The knock on my hotel door at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday meant that, yes, officially, I would be leaving for China less than three hours later. Up until then, I'd been in visa limbo, and had been telling people, “Well, I may, or may not, be going to Inner Mongolia on Aug. 18,” Inner Mongolia [...]

Earlier this week, I returned from a nine-day trip to South Africa to cover the G1 Durban July–the country's most prestigious race–and to gather material for an upcoming travel feature for the TDN Weekend. It wasn't just me there, of course. About a dozen international journalists were brought over by Gold Circle, the company that [...]

As we exited the highway and drove up a dark sideroad that led to Summerveld Training Centre, I thought about two things. First, that after 64 hours of travel, it was nice to not be on a plane. Second, that fields on the sloping hills in the distance seemed to be on fire, and no [...]

Officials were both apologetic and concerned how the blast of wintry weather (60 Fahrenheit and cloudy, which says something about how nice it usually is here) might affect turnout, but the sold-out crowd of 55,000 who packed into Greyville Racecourse in the heart of Durban on Saturday didn't seem to mind a bit as they [...]

THE CONGLOMERATE DEFIES ODDS IN DURBAN DURBAN, South Africa–Markus and Ingrid Jooste's outsider The Conglomerate (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) streaked home a half-length in advance of Marinaresco (SAf) (Silvano {Ger}) in Saturday's R4.5 million (£213,287/€258,046/US$286,930) G1 Vodacom Durban July, giving his popular rider Piere Strydom a fourth renewal of South Africa's richest Group 1. “He's owed [...]

The centerpiece of South African racing, the 4.25-million rand G1 Vodacom Durban July, will be held today at Greyville Racecourse, and the 2200-metre event is being judged as one of the most wide-open renewals in recent memory. This despite the fact that there's a Triple Crown winner in the field, the 3-year-old Abashiri (SAf) (Go [...]

It's my last day in India, and I'm ready to make it count. And by that I mean I'll see sights, eat food, and exercise my deplorable negotiating skills to overpay for keepsakes. It's actually my second Saturday in Mumbai, and last weekend, I suppose I made it count, too. (Wait, is that the quote [...]

It's been a lot of late nights in Mumbai this week. But not in the fun way. After attending day-long sessions on Tuesday through Thursday of the 36th Asian Racing Conference, I was typically up well past midnight knocking out copy for the next day's TDN. That's not complaining–that's a job. Still, it was nice [...]

The relationship between trainer and veterinarian was among the topics of conversation during a panel yesterday at the 36th Asian Racing Conference that included Australian owner Terry Henderson, who pulled no punches when criticizing what he viewed as his country's over-reliance on vets. “It concerns me that in Australia, vets seem to have a free [...]

From access to jockeys' and stewards' rooms to employing new technologies like helmet cams, racing can and should do much more to shape a dramatic narrative for television viewers, according to Jim Ramsay, who spoke at the “Racing Media and the 21st Century Fan” panel during Wednesday's second session of the Asian Racing Conference in [...]

Opportunities and obstacles in the wagering landscape were the focus of the first panel at the Asian Racing Conference, which kicked off three days of presentations and discussions Tuesday in Mumbai. The Hong Kong Jockey Club's CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges set a pragmatic tone in his opening address. “The global economy is facing very strong headwinds, [...]

A highlight of my Sunday visit to Mahalaxmi Race Course in Mumbai was getting to sit down with Anil Mukhi, an Indian-born bloodstock agent who relocated to North America 10 years ago and now runs Galaxy Bloodstock Services in Vancouver, British Columbia. Like many of you, I knew virtually nothing about Indian racing before coming [...]