HENDERSON, Ky.–After Crown D' Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) won an allowance race June 5 at Churchill Downs, trainer Buff Bradley said he told owner Mandy Pope, “You know what race we need to shoot for.' And she knew exactly what I was talking about.” The Groupie Doll, Ellis Park's signature race, offers a $100,000 purse and [...]

“Divine intervention in the nightcap,” Ellis Park announcer Jimmy McNerney told the crowd after Blame Angel (Blame) captured Friday's eighth race by 2 3/4 lengths over Batten the Hatches. Blame Angel previously ran on Father's Day at Churchill Downs, winning at 17-1 odds in what proved the last horse to run with Tom R. McCarthy [...]

As William “Buff” Bradley winnowed down his breeding stock, the one broodmare family he and long-time partner Carl Hurst kept in tact was that tracing to one-time Sam-Son Farm filly Regal Export (Regal Classic). Now that lineage has produced the latest potential star from Bradley's Indian Ridge Farm near Frankfort, Ky., as The Player (Street [...]

Award-winning videographer John Hennegan and three others were hospitalized overnight and trainer Dale Romans was treated for rib injuries from a three-car accident several blocks from Churchill Downs about three hours after Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby. Romans had finished seventh in the Derby with Albaugh Family Stables' Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway). Hennegan sustained fractured ribs [...]

Owner Matt Bryan has taken on unbeaten champion Nyquist (Uncle Mo) eight times, most recently when Exaggerator (Curlin) finished second by 1 1/4 lengths in Saturday's 142nd GI Kentucky Derby. Exaggerator and Swipe (Birdstone), both trained by Keith Desormeaux for Bryan's Big Chief Racing, have faced Nyquist four times apiece, losing at distances of five [...]

Mike Battaglia, whose 43-year tenure as Turfway Park's announcer quite likely is a record, will call his last race next Saturday in the stakes named for his late father, the John Battaglia Memorial. Turfway announced Friday that the 66-year-old Battaglia will become the associate vice president at the track in Florence, Ky. Battaglia has called [...]

The Thoroughbred Horseracing Integrity Act of 2015 introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives appears stalled, without a sponsor and companion bill in the Senate to date, faces constitutionality issues raised by the Congressional Research Service and lacks co-sponsors on the committee with jurisdiction, the lobbyist for the largest coalition of owners and trainers said [...]

A horse comes up with a post-race finding of Dextrorphan, a psychoactive drug. Or Tramadol, a quasi-opiate and arthritis pain reliever. The human anti-depressant Venlafaxine. These sure sound like instances of trainers trying to take an edge in a race, right? Why else would those drugs be in a horse? But consider the case where [...]

Horse racing fans are those who “bring home either a stuffed horse or a Breyer figurine. The horseplayers are helping you make your payroll.” Steve Byk, host of the weekday radio show “At the Races with Steve Byk” as well as a horse owner and bettor, made that distinction during a forum entitled “Working with, [...]

You'll never convince Dallas Stewart that getting a Lemon is bad. When Forever Unbridled (Unbridled's Song) won Sam Houston Race Park's $400,000 GIII Houston Ladies Classic S. Saturday night, it was just the latest example of how the mare Lemons Forever (Lemon Drop Kid) keeps bearing fruit for the 56-year-old trainer and his family. Lemons [...]

One of racing's most colorful owners hopes he has another 3-year-old for the GI Kentucky Derby. But don't look for Kendall Hansen to dye Let Me Go First (Paddy O'Prado)'s tail blue to match his silks, as the Newport, Kentucky pain doctor did with champion Hansen (Tapit) four years ago. Not that Hansen second-guesses having [...]