Horse Racing

Last year, owner Joey Peacock, trainer Todd Fincher and jockey Junior Alvarado were on cloud nine when Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) finished as a game runner-up in the GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. However, that was only the beginning because when the homebred rolled late--downright tardy--to take the G1 Saudi Cup the revels were in full effect more than half a world away. With so much success then, it would stand to reason that trying to pull off another shot at the Pegasus-Saudi Cup double would be the move....

A total of 1,123 entries, including 81 Group or Grade I winners from no fewer than 21 racing jurisdictions from all over the world were received for the 2025 Saudi Cup meeting, to be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21 and 22 and King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. The entries were released Friday by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA). (See TDN Europe for the entries to the meeting's turf events) Some $38.1 million in prize money will be on offer over the course of the weekend, headed up...

Santa Anita opened its track Thursday morning to limited training--just joggers and gallopers for most of the morning. For the Santa Anita backstretch community, it was a slice of normality as the extent of the damage caused by the wildfires that have ripped across Los Angeles this week began to set in. "I've lived there half my life, almost. My daughter was born there. It's where she grew up. All of our memories together. I was just telling her, 'all of your medals and trophies for all the years you...

A New York Appellate Court has dismissed a complaint from two New York State taxpayers, Jannette Patterson and John Di Leonardo, who sought on behalf of PETA to prevent the state from loaning NYRA the $455 million it plans to use to rebuild Belmont Park. The court, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department, was ruling on an appeal from the plaintiffs whose complaint was dismissed by an Albany County court in October of 2023. With the filing of the original lawsuit PETA said, in a...

Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, welcomed last month 2003 GI Kentucky Oaks winner Bird Town (Cape Town) and 2009 Kentucky Oaks runner-up Stone Legacy (Birdstone), the nonprofit via a release on Thursday. Bird Town is the first Kentucky Oaks winner retired to the farm. Both horses were donated to Old Friends thanks to the generosity of Marylou Whitney Stables. "Under any circumstances, Old Friends would be honored to welcome these two accomplished mares," said John Nicholson, Old Friends's president and CEO. "The fact that they come...

A filly born at Darby Dan Farm near Lexington, Kentucky is the first reported foal for champion 2-year-old colt Forte (Violence). Gravy (Collected--Flawless Diamond, by Saint Ballado), a $160,000 2024 Keeneland November purchase by Darby Dan client Gary Holland for Kamden Favorites, had a dark bay filly Jan. 8 at 6:00 p.m. ET. "She is a flashy filly with plenty of leg, we are thrilled with the result, especially as this is the mare's first foal," said Darby Dan Farm Manager Charlie McKinlay. Forte, named a 'TDN Rising Star' and...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this extended weekend running at Chukyo and Nakayama Racecourses: Saturday, January 11, 2025 3rd-CKO, ¥11,850,000 ($75k), Newcomers, 3yo, 1800m QUEEN'S CHOCOLAT (JPN) (f, 3, Tiz the Law--Ahh Chocolate, by Candy Ride {Arg}) is the first Japanese-foaled produce for her dam, a two-time graded winner...

Santa Anita Park has postponed Friday's Jan. 10 racing program until next Thursday, Jan. 16. due to the forecast of poor air quality for the San Gabriel Valley after the devasting impact made by the Eaton Fire in the Los Angeles area, the track said in a press release on Thursday afternoon. The California Horse Racing Board has approved this proactive rescheduling of the 10-race card. The races will be run with the horses previously entered in the post position order originally drawn. "While Santa Anita continues to remain well...

With 50 horses stabled at Payson Park Training Center this winter for the first time in his two-decade career, the 2020 and '21 Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox now has a geographically easier time targeting Florida races. On Wednesday, Cox won with his first Tampa Bay Downs starter since 2019. And since Nov. 30, he's compiled a 1-3-0 record from six starts at Gulfstream Park, where he started only 50 runners over the past five years, generally by shipping in from his customary bases at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park,...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) will honor Frank Taylor and the Stable Recovery Program with the Special Eclipse Award for service to the Thoroughbred industry at the Resolute Racing 54th Annual Eclipse Awards Dinner and Ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida on Thursday, Jan. 23, according to a press release from the NTRA on Thursday. Taylor, along with Stable Recovery CEO Christian Countzler, is the driving force behind that organization and the Taylor Made School of...

C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Antonio Pagnano's multiple Grade I winner White Abarrio (Race Day) breezed Thursday morning at Gulfstream Park ahead of his next scheduled start in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 25. With regular exercise rider Vicente Gudiel aboard, White Abarrio went four furlongs in 47.81 seconds over the main track, the fastest of 23 horses at the distance. It was the first work for 5-year-old earner of more than $5.2 million since his runner-up finish in the GIII Mr....

The GI Breeders' Cup NetJets Juvenile Fillies winner and leading candidate for Eclipse 2-year-old filly honors, Immersive (Nyquist--Gap Year, by Bernardini), will be given some time off due to bone bruising, according to a Thursday post on Godolphin's website. The homebred and Brad Cox trainee--who also won the GI Spinaway Stakes and GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes--will likely be off until summer. Godolphin's Director of Bloodstock, Michael Banahan, said, "Brad [Cox] wasn't happy with the way she was moving so she came home for diagnostics that confirmed the issue. While obviously...