Horse Racing

Ashford Stud has donated a halter won by its resident Triple Crown winner American Pharoah for an upcoming online auction to benefit Hope After Racing Thoroughbreds (HART), an Iowa-based aftercare organization. The silent-auction fundraiser will be held exclusively online beginning at noon Friday, June 26 and will conclude Friday, July 3, at 8:30 p.m. Central time. The auction features other memorabilia, services, photos, paintings, tack and more. All the proceeds go to HART's care, rehabilitation, retraining and rehoming of retired racehorses from Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino. Those wishing to...

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes 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. Group 1 racing will recess in Japan, but not before this weekend's running of the Takarazuka Kinen, featuring Lucky Lilac (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), a daughter of 2011 GI Ashland S. winner Lilacs and Lace (Flower...

Making his first start since a seventh to Maximum Security (New Year's Day) in the $20-million Saudi Cup Feb. 29, reigning champion Japanese dirt horse Chrysoberyl (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) got the jump on defending race winner and even-money favourite Omega Perfume (Jpn) (Swept Overboard) to take out a Group 1-quality renewal of the Teio Sho (2000m) Wednesday evening at Ohi Racecourse. Tracking the pacesetting Wide Pharaoh (Jpn) (Henny Hughes) from a three-wide perch in third, Chrysoberyl--last year's G1 Champions Cup hero--was asked for a bit of run entering the...

Team Valor International's Oleksandra (Aus) (Animal Kingdom), who came from last to defeat a field of males in Saturday's GI Jaipur S. at Belmont, will not return to trainer Neil Drysdale's Southern California base and will instead remain in New York. The Southern Hemisphere-bred 5-year-old sustained a nick on a lower front limb after eventual runner-up Kanthaka (Jimmy Creed) made contact with her at the break, but is in "good shape" otherwise, according to a release from Team Valor's Barry Irwin. Oleksandra, who became the first Australian-bred Grade I winner...

3rd-Churchill Downs, $77,248, Msw, 6-19, 2yo, 5f, :57.49, ft. JACKIE'S WARRIOR (c, 2, Maclean's Music--Unicorn Girl, by A. P. Five Hundred) topped off a concise worktab with a bullet half-mile from the gate in :47 1/5 (1/35) at Keeneland June 9 and was made the 21-10 second favorite on debut. Hustled along early to contest the pace from the inside, Jackie's Warrior was taken hold of by Ricardo Santana, Jr. at the 3 1/2-furlong pole and switched out into the two path. Despite having lost some momentum in so doing,...

The postponement of the GI Kentucky Derby from May to September forced a reworking of the Road to the Kentucky Derby points races, both at home and abroad. The Japanese component of the series, which offers the highest points-getter an automatic berth in the gate at Churchill Downs, has been extended by two races, and the first of those, the G3 Unicorn S. (1600m), is set for Sunday afternoon at Tokyo Racecourse. A pair of American-bred imports, each undefeated in two career appearances, figure to dominate the market. Cafe Pharoah...

At 46, Luca Panici is far too deep into his career for anyone to talk sensibly of breakthroughs. But if it is unusual to find the second favorite for a Classic ridden by a jockey who has otherwise partnered a single graded stakes winner, then let nobody be deceived. Luca Panici was born and raised for days like Saturday, and his horsemanship and character are absolutely commensurate with the opportunity awaiting him on Sole Volante (Karakontie {Jpn}) in the GI Belmont S. The one pity, of course, is that this...

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 Hanshin Racecourses. The most important race of the weekend takes place Sunday at Toyko, which plays host to the G3 Unicorn S., one of two new races on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Four US-bred and...

Officials at Monmouth Park have announced that the track will reward the connections of any horse to sweep the GI TVG.com Haskell S., GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic a $1-million bonus. The Haskell, the lone seven-figure Thoroughbred race in the state of New Jersey, will be renewed for the 53rd time July 18 as part of a stakes-filled program. For the first time, the race serves as a prep for the Sept. 5 Derby and offers Kentucky Derby points on a 100-40-20-10 scale. The Breeders' Cup Classic...

A Pick 5 wager spanning Friday and Saturday and culminating with the running of the GI Belmont S., will be offered by the New York Racing Association. The sequence will be a $1 base minimum and will feature a low takeout of 15% and a mandatory payout. The Pick 5 will kick off with Friday's seventh race at Belmont, a seven-furlong optional-claiming event on the turf for older fillies and mares, with post time at 4:32 p.m. ET. The race has drawn a field of 11, with one main-track-only entrant....

As Prairie Meadows Racetrack opens its doors for the 2020 season Friday, the Iowa Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association is offering a pair of programs designed to assist its members who might be feeling a financial pinch as a result of the delays caused by the coronavirus. Trainers may apply for $100 in assistance per Thoroughbred racehorse stabled at the Altoona track under the COVID-19 Horsemen's Assistance Program. The deadline to apply for the program is 3 p.m. CT Tuesday, June 30. The Iowa HBPA has also created the COVID-19...

It has been a season of upheaval in Hong Kong, the racing product threatened first by social unrest and then the coronavirus. But for the most part, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has been able to stay the course and Tuesday, it announced across-the-board increases in prize money for the 2020-21 season, including a 20% bump for its domestic centrepiece, the BMW Hong Kong Derby. "At a time when prize money levels are being cut worldwide, the prize money increases announced by the Hong Kong Jockey Club are very welcome...