The Saturday Special – Oct. 7
Welcome to October. Now less than four weeks to go until the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and it’s no surprise the preps come fast and furious this weekend. The Saturday Special presented by Pin...
View ArticleGood Find
When his daughter Lauren expressed interest in delving into Thoroughbred ownership, longtime owner Ralph Evans set out to find a useful New York-bred.
View ArticleTable Turner
After suffering two narrow defeats in graded stakes company at Saratoga Race Course – first a three-quarter-length loss to Bricks And Mortar in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame and again by a neck to Voodoo...
View ArticleChampagne Celebration
Owner Ron Lombardi beat trainer Jason Servis to the winner’s circle after Firenze Fire won Saturday’s Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and made his way toward the Belmont Park main track. However, when Servis...
View ArticleCharmed comeback at Keeneland
Bret Calhoun went to Saratoga this past summer with his usual small string and two pretty large targets for Finley’sluckycharm.
View ArticleTurf test awaits
Mark Casse trained Flameaway on the grass this winter in Florida, this spring at Woodbine and this summer in Saratoga, all the while waiting patiently to start the 2-year-old son of Scat Daddy on the...
View ArticleRushing to the Cup
Veteran bloodstock agent Mike Ryan watched a filly by More Than Ready go through the inspection process at the Taylor Made Sales consignment at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga last summer and was immediately...
View ArticleBack in the Game: Champion jockey Kieran Norris returns
It’s good to be back. In a year of battered jockeys, Kieran Norris returned for the Shawan Downs/Foxfield weekend Sept. 23-24. The National Steeplechase Association's 2016 champion jockey missed the...
View ArticleNagle closing in on first title, 100 winners
Darren Nagle and Sean McDermott leaned on an iron rail along the horsepath at Belmont Park last month and knocked each other, their rides and their chances on winning the National Steeplechase...
View ArticleDelicate balance for Proctor’s Ledge
Proctor’s Ledge is so easygoing in the morning at the barn that trainer Brendan Walsh doesn’t argue at the thought of a young child leading the Ghostzapper filly around the shedrow.
View ArticleThe Saturday Special – Oct. 14
The clock is ticking down to the 2017 Breeders’ Cup World Championships – less than three weeks from Saturday – and the show goes on across North America with a powerful renewal of the Grade 1 Queen...
View ArticleSteeplechase Picks & Preview: Genesee & Va. Fall
How was your vacation? OK, your break? Sabbatical? Forced absence of jump racing? Whatever you want to call it, the steeplechase season took two weekends off with no racing Sept. 30 and Oct. 7.
View ArticleTwister Bi takes International Trot by storm
Jerry Riordan is as much of a racing fan as he is a trainer, so when he sees good horses come along, he can take a step back and appreciate them. That was the case in the early 2000s when Riordan...
View ArticleAll The Way Jose zeroes in on Far Hills
Head flipping, noseband flying, hooves stepping in place, All The Way Jose looked ready to go – and then some – Tuesday morning at trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s Ashwell Stable near Unionville, Pa....
View ArticleFar Hills Spotlight: 3-year-olds start card
American steeplechasing's richest day opens with with the Gladstone, a $50,000 hurdle stakes for 3-year-olds that used to be late in the card. Earlier seems to make sense, other than the jockeys might...
View ArticleFar Hills Spotlight: Maidens eye big payday
Ah, the Far Hills maiden – proving ground of future Hall of Famer McDynamo among others. Worth $50,000, it’s the maiden race to win every year though no guarantee of future success. The second of seven...
View ArticleFar Hills Spotlight: Fillies/Mares meet in Peapack
The Peapack hurdle brings together the best in the filly/mare division and, as usual, it’s a mixed bag vying for a $75,000 purse in the day's sixth race. Swoop broke her maiden in a stakes at Saratoga....
View ArticleFar Hills Spotlight: Timber vets meet in finale
And the finale. The New Jersey Hunt Cup timber stakes doesn’t test horses quite like Maryland or Pennsylvania, but it’s still worth $50,000 and caps the day in style as the seventh and final race on...
View ArticleFar Hills Spotlight: Novices dance without Moscato in Foxbrook
The Foxbrook Champion Hurdle offers more than the prelude to the Grand National, it offers $125,000 and the grudge match between the best novices. Well, it was meant to be a grudge match, but Jack...
View ArticleCheck Lists
Passes. Pin. Form. Sport coat. Cords. Boots. Tie. Dress shirt. Socks. Form. Binoculars. Laptop. Ipad. Voice recorder. Pen. Another pen. Mints. Sunscreen. Phone.
View ArticleAll business in Sycamore
Tom Proctor showed up in the Keeneland paddock Thursday with a suit jacket and tie.
View ArticleSteeplechase Picks & Preview: Far Hills
It’s here. Finally. October in steeplechase land means Far Hills in New Jersey – a big crowd, big money, lush turf, spectacular (well, not always) autumn weather, universe-class tailgating and – of...
View ArticleThe Saturday Special – Oct. 21
Fans of stakes-heavy cards are in for a treat this week with the Maryland Million and Empire Showcase sharing top billing here in the U.S. and the QIPCO Champions Day getting things rolling across the...
View ArticleFar Hills Spotlight: Championship on the line in Grand National
The big one. The richest race of the year at $400,000, the Grand National attracts America’s best and Europe’s ambitious.
View ArticleLovely effort in Valley View
Jim DiVito watched Lovely Bernadette go from maiden winner to allowance winner to stakes winner – all in the span of 44 days last fall – and started to think about the 2017 Kentucky Oaks.
