Breeders' Cup

It was a big day of racing, and the fans brought the energy, with 41,962 people packing the California track for the postponed opening day of Santa Anita's Classic Meet to make it the largest Sunday opener since 1999, the track announced via press release. The final fan tally was the largest since 2016, and the eighth Sunday opener in the venue's 90+ years also brought noteworthy numbers in the all-sources and on-track handles. The total all-sources mutuel handle was more than $18.2 million, marking the eighth time in the...

  Nysos (Nyquist) followed up on his win in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile with a thrilling victory over stablemate Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach) in the GII Laffit Pincay, Jr. Stakes on Santa Anita's delayed opening-day card Sunday. Sent off the 1-5 favorite, Nysos was a little flat-footed at the break, but recovered quickly to track pacesetting Vodka Vodka (Stay Thirsty) from the rail, with Nevada Beach parked just to his outside. Vodka Vodka was pressed by Bartholdy (Mendelssohn) through a quarter in :24.00 and a half in :48.44....

Over the last few weeks, the TDN has asked "racing's best and brightest" to give predictions regarding what the state of the sport will be ten years from now. Considering that most of the responses came from industry insiders who derive their living from the sport and cannot afford for things to worsen, the responses were not that surprising. Many projected a rosy future for the sport. The same sport that has many problems, some of them that will be very difficult to solve. What was lacking in the series...

Holly and David Wilson's Mr. A. P. (American Pharoah), last seen finishing second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, has been sidelined and will not be on the GI Kentucky Derby trail, according to a report in Daily Racing Form. "He had a little setback," trainer Vladimir Cerin told DRF's Brad Free. "I'm hoping he'll be ready at the end of March, which makes everything difficult." Cerin declined to reveal the ridgling's diagnosis, but told Free the issue had been diagnosed and resolved. "He needs a little more time," Cerin...

Tom Ryan's observation that California graded stakes have been decimated by the graded stakes committee is spot on, but does not delve into the issue deeply nor address solutions. I applaud him speaking out against a system that adheres to a doctrine of the past, which evaluates many criteria while ignoring the fact that all graded stakes (save a select few) will be the domain of slot-enhanced, subsidized racetracks in the near term. The idea that the Breeders' Cup and/or Jockey Club could ignore this trend while sitting idly by...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) released its 2026 racing schedule Thursday, a calendar which includes 196 live race days spread across Aqueduct Racetrack, Saratoga Race Course and the new Belmont Park. Additionally, NYRA has reached a multi-year agreement with the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) and New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. (NYTB) designed to provide racing participants with additional certainty regarding racing opportunities and underscores NYRA's commitment to year-round racing during the transition to a re-imagined Belmont Park. Accordingly, NYRA has established the foundation of a 2027...

A helping hand. A kind smile. A word of encouragement. A piece of advice. When in the company of Harry Rice III, an instrumental member of the jockeys' room on the New York Racing Association (NYRA) circuit for 49 years, you're guaranteed to receive either one or all of the above. And it's that warmth and color Rice carries with him that has been notably absent from New York race days since the veteran valet officially retired this past spring after working his final day, April 19, at Aqueduct. The...

GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) has been made the 6-1 individual morning-line favorite in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Thursday at noon and closes Sunday at 6 p.m. "All Others Foaled in 2023" is the pool's overall 9-5 favorite. Brant (Gun Runner), third in the Breeders' Cup juvenile, is 10-1, and Further Ado (Gun Runner), expected to go postward in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes Saturday, is 20-1. Running concurrently with Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager is...

While the GI Breeders' Cup Classic may have turned out to be a jump too high for him, Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach) bounced back from that effort with a workman-like victory in the GIII Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar. Despite only starting his career in mid-April this year, the son of Omaha Beach has cobbled together a respectable 2025 campaign with wins in the Los Alamitos Derby in late June and the 'WAYI' GI Goodwood Stakes two back Sept. 27 at Santa Anita. The lattermost effort guaranteed him a...

It's been a long time since anyone has seen the New Jersey-bred star Book'em Danno (Bucchero). He hasn't run since winning the GI Forego Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 23. There were rumblings that he would run in the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland, but he sat that one out. He also did not run in the GI Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint, where he likely would have been the favorite. Passing on an appearance at the World Championships is something that could cost him some Eclipse Award votes....

"I think this filly's cheating on me." Well, if that was the opinion of a Hall of Fame trainer, who could argue? Least of all a woman, in the male-dominated Bluegrass of the mid-1970s. But Headley Bell remembers that when Frank Whiteley Jr. sent Nicosia (Gallant Romeo) home to Mill Ridge, his late mother Alice Chandler was not ready to give up. After all, this was a daughter of Nicoma (Nashua), whose previous foal had just won a Grade I; and Alice's husband, Dr. John Chandler, suggested that maybe the...

A trio of world-class races at South Africa's Kenilworth Racecourse will anchor a qualifying day for the 2026 Breeders' Cup World Championships via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In. Held Jan. 10, the G1 Cape Flying Championship, a 1,000-meter (5/8 mile) weight for age race, will serve as an automatic qualifier for the GI Prevagen Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. The race joins the G1 King's Plate, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up which provides a free berth to the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile, and the...