Media Eclipse Award for Writing in the News/Commentary category for his column “A Rose for Eight Belles.”

Citing the current difficult economic times facing the Thoroughbred industry, Lambholm South in Ocala, Florida has announced a “Breeders Stimulus Plan” to breeders sending mares to their stallions.