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. […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
When the Road to the 2022 Kentucky Derby begins Saturday, Sept. 18, the trail to the Run for the Roses will proceed without the trainer synonymous with Derby success: Bob Baffert. Churchill Downs announced in a Friday statement that no Derby qualifying points will be awarded to “any horse trained […]
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