Horse Racing

The English polymath John Ruskin, who was always hard at work scribbling a well-timed observation for some future generation to co-opt, said when it came to the weather, "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." Well, bully for you Mr. Ruskin! Send him a going stick and put him to work on the nearest turf course. Some might care to offer quite a different observation after recent events. What...

The G1 Saudi Cup hero from a year ago, Senor Buscador, will aim to continue the legacy of his sire Horse of the Year Mineshaft at Lane's End as he stands for $7,500 LFSN, the farm said via a press release on Friday. Bred in Kentucky by Joe R. Peacock, Sr. and Joey Peacock, Jr., Senor Buscador retires from racing with $12,944,427 in earnings and was trained by Todd Fincher. The 7-year-old had shipped last week to Gulfstream Park where he was set to make another start in the GI...

Previously better known for his inability to finish off his races,  Walk of Stars (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) seems to have put those bad habits behind him, as he well and truly stamped his authority on Friday's G1 Al Maktoum Challenge at Meydan, leading home a 1-2 finish for the Bhupat Seemar yard and his legendary sire. Runner-up in last year's G2 Godolphin Mile after looking home free, Walk of Stars was second on seasonal reappearance in the Listed Dubai Creek Mile Nov. 22, but was sent straight into the lead...

James E. "Ted" Bassett III, who led Keeneland through historic expansion during his 38-year tenure serving as President, Chairman and Trustee, died Thursday at his home in Lexington. He was 103. So he was not immortal, after all. But those of us privileged to have known James E. Bassett III will know how rare it is not only for human life to stretch to so wide a span but yet to conclude with the emphasis so unequivocally on quality, rather than mere quantity. It began [and ended] in Lexington, aptly...

Ocala Breeders' Sales Company has added 26 supplemental entries to its 2025 Winter Mixed Sale which begins at 11 a.m. ET Jan. 28, according to a press release from the company on Friday. The entries are catalogued as Hips 317-342 and feature short yearlings by Colonel Liam, Galilean, Instagrand, Mystic Guide, Roadster, and Solomini as well as mares in foal to Complexity, Early Voting, and Volatile. Eleven broodmare prospects have been supplemented to the sale, including a 4-year-old half-sister to champion and OBS graduate Kodiak Kowboy and multiple stakes winner Wilbo. The supplemental entries are...

Every few years the Eclipse Award goes to a horse (always a turf horse) who ships in from overseas--usually fresh--and wins a Breeders' Cup race and our designated voters make the horse an American champion. I remember going down to New Orleans 25 years ago to watch the 9-year-old gelding John's Call (Lord At War {Arg})--a people's horse if there ever was--be named champion turf horse after watching him win the Sword Dancer (by nine lengths) and the Man o' War. Unfortunately in the GI Breeder's Cup Turf he got...

Golden Vekoma (Vekoma) stretched out to the metric mile following up on his sound success in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial over 1400 meters on Jan. 3, wrested command with about a furlong and a half to travel and held off the well-fancied Heart of Honor (Honor A.P.) to take out Friday's G3 UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan. Drawn 13 in a full field of 16, the bay colt bounced well enough from out wide and took up a position just ahead of midfield as dirt debutant High Season (GB)...

Only a courageous runner-up effort behind 'TDN Rising Star' and 3-year-old male Eclipse finalist Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes this past August stood between Brookdale Racing Inc, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing's 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and a perfect season in 2024. But the enormously talented dark bay filly was utterly dominant against her own sex in 2024 and became the first female since Havre de Grace (Saint Liam) in 2011 to take home the coveted Horse of the Year statuette...

With victories in 2024 in two of the most prestigious races run in this country, National Treasure (Quality Road) proved a handy winner of the Eclipse Award for champion older dirt male, easily outpointing GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile upseter Full Serrano (Arg) (Full Mast) and Straight No Chaser (Speightster), who caused a bit of a surprise in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. National Treasure is just the second Bob Baffert trainee to take home the statuette in this particular division (Improbable, 2020). After giving future Horse of the Year...

Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) became the ninth champion for his world-class stallion, taking home the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old male Thursday evening. The $675,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase went three-for-four in 2024, including back-to-back Grade Is in the American Pharoah Stakes and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Citizen Bull earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure in the Breeders' Cup and is reported to be targeting Santa Anita's GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes Feb. 1 for his sophomore debut. Two Juvenile winners in the Breeders' Cup's 41-year history have gone on...

The Breeders' Cup had a tremendous impact on the evening's Sprint champions, as each caused upsets of varying degrees on championship Saturday to highlight their campaigns. Straight No Chaser (Speightster) made the most of just three trips to the races in 2024, returning from a May layoff to bolt up in the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship in late September before outfinishing his rivals in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. He easily outdistanced turf sprint sensation Cogburn (Not This Time) to lock up season-ending honors. Early Impressions..."He's just a really talented...

Chad Brown fought off a spirited challenge from Kentucky Oaks/Kentucky Derby-winning conditioner Ken McPeek to win the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer for the fifth time overall and for the first time in five years. Brown's 2024 campaign was punctuated by an impressive array of Grade I winners, both on the turf and dirt, and was highlighted by 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), who gave Brown his first victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic before earning an Eclipse Award as the leading 3-year-old colt of the season....