The tempting storyline in Saturday’s Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita Park is to look at the seven-furlong race through the quality vs. quantity prism. Steve Asmussen’s standout filly Finite vs. Bob Baffert’s quartet of Merneith, Golden Principal, Himiko and Provocation. Asmussen sending a multiple Grade 2 and […]
Let no one accuse Sharing of dodging either travel or terrific competition. And the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita Park provides the 3-year-old filly both elements for her considerable resume. Run on the turf, the 1 ¼-mile American Oaks is the final Grade 1 event of the year […]
Winning more than $3.1 million in two races took so much out of Mucho Gusto that Bob Baffert, his trainer, decided Mucho Gusto needed mucho time off. Now, vacation time is over for the reigning Pegasus World Cup Invitational champion, who returns Saturday for his first race since February. After […]
The New York Racing Association became the latest racing organization to ban the use of furosemide (Lasix) for stakes races when it announced the prohibition of Lasix use within 48 hours of all NYRA stakes races. The new rule takes effect Jan. 1. Instituted by the New York State Gaming […]
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, a bill once thought dead, passed in the US Senate late Monday night, taking up a small part of a $1.4 trillion government funding bill that included $900 billion for COVID-19 relief. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill, which the House […]
Santa Anita Park’s opening day marks the return of this year’s Pegasus World Cup champion for the first time in 10 months. And poor Mucho Gusto; he’s not remotely the headline attraction. For that, he can thank Nashville, Charlatan, and Independence Hall, who all smashed and grabbed Mucho Gusto’s spotlight […]
Spielberg ran like he’s been on the Kentucky Derby Futures boards before. Señor Buscadore ran like he wants to be there. And just like that, he became one of 12 new horses appearing on either the Circa Sports or William Hill Nevada Derby Futures boards. Señor Buscadore earned his 35/1 […]
One of the most underrated, but awaited, horseracing activities took place over the weekend when the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association revealed its listing of US Graded and Listed Stakes Races for 2021. This annual event came with a twist this year, courtesy of […]
You couldn’t pick a more aptly named race for Maxfield to make his long-awaited return – return 2.0 if you’re keeping track – than Saturday’s Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds. It’s a non-graded stakes and not where you’d expect to find an undefeated colt who was once mentioned near the […]
This is how meaningful the Los Alamitos Futurity is when it comes to defining Kentucky Derby prospects. The inaugural Futurity, run at the late Hollywood Park in 1981, sent a couple of Derby contenders named Gato Del Sol and Laser Light to Churchill Downs for the 1982 Derby. They finished […]
Starting with the upcoming Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields winter/spring meets, California became the latest state to ban the use of Lasix in the majority of stakes races. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) unanimously approved the terms of an agreement between the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) […]
Outadore and Cowan aren’t atop anyone’s Kentucky Derby betting lists. Nor is the Springboard Mile at Remington Park atop anyone’s top-tier Derby preps. But, the Oklahoma track’s top juvenile stakes race does offer yet another glimpse at 2-year-olds chasing Derby points. The $200,000 Listed stakes Springboard Mile headlines a 13-race, […]
The chief executive of Ascot, Britain’s most popular racetrack, said he expects more financial pain from the global COVID-19 pandemic, and that he doesn’t expect a return to normalcy until 2022. Guy Henderson, Ascot’s CEO, said he anticipates a “significant pre-tax loss in 2021†as one-time pandemic insurance payments cease, […]
Awesome Again, who went from champion horse to prolific sire of champions, died suddenly at Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm in Kentucky. He was 26. The cause of death is unknown, but a full necropsy and veterinary report is pending, according to an announcement from Old Friends founder and President, […]
British racing’s ruling body vowed to reexamine its review process for accepting racehorse names after a horse with a racist name slipped through the process and ran at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening. Somehow, the British Horseracing Authority missed vetting a horse named Jungle Bunny. Going off at 50/1 in the […]
The pre-Christmas lull before the graded stakes storm doesn’t mean there aren’t any graded stakes in this weekend’s racing slate. Nor does it mean this weekend misses good storylines or top-shelf horses. Take the Los Alamitos Futurity and the Mr. Prospector, your two graded stakes this weekend. Curious about potential […]
There were no high-profile stakes races for 2-year-olds last weekend, a fact that didn’t prevent high-profile movement in this week’s Kentucky Derby futures odds. The highest-profile movement came from a new entry to the front rank of Derby prospects, the aptly named Prime Factor. Before his 8-¾-length victory in his […]
In a moment fitting perfectly into 2020’s surreal archives, Newcastle’s final race on Saturday turned into a Monty Python skit after the race’s starter prematurely started the race while one horse was still being reloaded into the gate. The false start resulted in seven of the race’s 13 horses being […]
Jockey Ryan Moore joined select company on Saturday, completing the Hong Kong International Racing Grand Slam by winning the Hong Kong International Sprint aboard Japanese horse, Danon Smash. That gave Moore the Hong Kong International Races double. Earlier, he captured his third Hong Kong Vase aboard Aidan O’Brien’s Mogul. But […]
His return wasn’t inevitable, but Tax season is here again. Making only his third start in his 4-year-old season, Tax romped to victory in Saturday’s Grade 3 Harlon’s Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream Park. He tore away from the field en route to a 4-½-length victory over 10/1 shot, Eye of […]
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