Breeders' Cup

Amidst its ongoing investigation of the erroneous scratch of eventual purse-money-only winner Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) from last Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, the California Horse Racing Board issued the following update Monday: "Concerning the 10th race at Del Mar on Friday, November 5, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: Upon review of available videos showing the horses in the gate prior to the start of the race, the CHRB has determined that #1 Modern Games (IRE) did not rear up in the gate, as was initially reported to...

Dubawi (Ire) has long been established as a sire of international merit. This weekend at Del Mar, however, he took his reputation to another level, siring three winners at the Breeders' Cup-something never before achieved by a sire in the meeting's 37-year history. Twelve sires have supplied two winners in a single Breeders' Cup. That was first accomplished by Cox's Ridge in the second Breeders' Cup in 1985 when Life's Magic took the Distaff and Twilight Ridge the Juvenile Fillies. Four other sires did it when the Breeders' Cup was...

GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {GB}) and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf fifth Hello You (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) have both exited their Del Mar starts well and are pointing to 3-year-old campaigns. Trainer David Loughnane was pleased with his Group 2 winners, with Go Bears Go taking the G2 Railway S. earlier this year and Hello You winning the G2 Rockfel S. at Newmarket. The colt will be aimed for the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, while Hello You...

Jockeys Florent Geroux and E. T. Baird were fined $5,000 each by the stewards at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club for exceeding the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB)'s six-strikes-per-race limit on their mounts in Breeders' Cup races. In addition, jockey Tom Eaves got fined $1,000 for raising his whip above shoulder level prior to a strike. All of those actions were deemed to be in violation of CHRB Rule 1688, which mandates six-strike, underhand-only, no-more-than-two-hits-in succession whipping with crops that are designed to deliver lower-impact blows. The two $5,000 fines are...

This year's Breeders' Cup revealed itself as a microcosm of the current state of North American racing: An inability to dodge off-track dysfunction (Friday) paired with sensational on-track action (Saturday). Luckily, the corking performances unleashed over the course of the two-day thrill show were emphatic enough to spark more than a few exhilarating expectations for 2022. That will make it a touch easier to endure an entire winter of wincing at the oft-repeated social media meme "for purse money only" while simultaneously wondering if the presumed juvenile champ will even...

There is talk that Breeders' Cup winners Knicks Go (Paynter) and Life Is Good (Into Mischief) will meet in the Jan. 29 GI Pegasus S. at Gulfstream. I'll take Life Is Good. He was that good Saturday in the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Nothing against Knicks Go or any of the other winners over the weekend at Del Mar, but the best horse over the 14 races that make up the Breeders' Cup was Life Is Good. He put in a sensational performance in the Dirt...

Korea Racing Association's Knicks Go (Paynter), fresh off an emphatic victory in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Saturday, could cap his career in the Jan. 29 GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Sunday. "If he comes out of it good and he trains well, we'll point for the Pegasus," Cox said. "It's a good purse, it's a surface he likes and if he's doing well, there have been horses that won the Breeders' Cup and ended their careers with that, between...

Essential Quality (Tapit--Delightful Quality, by Elusive Quality), last year's champion 2-year-old and winner of this year's GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S., will begin his stud career next year at a fee of $75,000, Darley in America announced Sunday. Essential Quality concluded his racing career with a third-place effort in Saturday's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. "His body of work is just tremendous: an Eclipse champion at two, a Classic winner at three, a son of Tapit with a fantastic female family," said Darley Sales Manager Darren Fox....

Edited Press Release  Irad Ortiz Jr. won his fourth consecutive Bill Shoemaker Award, given to the most outstanding jockey at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar. The Shoemaker Award goes to the jockey who won the most races in the 14 World Championship races this weekend with the tiebreaker being a 10-3-1 point system for second- through fourth-place finishes. Ortiz and William Buick both won three races, but Ortiz also had a runner-up finish and three fourth-place finishes while Buick finished fifth with his only other mount. Ortiz...

Edited Press Release Total all-sources common-pool handle for the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club was $182,908,409, a new record for the two-day event. The total represents a 4.7% increase over the prior record of $174,628,986 set when the event was held at Santa Anita Park in 2019 and a 14% increase from the total handle of $160,472,893 at the 2020 event held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, KY. Total common-pool handle on Saturday's 12-race Breeders' Cup card was a record $121,562,392. All sources common-pool...

Del Mar, CA--Racing is a sport of great drama, but it is a fair bet that Charlie Appleby wouldn't have minded a bit less of it this weekend. The trainer enjoyed a banner meeting, recording his fourth, fifth AND sixth wins at the Breeders' Cup with the Dubawi (Ire) colts Modern Games (Ire), Space Blues (Ire) and Yibir (GB), all under William Buick in the Juvenile Turf, Mile and Turf, respectively. Appleby also saw two of his runners scratched at the gates-well, three, technically, with Modern Games sensationally re-instated before...

Over the last quarter-century, horses based in Japan have increasingly made their presence felt on the international stage, winning top races on the European continent, the Middle East, Hong Kong and places as far afield as Australia. Though clearly possessed of the horseflesh to make an impression--no matter the port of call--the Breeders' Cup had eluded the island nation, but history was made Saturday at Del Mar when the well-traveled Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) sliced her way between rivals in the dying strides to salute in the...