Horse Racing

The Maryland Jockey Club (TMJC) kicks off its 2026 season with the opening of the Laurel Park Winter Meet on Friday following a successful 2025 ledger. Between Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, the TMJC staged 119 days of live racing comprising 1,109 races. Average per-race handle was $365,637, an increase of 14.29% over 2024. Average daily handle at Laurel and Pimlico was $3,407,493, representing a 13.49% gain over the previous 12 months. Field size was ahead marginally from 7.48 in 2024 to 7.65 last year. The handle for 'Preakness Preview...

FOX Sports led all entrants with two Media Eclipse wins--their first live television programming win ever--when the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form (DRF), and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) announced the winners of the 2025 Media Eclipse Awards in six categories on Jan. 8. Every entry must have been primarily published or aired for the first time between Nov. 16, 2024, and Nov. 14, 2025. Honorable mention in the multimedia category went to TDN's Katie Petrunyak for 'Breeders' Cup Breakthrough: For Kevin Attard, Moira's Win...

Morplay Racing LLC's 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Shisospicy (Mitole), who beat the boys in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and is a finalist in no fewer than three Eclipse Award categories, will begin her 4-year-old campaign in the Middle East before following a similar course to the Breeders' Cup as in 2025. The news was revealed by Morplay's Rich Mendez and trainer Jose D'Angelo on FanDuel TV midday Thursday. D'Angelo is set to be represented for the second straight season in the G2 1351 Turf Sprint on...

The already struggling racing and breeding industries in New Jersey were hit by potentially devastating news on Wednesday when it was reported that there are bills afloat in the state capital in Trenton that could eventually allow Monmouth Park to reduce its meet to 25 days a year. Is this the beginning of the end for one of the sport's most iconic and picturesque tracks? Not necessarily. (I'll get to that later). But it's hard not to be pessimistic about Monmouth's future. As with so many things that have become...

In this continuing series, we take 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 Saturday and Sunday running at Kyoto Racecourse: Saturday, January 10, 2026 4th-KYO, ¥15,620,000 ($100k), Allowance, 3yo, 1800m JUSTIN DALLAS (JPN) (c, 3, Gun Runner--Pink Sands, by Tapit) shaped with much promise on debut over this course and distance Oct. 5, finishing second to...

On the heels of winning a preliminary injunction last month in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the advance-deposit wagering (ADW) platform TwinSpires on Tuesday scored a victory in its overall federal lawsuit against the state of Michigan. On Jan. 6, the lower-court judge in charge of the case issued a summary judgment in favor of TwinSpires, meaning Michigan can't make that ADW partner with a brick-and-mortar racetrack in order to do business in that state. The operator of TwinSpires, Churchill Downs Technology Initiatives Company (CDT),...

In this series, we will have a look predominantly at American-bred first-time starters in maiden races at Meydan Racecourse, with a specific focus on pedigree and/or performance in a sales ring. The flagship venue for racing in the United Arab Emirates is Meydan, which hosts racing on Fridays through the end of March, with the exception of Super Saturday on Feb. 28 and Dubai World Cup night Mar. 28, 2026. Here are the horses of note for this Friday's program at Meydan: Friday, January 9, 2026 2nd-MEY, AED165,000 ($45k), Maiden,...

The online portion of Thoroughbred Charities of America's (TCA) annual Stallion Season Auction presented by the Goodman Family is underway and runs through Friday, Jan. 9, with staggered closing times starting at 4 p.m. ET., the non-profit said via a release on Wednesday. The TCA's largest fundraiser during the year includes 175 seasons with sires such as Army Mule (by Friesian Fire), Life is Good (by Into Mischief), Flightline (Tapit), and McKinzie (Street Sense) all available for online bidding on Salering.net. The majority of seasons will sell 'no guarantee' however...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Among this week's rulings, trainer Jose R. Gonzalez, Sr. has been suspended 18 months and fined $12,500 as a result of his trainee Discovery N Sight testing positive for the banned bronchodilator Albuterol from an out-of-competition hair sample collected on July 23. His suspension began...

Global Tote, in partnership with the Monmouth Park racetrack, has launched of a new multi-state--and soon-to-be national--Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) platform called MonmouthBets, according to a press release from BetMakers Technology on Wednesday. Live and available in 12 states, the new ADW was designed with both casual fans and experienced bettors in mind, and is a site that delivers a modern, intuitive wagering experience supported by industry-leading technology. Packed with high-quality professional data, including ratings, race comments, individual runner insights, speed maps and free past performances, these tools--previously accessible mainly...

The first two reported foals for Gainesway Farm's MGSW Charge It (by Tapit) were born Jan. 5, with one arriving at the Brogden family's Machmer Hall in Paris, Kentucky, and the other being delivered at Darby Dan Farm outside of Lexington, Kentucky, the stallion outfit said via a Tuesday release. Machmer Hall oversaw the arrival of a bay colt, the first foal out of SP Six Sense (Violence). A half-sister to SW Xanthique (Into Mischief), out of the GSP mare Qualia (Saarland), Six Sense was a $105,000 purchase at the...

An open house starting at 1 p.m. CT will be held at the LACER stallion complex on Friday, Jan. 9 at Aztec Equine in Sunset, Louisiana, and feature a talk by Lane's End Farm's Bernie Sams, according to a release from the Louisiana breeder on Tuesday. Stallions who will be shown include Carpe Diem (by Giant's Causeway), Unified (by Candy Ride (Arg) and Bobby's Wicked One (by Speightstown). Light refreshments and stallion season drawings will be held. The address is: 545 Muscadine Road, Sunset, LA 70584. Inquires can be directed...