In an exhibition of pure sprinting prowess, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum's Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) brought all his power to bear on his rivals on Friday to register back-to-back successes in Goodwood's G2 King George Qatar S. Despite the contrasting ground conditions to the easy turf he encountered 12 months ago and the obvious questions posed by defeat in the June 19 G1 King's Stand S. at Royal Ascot, the bay attracted heavy support as the 8-11 favourite and was in front before he had raced two...
The 17th edition of the Claiming Crown, held Saturday at Gulfstream Park, generated total handle of $10,118,000--up 0.57% from 2014 despite rainy conditions which caused four races to be taken off the turf. Gulfstream was hosting the event for the fourth year. "We're extremely pleased with the success of Saturday's Claiming Crown," said P.J. Campo, General Manager of Gulfstream Park and Vice President of Racing for The Stronach Group. "We had big fields and tremendous participation from horsemen throughout North America. We're confident the numbers would have been even more...
Riley Mott, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, has come a long way in the 3 1/2 years he has been training on his own. He's already won more than 100 races and collected a pair of Grade I wins, including World Beater (Oscar Performance)'s score in last year's GI Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. And now it looks like he'll have a starter in this year's GI Kentucky Derby. In winning the Virginia Derby, the Mott-trained Incredibolt (Bolt d'Oro) earned enough points to guarantee himself a spot in...
Less than 48 hours after Colonial Downs was coated in three inches of fresh snow, Saturday's Virginia Derby, the last 50-point prep race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, will have competitors and visitors alike dreaming of warmer things to come on the first Saturday in May. Now in its second year, the newly-repositioned Virginia Derby (moved up from the track's traditional summer meet) drew a field of 10 after running with just seven entries in its inaugural edition won by the late D. Wayne Lukas's American Promise (Justify)....
Code Review (Uncle Mo) was the subject of much pre-race chatter and lived up to the hype on Gulfstream debut Jan. 25, making all the running en route to a 1 1/2-length victory and 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard plaudits. The bay was given an entry for Saturday's Virginia Derby, but connections opted to ship in for this considerably softer spot, for which he was made the 1-5 mortal. Code Review hopped slightly as the gates flew back, but he quickly stepped away to a clear lead before Tyler...
2nd-CNL, $80k, OC 62k/N1X, 3yo, 1m, 1:00 p.m. ET. Code Review (Uncle Mo) takes on winners for the first time after delivering a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' performance at first asking going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park Jan. 25. The full-brother to the ill-fated GII Jim Dandy S. winner Laoban earned a 78 Beyer Speed Figure for the front-running victory. He fired a four-furlong bullet in :46 4/5 (1/63) at Gulfstream Mar. 1. Code Review, a $200,000 FTKNOV weanling turned $575,000 KEESEP yearling, is campaigned in partnership by...
Live racing has been canceled at Laurel Park for this coming Saturday, Mar. 14 due to insufficient entries, the track announced Monday morning. With the impending meeting at Colonial Downs set to kick off Thursday, Mar. 12, and two Points races for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 14 at that venue, Laurel Park will move all originally scheduled races for Saturday to Sunday, Mar. 15 as overnight extras. There will be live racing Friday, Mar. 13 with an eight-race program with first post at 12:00pm...
Over the course of the past two seasons, Abraham Gardea has been steadily picking up momentum as a trainer, spending much of his time along the Southern Florida circuit of Tampa and Gulfstream Park while shipping to Colonial Downs in New Kent, Virginia for summer racing. After taking out his training license in 2018, the Chihuahua, Mexico native made a brief return to private training sector before returning to the racetrack in 2024. Collecting his first career victory at Tampa midway through that racing season, he registered a personal career...