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News and notes from around the Thoroughbred racing world, compiled by Thoroughbred Racing Communications, Inc. (TRC) (212.371.5911..)  REAL QUIET, NTRA MERCHANDISE NOW AVAILABLE The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has produced an array of merchandise featuring the distinctive red and yellow silks of owner Mike Pegram, whose horse Real Quiet will attempt to become the 12th Triple Crown winner in Saturday's Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. A victory in the Belmont would also make Real Quiet the first horse to win the $5 million Visa Triple Crown Challenge. Pegram assigned the rights to the name, likeness and image of Real Quiet to the NTRA in a deal announced last month. Real Quiet and NTRA-logo merchandise will be available at Belmont Park, Calder Racecourse, Churchill Downs, Delaware Park, Emerald Downs, Hollywood Park, Lone Star Park, Louisiana Downs, Philadelphia Park, Pimlico Racecourse, Prairie Meadows, River Downs, Sam Houston Park, and Suffolk Downs. The merchandise can also be ordered via the NTRA web site, ntraracing.mom, starting at noon on June 5. The products include: a brushed twill hat and white cotton T-shirt with Real Quiet silks and name; a black cap featuring the NTRA's Go Baby Go tagline; a heather gray T-shirt with the NTRA logo and tagline; a white polo shirt embroidered with the NTRA logo tagline; and a black windbreaker embroidered with the NTRA logo. The NTRA is developing a merchandise catalog that will be available at the end of June. For more information call toll-free (877) Go Baby Go or log on to www.ntraracing.com. NTRA WEB SITE TO BE UNVEILED ON JUNE 5 The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced on Thursday, June 4, that its official World Wide Web site at www.ntraracing.com will be up and running on Friday, June 5. The launch of the site, which is designed as an interactive medium to communicate with existing fans and to educate new ones, completes Phase I of the NTRA's presence on the Internet. The launch also marks the latest NTRA marketing and fan education initiative to increase public awareness of the Thoroughbred sport. 'We have promised a state-of-the-art Web site and I think that is what our fans will find,' said Rick Baedeker, NTRA Senior Vice President - Marketing. 'It will be a great resource for the racing enthusiast and perhaps the best educational medium available for the NTRA to attract new fans. We could not have done this without Equibase,' added Baedeker. 'Their enthusiasm and expertise allowed this project to happen very quickly. We were fortunate to have the help of many talented people from the beginning of the Web site's development.' Racing fans visiting www.ntraracing.com will find an array of information and links, including a television schedule; a section which caters to the new racing fan, providing information on how to wager and explanations of racing terms and statistics; a directory of racetrack locations and contact information; race results and statistics; coming events; NTRA membership information; and NTRA merchandise. The Web site's development will continue throughout the year, adding such enhancements as interactive fan education tools, an on-line ordering service for merchandise, video clips of races and features, and chat rooms featuring celebrities from the world of Thoroughbred racing. BELMONT STAKES TO BE BROADCAST LIVE ON INTERNET Broadcast.com will continue its live coverage of the Triple Crown by broadcasting the Belmont Stakes through the horse racing section of its web site, co-developed by Equibase Company and located at www.broadcast.com. Coverage will include the live call of every race on the Belmont Stakes Day card. More than 12,000 people tuned into the online broadcasts of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes will complete Broadcast.com's online coverage of the 1998 VISA Triple Crown Challenge. REAL QUIET TO BE SYNDICATED Highland Farm near Paris, Ky., which purchased the breeding rights to Triple Crown hopeful Real Quiet in early April, is assembling a syndicate which will own the colt when his stud career begins, probably after his five-year-old season. A total of 42 shares, each worth $525,000, will be offered although the farm isn't sure how many shares it will retain. 'We'll see how strong the demand is before deciding how many shares to retain,' said Highland Farm general manager Peter Kirwan. He added that the share price would not change if Real Quiet wins the Belmont, unless 'he wins like Secretariat did.' REAL QUIET GOING DOWN UNDER? An article in England's 'Sporting Life' newspaper reports that Real Quiet would be a dual-hemisphere stallion, standing at George Hofmeister's newly purchased Australian stud farm as well as his Highland farm in Kentucky. 'Real Quiet is definitely coming here, but we don't know exactly when it will be,' said John Messara, managing director of Arrowfield Stud, which recently helped Hofmeister acquire Hunter Valley Stud. 'If he stays sound, he could continue racing as a four-year-old and five-year-old so stud duties could be a year or two away.' Owner Mike Pegram confirmed at the press conference that racing would be in Real Quiet's immediate future. 'Highland Farm will control this horse in 2001 and they'll be free to do whatever they want from 2001 on,' Pegram said. 'I'll control this horse through his five-year-old year.' THE RACING NETWORK GOES ON THE AIR SEPT. 1 Greenwood Racing Inc., which owns Philadelphia Park, will launch 'The Racing Network,' a multi-channel subscription racing service available by satellite, on Sept. 1. Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, harness and greyhound racing will be featured with wagering available via Philadelphia Park's PhoneBet system. Greenwood has a five-year contract for satellite time adequate to support 14 signals. Philadelphia Park CEO Hal Handel said that eight signals will carry live racing while six handle wagering information and handicapping information.
