Training camp at Hastings · 7.04.08

The pulse of racing is beginning to quicken at Hastings Racecourse. The 2008 season begins in less than three weeks, and horses on the grounds are putting in pre-season workouts:

It’s thoroughbred racing’s version of training camp. Every morning at the crack of dawn there is a constant ripple of activity in and around the backstretch…. It is a time when optimism runs high among owners and trainers; a time when champion horses mingle with newcomers intent on making a name for themselves….

Canada’s champion older male from last year, True Metropolitan, is due to headline the first stakes race of the year, the George Royal on May 3 — six furlongs, $50,000, 3yo-and-up. Question: why is this race, named for one of the best stayers of the 1960s, carded as a sprint?

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What do you think?

  1. It used to be a route and was shortened without changing the name.

    — Dr. T. Yatcak · Apr 9, 04:12 AM · #

  2. I think you mentioned this to me once before. If Hastings lengthened it again, and positioned it as a prep for the Breeders Cup “marathon”, maybe they could get some BC money to top-up the purse?

    — E-man · Apr 9, 11:50 AM · #

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