Horse Racing

A new $10-million turf course that will widen the running surface and increase durability to allow for an increased number of races will be installed at Churchill Downs following the Spring 2021 meet at the historic Louisville oval. Officials expect that the new course will be ready for use in the Spring of 2022, but did not rule out the possibility that turf racing could resume in November 2021. The current Matt Winn Turf Course is a seven-eighths mile oval situated inside the dirt track and has been in use...

Prepping for his Group 1 debut in the Longines Hong Kong Mile in three weeks' time, Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) confirmed his status as the top horse in Hong Kong with yet another breathtaking victory--his 13th from 14 career runs--in Sunday's G2 Jockey Club Mile at Sha Tin Racecourse. Last year's Classic Series sweeper was simultaneously winning his 10th race on the hop, joining the likes of his contemporary Beauty Generation (NZ), Co-Tack (Aus) and Silent Witness (Aus) to take as many consecutive races. In the day's other main...

While the U.S. Horse of the Year race was all but decided when Authentic (Into Mischief) won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 7, the race for the Canadian title remains wide open entering a Saturday card at Woodbine that will feature the four top contenders for the year-end honor. The sentimental favorite is the 8-year-old Pink Lloyd (Old Forester), but he will face one of the toughest tests in his career when he goes in the GII Kennedy Road S. A loss could open the door for 3-year-olds Belichick...

By My Standards (Goldencents) worked a half-mile in :49.40 (42/67) at Churchill Downs Friday morning and is a probable starter for next Friday's GI Clark H., trainer Bret Calhoun told the Churchill press office via text. Owned by Chester Thomas's Allied Racing Stable, the 4-year-old was a non-factor eighth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 7, but prior to that posted a facile 1 3/4-length victory in the GII Alysheba S. beneath the Twin Spires Sept. 4. He defeated Owendale (Into Mischief) on that occasion and that...

With a few notable exceptions, Sunday's Jockey Club programme at Sha Tin Racecourse has attracted more than two dozen of Hong Kong's top gallopers, each of whom have an eye on the Longines Hong Kong International Races, now just over three weeks away. Reigning Horse of the Year Exultant (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) is set to face eight other rivals as he preps for the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase (2400m) in defence of his title in the G2 Jockey Club Cup (2000m). Winner of 11 of his 26 local appearances,...

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 holiday weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. Sunday's action at the latter venue features the G1 Mile Championship, which has drawn this year's G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600mT) and G1 Sprinters' S. (1200mT) heroine Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), a daughter of...

Six European-based jockeys will square off against a half-dozen Hong Kong-based riders in the Longines International Jockeys' Championship at Hong Kong's Happy Valley Racecourse Wednesday, Dec. 9. Carrying prizemoney of HK$800,000 (£77,666/€86,943)--with a first prize of HK$500,000--the IJC is the most lucrative jockey competition in the world. The foreign contingent is led by the duo of Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle, aged 22 and 24, respectively, and each of whom has celebrated a breakout season in 2020. Among Marquand's successes this season include the G1 QIPCO British Champion S. aboard...

The tide is turning on clenbuterol. Within the past month, regulators and racetracks nationwide have announced new initiatives to quell its abuse. New prohibitions are in the pipeline for the New York State Gaming Commission, the Maryland Racing Commission, Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park and an alliance of Mid-Atlantic racetracks. On May 1, the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency started banning clenbuterol 28 days out from race day at tracks country-wide. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) took action four months before that, enacting a years-in-the making, zero-tolerance clenbuterol clampdown that began New...

Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation will partner with Little Red Feather Racing and Equibase to sponsor the 'Gamble For Grayson Handicapping Challenge.' The contest will take place Nov. 28 and 29 and will span five graded stakes races to be held that weekend at Del Mar. Representatives of Little Red Feather and Equibase will begin with $500 bankrolls, $100 must be wagered on each race on straight win-place-show bets, exactas, trifectas or superfectas. At the end of the contest, all remaining bankroll and winnings will be donated to Grayson. The team representing...

With the ongoing Del Mar meet renamed a few years ago to honor Hollywood icon Bing Crosby, it seems only fitting that a colt named Spielberg (Union Rags) would take his shot in the GIII Bob Hope S., the race formerly known as the Hollywood Prevue S. The $1-millon Keeneland September graduate should jump a warm favorite for the seven-furlong affair, a race won by his trainer Bob Baffert no fewer than six times in its last nine runnings and 10 times dating back to 1996. Runner-up on debut and...

Sunday Racing's Lucky Lilac (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) looks to become the first horse since the talented Snow Fairy (GB) (Intikhab) in 2010-2011 to register back-to-back victories in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2200m), to be staged this year and next at Hanshin Racecourse while Kyoto Racecourse undergoes major renovations. The daughter of American Grade I winner Lilacs and Lace (Flower Alley) led home a female one-two in the G1 Osaka Hai (2000m) at this track in early April, besting the talented Chrono Genesis (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}), before finishing sixth...

Stunning Sky (Declaration of War) managed to snap a seven-length losing streak with a tough-as-nails victory in Keeneland's GIII Pin Oak Valley View S. when last seen Oct. 16 and figures a strong chance to take her current winning skein to two in Saturday's GII Mrs. Revere S. at Churchill. Haltered for $50,000 by this outstanding claiming outfit out of a second-out victory in the Gulfstream slop last December, Stunning Sky added a first-level allowance over the turf before her dry spell. The bay turned in some strong efforts in...