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In four decades as a jockey and trainer, Wesley Ward has won just about everything in racing except the Longacres Mile. That could change, however, when Ward sends out highly regarded Touchy in the Aug. 16 race at Emerald Downs. With his 4 3/4-length victory in the Aug. 8 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty has ascended within the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, tied with four other horses in sixth place with a 125 rating. In this edition of Odds and Trends, J. Keeler Johnson examines which sires consistently pass on more stamina to their progeny than others. Letters to the editor for the Aug. 13 issue of BloodHorse Daily include a submission discussing the importance of the Triple Crown. Darley Stallions' Cody's Wish leads the first-crop yearling sires standings after Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale with a $525,000 average. Ellis Park's live racing schedule will be adjusted this weekend because of forecast heat index values of up to 109 degrees in the Henderson, Ky., area. A six-figure betting coup was pulled off in betting shops in Britain Aug. 9 after four out of five horses from the same training center won in the United States. The thoroughbred season at Remington Park opens Aug. 21, launching a season of 62 race dates that include Oklahoma Derby Week festivities, Oklahoma Classics, and the return of Extreme Holiday Showdown. Trainers Eusebio Juarez Rufino and Shannon Simpson have received lengthy suspensions and prohibitive fines in resolutions posted this week to the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit website. A passionate panel discussion considering if the casual bettor, consistent bettor, and computer-assisted wagering bettor can coexist points to the difficult spot in which the industry finds itself after years of helping facilitate CAW handle growth.
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