Horse Racing

Caramel Swirl got just the better of an enervating final-furlong tussle in Saturday's GII Lexus Raven Run S. at Keeneland, dropping her nose down on the line just ahead of the over-achieving Joy's Rocket to earn her first stakes and graded stakes victory. The 33-10 second betting choice behind her Bill Mott stablemate Obligatory (Curlin), Caramel Swirl settled just behind midfield and raced three off the inside beneath Junior Alvarado before committing to a wide run around the turn. In hand approaching the quarter pole, she was angled six deep...

It had been an almost-unheard-of five years since trainer Chad Brown unsaddled the winner of Belmont's GII Hill Prince S., but Klaravich Stables' Public Sector (GB) (Kingman {GB}) put pay to that 'streak', racing within shouting distance of a surprisingly moderate tempo, then finishing with a telling late turn of speed to run his graded stakes winning skein to three Saturday afternoon on Long Island. A firming 33-10 chance after trading as high as 5-1 early in the wagering, the 170,000gns Tattersalls October yearling acquisition landed in third position and...

Crunched into 2-5 favoritism to build on a debut second at Los Alamitos at the end of June, Messier (Empire Maker) made a bold run to the front fully three furlongs from home and coasted in by 6 1/2 lengths to become a new 'TDN Rising Star' in Friday's fourth race from Santa Anita. Away only fairly beneath Flavien Prat, the $470,000 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase graduate worked his way up into a chasing second as the debuting Godsend (Midshipman) went a strong gallop up ahead of him. Prat allowed...

Following a conversation with owner Robert Lothenbach of Lothenbach Stables, trainer Neil Pessin confirmed that his Grade I-winning mare Bell's The One (Majesticperfection) will not start in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 6 and will instead make her final start of the season in the $300,000 Dream Supreme S. at Churchill Downs one week later. Pessin added that the relatively lightly raced mare would likely remain in training for a 6-year-old campaign in 2022. The $155,000 Fasig-Tipton July gradauate has won three of her six starts...

The Japanese Triple Crown concludes Sunday afternoon with the running of the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) over a metric mile and seven furlongs at Hanshin Racecourse. With G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) hero Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) pointing towards next weekend's G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) and G1 Tokyo Yushun victor Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) also giving the race a miss, the Kikuka Sho is really anybody's horse race. Stella Veloce (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) is liable to jump as the race favourite as he goes second-up since...

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 weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. The 3-year-old fillies' Classics concluded with last weekend's G1 Shuka Sho and 3-year-old males get their final chance at Classics glory in Sunday's G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) at Hanshin. A full field of 17...

Coolmore America's successful first-crop sire Practical Joke (Into Mischief) was represented by his first Japanese winner and 15th overall when Dugat validated even-money favoritism in a 1200-meter turf maiden Saturday afternoon at Hanshin Racecourse. Bred in Kentucky by Erv Woolsey and Ralph Kinder, the son of the mutiple stakes-placed Untraveled (Canadian Frontier) was knocked down to trainer Hideyuki Mori for $190,000 from the McKathan Bros. draft at this year's OBS March Sale after the Mar. 31 foal breezed an eighth of a mile in the bullet time of :9 4/5....

8th-Santa Anita, $63,000, Msw, 10-15, 2yo, 1m, 1:37.55, ft, 1/2 length. BAROSSA (c, 2, Into Mischief--Bouquet Booth {GSW, $527,279}, by Flower Alley) was sent off the lukewarm 14-5 favorite in a strong-looking two-turn maiden Friday at Santa Anita got just the better of a race-long tussle with Durante (Distorted Humor) to graduate at third asking. The latter, drawn the inside for his first try at a distance of ground, was aggressively ridden and led into the first turn, but was joined immediately to his outside by Barossa and the two...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-KEE, $84K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, post time: 3:40 p.m. ET MOMS MOON (Kitten's Joy) is a son of Sweet Assay (Consolidator), acquired as a 5-year-old by Nicoma Bloodstock for $14,000 at the 2014 Keeneland January Sale and covered by Point of Entry in her maiden trip to the breeding shed. The resulting foal became 'TDN Rising Star' Analyze It, a 6 1/4-length debut winner who became a three-time winner at the graded level and was placed in the GI Belmont Derby, GI Secretariat S....

Sunday's final leg of the Japanese Filly Triple Crown, the G1 Shuka Sho, looms a championship event and serves as a rubber match between the winners of the first two races in the series--Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune), the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) victress and Uberleben (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}), who took out the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks)--over a 2000-metre distance that is a quarter-mile longer than the Guineas and two furlongs shorter than the Oaks. Sodashi, a white filly just like her extremely popular dam Buchiko (Jpn) (King...

3.15 Redcar, Novice, £10,000, 2yo, f, 7f 219y (AWT) WORLD WITHOUT LOVE (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) makes her debut on the card at the Northern seaside venue for her owner-breeder Mascalls Stud and trainer Mark Johnston, who has achieved so much with her half-brothers Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Sir Ron Priestley (GB) (Australia {GB}) and half-sister Alba Rose (GB) (Muhaarar (GB}). The dam Reckoning (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) already looked a top producer before the G1 Gold Cup victory of Subjectivist and G2 Jockey Club S. and G2 Princess of...

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 weekend running at Niigata, Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. The last mentioned is the site of Sunday's G1 Shuka Sho, featuring G1 Oka Sho (1600mT) heroine Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune) against Uberleben (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}), the G1 Yushun Himba (2400mT) winner, squaring off over...