Responding to numerous calls from horsemen, Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie joins Retama Park in providing a place to train and get official works during the 2005/2006 Winter season.

This year, Lone Star Park and the Texas Horsemen's Partnership received an extraordinary number of calls from horsemen expressing a desire to train in North Texas during the winter. In past years, it has always been a hardship for horsemen in that area to get official timed works or gate approvals, and now with several Louisiana tracks affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, more horsemen want to stable at Lone Star Park. Additionally, Remington Park in Oklahoma announced that it will not be open during the winter months, and now many of the trainers located in Oklahoma are indicating that they may use the Grand Prairie facilities to ready their horses for next year.

Both facilities will offer full use of the track, including gate works, dormitories for horsemen, and clocker services during this time. They will also allow horsemen to ship in and out on a daily basis for works during this time period.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to announce that we now have two facilities to provide winter training and official works,” stated Tommy Azopardi, executive director of the Texas Horsemen's Partnership. “I think this will help a lot of our horsemen by providing them with some more options. Hopefully, it will also help us keep our entries at Sam Houston Race Park strong during the current Thoroughbred meet and ensure that when live racing resumes for Quarter Horses in the spring that we will have a good supply to provide quality racing.”

“I want to thank [Retama Park CEO] Bryan Brown and the entire crew at Retama Park for their diligence in providing horsemen with their training center again, and I want to thank [Lone Star Park Vice President and General Manager] Jeff Greco and his group for taking a chance and giving our members a place to work and train in North Texas,” Azopardi stated.

For more information regarding rates, times, and requirements at these two facilities, please contact either Bob Pollack at Retama Park (210) 651-7126 or Dale Coleman at Lone Star Park (972) 237-5058.