Horse Racing

Bob Baffert's Thousand Words ships in from California as a vulnerable 5/2 favorite for the Oaklawn Stakes. (Image: OG News)

Oaklawn Stakes Vaults Into Prominence as Biggest Game in Any Town

Ignore for the moment that there are no Kentucky Derby qualifying points up for grabs at Saturday’s $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes. Instead, follow the lead of Hall of Fame trainers Bob Baffert and Steve Asmussen and pay attention to the opportunity. In Baffert’s case, it’s an opportunity to see how Thousand […]

Japanese colt Danon Premium owns six victories in 10 races. He is the favorite for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Day 2 headliner at The Championships in Sydney. (Image: N. Kouno)

Queen Elizabeth Stakes Headlines Day 2 of The Championships

The fact there is a main event in the COVID-19 era took a back seat for Day 2 of tonight’s The Championships from Royal Randwick in Sydney. The biggest question horse racing fans across racing-mad Australia have is this: How do you follow a superhorse in the main event? That […]

(Image: Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Is Florida Horse Racing Booming amid Shutdown? New Races Added for April

With most horse racing canceled throughout the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gulfstream Park in Florida finds itself a surprising beneficiary due to horsemen staying put in one of the few states still featuring live racing. As a result of a deeper-than-usual horse population – both in numbers […]

Jersey Shore horse racing fans must now wait until July 3. Monmouth Park rescheduled its opening day for the second time in response to the coronavirus. (Image: Monmouth Park)

New Jersey’s Monmouth Park Delays Opening Day To July 3

Responding to the state’s prolific number of COVID-19 cases, New Jersey’s Monmouth Park became the latest American racetrack to push its opening day back when officials announced the facility will open on July 4 weekend instead of on May 2. As a result, Monmouth Park whittled its racing schedule down […]

Jockey Javier Castellano has more reason to give a thumbs-up than winning his 5,000th race. He exited quarantine and plans to ride again May 1 in Arkansas. (Image: Getty Images)

Hall of Fame Jockey Castellano Leaves Quarantine, Plans Racing Return

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, the first major North American racing figure to test positive for the coronavirus, is out of quarantine and back in New York. He plans on returning to racing May 1 at Oaklawn Park. After testing positive for the coronavirus on March 24, Castellano spent […]

Dating to 1863 and defining the sport of kings in the United States, probably no race track in the country holds the history, charm and heritage of Saratoga in upstate New York. (Image: AP)

As Horse Racing Considers Its Future, NYRA and Churchill Downs Extend Track Closures

Both the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Churchill Downs on Wednesday announced delays in opening or re-opening training facilities after coronavirus-related track closures. But the two influential racing organizations diverged as to when facilities should be ready to return for spring/summer meets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

Queen Elizabeth II, seen arriving with Princess Alexandra for the 2018 Royal Ascot meet, is a fixture at Royal Ascot's summer meet. It may run behind closed doors this year. (Image: NBC Sports)

With Other English Races Shelved, Royal Ascot May Run Behind Closed Doors

With the other four British Classic races postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Royal Ascot plans on racing ahead with its June 16 opening for now – albeit behind closed doors. This announcement came almost simultaneously with Jockey Club officials postponing the first four Classic races on the British racing […]

Nearly 5 million people watched the Virtual Grand National on Saturday. Bookmakers took action on the "race," donating profits to charity. (Image: YouTube/GCRider)

Millions Tune in to Watch, Bet on Virtual Grand National (VIDEO)

The good news was, no horses were injured during the Virtual Grand National, which was viewed by a peak audience of nearly 5 million viewers throughout the United Kingdom. And the bookmakers earned a respectable profit, which they donated to charity. The bad news? No real horses ran in Saturday’s […]

Independence Hall, seen dismantling the Nashua Stakes field by 12 1/2 lengths last fall, will focus on one-turn races. He won't compete in any more Kentucky Derby preps. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand)

One-Time Favorite Independence Hall Pulled From Derby Trail

On New Year’s Day, after he romped to a 4 ¼-length victory in the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct, bookmakers and fans alike considered Independence Hall one of the 2020 Kentucky Derby favorites. On April 6, his connections took him off the Derby trail. Aron Wellman, the managing partner for Eclipse […]

Constitution blew away the competition in the 2015 Donn Handicap. But he's blowing away the competition as a sire in 2020. (Image: WinStar Farm)

Promising Pedigree: Constitution Progeny Showing What’s in Sire’s DNA

His racing career was promising, but unfulfilled – four victories in eight starts. Even being a son of standout sire Tapit, there was nothing in the crystal ball foreshadowing what awaited Constitution in the stallion shed. Which illustrates why horse breeding is such an inexact science, and why semi-royal bloodlines […]

Scenes like this race start at Arkansas' Oaklawn Park are rarer and rarer these days due to the coronavirus. Oaklawn is one of only five US thoroughbred tracks still running, causing a 22.58% drop in March  wagering compared to the same month in 2019. (Image: Coady Photography)

No Surprise: Horse Racing Handle Takes Huge Hit in March

With the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic closing racetracks and limiting betting opportunities at the few still facilities that remain open, horse racing wagering dropped sharply in March, falling 22.6% from its 2019 totals. Bettors placed $731 million in wagers during March, a $214 million drop from last year. Equibase released the […]

Trainer Jason Servis, seen here after his Maximum Security was disqualified from the 2019 Kentucky Derby, has far more pressing problems these days. He's a centerpiece of a federal investigation into horse doping. (Image: Getty Images)

Servis, Navarro, 17 Others Plead Not Guilty In Horse Doping Scandal

Thoroughbred trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro headline a list of 19 defendants who pleaded not guilty to federal charges involving horse doping during a Thursday arraignment and pre-trial conference conducted telephonically in the US Attorney General’s office for the Southern District of New York. The pair, along with numerous […]

The Championships at Royal Randwick in Sydney are Australia's version of the Breeders' Cup. But the party and social element are missing this year due to the coronavirus. (Image: Sydney.com)

The Championships Begin In Australia Tonight With No Spectators

The easiest way to classify The Championships, which begin tonight at Royal Randwick in Sydney, is to compare the crown jewel of Australia’s Autumn Carnival of racing to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Just add more than 150 years of tradition to several of the races, while at the same […]

One of the last tracks on the West Coast to continue live racing, Golden Gate Fields closed Thursday on county health department orders. (Image: Golden Gate Fields)

Golden Gate Fields Ends Live Racing, Latest California Track to Close

Alameda County public health officials shut down Golden Gate Fields Thursday morning, closing the Northern California track in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The track, located between the San Francisco Bay and Interstate 80 on the western edge of Berkeley, issued a statement late Thursday morning announcing the closure. That […]

Queen Elizabeth II presents winning jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva with the Queen's Plate at Woodbine in 2010. (Image: Michael Burns Photo Ltd.)

Queen’s Plate, Canada’s Most Prestigious Race, Postponed Indefinitely

Following through on an expected decision, Woodbine Entertainment CEO Jim Lawson confirmed the 2020 Queen’s Plate race – Canada’s most prestigious horse race — is postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to postpone the June 27 race came less than two weeks after Woodbine announced it was […]

Tiz the Law is clearly the best 3-year-old thoroughbred in the country right now. Will he be the best in a September Kentucky Derby? (Image: Lauren King)

Tiz the Law Reigns Now, Will Form Hold For A September Derby?

In a normal year, what Tiz the Law did last Saturday – dismantle the strongest field of 3-year-olds assembled to date – would put the horse racing world in the center of his hoof. His effortless, 4 ½-length victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby stamped him as the prohibitive […]