Horse Racing

Woodbine is implementing a COVID-19 Vaccination Policy for its staff, horse racing participants and contractors starting Sept. 15. The track is fully supportive of the Government of Ontario's requirement for guests to provide proof of vaccination in select settings which includes horse racing venues and casinos. As per the Government of Ontario's new policy, guests entering Woodbine Racetrack or Casino Woodbine, Woodbine Mohawk Park Racetrack or Elements Casino Mohawk, Greenwood Teletheatre and WEGZ Stadium Bar will be required to provide proof of full vaccination as of Sept. 22. Employees will...

There's no doubt that Gunite (Gun Runner) is a quality horse and he secured an important win Monday at Saratoga in the GI Hopeful S when upsetting the highly regarded colts Wit (Practical Joke) and High Oak (Gormley). But is he a GI Kentucky Derby winner? If the last 43 runnings of the Hopeful mean anything, the answer is no. The Hopeful is the first Grade I race for 2-year-old males run each year on the NYRA calendar and always brings together groups of horses who were impressive winners in...

Bob Baffert's odds-on favorite in Monday's GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity did little running, but it was no matter, as Baffert's 'other' colt, Pinehurst (Twirling Candy), picked up the slack and ran away from his foes to give Baffert an incredible 15th victory in the seaside oval's annual closing day feature. Gutting out a hard-fought debut victory as a 17-10 chalk going five furlongs on this track Aug. 1, the $385,000 Keeneland September buy was made a distant second choice despite owning the best Beyer figure in the field as...

DEL MAR JUVENILE TURF S., $102,000, Del Mar, 9-6, 2yo, 1mT, 1:36.24, fm. 1--MACKINNON, 120, c, 2, by American Pharoah            1st Dam: Scat Means Go (GSP, $142,054), by Scat Daddy            2nd Dam: Shenandoah Valley, by Proud Citizen            3rd Dam: Ashley Anne's Wish, by You and I ($200,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; $285,000 2yo '21 FTFMAR). 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O-ERJ Racing, LLC & Dave Kenney; B-International Equities Holding, Inc. (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill; J-Juan J. Hernandez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-0, $117,860. 2--Thirty Four Coupe, 119, c, 2, Run Away...

KENTUCKY DOWNS JUVENILE MILE S., $497,500, Kentucky Downs, 9-6, 2yo, 1mT, 1:35.83, fm. 1--TIZ THE BOMB, 120, c, 2, by Hit It a Bomb                 1st Dam: Tiz the Key, by Tiznow                 2nd Dam: Cabbage Key, by A.P. Indy                 3rd Dam: Mayville's Magic, by Gone West ($330,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O-Phoenix Thoroughbred, LTD; B-Spendthrift Farm, LLC (KY); T-Kenneth McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $294,500. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $326,291. *Third stakes winner for second- crop sire (by War Front). 2--Kiss the Sky, 120, c, 2, Twirling...

Gunite (Gun Runner) capped off a remarkable summer for both his freshman sire and his trainer on closing day Monday at Saratoga, shaking off pace pressure and kicking away in the stretch to an 11-1 upset of the GI Hopeful S. His well-earned victory made it a clean sweep of the Spa's annual marquee 2-year-old races for Three Chimneys Farm's freshman sensation Gun Runner after Echo Zulu dominated the GI Spinaway S. Sunday, and was the icing on the cake for Steve Asmussen, who had his most successful Saratoga season...

7th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 9-6, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.53, my, 2 lengths. DON'T WAIT UP (c, 2, Upstart--Lovely Marissa, by Proud Citizen) was sent off the even-money choice to build on a nose second to GI Hopeful S. starter Power Agenda (Nyquist) on debut Aug. 14. Scratched down into gate three, the bay colt, the subject of Steve Sherack's Second Chances column Sept. 3, veered sharply inward when the gates flew, causing Matt Doyle (Violence) and the well-backed Commandperformance (Union Rags) to take evasive action. From there Don't Wait Up was ridden...

4th-Monmouth, $56,125, Msw, 9-6, 2yo, 6f, 1:11.20, ft, 6 1/2 lengths. AFFABLE MONARCH (c, 2, Arrogate--Social Queen {MGSW, $344,164}, by Dynaformer) gave his late sire (by Unbridled's Song) a second first-crop winner at Monmouth Park about 30 minutes after Adversity broke the mold up at Saratoga. The Colts Neck homebred, off at 13-5, was beaten for speed and trailed behind a quick pace through the opening exchanges. Equipped with a shadow roll for this first go, the gray colt made stealthy inside progress leaving the three-eighths pole, got through an...

Sent off as part of an entry at just over 3-1, DJ Stable's Adversity (Arrogate--Artemis Agrotera, by Roman Ruler) became the first winner for her late freshman sire (by Unbridled's Song) with a second-out success Monday at Saratoga. Run over a main track that was downgraded from good to sloppy and sealed by a quick-passing storm, the grey filly--a debut seventh sprinting over the turf course Aug. 12--stepped well from an outside gate and pressed the pace from the outside beneath the hot-riding Ricardo Santana, Jr. Asked to win her...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:29 p.m. ET It's been a successful handful of weeks at Saratoga for celebrity chef Bobby Flay, at the racetrack with the likes of GIII Caress S. winner Caravel (Mizzen Mast) and across the street at Fasig-Tipton, where he sold an Uncle Mo colt from his Grade I winner Dame Dorothy (Bernardini) for $1.6 million. He'll try to end the meet on another high note when he sends out OLD SCHOOL (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Through bloodstock agent James...

Dobune (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who cost new owner Susumu Fujita a whopping ¥517.1 million (about US$4.7 million) at the Chiba 2-Year-Old Sale this past May, overcame a wide gate and belied his inexperience with a two-length debut victory in a newcomers' event going 1500 meters (about 7 1/2 furlongs) on turf at Sapporo Racecourse Saturday afternoon. Off as the 17-10 favorite after trading at odds-on for the majority of the wagering, Dobune more or less walked out of ate 11 and was allowed to find his footing by Yutaka...

A troubled fifth in the GIII Troy S. over this course and distance last August, Pulsate (Speightstown) settled for second in this event just shy of 12 months ago before hitting the shelf. The chestnut resumed following a 10-month absence to just miss to the ill-fated Fiya (Friesan Fire) in a hand-timed Belmont turf sprint on Independence Day and was a latest fourth in a rare appearance over the local main track Aug. 6. Away without incident, Pulsate landed in third position early on as Noble Emotion (Noble Mission {GB})...