Horse Racing

A total of 127 foreign-based gallopers--of which fully one-third have already succeeded at the highest level--from eight jurisdictions across the globe have been entered for the HK$110-million Longines Hong Kong International Races to be staged at Sha Tin Racecourse Sunday, Dec. 11. With strict COVID protocols in place over the past two years and with a closed-loop system which allowed overseas entrants to train and compete, the Longines Hong Kong International Races still proved to be a target coveted by overseas connections, and saw victorious performances from the likes of...

Through the conclusion of racing at Keeneland Sunday Oct. 15, more than $1.1 million has been returned to bettors since the introduction of penny breakage--rounding pari-mutuel winnings to the penny and not the dime--less than two months ago, according to a blog post from the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF). TIF was a vocal supporter and champion of the penny breakage provision, the first of its kind in North America as part of broader legislation designed to standardize pari-mutuel taxation. "The total is even higher than $1.1 million, that is just...

2.05 Leopardstown, Mdn, €16,000, 2yo, c/g, 8fT BERTINELLI (Justify) is one of two from Ballydoyle in a race the stable won two years ago with Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and which has served as a stepping stone to the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. A son of the G1 Fillies' Mile heroine Together Forever (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who is a full-sister to the Oaks heroine Forever Together (Ire), the half-brother to the G3 Tyros S. winner Military Style (War Front) joins the yard's Naas runner-up Peking Opera (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})...

Already the winner of the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) going the metric mile and the G1 Yushun Himba over 2400 metres, Shadai Race Horse Co.'s Stars on Earth (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) faces a date with destiny over the Hanshin turf course Sunday as she looks to become the seventh horse to complete the Filly Triple Crown in the G1 Shuka Sho (2000m) at Hanshin Racecourse. Produced by a daughter of the very classy American champion and six-times Group 1/Grade I winner Stacelita (Fr) (Monsun {Ger})--the dam of 2017...

Just 11 years old in its reconstructed state, Ascot's QIPCO British Champions Day is not yet the supermassive black hole it longs to be, but its gravitational waves are enough to draw in a sufficient quantity of racing's brightest year upon year to justify its title. Saturday's binary stars are the turf overlord Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and the miling dame Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), whose orbits have been steadily coming closer into view over the past weeks. In the case of the former, this final act of...

Shadwell's Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will conclude his racing career against eight rivals in Saturday's £1.3-million QIPCO Champion S. at Ascot, with the unbeaten luminary drawn in stall one as the final fields were confirmed on Thursday morning. Like the 2016 hero Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the William Haggas flagbearer is on the inside in a contest that should be staged on ground no worse than soft and very likely good-to-soft. Last year's Derby and King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S. hero Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB})...

The latest edition of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings (WBRR) were released Thursday, with winners from Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe weekend climbing into prominent positions on the list. Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) ran his seasonal record to six wins from as many appearances with a spectacular performance in the G1 Qatar Prix du Cadran over 4000 metres, where he had some 20 lengths between him and the next-nearest competitor. Also victorious this term in the G1 Gold Cup, G1 Goodwood Cup and G1 Irish St Leger, the 4-year-old...

Todd Pletcher, this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland, has 12 Breeders' Cup wins, a total that figures to be on the rise next month. Pletcher said he will have at least eight horses running in the Breeders' Cup, a group headed by his dynamic duo of Nest (Curlin) and Malathaat (Curlin) in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Forte (Violence) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Annapolis (War Front) in...

Andrew Gaughan has been appointed the next Independent Chair of the Ontario Racing Board of Directors. Jamie Martin will be an Executive Consultant to the board. Gaughan became a manager with Woodbine Entertainment Group (then the Ontario Jockey Club) in 1994, and over the next three decades served in senior leadership positions with WEG, Magna Entertainment Corporation, Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ listed), and Sportech PLC a UK based publicly traded (LSE) gaming technology business. "Andrew is the ideal candidate to step into the role," said outgoing Independent Chair John Hayes....

Andrew Offerman, who has served Canterbury Park in Minnesota as its senior vice president of racing operations for the last five years, has been appointed to the newly created role of vice president and general manager of operations for the New York Racing Association (NYRA). Offerman, who will assume his new responsibilities beginning Nov. 11, will oversee front-side operations at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga. "Andrew is a seasoned executive and proven leader who will bring considerable skills to the talented team we have assembled at NYRA," said Dave O'Rourke, NYRA...

A representative of the Horse Racing Integrity Act's (HISA) Racetrack Safety Team has been on the grounds at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia this past week--at a time when the track is experiencing an ongoing chronic shortage of attending, association and regulatory veterinarians, according to observers. According to Jami Poole, president of the Mountaineer Horseman's Benevolent and Protective Association (MHBPA), there is often no veterinarian on the facility's grounds during training hours. "I'm not pleased about the vet situation here in the morning time," said Poole, who estimated that training...

Bass Racing LLC's 'TDN Rising Star' Annapolis (War Front) would have been one of the chief protagonists in the 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar, but was forced to miss the race after the injury bug bit. Twelve months on, connections have their collective minds set on making up for that missed opportunity, as the colt secured the gun run beneath an in-form Irad Ortiz, Jr. and outsprinted arguably the deepest turf Grade I field of 2022 to become the first 3-year-old since Aussie Rules (Danehill) in...