california racing

Following the cancellation of racing on Wednesday and Thursday, Santa Anita has added a special makeup card for this upcoming Thursday, Jan. 8, according to a press release from the track on Friday. Entries will be taken on Saturday. The program will include both the GIII Robert J. Frankel Stakes for fillies & mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf and the Eddie Logan Stakes at one mile on turf for what are now newly-turned 3-year-olds. Both races had been scheduled for Wednesday. The remaining races from the canceled cards...

As another Santa Anita Opening Day is in the books, it's with a heavy heart that I write to the TDN about the extraordinary life and times of Vic Carlson. Vic died a couple days ago peacefully with his wife Seira and family by his side, but the legacy he leaves in Thoroughbred racing is far reaching. As a reminder, Vic reached the pinnacle of the racing game when a little $15,000 horse named Musket Man ran third in the 2009 GI Kentucky Derby. More on that in a minute....

California racing just got dealt another brutal blow. In a year when this sport should be doing everything possible to stabilize a fragile circuit, the loss of Grade I status for the Frank E. Kilroe Mile and multiple downgrades at Santa Anita and Del Mar is very concerning. When you strip premier events in the middle of a wagering and field-size crisis, you're not "protecting the integrity of the pattern," you're accelerating the decline of one of the game's few remaining flagship jurisdictions. This outcome might look neat on a...

What will racing look like in 10 years? We asked some of racing's best and brightest to give us their predictions. Want to submit an answer? Email suefinley@thetdn.com. BILL CASNER, CO-FOUNDER OF WINSTAR FARM What I am so optimistic about with horse racing right now is that young people are returning. Griffin Johnson has something like 2.5 million followers. When he went into the Derby, he had 1.2 million or something followers. He loves racing. He's got a vision of where it's going to go. He will bring, and he...

Pomona Fairgrounds, 1956. Abandoning his hopes of becoming an attorney, Gary Biszantz was going home to try to turn round his father's automobile dealership in Los Angeles. He broke his journey at a horse sale, having loved Thoroughbreds since being taken racing as a kid, when he would stand on a chair and marvel at "the epitome of strength, speed, skill and style." "And the guy next to me puts up his hand at $400 and the auctioneer says: 'Sold!'" Biszantz recalls. "The guy looks at me and says, 'Would...

It's no surprise that Italian-born jockeys are doing well at the current meet at Del Mar. They have been making their mark in Southern California for some time now. Antonio Fresu is second in the standings and Umberto Rispoli is third. But who is the leading rider? The answer might surprise you. The 46-year-old veteran Mirco Demuro, who left Japan earlier this year to try the Southern California circuit, went into the weekend at Del Mar on top of the jockey standings with 10 winners. He has had just 22...

Grade I winner Collected (City Zip) will relocate from Airdrie Stud in Kentucky to stand at Rancho San Miguel in California for the 2026 breeding season, it was announced Friday. With an introductory West Coast fee of $7,500, with a live foal stand and nurse guarantee, the 12-year-old son of City Zip enters California as one of North America's leading fourth-crop sires, and as the clear-cut, #1 California sire by 2025 progeny earnings with $6,307,233 in purse money amassed through Nov. 5. From four crops to race, he has sired...

The 12th running of the Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar will kick off Thursday, Oct. 30 and run through Sunday, Nov. 30 with opening weekend featuring the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the track announced Monday. The 16-day program will host 20 stakes races worth more than $3-million in purses. In addition to the two-day Breeders' Cup event worth more than $34-million across 14 Grade I stakes, the seaside oval will also contest six of the 20 black-type races in the first three days of the meeting--one on Thursday, four...

The betting public wagered that the Anoakia Stakes would be a return to winning form for Himika (Curlin), and she gave them no reason to worry in the lane as she powered home with ears pricked. A stylish victress at first-asking June 12 at this venue, the newly minted 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' was asked to take on graded company in her second lifetime start, and she passed that test with grace to land the GIII Sorrento Stakes by over four lengths. From there, she ran an even...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday took initial steps to roll back parts of an in-race riding interference rule after both jockeys and stewards decided that several tweaks made to the regulation over the past decade aren't working in ways that stakeholders had anticipated. The CHRB voted 6-0 on Aug. 21 to send amendments to Rule 1699 out for a public commentary period, after which commissioners will vote again to finalize any new changes before they go into effect. A CHRB staff analysis of the changes that was...

In an effort to stimulate the California breeding industry, the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association (CTBA) unveiled several new breeding incentive programs Monday, highlighted by the 'Flagship Foal Incentive Program.' With the CTBA awarding $1,000 for each foal registered as a Cal-bred, the Flagship Foal Incentive Program begins with foals of 2027 at a cap of 25 foals per breeder. Payments will be made upon the CTBA receiving a Cal-bred application and the registration papers from the Jockey Club, due Dec. 31 of the foal's yearling year. In addition, the CTBA...

The California Retirement Management Account (CARMA), which offers assistance to over 20 aftercare charities, raised more than $200,000 during the sixth annual CARMAthon fundraiser Saturday. FanDuel TV hosted the event in addition to donating $25,000. "It is important to us to continue to give back to the horse racing industry through numerous charitable initiatives each year," said Andrew Moore, FanDuel TV's General Manager. "CARMA does tremendous work to help retired racehorses thrive in their second careers off of the track and we are thrilled to be able to support them...