Barbara Borden

Reigning Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bill Mott has been named recipient of the 2025 Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award, the Louisville-based Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners (KTO) announced Wednesday. Mott will be honored at the KTO's annual awards dinner Saturday, November 22 at the Kentucky Derby Museum. The Warner Jones Award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to Kentucky racing and sharing the passion exemplified by Jones, who spent 50 years on the Churchill Downs board, including eight as chairman during the iconic track's initial resurgence. Jones was the inaugural...

The GI Kentucky Derby has long been billed as the most exciting two minutes in sports. After a series of lawsuits involving America's signature horse race over the last six years, it might be more precise to start referring to it as the most litigated two minutes in sports. The week between the first two legs of this year's Triple Crown began with the connections of Derby winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) opting out of the GI Preakness Stakes based on the assessment by trainer Bill Mott and owner/breeder Godolphin that...

Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, will be installing a new stable gate entryway after the current season ends in March to try and avoid a repeat of the havoc caused on the night of Feb. 1 when a loose Thoroughbred escaped from the backstretch and ran onto nearby Interstate 71/75 before being captured without serious harm. Barbara Borden, the chief state steward presiding at Turfway, detailed the incident during Tuesday's Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) meeting. "The horse got loose in the barn area, unfortunately ran through the stable gate,...

When is a maiden not considered a maiden for entry purposes? Pennsylvania-based owner Albert "Abby" Abdala III lost $5,331 in second-place purse money trying to find out after an "ineligible entry" ruling was imposed upon him and his trainer, Bernard Dunham, on Feb. 2 by the Turfway Park stewards. Abdala, who has owned Thoroughbreds for 10 years after getting started in horse ownership with Standardbreds, told TDN in a Feb. 8 phone interview that he still doesn't understand why Turfway officials accepted his entry for the 0-for-9 Magnolia Wind (Central...

A deeper dive into the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's rules defining what medications are considered prohibited versus those that are considered therapeutic and the standards for out-of-competition testing in relation to betamethasone as opposed to post-race testing were the hot topics during day two of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's hearing addressing trainer Bob Baffert's appeal Tuesday. Baffert filed the appeal to clear from his record a 90-day suspension he already served this spring, along with reversing Medina Spirit (Protonico)'s disqualification from his victory in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby....

A long-awaited Feb. 7 Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) stewards' hearing regarding Medina Spirit's positive test result for betamethasone in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby reportedly got postponed from Monday to the following week. After a wait of 283 days since the alleged infraction, Monday's hearing involving trainer Bob Baffert apparently has been rescheduled for Feb. 14. WLKY-TV in Kentucky first broke the news of the non-hearing and its new date. TDN attempted to confirm the report by sending emails to KHRC chief state steward Barbara Borden, KHRC executive director...