Horse Racing
The finalists and runners-up for the 2024 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards have been chosen in the seven categories for this year's renewal of the annual awards now in their ninth year in the U.S., said Godolphin in a press release on Thursday afternoon. The 2024 awards ceremony will once again be hosted by Keeneland and will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Finalists and their guest will be provided with travel and accommodations for out-of-town finalists, a tour of a local horse farm, and the ceremony dinner with an afternoon...
As it has in virtually every conversation that involves horse racing over the past year, safety played a central role at the 72nd annual Jockey Club Round Table Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York Thursday. California: Safety and Collaboration In two presentations focusing on California, Gary Fenton, Chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California and a managing partner of Little Red Feather Racing, spoke from a TVG set in the Del Mar paddock about the importance of California racing to the overall racing ecosystem, while Dionne Benson, the Chief...
1st-SAR, $100k, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:10 p.m. ET LADY PINK (Into Mischief), a $720,000 acquisition by Peter Brant at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, is out of the unplaced Astray (Bernardini), whose SW & MGSP dam Away (Belong to Me) was responsible for MGSW and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles (Unbridled's Song) and an additional pair of stakes horses. The bay is a half-sister to Bob Marco (Arrogate), stakes-placed on the grass as a 3-year-old. Rigney Racing's Two Sharp (Twirling Candy), a $925,000 KEESEP yearling, blew the break...
A federal judge cancelled a July 31 hearing in a lawsuit filed last week by eight Oklahoma horsemen who are trying to get the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) declared unconstitutional after learning that seven of the same plaintiffs last year filed a substantially similar complaint but voluntarily withdrew it three months later. The judge in the newer case, Charles Goodwin of United States District Court of Oklahoma (Western District), also signed a July 30 court order reassigning the lawsuit to Chief Judge Timothy DeGiusti, the same federal judge...
The once-beaten Cinderella's Dream (GB) (Shamardal) will look to give Godolphin a third winner in the five-year history of the GII Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes as she bids to add to her latest success in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational over the same mile-and-three-sixteenths journey July 6. The homebred ran the table in the first four starts of her career, a pair of victories at two followed by two more this season at Meydan, including a jaw-dropping score in the Listed Jumeirah 1000 Guineas Mar. 2 that defies any...
Tickets for Keeneland's 2024 Fall Meet, slated for Oct. 4-26, will go on sale to the public on Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 9 a.m. ET., the track said in a press release on Thursday. A variety of ticket options are available, and all tickets must be pre-purchased via Keeneland's Official Online Ticket Office. Keeneland has increased the purses for five stakes races during the 2024 Fall Meet by a combined total of $800,000, which brings the total purse for all 22 stakes races held over the 17-day meet to a...
The Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) is rolling out the Makeover Champions program by inviting members of the Thoroughbred industry to demonstrate public support for former connected horses who are headed to the 2024 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, the RRP said in a press release on Thursday. Former connections, including breeders, owners, trainers, and stallion farms are eligible to participate in the program. Makeover Champions will share updates about their former connected horses throughout the event. Additional participation options include volunteering at the Thoroughbred Makeover, attending to cheer on their...
The National Thoroughbred League (NTL) will begin its second season with a stop at Kentucky Downs on Sunday, Sept. 1, the track said in a Thursday release. Launched last year, the NTL tour adds a competitive component for its teams based on the outcome of races. At Kentucky Downs, that will involve a five-race sequence culminating in the $500,000 National Thoroughbred League Handicap. There are no nomination, entry or starter fees for the scheduled handicap, though horses must be nominated by Aug. 19, with declarations to be made by Aug....
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the GI Travers Stakes three times, could be going for No. 4 in this year's Midsummer Derby Baffert, speaking from his summer base at Del Mar in California, said that one of his 3-year-olds--Parenting (Justify) or Muth (Good Magic) who were both tabbed as 'TDN Rising Stars'--could represent him in the $1.25 million race at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 24. "Potentially," he said. Parenting, owned by Wathnan Racing, was a $750,000 purchase at the 2023 Ocala 2-year-olds in training...
The Jockey Club will rebrand its wholly-owned commercial subsidiaries--The Jockey Club Information Systems, The Jockey Club Technology Services, and InCompass Solutions Inc.--under a single commercial brand called TJC Innovations, according to a late afternoon Wednesday press release from the organization. "To more efficiently meet the evolving demands of customers looking for comprehensive datasets and solutions that span the entire breadth of our businesses from breeding to racing to sales to retirement, TJC Innovations can service the customer with one call," said James L. Gagliano, president and COO of The Jockey...
"My friends thought I was nuts when I got back into the horse business," says Maynard Thompson. "But when those babies are about three to five days old, and you take them outside and turn them loose for the first time, every one of them thinks he's the toughest thing out there. And if that doesn't put a smile on your face, you're not breathing." Which is why Thompson perseveres on 15 acres of gently undulating terrain, a few miles south of Tama on the Iowa River. "I'm 71 years...
The Virginia Racing Commission has appointed Waqas Ahmed to serve as its executive secretary, effective Aug. 10, the commission said in a Wednesday press release. Most recently, Ahmed served as the deputy executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC). In that role, he carried out several strategic initiatives, including the launch and implementation of sports wagering. Prior to that, Ahmed served as the KHRC's director of pari-mutuel wagering and compliance, and oversaw the launch of several tracks, historical horse racing facilities as well as advance deposit account wagering...