Horse Racing
4th-CD, $120k, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 2:15 p.m. ET LE LEVRE (Le Havre {Ire}) makes her first trip to the races for the sneaky debut barn of Al Stall, Jr. and is a half-sister to four winners from as many to race out of Sunny Again (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}), whose notable produce include Italian highweight and Group 3 winner Elisa Again (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}); Berkshire Rocco (Fr) (Sir Percy {GB}), a winner at listed level in England and narrowly beaten in the 2020 G1 Pertemps St Leger; and...
Coming into Sunday's FWD Champions Day meeting--the spring Hong Kong International Races, if you will--two-time Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro), reigning champion middle-distance horse Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) and emerging sprinter Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse {Aus}) had absorbed a gut punch or two over the course of the season. But each put pay to any lingering disappointment from those efforts with eye-catching, skinny-odds victories at before a crowd of nearly 50,000 at Sha Tin Racecourse. If you had a punt, one of two things happened--you...
Havre de Grace (Saint Liam--Easter Bunnette, by Carson City), the 2011 Horse of the Year and Eclipse Award-winning older mare who sold to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $10 million at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, passed away in the early morning hours of Apr. 30. Wayne Sweezey, who boarded Havre de Grace at his Timber Town Farm, confirmed that the 16-year-old mare hemorrhaged multiple times and died after producing a colt by Into Mischief the afternoon of Apr. 28. "She was just so smart, she fought all the...
With a horse population that numbers around 1200, Hong Kong proudly boasts four of the top six horses in the latest Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings (WBRR), each of which will be warm items Sunday when Sha Tin Racecourse plays host to its second-biggest day of international racing annually, the FWD Champions Day program. Of the quartet, Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) sits just behind Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) at the top of the heap and looks to make history when he goes in search of a third straight...
by Richard Resnik I am writing in response to one of the comments on Dan Liebman's Letter to the Editor on computer assisted wagering. I am certain the CAW issue is drowning you and there are more important voices than mine to be heard. I will take this opportunity to share a few pieces of relevant information that form the basis for my ire on this issue. First, I am 77, a retired litigator and at a point in my life where betting is part of horse racing as a...
I grew up in the 'Golden Age' of Canadian racing and breeding. Windfields, Sam Son and Stafford Farms are a few great breeders that come to mind. Thriving yearling sales and horses like Deputy Minister, Kennedy Road and Kamar also come to mind. Founded by the great E.P. Taylor, the consistent goal was a thriving industry with stewards of the turf to elevate Woodbine to the highest standards of thoroughbred racing. Secretariat made his final start at Woodbine and the most influential sire of my lifetime, Northern Dancer, was born...
The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) and the management team at 1/ST Racing announced an agreement Tuesday morning that will allow for the MTHA's preferred track maintenance consultant, John Passero, to be retained to perform testing that will hopefully lead to the latest round of fixes in a years-long series of safety woes that have plagued Laurel Park's main dirt track. The agreement, which was announced at an emergency meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) Apr. 25, put off for the time being any action by the commission that...
The names of some of this country's most accomplished Thoroughbred owners grace the honor roll as winners of the GII Oaklawn H., including Loblolly Stable, Greentree Stable, Allen Paulson, Golden Eagle, John Franks, Ogden Phipps, Jerry Moss, Pin Oak Stable and the late Oaklawn president Charles Cella. Following the conclusion of nine sometimes rough-and-tumble furlongs Saturday in Hot Springs, you can now add the name of Godolphin to the list, as the operation's immaculately bred 5-year-old Proxy (Tapit) stormed down the center of the track and managed to outfinish defending...
Mage (Good Magic), runner-up to champion and likely GI Kentucky Derby favorite Forte (Violence) in the GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park Apr. 1, breezed six furlongs in an easy 1:14.78 in what is likely to be his final serious piece of work ahead of the Run for the Roses May 6. "He worked good. We liked what we say. Everything is going to plan, thank God," said Gustavo Delgado, Jr., assistant to his father Gustavo who trains the son of former 'TDN Rising Star' Puca (Big Brown) for...
Princess Grace (Karakontie {Jpn}), a five-time graded winner and placed three times in Grade I company for John and Susan Moore and trainer Michael Stidham in this country, overcame some traffic at a critical stage and quickened home impressively to win Saturday's G3 Hawkesbury Crown S. (1300m) by about 1 3/4 lengths. Drawn the fence and sent off the lukewarm $4.40 (17-5) favorite on the back of an outstanding third in the G2 Sapphire S. on her Australian debut at The Championships at Randwick two weeks back, the dark bay...
2nd-Aqueduct, $84,000, Alw (NW2$X), Opt. Clm ($62,500), 4-21, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.02, fm, 1 length. YUKATA (IRE) (f, 4, Galileo {Ire}--Blue Kimono {Ire}, by Invincible Spirit {Ire}), victorious in a Deauville all-weather maiden at first asking for Jean-Claude Rouget in November 2021, took a conditions race on the turf at ParisLongchamp last April before finishing third as the favorite in the Listed Prix Finlande at the same venue May 19. Well-beaten when last seen in the G1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) last June, she was part of a...
He is the most talented horse--pound for pound--in a field of seven that was drawn earlier this week, but Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit) nevertheless has a fair bit to prove as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday's $1-million GII Oaklawn H. in Hot Springs. The 23-length winner of last year's GIII Dwyer S., the homebred returned with a stylish Gulfstream allowance victory first off a seven-month absence Feb. 5, but exits a disappointing runner-up effort in the GII Gulfstream Park Mile Mar. 4. The blinkers...