Del Mar

DEL MAR, CA - Maiden Special Weight, for 2-year-old fillies that sold or RNA'd for $45,000 or less in their most recent sale. British Idiom (Flashback), a $40,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling graduate, met that criteria and successfully kicked off her career with a stylish, 3 1/2-length debut victory as the 7-2 favorite for trainer Brad Cox at Saratoga in the summer of 2019. The Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and The Elkstone Group colorbearer, of course, followed up with a win in the GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland and...

DEL MAR, CA -- It's showtime. Featuring 14 Grade I races worth more than $34 million in purses, the Breeders' Cup World Championships, with an emphasis on World, return to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club for a third time, beginning with the 'Future Stars Friday' program. Ideal conditions with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s are expected. A total of 179 horses were entered for the two-day Championships, including a record 67 international participants from nine different countries as well as three previous winners. A stacked renewal of...

by Steve Sherack & J.N. Campbell  DEL MAR, CA -- A stallion share (2.5% fractional interest) in undefeated 2022 Horse of the Year and GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Flightline (Tapit) brought $2.5 million from Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Farm to top the inaugural Keeneland Championship Sale held in Del Mar's paddock Wednesday evening. The final offering of the sale, the stallion share was consigned by Lane's End Farm as Hip 12. Flightline welcomed his first foals this year and will command a $150,000 stud fee at Lane's End in...

DEL MAR, CA - The 'Grizzly' is sitting on go. After a light training session on Tuesday, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) turned in her first local gallop in the pre-dawn hours at Del Mar on a brisk Wednesday morning. The GI Kentucky Oaks heroine and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff 4-5 morning-line favorite displayed her typical high energy and was an absolute handful beneath exercise rider Danny Ramsey throughout her powerful 1 1/2-mile gallop. "Good?," trainer Kenny McPeek asked Ramsey as Thorpedo Anna was heading off the track....

He's been on board for both her Group 1 wins and on Wednesday morning Frankie Dettori was reunited with Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) for a spin on the grass track at Del Mar ahead of lining up for the Breeders' Cup Turf. It has been exactly a year since Europe's most recognisable jockey signed off with a Champion Stakes triumph in Britain before jetting to his new life in California. This new chapter started in the best possible way with another top-flight win, in the Breeders' Cup...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

"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....

Despite never having raced on the dirt in his two seasons at the races, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was assigned gate three as the 5-2 morning-line selection in a full field of 14 and will be ridden by Ryan Moore in Saturday's $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. Deemed by trainer Aidan O'Brien--a two-time runner-up in the Classic (Giant's Causeway, Declaration of War)--'the best he's ever trained,' the son of G1SW Together Forever (Ire)...