Breeders' Cup
Michael Iavarone builds his stable with one primary objective: to compete on racing's biggest days. With Bentornato (Valiant Minister), that mission has already been accomplished and there are still bigger goals on the horizon. In the seven months since he bought a 25% share in the talented sprinter for $1 million at the Keeneland Championship Sale, Iavarone has gone to the winner's circle for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and traveled to Dubai to watch his horse put in a tenacious runner-up performance in the G1 Golden Shaheen. This weekend,...
Breeders' Cup Limited has elected 22 individuals to serve as Breeders' Cup Members, the group announced Tuesday. Voting for the 2026 Member election by 2025 Breeders' Cup foal and stallion nominators concluded at 5:00 p.m. ET on June 1 with Votenet, an independent election services company, administering the voting process and certifying the results. The following individuals, listed alphabetically, received the most votes from the Breeders' Cup nominators to fill 22 Member seats. By total votes cast, 20 members will each serve a four-year term and two will each serve...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - For the third time in four years, another entry in Journalism's (Curlin) story will be written close to the corner of Union and East avenues. In 2023, he was purchased as a yearling for $825,000 by the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. Last year, with a distinctive name and a pair of Grade I wins on his resume, he finished second in the showdown of Triple Crown race winners to Sovereignty (Into Mischief) in the GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, approximately...
Trainer Aggie Ordonez had a glittering prognosis for Om N Joy (Om) the day after her upset victory in the GII Santa Margarita Stakes where she collected a second graded win, and added that her stable star will now point to the GI Clement L. Hirsch at Del Mar. "She's wonderful." Short and sweet, but words all connections want to hear. Ordonez reported the filly was no worse for wear Sunday morning, and that she would have an 'easy 30 days' of training before focus shifted to Del Mar. The...
Cindy Niemetz, the longtime West Coast representative for the International Racing Bureau, passed away earlier in the month after a long battle with cancer, according to a press release Friday afternoon. The veteran horsewoman was an omni-present figure at the Breeders' Cup for more than three decades, running the quarantine barn for international shippers. Self-described as a "Mother Hen," she worked as a conduit between the international entrants, the Breeders' Cup, the host track and the U.S. Department of Agriculture rules and regulations. "Some people do a job; others become...
For 60 days straight over the winter at Will Walden's Palm Meadows base in Florida, MGISW Rhetorical (Not This Time) underwent a different kind of training. Instead of being turned out for the off-season like so many horses, his trainer decided that it was time to unveil a new project where skills like dressage would be emphasized. The work that the gelding put in over those months has paid off and now the New York-bred Horse of the Year owned by Gary Barber, Cheyenne Stable and Wachtel Stable will point...
Donnacha O'Brien can't recall the exact details of his earliest Breeders' Cup memories, but he does have a vague recollection of parading around the racecourse sporting a cowboy hat. That presumably would have been during the 2004 World Championship meet held at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, when O'Brien was just six years old. That year, his father Aidan saddled Mile runner-up Antonius Pius (Danzig) and Turf third-placed Powerscourt (Sadler's Wells). "We've been going to the Breeders' Cup since we were literally kids," O'Brien recalled. "The whole family....
Doug Cauthen still vividly remembers watching from the tunnel at Del Mar as the field reached the starting gate for the 2017 GI Breeders' Cup Classic. When Gun Runner seized the lead and zipped through an opening quarter of :22.50, Cauthen retreated a little further back into the shadows. "I was sweating bullets," Cauthen admitted, laughing at the memory. "They were flying on a track that wasn't really providing a lot of opportunities for horses on the lead. That race was loaded and it was his only other time that...
The purse for Churchill Downs's marquee race for older horses, the Grade I Stephen Foster on Saturday, June 27, has been doubled from $1 million to $2 million, according to a press release from the track on Wednesday. Billed as the "Summer Showdown," the 45th running of the 1 1/8-mile dirt race for 4-year-olds--which is part of the Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' Challenge Series--will be broadcast on NBCSN and Peacock from 4:30-6:30 p.m. (all times Eastern). Five of the world's elite dirt horses have already expressed interest in...
Dora Delgado, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Officer for Breeders' Cup Limited, will be honored May 28 by Midway University with the Pinkerton Vision Award. This award honors Dr. L.L. Pinkerton, whose vision of the Kentucky Female Orphan School in 1847 established it as the first formal education for orphaned girls on the site that is now Midway University. Pinkerton Vision Award recipients must have had a direct impact on improving the lives of women, served as an outstanding role model, or have displayed great leadership, innovative thinking, and...
On May 5, 2026, the Light Up Racing Board of Directors announced the organization's decision to sunset following Breeders' Cup 2026, in the absence of a long-term organizational home and sustainable funding structure for the work. The following observations are not made from the sidelines. They come from being inside the work. There Is No Silver Bullet One of the most common questions we heard from leaders was simple: what is the solution? The campaign. The message. The strategy that will finally "fix" public perception. The honest answer is that...
The ballot for the 2026 election of 22 Breeders' Cup Member positions was released Tuesday by Breeders' Cup Limited. Per their release, the Member election website will open at 9:00 a.m. ET Monday, May 25, and closes at 5:00 p.m. ET Monday, June 1. Of the 26 candidates on the ballot, 18 are incumbent Members standing for re-election. There are eight new individuals seeking election. The 20 individuals receiving the most votes will each serve four-year terms. Additionally, as the result of two vacancies, two terms lasting two years will...