Horse Racing

Four weeks in advance of the GI Kentucky Derby, bettors made Journalism (Curlin) the mild 5-1 favorite with champion 2-year-old colt Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) the 8-1 second choice in the sixth and final pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW), Churchill Downs said via a press release on Saturday afternoon. The three-day pool closed at 4 p.m. ET in advance of the three Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series races at Aqueduct, Santa Anita and Keeneland. Total handle for the three-day Apr. 3-5 KDFW pool was $483,121...

Owners and trainers affected by the cancellation of racing at Aqueduct on Sunday, Mar. 30, will be compensated from the purse account, according to a Saturday release from the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. On the Mar. 30 eight-race card there were 61 horses entered and nine were announced as scratched before the cancellation. The races on the card that day were put back up as extras. The managing owner of each horse that would have raced will receive $2,500, while the trainer of each horse will receive $1,000. NYRA's...

Jockey Kendrick Carmouche notched his 4,000th career victory on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack, guiding Whisper Hill Farm's Crimson Light (City of Light) to a half-length victory in the eighth race. Carmouche, a 41-year-old native of Vinton, Louisiana, engineered a pace-pressing trip for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Crimson Light dropped back to third at the stretch call, but Carmouche persevered aboard the colt to overtake the leaders and deliver the signature score. A smiling Carmouche celebrated the win with the Big A faithful, who flocked to the apron to...

Ballerina d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) is heading to the big dance. The Rodeo Creek Racing colorbearer, off as the 3-5 favorite, outslugged a very game Early On (Union Rags), to deliver a nose victory for trainer Chad Brown in Saturday's GIII Gazelle Stakes at the Big A, good for 100 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Oaks. Ballerina d'Oro sat a perfect trip beneath Dylan Davis and traveled nicely in an inside fourth through fractions of :24.10 and :48.36. Tipped out on the far turn, she rolled up three...

Amid massive rainfall in and around Oaklawn Park, 68 horses were forced to evacuate from the track's Ten Mile Creek Training Center in Lonsdale, Arkansas, according to a press release from the National HBPA on Saturday. In a statement from HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback on the flooding he said, "Our thoughts are with the entire Oaklawn Park community as they endure the devastating impact of the flooding that occurred Saturday, Apr. 5, at Oaklawn Park's Ten Mile Creek Training Center. All horsemen are deeply concerned for the well-being of the...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- In most circles, Saturday's G1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline was but a foregone conclusion. The star of the show was widely expected to be Japan's Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), a pair of placed efforts in America the only thing separating the colt and a perfect record. A brilliant winner of the G1 Saudi Cup about 600 miles of desert away six weeks ago, Forever Young surely had his World Cup rivals over a barrel. Any one of them would need...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- In the history of the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen dating back to 1996, no 3-year-old had ever succeeded in defeating their elders in the 1200-meter dash. Only two Northern Hemisphere-bred sophomores had so much as tried. That all changed in the space of 71 seconds and some change under the Saturday night lights at Meydan, as Dark Saffron (Flameaway) busted away from the outside stall and made every yard a winning one, holding off Nakatomi (Firing Line) and a desperately unlucky defending champion Tuz (Oxbow)...

The number of race days was lower and so was wagering compared to a year ago in March, according to information released by Equibase on Friday. Total wagering of $931,202,013 on races during the month represented a 4.20% decrease over the same period from 2024, while available purses of almost $98 million were lower by 4.23%. The figure of over $93 million for paid purses in March was also down by 4.84%. As for the total number of race days, they decreased from 285 to 263 (-7.72%) and the number...

Keeneland has launched new AI technology within the Keeneland Race Day App, making it the first racetrack to offer such a mechanism in order to enhance fan experience, the organization said in a Friday release. Racing enthusiasts will have access to real-time data, predictive analytics and deeper insights during the meet. The introduction of AI technology reflects Keeneland's ongoing commitment to innovation. Fans can experience these new features by downloading or updating the Keeneland Race Day App. Generative Insights are available for April 6-8. "Keeneland is always looking for ways...

The 2025 edition of The Jockey Club's Fact Book is now available in the resources section of the organization's website, according to a press release from that entity on Friday. The online Fact Book is a statistical and informational guide to Thoroughbred breeding, racing, and auction sales in North America, which is updated quarterly. Later this year, many of the statistics will begin to be updated on a weekly basis, and new statistics will be added. The Jockey Club is continually seeking ways to provide information in novel formats concerning...

7th-AQU, $86K, OC80k/C, 4yo/up, 1m, 4:22 p.m. ET. A debut winner by 3 1/2 lengths over the slop at Churchill Downs last summer, STAR OF WONDER (Uncle Mo) earned a 'TDN Rising Star' for the effort. The WinStar homebred then cleared an allowance condition under the Twin Spires in mid-September, and broke through on the main track there in late November when he faced optional claimers for the second time. Back on the tab at Payson Park by Feb. 1, the colt hails from the same Brad Cox shedrow as...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Better known for breeding and selling top racehorses, Carrie and Craig Brogden touched down in Dubai late Wednesday and were trackside at Meydan on Thursday morning to watch their G2 Godolphin Mile hopeful Steal Sunshine (Constitution) turn in some light work over the track. It isn't the first time that the high-class Machmer Hall operation has been represented on foreign soil. The late Tepin (Bernstein) was bred by and came through the consignment before beating the boys on three occasions, including the 2015 GI Breeders'...