Breeders' Cup

With a view to pulling the veil back on the hows and whys of their operations, a representative of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority or the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) will every week answer a question of industry importance posed by the TDN. If you have any questions you'd like to ask HISA or HIWU, please feel free to send them over to us at the following email address: danross@thetdn.com. The following question was submitted by Kate Hunter, a U.S. representative for Japanese participants. Q:...

In the morning after his GI Preakness Stakes triumph, Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) was in good form, according to trainer Chad Summers, and will target the GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park as his next start. "He's good today," Summers told the TDN. "He's been very playful. I came back last night at about midnight just to have a quiet moment with him after all the hoopla. He ate all his food, so I gave him another scoop and he ate all that right away." "He's full of spunk and...

Contrary Thinking (Into Mischief), who ran in a trio of Grade I races as a 5-year-old last year, has a new home as Amanda Gillman, acting on behalf of Lucky Hat Racing and Eric Bensussen, went to $130,000 to acquire him through the Fasig-Tipton May Digital Sale. Consigned by EliTE as agent for White Birch Farm, the gelding recently came off the bench at Belmont's Aqueduct meet Apr. 25. "He's a lightly-raced 6-year-old with a 2X condition, which is rare to find," Gillman said. "He's such a classy horse and...

When the new Belmont Park opens on Sept. 18, NYRA will kick off an expanded fall meet that will run through Dec. 6 and include 72 stakes races worth $17.7 million in total purses, the racing association announced Thursday. Among the highlights will be the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, which has been moved back to the downstate track after being run in Saratoga from 2021 through 2025. With a purse of $1 million, it will be the feature race on the first day of racing at the new facility....

When Alvin Haynes passed away in 2014, his son Mitch wasn't exactly sure what to do with the handful of mares and foals his family had inherited. While Haynes had accompanied his father to the races over the years, he had never taken a real interest in the sport. But as he began to oversee the family's equine holdings, a genuine curiosity took hold. By the following year, he was at Keeneland purchasing a mare of his own. That single acquisition has elevated Haynes to the rank of Grade I-winning...

The Real Rider Cup, a charity show jumping competition created to support Thoroughbred aftercare, has partnered with Breeders' Cup Charities and Keeneland for its 10th anniversary year, each of whom will field a team of riders and have committed to match their respective team's total raised up to $5,000. Set for Saturday, July 11th in Lexington, KY, the Real Rider Cup encourages participating riders to pledge fundraising efforts for RRC beneficiaries, all while increasing awareness and "fostering a spirit of collaboration and community between the racing, aftercare, and equestrian industries."...

Light Up Racing, a program launched in 2024 meant to address issues in the sport head on through conversation, will cease operations following this year's Breeders' Cup at Keeneland, the organization announced Tuesday. In a letter submitted by Light Up Racing's interim executive director Amy Brin, the program reflects back on what was built and how messaging can be disseminated in the future, saying, "From the beginning, the work was based on a simple principle: confidence in the sport cannot be manufactured through messaging; it has to be earned through...

The early pace may've been modest, but that closing kick commanded the headlines. All eyes were on her French stablemate, but Kathynmarissa (American Pharoah) made it known that the lady of the lawn on Kentucky Oaks day was her as she rolled by them all to win the GIII Modesty Stakes. After a fruitful 3-year-old season in 2024 where she was off the board only once in eight starts, and where she collected elite black-type when second in the GI American Oaks to eventual Eclipse champion She Feel Pretty (Karakontie...

Owner-Breeder Brian Daniel Burns has passed at the age of 78 following a brief battle with cancer. Larger than life with an entrepreneurial spirit, Burns launched his own company in 1980, underwriting disability insurance for athletes. The high-profile company worked with major sports leagues like the NFL and the MLB and their players. He eventually sold the company in 2007. Burns's first foray into the horse racing game was an instant and spectacular success. He and his father Jimmy--"The name's Jimmy," he would say if addressed by the formal Mr....

White Abarrio (Race Day) has won four Grade I races, earned $8,445,170 and has been going strong for six years. But that hasn't been enough for his owners to reach a deal with a stud farm, or at least one they found acceptable. But that may be about to change. Mark Cornett, who is a co-owner of the 7-year-old veteran, told the TDN that negotiations are underway with three farms in Kentucky and it is expected that an announcement will be made shortly regarding where he will begin his career...

Mike Repole joined this week's TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland to discuss his criticisms of industry leaders and the future of the sport, as well as his Kentucky Derby contender Renegade and Oaks filly Zany.

Tuesday's Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) virtual town hall was a free-wheeling affair, with the bulk of the two-hour meeting spent on a discursive question-and-answer segment moderated by trainer Ron Moquett and bloodstock agent David Ingordo, two members of HISA's horsemen's advisory board. The initial focus of the town hall was HISA's 2026 budget. This year's gross budget, recently approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), comes to $77.2 million. If all the available credits are utilized by the industry, the net budget comes out to $60.6 million (though...