Breeders' Cup

Six months in advance of Kentucky Derby 152, the pari-mutuel field of "All Other Colts and Geldings" closed as the 6-5 favorite in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW). Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) was the 10-1 second choice. Other horses who attracted individual interest from bettors were all fellow 'Rising Stars': GI Del Mar Futurity winner and Juvenile third entrant Brant (Gun Runner) (14-1); Breeders' Futurity runner-up Blackout Time (Not This Time) (20-1); and...

Sometimes a horse just tells you when they're sitting on go. Nearly all the way from the post parade to the gate Friday at Del Mar, Donnacha O'Brien's Balantina (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) was taking jockey Oisin Murphy for a ride, kicking up her heels in dramatic fashion through her warm up and generally looking like a filly ready to roll. And ready she was. With a powerful late-running move, the 20-1 longshot exploded up the rail to capture the GI John Deere Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. The most...

DEL MAR, Calif. - Super Corredora (Gun Runner) cleared her eight rivals beneath an aggressive Hector Berrios heading into the clubhouse turn, and never looked back in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar. Favored 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Explora (Blame) was second. Fellow 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Percy's Bar (Upstart) was third. Super Corredora becomes the fourth Breeders' Cup winner for trainer John Sadler and first for Berrios. "She's a filly we had really high hopes for," Sadler said. "We're in our own...

Connections had Queen Maxima (Bucchero) under serious consideration for another start against the boys in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, but instead opted for Friday's sex-restricted $200,000 Listed Senator Ken Maddy Stakes over those same five furlongs. Firming into 7-5 favoritism in the final tick or two, the dual graded winner made that decision look good when racing over the top of her rivals to post a soft victory while snapping a baby two-race skid. Having found trouble when 2 3/4 lengths' sixth as the favorite in the one-mile...

Precise (Starspangledbanner), the red-hot favourite for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, has been withdrawn from the race after she was found to be coughing. She was one of three late European scratchings on Friday morning, with Godolphin's Military Code (Wootton Bassett) pulled from the GI Juvenile Turf Sprint and Arizona Blaze (Sergei Prokofiev) being ruled out of Saturday's GI Turf Sprint. Aidan O'Brien, who also has the favourites for today's GI Juvenile Turf and GI Juvenile Turf Sprint in Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) and True Love (No Nay Never), said...

Breeders' Cup victor Magnum Force has been retired and will stand at Ballyhane Stud in Ireland from next year. A fee for the Grade I-winning son of Mehmas will be announced later. The Ger Lyons trainee won at second asking at Cork, before running second in the Listed Julia Graves Roses Stakes at York last August. Third in Doncaster's G2 Flying Childer's Stakes in September, he triumphed by a half-length in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar on November 1. The son of the Fastnet Rock mare Tropical Rock...

NBC Sports and Ascot Racecourse, home to the Royal Meeting have reached a multi-year agreement to extend NBC Sports's exclusive United States media rights to the event through 2028, the network said in a press release on Friday. NBC Sports--who has been presenting Royal Ascot via linear and digital platforms since 2017--will continue to present live coverage of all 20+ hours of the mid-June meet over its five days (Tuesday-Saturday), with Peacock streaming all coverage live throughout the week, and NBC simulcasting coverage during the event's final day on Saturday....

DEL MAR, CA - Like clockwork, the call over the radio went out promptly at 2:45 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday afternoon. "Breeders' Cup Investigators this is the 48-hour warning for the Juvenile Turf Sprint, please be aware," said the voice. "Again, that is 48 hours until the Juvenile Turf Sprint." Repeated by the day shift control room manager Tyler Durand for each of the four subsequent races on the Friday card and the next afternoon for the nine races carded for Saturday's slate, the announcements are a way to...

DEL MAR, Calif. - At the age of 56, the legendary Bill Shoemaker guided Ferdinand home by a nose over Alysheba as the two Derby winners famously hit the wire together in the 1987 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Hollywood Park. The late Shoemaker has held the record as the oldest jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race since. Hall of Famer Mike Smith will have five chances to make history as the two-day Championships return to Del Mar for the fourth time Friday. The 59-year-old's Breeders' Cup mounts include:...

DEL MAR, Calif. - All of the heavy lifting has been done and Breeders' Cup 42 is finally here. Who has looked the best during training hours this week at Del Mar? Starting at the top with the Classic. Journalism (Curlin) (Michael McCarthy) has been training like he owns the place in the pre-dawn hours while the Classic's defending winner and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) (Chad Brown) has served notice after the break. Both cover a ton of ground and have been getting over...

DEL MAR, USA -- More elusive than the Scarlet Pimpernel, Frankie Dettori, who dropped a new retirement bombshell the previous afternoon, was nowhere to be seen as the sun came up over the Del Mar backstretch on Thursday morning. But that didn't stop the press pack from seeking him here, seeking him there.  Would he be aboard Wimbledon Hawkeye as he emerged to take a turn on the turf around 7.15am? Nope. Nor was he to be found aboard the Japanese mare Argine, whose participation in the Breeders' Cup Mile...

Scottish Lassie (McKinzie), a multiple Grade I winner, has been withdrawn from the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff and will be sold Nov. 3 at Fasig-Tipton's "Night of the Stars" (Hip 226), the connections said via a press release on Thursday. According to trainer Jorge Abreu, he was "not 100% satisfied with the way Scottish Lassie was moving this morning, so out of an abundance of caution we've decided to scratch her from the race. This filly has a ton of heart, but in fairness to her, we didn't want...