June 5, Racehorse Digest, 5:30-6:00 a.m., ESPN
June 5, 1943: Count Fleet ended his racing career by winning the Belmont Stakes by 25 lengths. He was the sixth American Triple Crown winner. June 5, 1969: Jockey Mary Bacon won her first race, at Finger Lakes. Among apprentices, she finished 23rd in the races won category that year, with 55 victories in 396 starts and purses of $91,642. Bacon was the first female to join the list of leading apprentices. June 5, 1985: Steve Cauthen won the Epsom Derby aboard Slip Anchor and became the only American jockey to win both the English and Kentucky Derbies. Cauthen had previously ridden Affirmed to victory in the 1978 Kentucky Derby. June 5, 1993: Julie Krone became the first female rider to win a Triple Crown race when she won the Belmont Stakes with Colonial Affair. June 6, 1919: Man o' War won his first race ever, a five-furlong contest over a straightaway at Belmont Park. He won by six lengths, running the distance in 59 seconds, and went off at odds of 3-5. In each of his 20 subsequent races, Man o' War was the odds-on favorite. June 6, 1972: In preparation for his colt's July 4 racing debut, trainer Lucien Laurin put blinkers on two-year-old Secretariat for the first time. Secretariat responded by working a half-mile at Belmont Park in 47 3-5, the fastest work of his life up to that date. June 6, 1987: Bet Twice became the first horse to receive a Triple Crown bonus after winning the Belmont Stakes over rival Alysheba. He earned $1 million in addition to the first-place money. June 6, 1992: Carl Gambardella won his 6,000th career victory, aboard Nip of Gin, at Rockingham Park. June 7, 1941: Whirlaway won the 73rd running of the Belmont Stakes and became the fifth horse to win the Triple Crown. June 7, 1947: Owner William Helis had three stakes wins in three different states. Rippey won the Carter Handicap at New York's Aqueduct; Jobstown won the Absecon Handicap at New Jersey's Atlantic City and Elpis won the New Castle Handicap at Delaware Park. June 7, 1980: Genuine Risk became the first filly to compete in all three Triple Crown races. She won the Kentucky Derby and finished second in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. June 7, 1986: Trainer Woody Stephens saddled Danzig Connection to win his fifth consecutive Belmont Stakes. Woody won the previous races with Conquistador Cielo (1982), Caveat (1983), Swale (1984) and Creme Fraiche (1985). June 8, 1985: Brushwood Stable's Creme Fraiche became the first gelding to win the Belmont Stakes. June 8, 1991: Julie Krone became the first female rider to compete in the Belmont Stakes. Her mount, Subordinated Debt, finished ninth as the third-longest shot in the field. Also on that date, Mane Minister became the only horse to finish third in all three Triple Crown events. June 9, 1888: James McLaughlin set the record for most number of wins by a jockey in the Belmont Stakes, six, when he rode Sir Dixon to a 12-length victory. McLaughlin's record was matched by Eddie Arcaro in 1955. June 9, 1887: Only two horses competed in the Belmont Stakes. It was the smallest field in the race's history, which again had only two starters in 1888, 1892, 1910 and 1920, the year Man o' War won the Belmont by 20 lengths. June 9, 1945: Hoop Jr. won the Kentucky Derby, which was run one month after a national wartime government ban on racing was lifted. June 9, 1973: Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths -- the longest winning margin in the race's history -- while setting a track record of 2:24, which has not been surpassed. The time was 2 3-5 seconds faster than the mark set by Gallant Man in 1957. Secretariat's victory made him the ninth Triple Crown winner and first since Citation had swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 1948. June 9, 1979: Spectacular Bid lost his chance for the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes, finishing third to winner Coastal. Trainer Bud Delp alleged that the colt had sustained a foot injury after stepping on a safety pin the morning of the race. June 9, 1984: Riding Swale in a wire-to-wire victory, Laffit Pincay Jr. won his third consecutive Belmont Stakes, becoming the only rider in this century to accomplish that feat. Pincay rode Caveat to victory in 1983 and Conquistador Cielo in 1982; all three of his mounts were trained by Woody Stephens. Jockey James McLaughlin also rode three consecutive Belmont winners, once from 1882-84, and again from 1886-88. June 10, 1890: The Preakness Stakes was run outside Baltimore, at Morris Park in New York, under the auspices of the New