Horse Racing

Getaway Car just got his nose in front to nip Caldera on the line in a dramatic finish to the Sunland Park Derby. Already a graded stakes winner and Grade I stakes-placed, Getaway Car was sent off the 6-5 favorite in his sophomore debut Sunday. He went right to the lead and was unchallenged while setting fractions of :23.31 and :46.93. Caldera, who had raced in midpack down the backstretch, rushed up four wide as the favorite attempted to skip away on the far turn. The gray stuck his head...

In the lone GI Kentucky Oaks points race on Sunday, Runnin N Gunnin (Gun Runner) deposited into her account the top prize of 20 points as she took home the Sunland Park Oaks. Breaking out of the maiden special weight ranks at third asking when the filly owned by Valor Farm's Douglas Scharbauer won by a head at Horseshoe Indy at the end of October, Runnin N Gunnin was well-beaten against optional claimers at Churchill Downs a month later. In her prep for this spot, the Keeneland September grad cleared...

For about a decade and a half, Mike Pender punched well above his weight as a trainer on the ultra-competitive Southern California circuit, winning Grade I races with modestly bred and moderately priced runners like Ultimate Eagle (Mizzen Mast) and Jeranimo (Congaree), each acquired for $70,000 out of the breeze-up sales on behalf of his client B.J. Wright. About a year after saddling Lombo (Graydar) to an 8-1 upset in the 2018 GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Pender switched gears and entered the bloodstock arena, but without the same level...

Despite a state auditor's report last summer which found major discrepancies with Texas Racing Commission record-keeping practices, during a scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 12, the horse racing regulator voted 5-1 to temporarily allow the state breed registries to access their portion of the Horse Industry Escrow Account (HIEA) to channel money to purses. For Thoroughbreds, that means that requests by organizations like the Texas Thoroughbred Association (TTA) will be able to contribute to the current Sam Houston Race Park meeting's purse structure. However, the commission has not sanctioned the...

Three years ago, a colt by the emerging Not This Time campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and trained by Steve Asmussen named Epicenter controlled the pace in the GII Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes and reported home an easy winner, returning $9 to his backers. On Saturday, a colt by the now-boom Taylor Made stallion followed in Epicenter's hoofprints for the same connections, as Magnitude (Not This Time) was sent hard to the lead by Ben Curtis from the outside gate in a field of 12 and left them all in his...

Having already saddled a pair of debut-winning 3-year-olds earlier on the program, Cherie DeVaux completed a hat-trick of victories when Lael Stables' Taking Candy came running in the final furlong to post his first stakes success in Saturday's GIII Fair Grounds Stakes in the Big Easy. Second behind 'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the GIII Saranac Stakes at three in 2023 and runner-up in the 2024 Bernard Baruch Stakes, both at Saratoga, Taking Candy was lasst seen finishing a running-on third to What Say...

'TDN Rising Star' Hall of Fame (Gun Runner) enjoyed a beautiful trip in transit, pulled out for the drive and out-bobbed Komorebino Omoide (Jpn) (California Chrome) to take out the GIII Mineshaft Stakes at the Fair Grounds. Favored at 8-5 while in search of his third consecutive victory following an eight-month layoff, the $1.4-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga graduate box-seated the 8 1/2-furlong contest as Maycocks Bay (Speightstown) led in advance of the Japanese-bred import through modest early fractions. Full of run on the turn beneath Jose Ortiz, Hall of Fame angled...

Making money moves down the lane, Dazzling Move lived up to her name as she took the GIII Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. The filly tried stakes company a half-dozen times last year under trainer Michael Trombetta, but Dazzling Move was unable to break through. Her best placing came when she was the runner-up in the Pumpkin Pie Stakes during the Belmont At The Big A meet in early November. The dark bay was last seen finishing off the board in the Rampart Stakes in Hallandale Dec....

6th-Fair Grounds, $55,000, Msw, 2-15, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:10.43, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. AHAVAH (f, 3, City of Light--Holiday Soiree {SW & GISP, $405,642}, by Harlan's Holiday) overcame a bit of a sluggish dispatch and held off a persistent late challenge from fellow well-tried first-starter Unwavering Trust (Nyquist) to take the second division of the 3-year-old filly six-furlong maiden Saturday afternoon at the Fair Grounds. A bit flat-footed at the break, the $400,000 Keeneland September yearling, whose half-sister Vahva (Gun Runner, $1,802,810) won last year's GI Derby City Distaff, mustered...

4th-Fair Grounds, $55,000, Msw, 2-15, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:09.86, ft, 3/4 length. VELVET VORTEX (f, 3, Complexity--Sweet Pistol, by Smart Strike) was bet down from a morning line of 9-2 to jump as the 13-5 favorite while making her career debut at the Fair Grounds Saturday afternoon and got the better of a final-furlong tussle with second-time starter Velvet Devil (Kantharos) to graduate in strong fashion. Drawn three, the $375,000 Keeneland September purchase bounced beautifully, but was just outfooted to the front by the rail-drawn Velvet Devil, second after leading...

Officials at the Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club, in consultation with horsemen, called off the remainder of Saturday's HH The Amir Trophy and Amir Sword Meeting at Al Rayyan following a nasty spill involving two horses and affecting several others with 400 metres left to race in the first of the day's events, the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup over the 1600 metres. The Ed Bethell-trained Point Lynas (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) was tracked to his outside by the locally-owned Surfers Paradise (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) into the straight, but the latter...

6th-Santa Anita, $60,500, Msw, 2-14, 3yo, 1m, 1:37.84, ft, 4 3/4 lengths. BAEZA (c, 3, McKinzie--Puca {SW & GSP, $299,406}, by Big Brown) debuted over the grass at Del Mar Dec. 1 and finished a well-beaten ninth. Switching to the main track at Santa Anita Jan. 4, the pricey Keeneland September buy was the runner-up behind 'TDN Rising Star' Rodriguez (Authentic). Backed at the windows as the 2-1 second choice here, the bay came running out of the blocks to shadow a longshot into the first turn. The 3-year-old waited...