Calder Cancels Summit of Speed for This Year
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Calder Casino & Race Course said June 16 it has canceled its "Summit of Speed" program scheduled for July 5 because of its pending racing-dates deal with nearby Gulfstream Park.
The seven stakes worth more than $1 million in purses have been fixtures at the Florida track during its summer meet. The agreement with Gulfstream would halt year-round racing at Calder, whose racing operation would be run by Gulfstream; Calder could host live racing for two months in the fall.
The Summit of Speed stakes are the $300,000 Smile Sprint Stakes (gr. II), $300,000 Princess Rooney Stakes (gr. III), $150,000 Azalea Stakes (gr. III), $150,000 Carry Back Stakes (gr. III), $100,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint, $80,000 JJ's Dream Stakes, and $80,000 Frank Gomez Memorial Stakes.
The Summit of Speed program was inaugurated in 2000 as one of the first "big event" racing days outside of the Breeders' Cup and Triple Crown. The races have produced multiple Eclipse Award winners.
"The Summit of Speed has been the cornerstone of the Calder meet for over a decade," Calder vice president and general manager of racing John Marshall said in a release. "We are optimistic that these top sprint races will return to the Thoroughbred racing scene in the future."
The Princess Rooney was scheduled to be a 2014 Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race for the Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I) and the Smile was on the 2014 Breeders' Cup Challenge schedule toward the XpressBet Sprint (gr. I).
Gulfstream now races year-round. It wasn't immediately known whether that track would pick up the Summit of Speed in the future.