Horse Racing

Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. celebrates his victory with 108/1 Hollywood Talent in Saturday's Grade 3 Parx Turf Monster Stakes. (Image: Joe Labozzetta/EQUI-PHOTO)

Give 108/1 Hollywood Talent the Oscar for Biggest Upset of the Weekend

Hollywood Talent and his 108/1 odds pulled off an Oscar-winning performance for bettors on Saturday, capturing the Grade 3 Turf Monster Stakes at Parx Racing for his first graded-stakes victory. Hollywood Talent waited a long time for his first graded-stakes score, which came in his 52nd career race. The 10-year-old […]

Arlington Park crowds like this made the Arlington Million one of the must-see races of the summer at any North American track. The 94-year-old Chicago-area track runs its final races Saturday. (Image: Arlington Park)

Another Race Track Enters the History Books: Arlington Park (1927-2021)

Arlington Park will command a lion’s share of the horse racing world’s attention Saturday. It will command that attention without a stakes race on its nine-race card. And many paying attention will do so with tears in their eyes. Saturday is the final day of Thoroughbred racing at Arlington Park. […]

Hot Rod Charlie and trainer Doug O'Neill get a prime opportunity to win their first Grade 1 in Saturday's Pennsylvania Derby at Parx. (Image: Sarah Andrew)

Hot Rod Charlie and Midnight Bourbon Seek Grade 1 Glory in Penn Derby

The Pennsylvania Derby, your traditional last major 3-year-old race of the season, returns after a COVID-related year absence. And the Penn Derby returns, asking the pressing question concerning a couple of decorated sophomore runners: Will either Hot Rod Charlie or Midnight Bourbon finally get that elusive Grade 1 victory? If […]

Santa Barbara and jockey Ryan Moore scored a decisive victory at last  months' Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes. The 3-year-old filly was euthanized after complications from a fractured pelvis set in. (Image: Coady Photography)

Two-Time Grade 1 Winner Santa Barbara Euthanized After Pelvis Fracture

Two days after she was ruled out of the Breeders’ Cup, standout Irish filly Santa Barbara was euthanized on Thursday after complications set in from a fractured pelvis. Trainer Aidan O’Brien alluded to “a setback” when announcing that his star 3-year-old would skip the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. […]

Essential Quality won the Aug. 28 Travers Stakes for his fifth victory in six 2021 races. That race serves as his prep for the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. (Image: Susie Raisher/NYRA)

Essential Quality, Knicks Go Take Two Roads to Breeders’ Cup Classic

Those of you wanting to see Essential Quality run again must wait until the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Want to see Knicks Go? Trainer Brad Cox is a bit more accommodating. He’ll turn the 5-year-old loose in the Oct. 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs. Cox told the Daily […]

Life Is Good returns to action in Saturday's Grade 2 Kelso Stakes at Belmont Park. He'll return with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons instead of usual pilot Mike Smith, seen here.. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Life Is Good Looms Large Over Small Kelso Field

Coming out of a layoff into a Grade 1 proved a minor annoyance for Life Is Good. Now, the 3-year-old standout will face another hurdle when he takes on older horses for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 2 Kelso at Belmont Park. When we last saw Life Is Good […]

After Monomoy Girl sold for a record $9.5 million last November, she went back to training for her 6-year-old campaign. She was retired after fracturing a small bone in her leg during a routine gallop. (Image: Fasig-Tipton)

Two-Time Champion Monomoy Girl Retired After Sesamoid Fracture

Monomoy Girl, one of the dominant fillies of the 21st century, was retired from racing Wednesday after she suffered a fracture during a routine Tuesday gallop. Trainer Brad Cox said the 6-year-old mare and seven-time Grade 1 winner went out for a gallop at Churchill Downs on Tuesday morning. When […]

Trainer Aidan O'Brien's star colt St Mark's Basilica is 6-for-9 in his career. He's out indefinitely with an infected hind leg. (Image: Healy Racing)

Two of Star Trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Prize Pupils are Out After Injuries

Two of standout Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien’s star runners, Santa Barbara and St Mark’s Basilica, are both out indefinitely after suffering injuries. Santa Barbara, who won the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks and Grade 1 Beverly D at Arlington Park, won’t head to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf as […]

You saw Medina Spirit and John Velazquez capture August's Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. You won't see the pair in Saturday's Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. Trainer Bob Baffert scratched the Kentucky Derby winner after he drew an outside post. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Citing Post Draw, Baffert Scratches Medina Spirit from Penn Derby

Bob Baffert scratched Medina Spirit from Saturday’s Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Tuesday after the Kentucky Derby winner and 2/1 morning-line favorite drew an outside post that Baffert found troubling. Medina Spirit drew post 9 in the 10-horse Pennsylvania Derby field. That put his two chief competitors, Hot […]

After running last for most of the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Derby, Yibir unleashed a lethal burst of speed that earned the British-bred 3-year-old the Jockey Club Derby. (Image: Janet Garaguso/NYRA)

British Invader Yibir Gives Europe a Turf Triple Clean Sweep

British-bred Yibir highlighted a sterling weekend for breeding colossus Godolphin, winning Saturday’s $1 million Black-Type Jockey Club Derby Invitational – the final leg of the New York Racing Association’s Turf Triple series. This last-to-first outing over the 1 ½-mile Widener turf course at Belmont Park earned Yibir a berth in […]

