Horse Racing

With a perfect five-for-five record topped by an impressive score in the GI Kentucky Oaks, 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) was bet like she could not lose a four-horse renewal of Saratoga's GI Coaching Club American Oaks Saturday. However, in the final strides of the nine-furlong event, it was the longest shot on the board, 14-1 shot Maracuja (Honor Code), who dethroned the mighty Malathaat with a narrow upset. All four broke in tandem with Malathaat assuming a narrow lead rounding the clubhouse turn. Maracuja kept the favorite honest through...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 7th-DMR, $70K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, post time: 8:06 p.m. ET DANCE TO THE MUSIC (Maclean's Music) was a work in progress when Walnut Stream Enterprises, a partnership led by 2-year-old consignor Paul Sharp, snapped her up for a mere $40,000 at Keeneland September last fall. Seven months later, the long-striding chestnut was hammered down to Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal for $575,000 at OBS this past April after breezing in a bullet :10 flat. "We were looking for horses with nice physicals...

Saturday's GI Eddie Read S. at Del Mar brings together arguably the Southern California circuit's best middle-distance horse in the form of LNJ Foxwoods' United (Giant's Causeway) and Cannon Thoroughbreds' Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute), clearly best at a mile, but who has run with merit over the nine-furlong trip as well. United, runner-up in the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Turf over a mile and a half, made last year's Eddie Read the third of a three-race winning streak and he added a victory in the 10-furlong GI John Henry...

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 Hakodate and Niigata Racecourses: Saturday, July 24, 2021 1st-HAK, ¥9,680,000 ($88k), Maiden, 2yo, 1800mT FIFTY CHEVY (c, 2, Tapit--Stopchargingmaria, by Tale of the Cat), a debut fourth going this distance at Tokyo June 13 (video, gate 2), attracted a final...

Officials at TVG have announced that members of the Del Mar riding colony will collaborate with the network to enhance its daily coverage of horse racing. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who has appeared in commercial endorsements for TVG in the past, will be joined by his colleagues Umberto Rispoli, Flavien Prat and Jessica Pyfer in contributing to broadcasts, social media content and overall online presence. In addition to periodically wearing cameras on their helmets during races, all the jockeys will make appearances as special guests on the network...

A proposal from the Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development (ITBD) to return the purse levels of all Indiana-bred and -sired stakes races to a minimum of $100,000 was approved by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission (IHRC) at a meeting held July 15 has been approved. The increase applies to 22 stakes event and is being made retroactive to the beginning of the stakes season, which kicked off May 19. Ten stakes have already been contested and the winning connections from those races will receive an additional $25,000 coming directly from the...

It was back in the late seventies and early eighties, well before Steve Asmussen had his trainer's license, that the foundation was being set for what was to become a historic career. He was studying under his parents, Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, the multi-talented Texas-based team that did a little bit of everything, including breaking dozens of babies that would go on to stardom on the racetrack. Their youngest son, just a teenager then, saw what it took to be successful, the can't-miss combination of hard work, skill, devotion to...

In a virtual repeat of last month's GI Just A Game S. going Belmont's one-mile turf configuration, Godolphin's Althiqa (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Summer Romance (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) proved too strong for their American counterparts, this time in the nine-furlong GI Diana S. at Saratoga. As she did downstate, Summer Romance cut out the running Saturday afternoon, tracked closest by GIII Eatontown S. victress Vigilantes Way (Medaglia d'Oro) through a solid opening couple of furlongs in :23.57 as Althiqa raced with just two rivals behind turning up the backstretch....

After a heart-stopping incident in the stretch, and heated battle to the wire between Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) and 'TDN Rising Star' Mandaloun (Into Mischief) in Saturday's whip-free GI Haskell Invitational S. at Monmouth, the former crossed the line a nose to the good, only to be taken all the way down to last and Juddmonte's Mandaloun crowned the official winner. With the win, Mandaloun earned an automatic berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic later this year. Stretching-out 'Rising Star' Following Sea (Runhappy) seized the early lead entering the...

8th-Saratoga, $103,000, Alw, 7-17, (NW1$X), 3yo/up, 7f, 1:22.90, gd, nose. BEAU LIAM (c, 3, Liam's Map--Belle of Perintown {GSW, $265,465}, by Dehere), sent off the even-money selection in a field that would not look out of place for a graded stakes, was made to work for every yard of the seven-furlong distance, but called on his considerable class to just hold off the late lunge of the comebacking Witsel (Nyquist) Saturday at Saratoga. Hustled away from gate one by Ricardo Santana, Jr., the Stonestreet homebred sped through at the fence...

6th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 7-17, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.57, gd, 3/4 length. PORTFOLIO COMPANY (c, 2, Kitten's Joy--Iteration, by Wild Again) snapped a 10-starter, 2 1/2-day 'skid' for the Chad Brown barn to get the job done at first asking. The $125,000 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase graduate jumped alertly and wanted to overrace passing under the line for the first time, but ultimately settled not far from a walking early pace which saw the half go up in :50.86. Always traveling with the front-runner well within his sights, Portfolio Company was...

Champion Essential Quality (Tapit) drilled five furlongs over the Saratoga main track in 1:01.81 (7/13) Saturday morning, two weeks out from his expected start in the GII Jim Dandy S. at the Spa. Last seen outgaming Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) in the GI Belmont S. June 5, the Godolphin-owned 'TDN Rising Star' worked in the company of New York-bred maiden winner Bingo John (Oxbow) and was caught in sectional times of :25 flate and :48.3 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.2 and seven-eighths in 1:28.3. "It was a solid...