View ArticleFar Hills Spotlight: The Appleton
Perfect Union aims to win his second consecutive Appleton while taking on a solid group of ratings horses, including stakes-placed Andi'amu and the promising Lyonell.
View ArticleUnfamiliar Ground
Jeff Bonde made a beeline for Keeneland’s winner’s circle Saturday a few minutes after the Grade 2 Lexus Raven Run Stakes. He paused when he reached the weigh out scale, checked out the scene in the...
View ArticleJumping Around Podcast: Talking Fair Hill
Part of Thoroughbred racing in one way or another since the 1930s, Maryland's iconic Fair Hill property is home to plenty of horse activity – racing, training, eventing, showing, fox hunting, trail...
View ArticleHot Stuff and then Some
Mr. Hot Stuff. Once called the Paris Hilton of horse racing, you know, famous for being famous, he’s still the most famous horse in steeplechasing. Veteran seems to have lost a step with four subpar...
View ArticleFar Hills Recap: Where's The Beef wins New Jersey Hunt Cup
With a circuit to go in the New Jersey Hunt Cup, Ivan Dowling, turned away from the TV at the bottom of the stewards’ stand. The trainer spun in a circle, slowly, like a man about to be pushed off a...
View ArticleFar Hills Recap: Menacing Dennis placed first in Gladstone
Look a jockey in the eye after a race and you’ll know the truth. He might be saying one thing, but thinking another or saying nothing and showing everything. After Saturday’s opener, the Gladstone...
View ArticleFar Hills Recap: Whitman's Poetry wins Harry E. Harris
“It’s $50,000, throw mud against the wall and see what sticks.” That’s how Jack Fisher described his approach to running second-time starter Whitman’s Poetry in the Harry E. Harris, a $50,000 Sport of...
View ArticleBig fields for Breeders’ Cup
A new venue did little to deter horsemen from around the world from entering horses for 2017 Breeders’ Cup World Championships as 187 horses were pre-entered for next weekend’s 13 Grade 1 stakes at Del...
View ArticleFar Hills Recap: Lyonell provides Doyle with some solace
With the drag of a cigarette, the satisfaction of a win and a thought of what might have been, Jack Doyle sat alone outside the jocks’ room after the Peapack and before the New Jersey Hunt Cup at Far...
View ArticleFar Hills Recap: Townend wins in America
“I’ll have five rides for you next week, just stay.” That was Leslie Young’s response and request to Paul Townend after the Irish-based jockey guided Lady Blanco to win the Peapack Filly and Mare...
View ArticleThe Saturday Special – Oct. 28
Now it’s crunch time. Less than a week until North America’s biggest two days of racing unfold at Del Mar for the 2017 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
View ArticleSteeplechase Picks & Preview: Aiken & Gold Cup
Coming off the high of Far Hills, with its Breeders’ Cup Day feel and three-horse photo finish in the Grand National, it would be easy to overlook the rest of the steeplechase season but you’d miss a...
View ArticleDuty calls in Fayette
Brendan Walsh finished training his string on a picture-perfect fall morning in Kentucky a week into the Keeneland meeting before taking a few minutes to discuss Proctor’s Ledge, his entrant in the...
View ArticleGuest Column: Wonderful Winx
I have been in Australia for nearly three months as part of the Godolphin Flying Start program. The stint could not have been timed more perfectly, as I have been privileged to see Winx run five times...
View ArticlePhoto of the Day – Sept/Oct 2017
A new image every day from September & October. Click the photo to expand. {gallery}Photo of the Day September{/gallery}
View ArticleBreeders’ Cup Friday: Spa and Surf
Del Mar or Saratoga. Saratoga or Del Mar. Every year, or at least it seems like every year, the two tracks are mentioned in the same breath but only when their fans make the argument of the better...
View ArticleBreeders’ Cup Friday: Title bout in Distaff
Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff is the featured event on the opening card of the two-day World Championships at Del Mar and as always it carries much more significance than the $2 million purse and...
View ArticleMr. Hot Stuff and Zanjabeel star at Far Hills
“It’s my first Grand National…” That’s how Danny Mullins answered when asked about the thrill of winning the American Grand National on outsider Mr. Hot Stuff at Far Hills last month. “Hopefully I’ll...
View ArticleBreeders’ Cup 2017 Friday picks
Del Mar’s wait is over; Breeders’ Cup Weekend is here and four of the 13 World Championship races are set for Friday at the coastal course just outside San Diego.
View ArticleBreeders’ Cup hero Smith still going strong
Early on Pennsylvania Derby Day at Parx Racing Sept. 23, Mike Smith made time for every photo, every autograph request, every “You remember when?” from racing people, every “Hey Mike” from the crowd.
View ArticleBreeders’ Cup Saturday: Classic showdown
Major questions hang over Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. Two stand out more than the rest and focus squarely on the main contenders for the $6 million centerpiece of the two-day World...
View ArticleBreeders’ Cup Saturday: Fast Females
Talk about a loaded race. The field for Saturday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint is undoubtedly one of the deepest in the 7-furlong race’s relatively short history, with defending...
View ArticleBreeders’ Cup 2017 Saturday picks
Breeders’ Cup Saturday, the main course in racing’s annual smorgasbord run this year at Del Mar, presents challenge after challenge after challenge in the form of nine World Championship races...
View ArticleSteeplechase Picks & Preview: Callaway, Montpelier and PA Hunt Cup
November? How did it become November so fast? The steeplechase season winds to a close with its annual three-meet penultimate stop before closing at Charleston next Sunday. Hard to believe, we didn’t...
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