Horse Racing

Saturday's GII Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar was billed as a showdown between the top sprinter in the West, two-time GI Bing Crosby Stakes winner The Chosen Vron (Vronsky), and Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), winner of the world's richest race, the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup. The Chosen Vron toted a gaudy six-race win steak, while Senor Buscador was returning from a break after finishing third in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Despite the headlines, apparently Mark Davis and Great Friends Stable's Raging Torrent (c, 3, Maximus Mischief-Violent Wave, by Violence),...

Saturday's 14-race DraftKings Travers Day card generated a record-setting all-sources wagering handle of $63,023,405, according to a press release from NYRA on Saturday. The 2024 figure represents a 13.4 percent increase over the prior record of $55,559,317, which was established in 2022. Paid attendance on Saturday was 47,844 with on-track handle of $11,267,864. THE CHAMP IS BACK! Fierceness, son of @LanesEndFarms stallion City of Light, wins the G1 @DraftKings Travers Stakes, leaving no doubt that he's back on top! The legendary @ljlmvel was aboard for @PletcherRacing and @RepoleStable. pic.twitter.com/M8KY6h4sQr —...

If there was a knock on last year's champion 2-year-old and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) heading into Saturday's GI Travers S., it was that he couldn't fire his best shot in back-to-back races. Seems awfully silly now, doesn't it? Off as the 7-2 third choice and just a dime shy of 4-1 in the highlight of the summer meeting at Saratoga, the Repole Stable homebred backed up his exceptional win in the local prep GII Jim Dandy Stakes July 27 with a dramatic head victory over the...

Following in the hoofprints of his Klaravich-owned sire, who won the race back in 2017, Domestic Product (Practical Joke) came with a wide rally into the Saratoga stretch and outfinished favored 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) and GI Woody Stephens Stakes hero Book'em Danno (Bucchero) to land Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes. Drawn low in gate three, the homebred colt--a last-out winner of the one-mile GIII Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct July 6--found himself near the back of the field through the opening exchanges as 'TDN Rising...

Siena Farm and WinStar Farm are going to have to make room in their trophy cases. Less than 24 hours after the partnership captured the King's Plate with Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach), they added more hardware when Mullikin (c, 4, Violence--Tulira's Star, by Congrats), stamped as the horse to beat in Saratoga's GI Forego Stakes, proved much the best. In winning his fourth straight and capturing the first Grade I of his career, Mullikin cemented his status as the best older sprinter east of the Mississippi with a comprehensive, front-running victory....

Society (Gun Runner) stalked and pounced her way to a powerful victory in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Ballerina Handicap at the Spa. Off as the 7-2 third choice, the speedy Peter Blum homebred was content to track in second beneath Tyler Gaffalione--something that she hadn't successfully demonstrated in her previous 13 starts--as 'TDN Rising Star' Munnys Gold (Munnings) sped through fractions of :22.65 and :44.82. Society revved up with a flashy move to take over approaching the quarter pole and turned for home with authority while racing in...

The decision to base an American satellite at Saratoga has proved largely full of fruit for Godolphin, with victories here, there and everywhere. The punting public thought the outfit's success on these shores would continue in Saturday's GI Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes, as Measured Time (GB) (Frankel {GB}), winner of the GI Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, was favored at 85 cents on the dollar, while Silver Knott (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) was the 13-10 second choice off back-to-back graded wins...

Favored at 12-5 in the Travers Day dirt maiden that more times than not produces horses to watch down the road, Jim Bakke's Tip Top Thomas (c, 2, Volatile--Attempt To Name, by Consolidator) narrowly outlasted a couple of well-meant rivals to become the first 'TDN Rising Star' and eighth winner overall for his freshman sire (by Violence). A $160,000 purchase out of last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Sale, the Apr. 17 foal was coming into this debut off a pair of bullet half-mile breezes in which he outworked no fewer...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In about 20 seconds, maybe it was 15, Ryan Kamp traced his journey in racing to the winner's enclosure Saturday after the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course with Papiamento (Medaglia d'Oro). Boiled down to an even more concise version, about 15 years ago, Kamp went to the Kentucky Derby and nailed a $1,000 trifecta with his very first wager. "Right there, it just like latched its hooks in and it had me from that point forward," Kamp said. "I ended up going to the Breeders'...

Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) gave trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. a sweep of Friday's graded events at Charles Town, leading every step of the way to successfully defend his title in the $1-million GII Charles Town Classic. Sent off the 11-10 chalk to become the fourth two-time winner and third back-to-back winner of West Virginia's richest horse race, the likeable bay was kicked straight into the lead by Jose Ortiz and dictated terms in advance of Frosted Departure (Frosted)--who was not ridden forward as is his custom--through fractions of :24.15 and :47.88. Ortiz...

The betting public pounded D J Stable's previously undefeated Bullet (War Front) into 3-5 favoritism for Friday's Catch a Glimpse Stakes at Woodbine, but it was the same outfit's uncoupled SHIFTY (f, 2, Medaglia d'Oro--Elusive Luci, by Elusive Quality) who spoiled the party at odds of 11-1. Given her chance in stakes company off a slow-starting fifth in a six-furlong maiden July 4, the $350,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling emerged from a line of about five or six horses to take up the running down the backstretch and led them along...

Perhaps done in by a two-week turnaround when just beaten in the July 20 Woodbine Oaks, Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach) proved possibly the biggest beneficiary of the six-day postponement of the C$1-million King's Plate, clawing her way past heavily favored My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince) in the final 40 yards. The $375,000 OBS April breezer was off at 9-1 in the King's Plate--a race in which the fillies had more than held their own against their male counterparts--and took up a forward position from between horses...