In the South, Calder, Oaklawn Park, Fair Grounds, Remington Park, Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie, and Sam Houston Race Park have committed to stands, while on the West Coast Del Mar and Portland Meadows have made plans for stands. Harrah's Louisiana Downs will participate by making a donation to the charity in lieu of hosting a lemonade stand. The TRA is a non-profit organization of 43 racing associations in the United States and Canada whose combined handle represents more than 75 %of the $16 billion wagered annually on Thoroughbred racing in North America. For more information about Alex's Lemonade Stand, please visit http://www.alexslemonade.com or call 866-333-1213.
Edited news releaseThe legacy of a young girl with an indomitable spirit, brought to the racing spotlight by 3-year-old colt Afleet Alex with the same tenacious character, has marshaled the support of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations' (TRA) racetracks for her special charity, Alex's Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer Research. Alex's Lemonade Stand will be raising money for childhood oncology at TRA tracks across the nation June 11, as Afleet Alex seeks to follow up his dramatic Preakness Stakes (gr. I) victory with a win in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), the third jewel in the Visa Triple Crown. Alexandra "Alex" Scott, who succumbed to neuroblastoma last August at age eight, launched her first lemonade stand at age four to help raise money for "her doctors" to cure cancer. Since then, children and adults have opened small, local stands in the name of Alex's Lemonade Stand and more than $1.8 million has been raised and donated to research hospitals and facilities from Pennsylvania, where Alex's family lives, to California. Chuck and Carol Zacney, partners in the Philadelphia-area Cash Is King Stable that owns Afleet Alex, have pledged a portion of their winnings of each race to Alex's Lemonade Stand and all of the horse's merchandising material bears a lemon logo representing the charity. Alex's mother, Liz Scott, arranged with Churchill Downs to have a stand opened at the track for the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and raised $11,000. Two weeks later, Pimlico had a pair of stands for the Preakness and raised another $18,000. Churchill Downs, Pimlico, and Belmont Park all will have Alex's Lemonade Stands open on Belmont Stakes Day and will be joined by tracks from East to West and North to South. New York's other open Thoroughbred racetrack, Finger Lakes, also will have a stand. Pimlico also is auctioning a large placard of the Preakness program page with the autographs of each participating jockey on e-bay with the proceeds designated for Alex's Lemonade Stand. In the home area of Cash Is King Stable and Afleet Alex, there will be stands at Delaware Park, Philadelphia Park, Penn National, the Meadowlands, and Monmouth Park. In the Midwest, Canterbury Park, Prairie Meadows, Arlington Park, Hawthorne Race Course, Keeneland, Thistledown, Fonner Park, Beulah Park, and Turfway Park are joining in the effort.
