Breeders' Cup

Knicks Go to Stand for $12,500 in 2025

Knicks Go (Paynter--Kosmo's Buddy, by Outflanker), the 2021 Horse of the Year, will stand the 2025 breeding season at $12,500, S&N, Taylor Made Farm announced Wednesday. The 8-year-old stallion, whose first foals are yearlings this year, stood the 2024 season at $15,000. Knicks Go's first yearlings at auction include a colt who sold to CHC/Maverick Racing/Siena Farm for $425,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and a filly purchased by Horseology for MyRacehorse for $200,000, also at Keeneland September. Breeding incentives to the five-time Grade I winner will be available....

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Saratoga: The Fall Place to Be

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - If the 2024 racing season at Saratoga Race Course wrapped up Labor Day weekend, why are so many of the best horsemen in the country still sticking around? Overlooking the famed Oklahoma Training Track, and, at the moment, enveloped in bright fall foliage, the former home to 2023 Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) seems like a good place to start. "What did we win, five the last two years? That's not bad," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said with a smile standing outside...

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Cheers to the Connections

The gates are scheduled to open at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. Post time for the first race is 11:35 and the first Breeders' Cup race goes off at 2:45. But long before those bright-eyed Breeders' Cup attendees begin filling the grandstands of Del Mar, the backside will have been awake for hours. For those back in the barns as Breeders' Cup morning dawns, in many ways it's just like any other day. It is the same routine of raking barn aisles, topping off water buckets, checking temps, preparing feed, wrapping...

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Tuesday's Breeders' Cup Report: Classic Contenders Take the 'City' by Storm

DEL MAR, CA - With the rising sun attempting to make its way out of a dense cloud cover, contenders for Saturday's $7-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic were out in force during about a 30-minute window following the renovation break at Del Mar Tuesday morning. 'TDN Rising Star' Newgate and Pyrenees, a pair of blaze-faced, 4-year-old sons of the all-conquering Into Mischief, both entered on their toes and filled the frame nicely while training with good energy. Newgate, listed at a very generous 20-1 on the morning-line, adds blinkers for...

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Non Compliant, Out On Bail Scratch from Friday's Breeders' Cup Races; Ylang Ylang Scratched for Saturday

GII Oak Leaf Stakes winner Non Compliant (Tiz the Law) and Skidmore Stakes winner Out On Bail (Tiz the Law) were both declared from their respective Breeders' Cup engagements on Tuesday afternoon. Non Compliant, unbeaten in two starts and 9-2 on the morning line, was slated for the GI Juvenile Fillies, while Out On Bail, winner of two of six and never off the board, was scheduled to run in the GI Juvenile Turf Sprint and was tagged at 20-1 on the morning line. Campaigned by Georgia Antley Hunt, Jeff...

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Johannesburg to City Of Troy: Three Generations On and Back to the Dirt

DEL MAR, USA -- October 2001 was a sobering time to be in New York. Some seven weeks on from the devastating attack on the World Trade Center, the city was shrouded in sadness and America was a nation united in grief for the thousands who lost their lives on 9/11. Horseracing, often referred to as the great triviality, doesn't usually feel like that to those who work in the sport, but it did feel trivial, almost intrusive, to be at Belmont that year for what was a first visit...

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NBC, USA Network and Peacock to Air 12 hours of Coverage of Breeders' Cup

NBC Sports presents nearly 12 hours of live coverage of the 41st Breeders' Cup World Championships this weekend with more than $34 million in prize money at stake in 14 races.     Headlining the weekend's coverage is the $7-million Longines GI Breeders' Cup Classic Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock live from Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar. Live racing coverage begins Friday, Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock. More than six hours of live coverage on Saturday begins at 2 p.m. ET...

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Keeneland Championship Sale Takes 'Flight' at Del Mar

by Steve Sherack & J.N. Campbell  DEL MAR, CA - It's not too late to own a Breeders' Cup contender. The inaugural Keeneland Championship Sale, set to be held in Del Mar's paddock Wednesday evening, will feature 10 offerings (12 were catalogued), including interests in four horses entered in this weekend's Breeders' Cup. The catalogue includes: - A 50% ownership interest in impressive GIII Vosburgh Stakes winner and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile contender Mufasa (Chi) (Practical Joke) (Hip 9). The interest is consigned by I. C. Racing, LLC, agent....

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Little Red Feather Collecting for Hometown Breeders' Cup

"Boy Trapped in Refrigerator Eats Own Foot." Well, that got your attention, didn't it? Devotees of a certain spoof disaster movie may recall the spinning front-page story--but few will be aware that it may yet, in a roundabout way, lead to genuine headlines at the Breeders' Cup. Bret Jones of Airdrie Stud was at a dinner a few years ago when someone passing behind his seat overheard him saying how much he enjoyed Airplane! "I was in that movie," said Billy Koch. On the face of it, it seemed unlikely....

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Japanese Pedigrees Replete With Breeders' Cup Performances

Having created history at the Breeders' Cup with a pair of winners the last time the championships were held at Del Mar back in 2021, Japan comes into this year's event with an even stronger hand. Some 19 horses based in Japan have made the trip over, headed by GI Kentucky Derby third Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}, the third ante-post betting favorite for the $7-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic. It is no secret that for many years, Japanese breeders have shopped the U.S. bloodstock market, acquiring some of...

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The Road Back: In The Company Of Horses, Tyler Maxwell Is Home

When Minaret Station (Instilled Regard) jogged back after his stunning upset victory in the GII Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 6, one of the first people to greet him was trainer Will Walden, followed immediately by Tyler Maxwell. The victory was not only poignant in what it represented, with the 2-year-old colt earning an automatic berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, but also in how it brought things full circle for Maxwell who, at one time, was seemingly a lost soul until he was saved by the...

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HIWU Lab Update: Tight Lips And Ongoing Investigations

Over a month ago, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) and the University of Kentucky issued their respective reports into multiple alleged management and operational failures at the university's Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (UK-EACL) under the leadership of its former director, Scott Stanley. Earlier this month, Stanley issued a response through his attorney. He categorically denied falsifying results and claimed many of the allegations leveled against him were made without evidence. At the same time, Stanley criticized the logistical challenges of running a lab under HIWU's regulatory oversight, including...

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