Coyote Den was listed at 99/1 for Remington Park's second race last Thursday night. That's because that's as high as the toteboard goes. The 3-year-old gelding won his first career race, paying a record $374 on a $2 win bet. (Image: Remington Park)

Improbable Coyote Den Pulls Off Acme-Worthy Upset at 186/1

Coyote Den lit up Remington Park’s tote board on Thursday night for the largest payout on a $2 win ticket in the Oklahoma track’s history, crossing the wire at 186/1. The 3-year-old gelding’s improbable victory paid $374 to win, $57 to place, and $18.20 to show. That easily surpassed Remington […]

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert faces another challenge from a racing organization. The Breeders' Cup began reviewing his eligibility for this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships. (Image: John Minchillo/Associated Press)

Breeders’ Cup Board Instigates Review on Bob Baffert’s Eligibility

The Breeders’ Cup announced this weekend that it began reviewing whether Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert can send his horses to this year’s event, set for Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar. The process began in the wake of the New York Racing Association’s scheduled Sept. 27 hearing for the […]

A beaming Steve Asmussen escorts Stellar Tap and Ricardo Santana Jr. to the Saratoga winner's circle after the juvenile made the conditioner the winningest trainer in North American history. Stellar Tap is the 3/1 morning-line favorite to win the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs. (Image: Chelsea Durand/Coglianese Photos)

The 2022 Kentucky Derby Trail Begins Here, With the Iroquois Stakes

The Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes open the gate for the 2022 Kentucky Derby trail. But perhaps winning the first points race on the Derby trail is a poisoned chalice. Win the 1 1/16-mile Iroquois, named after the first American horse to win the Epsom Derby – along with the Native […]

Jockey Tomas Mejia was suspended for 10 years after a photo revealed he had a prohibited electronic device in his hand during a Sept. 3 allowance at Monmouth Park. (Image: Equi-Photo)

Jockey Tomas Mejia Suspended 10 Years for Using Electrical Device

The Monmouth Park Board of Stewards suspended jockey Tomas Mejia for 10 years after discovering the rider possessed a prohibited electrical device during his trip aboard Strongerthanuknow in a Sept. 3 race at Monmouth Park. Along with the decade-long suspension, Mejia was fined $5,000. The Board of Stewards also recommended […]

The Santa Anita Derby is one of the biggest meets of the year during Santa Anita Park's Winter/Spring Meet. It is one of 10 Grade 1s on the track's 94-stakes schedule. (Image: Kelly Serfoss)

Santa Anita Park Winter/Spring Meet Puts 10 Grade 1s on the Schedule

Santa Anita Park’s traditional day-after-Christmas opener for its Winter/Spring Meet ushers in a 94-stakes season – 59 of those graded – that once again, defines West Coast horse racing for half of the year. The suburban Los Angeles track, located at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, opens on […]

Shedaresthedevil bedeviled her opponents in the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs. She returns to one of her favorite tracks on opening weekend for the 12-day fall meet. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Churchill Downs Returns with Three-Weekend, All-Dirt September Meet

Horse racing continues its return from the post-Saratoga/Del Mar hiatus today, with the beginning of Churchill Downs’ 12-day September Meet. The Kentucky track joins Belmont Park, which began its fall meet Wednesday. All 117 September races at Churchill Downs will run on dirt. The track began work on its new […]

Swiss Skydiver won the Grade 1 Beholder Mile by nearly three lengths in March for her own 2021 victory in four races. She will go up for sale at the prestigious Fasig-Tipton November Sale Night of Stars. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Hard-Running Swiss Skydiver Goes on Shelf Before Going Up for Sale

The likely end of Swiss Skydiver’s stellar career is in sight, with the announcement that the 2020 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly will get time off before being sold this November. Swiss Skydiver will likely run in the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar, then head almost immediately to the […]

Imperador and jockey Joe Talamo hold off a surging Arklow to win Kentucky Downs' flagship race: the $1 million Calumet Turf Cup. That Saturday race headlined a record handle day and meet for Kentucky Downs. (Image: Coady Photography)

Kentucky Downs Wrap: Bettors, Rosario Make it a Record-Setting Meet

Whether it was riding or betting, records fell in bunches during Kentucky Downs’ recently completed six-day meet. The boutique, all-turf track located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border destroyed its previous handle record, both for a single day and for the overall meet. Kentucky Downs came in with a six-day, all-sources handle […]

H C Holiday is the lukewarm favorite to win the second jewel of Canada's Triple Crown: Tuesday's Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.(Image: Michael Burns Photo)

Prince of Wales Comes Without Queen’s Plate Winner Safe Conduct

You won’t find a Safe Conduct path to a Canadian Triple Crown this year, but you will find an eclectic field for the second jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown – the 86th edition of the Prince of Wales Stakes. That eclectic field of eight, Canadian-bred 3-year-olds goes 1 3/16 miles […]

Mike Maker made himself quite a career just off the Calumet Turf Cup. Standouts like the just-retired Zulu Alpha helped Maker earn more than $2.2 million in just this event. (Image: Joe DiOrio)

Maker’s Mark Predictably Potent in the $1 Million Calumet Turf Cup

To illustrate how seriously trainer Mike Maker takes the $1 million Grade 3 Calumet Turf Cup and how deep his barn goes at Kentucky Downs, Maker had owner Michael Hui retire Grade 1 winner Zulu Alpha Friday. And even with Zulu Alpha’s retirement, Maker still sends four horses into Kentucky […]