Breeders' Cup
Welcome back, Babe. Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., on the sidelines for more than 10 years after having his license suspended by New York State racing regulators, enjoyed by far his biggest win since returning in the spring courtesy of White Abarrio (Race Day), a jaw-dropping 6 1/4-length, stalk-and-pounce winner of Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. Zandon (Upstart) completed the exacta while the heavily favored Cody's Wish (Curlin), looking for his first career win beyond one mile while drawn widest of all in post six, had...
The finalists and runners-up for the 2023 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards (TIEA), set for Tuesday, Oct. 17 at Keeneland, were named in a release by Godolphin late Thursday. Sara Gordon, TDN's Social Media Manager, is a finalist for the Newcomer Award. Gordon, a native of Woodbine, Maryland, is a lifelong equestrian who parlayed her love of horses into a career in turf writing. She is based in Lexington, Kentucky. With finalists in six categories, the winner and runner-up of the seventh category, the Dr. J. David "Doc" Richardson Community Award,...
"Breeders' Cup En Vivo," an all-Spanish digital series covering five Breeders' Cup Challenge Series 'Win and You're In' races will will air live on the Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channels of the Breeders' Cup. The Kentucky Turf Cup and Keeneland broadcasts will be produced in partnership with DRF en Espanol. The "Breeders' Cup En Vivo" team will be comprised of co-hosts Claudia Spadaro, Darwin Vizcaya, Roberto Rodriguez, and Annise Montplaisir--who also produces the show. The 2023 "Breeders' Cup En Vivo" schedule includes: the Aug. 12 GI Fourstardave S. which offers...
The Chosen Vron (Vronsky) earned a free entry into the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint with his victory in the GI Bing Crosby S. Saturday at Del Mar, but the 5-year-old gelding is not nominated to the Breeders' Cup and will need to be supplemented for $100,000 to make it into championship weekend. "We definitely are going to supplement for the Sprint," trainer and co-owner Eric Kruljac said Sunday. "Especially since it's at Santa Anita this year. We'll possibly look for a prep. Long range, you look at your options, but...
The hometown hero got it done. Facing an exceptionally deep field of sprinters in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar, it was the California-bred The Chosen Vron (Vronsky) who got the money. He, however, is not nominated to the Breeders' Cup and would have to be supplemented for this fall's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. With the victory, the 5-year-old gelding matched a bar set earlier in the day by Eclipse champion male sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) with both horses stretching their respective winning streaks...
Last fall, his homebred filly Slammed (Marking) took Brad King to the Breeders' Cup, and in just over a week, another filly will bring the Texan to Saratoga for the first time when he offers a yearling daughter of red-hot sire Good Magic as hip 32 with the Legacy Bloodstock consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. "We've pinhooked off and on for probably 10-15 years," King said. "But this is our first one that we are taking up there. When we bought her, that was the plan the whole time,...
The early deadline to nominate weanlings of 2023 to the Breeders' Cup program is Aug. 1 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The one-time regular nomination fee of $400 entitles each foal with lifetime racing eligibility to the Breeders' Cup World Championships and the Breeders' Cup racing programs. All foals sired by a fully nominated North American Breeders' Cup stallion are eligible for nomination to the Breeders' Cup program in their year of birth at the weanling rate. Any foal entered in a fall or winter breeding stock sale must be nominated...
Tickets for Keeneland's upcoming Fall Meet will go on sale to the public Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. All tickets must be pre-purchased via Keeneland's official online ticket office at tickets.Keeneland.com/racing. The meet will run from Oct. 6-28. Keeneland will award $9.05 million in purse money--a record for any racing season at the track--for 22 stakes. The meet's richest race is the $1-million GI Coolmore Turf Mile during the track's signature opening Fall Stars Weekend. Eight stakes that weekend are part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're...
When Jim and Dana Bernhard purchased Pin Oak Stud last fall, the plan was always to return stallions to stand at the historic property and, while that idea may have been on the back burner before, the heat may be turned up a bit now after the couple's Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) won the GI Haskell S. Saturday at Monmouth Park. "Jim and Dana Bernhard are on cloud nine," Pin Oak's Clifford Barry said Monday. "I think they can't believe it. I have spoken to them multiple times...
In hindsight, the victory by Geaux Rocket Ride in Saturday's GI Haskell S. was not at all difficult to predict. The real puzzler is how this top-tier Candy Ride (Arg) colt was let go at 12-1 in the betting. A pari-mutuel post-mortem points to a "perfect storm" anchored by two factors: The 2-for-2 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo), the highly hyped sophomore from last winter, absorbed overzealous 11-10 favoritism despite not having raced in six months, with the Bob Baffert training factor (nine Haskell wins) contributing mightily to...
Pin Oak Stud's Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) exited his victory in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. in good order, trainer Richard Mandella reported Sunday. The victory earned the lightly raced colt an automatic berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic and Mandella said he has several routes to consider to get to that Nov. 4 race at Santa Anita. The Sept. 23 GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, the Sept. 2 GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar and the Sept. 30 GI Awesome Again S. at Santa Anita are...
Godolphin homebred Cody's Wish (Curlin) tuned up for the Aug. 5 GI Whitney S. with a five-furlong work over the Oklahoma dirt training track in 1:02.81 (10/12) Sunday in Saratoga. Trained by Bill Mott, the 5-year-old was piloted through his breeze by assistant trainer Neil Poznansky, who guided the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner through splits of :26 2/5 and :38 2/5 before galloping out in 1:15 1/5, 1:27 1/5 and 1:41 3/5. "He just let him off the bridle and he picked it right up," said Mott. Cody's...