Horse Racing

Saturday's program at Churchill Downs is meant to showcase the 'Stars of Tomorrow' and Juddmonte's bred-in-the-purple Chasten (f, 2, Into Mischief--Lockdown, by First Defence) shaped as just that, as she did her best work through the line to score by a widening margin and earn the 'TDN Rising Star' badge. The half-sister to champion Idiomatic (Curlin), MGISW, $3,944,190, appeared to get bounced around at the break of the seven-furlong contest and was clearly last early before making progress and improving a spot or two down the backstretch. Asked to come...

With a horse having to be euthanized Thursday at Woodbine and another one on Friday, the Toronto-area track has now had six fatalities since the Nov. 9 card in which two horses died and the remainder of the day's program was cancelled, as was the next scheduled day of racing. Woodbine's Tapeta surface has long been considered to be one of the safest tracks in North America, which makes the rash of breakdowns particularly unusual. "We are closely monitoring the situation and remain in continuous communication with our regulator, veterinarians,...

Sent off at just over even money to stretch her current winning streak to three, Kehoe Beach (Omaha Beach) was allowed a very soft time of things on the front end in a race which appeared to have plenty of speed on paper and made every pole a winning one in Friday's GII Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs. Having won allowance races at Kentucky Downs--over seven furlongs in September--and going a mile at Keeneland last month by a combined 13 1/2 lengths in her two most recent trips to...

West Saratoga (Exaggerator), a Grade III winner at two in 2023 and placed in a pair of graded stakes this season, is the marquee name among 49 horses catalogued for the Inglis Digital USA December Sale. Horses will sell during the online auction on Wednesday, Dec. 4 beginning at 2 p.m. ET, with subsequent listings closing in three-minute intervals. Trained by Larry Demeritte, the gray colt won the GIII Iroquois Stakes in his penultimate juvenile appearance last year and was second to Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in this year's Pasco Stakes...

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes 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 weekend running at Chukyo and Kyoto Racecourses: Saturday, November 30, 2024 5th-CKO, ¥13,720,000 ($92k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m JUNE ARTEMIS (f, 2, Quality Road--Sustainable, by Forestry), a $325,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Yoshikawa Holdings, is out of a two-time stakes-placed half-sister to...

How did we get hooked on this sport? We all have stories about how our love affair developed and blossomed. The TDN will be reaching out to numerous notable people in the industry to get their stories to find out how they got hooked and stayed hooked on the sport. Brian Spearman, Chairman, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners Growing up in Saratoga, it's pretty inevitable that you're going to fall in love with horse racing if you love horses and you love the whole atmosphere. As a young adult, I went to...

Julien Leparoux, a two-time Eclipse Award winning rider, collected his 3,000th career win aboard Pike Place (Street Boss) in the third race at Churchill Downs on Thursday, the track said in a press release that same day. Leparoux, 41, launched his career in 2005. Raised in Chantilly, France, Leparoux's passion for horses led him to Southern California in 2003, where he began as an exercise rider for trainer Patrick Biancone. He transitioned to race riding and earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 2006. Three years later he...

The lesser-fancied and less-heralded of an uncoupled Godolphin-owned entry in Thursday's GIII Falls City Stakes at Churchill Downs, the beautifully bred Loved (Medaglia d'Oro) went through her gears in the final three-sixteenths of a mile to cause a mild upset. 'TDN Rising Star' Tarifa (Bernardini), the 7-4 favorite exiting a tough victory in the GII Mother Goose Stakes Oct. 26, boxed on for an alibi-free second while no match for the winner. Having earned her first black-type success in the Mari Hulman George Memorial Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis this past...

Horse racing and bourbon intersect in so many ways, but they really form a nexus around the themes of time and patience. Without either in the breeding shed or in the rickhouse, your chances at success will be severely hampered. There is nothing quite so powerful as a statement of age in the racing form or an age statement out of the barrel. When it comes to Thoroughbreds and specifically placing a strong emphasis on homebreds, John Ed Anthony's Shortleaf Stable personifies what many in the industry think a great...

Trainer Brad Cox sends out the top two chances on the morning line for Friday's GII Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs, and those who support the duo from a pari-mutuel perspective will be looking for some positive cashflow to get a head start on their holiday shopping. Since being acquired privately by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani's Wathnan Racing earlier this season, Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) has yet to taste defeat in three starts, including the GIII West Virginia Governor's Stakes in August, a neck defeat of Cooke...

The connections of Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), eleventh in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup, have declined an invitation to the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday, December 8, and the four-year-old has been officially retired, Liberty Racing's Lars-W. Baumgarten confirmed Monday on X. Fantastic Moon will enter stud in 2025 at Gestut Ebbesloh as previously announced. "Finishing 11th in the Japan Cup, Fantastic Moon appeared a bit tired in the final furlong. It was a long season for him. We'll pass on the...

Looking to snag the first graded stakes score of her career, Mrs. Astor (Lookin At Lucky) kicked home strongest of all in the GIII Red Carpet Stakes at Del Mar Sunday afternoon. The 4-year-old filly was last seen running fourth Oct. 20 in the GIII Dowager Stakes at Keeneland after closing from ninth. She'd mostly been contesting the allowance/optional claiming conditions in her career but had placed third in the 2023 running of the GIII Regret Stakes over the Churchill Downs grass along with a couple off-the-board finishes in Listed...