York Jockey Club. Suspended for three years, the race was next run at the Brooklyn Jockey Club's Gravesend Course, 1894-1908. June 10, 1938: Hollywood Park opened in Inglewood, Calif. In its inaugural year, Hollywood Park attracted such racing stars as Lawrin, who had given jockey Eddie Arcaro his first Kentucky Derby victory, as well as Ligaroti and Seabiscuit, whose rivalry later reached its pitch in a match race contested at Del Mar Racetrack on Aug. 12, 1938. June 10, 1944: The only triple dead heat for first in a stakes race occurred at Aqueduct Racetrack in the Carter Handicap. The three winners were Brownie, Bossuet and Wait a Bit. June 10, 1953: Trainer Charlie Whittingham, at age 40, saddled his first stakes winner when Porterhouse, ridden by Bill Boland, won the National Stallion Stakes at Belmont Park. Porterhouse was later named champion two-year-old of 1953. June 10, 1978: Steve Cauthen, at age 18, became the youngest jockey ever to win the Triple Crown when his mount, Affirmed, won the Belmont Stakes. Also on that day, Alydar became the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races. June 10, 1995: D. Wayne Lukas set the record for most consecutive wins in the Triple Crown races after Thunder Gulch won the Belmont Stakes. Lukas had previously won that year's Preakness with Timber Country and the Kentucky Derby with Thunder Gulch. In 1994, he won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with Tabasco Cat. June 11, 1898: Willie Simms became the only African American jockey to win the Preakness Stakes when he rode Sly Fox to victory. June 11, 1921: Grey Lag, under Earl Sande, won the first Belmont Stakes ever to be run counter-clockwise. Previous Belmonts had been run clockwise over a fish-hook course that included part of the training track and the main dirt oval. June 11, 1955: Jockey Eddie Arcaro tied James McLaughlin's record of six Belmont Stakes wins when he rode Nashua to victory. June 11, 1966: Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. recorded his first American stakes victory, taking the Christiana Stakes aboard two-year-old Hermogenes at Delaware Park. June 11, 1973: Triple Crown winner Secretariat simultaneously made the covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. June 11, 1977: Upon winning the Belmont Stakes, Seattle Slew became the 10th Triple Crown winner and the first Triple Crown winner to remain undefeated, with a career record of nine-for-nine. June 12, 1920: Man o' War won the Belmont Stakes, which was then run at a distance of 1 3-8-miles, in 2:14 1-5. He shattered the existing world record by 3 1-5 seconds. June 12, 1948: After riding Citation to victory in the Belmont, jockey Eddie Arcaro became the only rider in history to have won two Triple Crowns. His previous Triple Crown was with Whirlaway, in 1941. June 12, 1960: Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. rode his first race at El Comandante in Puerto Rico.
Belmont Stakes, 3yo, $1,000,000, 1 1-2 Miles, Grade I, Belmont Manhattan Handicap, 3&up, $250,000, 1 1-4 Miles Turf, Grade I, Belmont Riva Ridge Stakes, 3yo, $125,000, 7 Furlongs, Grade II, Belmont True North Handicap, 3&up, $125,000, 6 Furlongs, Grade II, Belmont Just a Game Breeders' Cup H., 3&up (f&m), $150,000, 1 Mile Turf, Grade III, Belmont Cinema Handicap, 3yo, $100,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Grade III, Hollywood Canadian Oaks, 3yo fillies, $300,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Woodbine Fleur de Lis Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $300,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Grade III, Churchill Downs Fort Worth Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $150,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Lone Star Park Melair Handicap, 3yo fillies, $100,000, 6 1-2 Furlongs, Hollywood Victoria Park Stakes, 3yo, $75,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Woodbine
Acorn Stakes, 3yo fillies, $150,000, 1 Mile, Grade I, Belmont Deputed Testamony Stakes, 3yo, $75,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Pimlico Gamely Breeders' Cup H., 3&up (f&m), $250,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Grade I, Hollywood Harham's Sizzler Handicap, 3yo, $75,000, 1 Mile, Sportsman's Park Lawdy Miss Clawdy Stakes, 3yo fillies, $75,000, 1 Mile, Sportsman's Park Mesquite Mile Breeders' Cup Stakes, 3yo fillies, $100,000, 1 Mile, Lone Star Park Nassau Stakes, 3&up (f&m), $95,000, 1 1-16 Miles Turf, Woodbine Regret Stakes, 3yo fillies, $150,000, 1 1-16 Miles Turf, Churchill Downs
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