Horse Racing

Like many issues in racing, the inaccuracy of published workout times is something we who are firmly planted in the industry have all just accepted as the way it is. Quote a breeze time to any trainer, owner or serious horseplayer and they'll tell you why it's pointless. "Official" times of works, and rankings, bullets, etc. are almost never correct, and somehow we've all just gone along with it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has analyzed workout video of a horse like it was the Zapruder film...

Officials at Tampa Bay Downs are seeking approval from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation to continue hold live racing into the month of June, a total of eight dates on Mondays and Wednesdays, in an effort to "bolster horsemen uncertain of their next step," according to a release from the track. Tampa Bay Downs is currently racing each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday through May 30. The meeting ends June 30, which is also the first day of the track's 'Summer Festival of Racing.' The program on July...

For better or worse, we're all products of our environment. Better, plainly, in the case of Jimmy Jerkens and Wesley Ward--both raised by exemplary practitioners in a trade that this weekend sees each send a gifted sophomore dashing round a single turn. Each of these trainers, of course, has long stood on his own two feet. So we'll wait and see how much flexibility Jerkens may consider latent in Green Light Go (Hard Spun) after he returns in the Roar S. at Gulfstream Saturday. Sprinting, after all, could yet turn...

Live racing from Churchill Downs will be broadcast throughout the 2020 Spring Meet on FOX Sports' 'America's Day at the Races' on FS1 and FS2. The program, produced by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in conjunction with FOX, will present a total of 11 hours of live coverage on opening weekend. Racing can be found on FS2 Saturday, May 16 from 1-2:30 p.m. and again from 6-6:30 p.m. and on FS1 from 2:30-6 p.m. Sunday's programming on FS2 will take place between 1 and 2 p.m. and from 6-6:30...

Adam Smith, the so-called father of economics, once said this about the slickly oiled business machine: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." In other words, the more vested the butcher, the brewer or the baker is in the overall fiscal health of his or her own enterprise, the better the overall product for the rest of us. Smith died in 1790, and so, quite what he would have said...

UNDERSTANDING TAKEOUT Ogden Mills Phipps, former chairman of both The Jockey Club and New York Racing Association and a legendary owner and breeder, heartily advocated for lower takeout nearly five decades ago. In December 1976, Blood-Horse outlined the Phipps plea, a source of great concern given the rising competition in the New York market. "With continuing declines in track attendance and mutuel handle, Thoroughbred racing is faced principally with twin threats, witnesses at an Aqueduct hearing stressed. There are the existing off-track betting structure, which has hurt track management and...

Churchill Downs will honor the high school class of 2020 from schools all across the city by lighting up the track's iconic Twin Spires. A schedule of colors has been established from Saturday, May 16 (opening day) through Friday, May 22, to honor the area's graduating seniors. "Through the years, lighting the Twin Spires has been our unique way of celebrating a special achievement or showing that we care," said Kevin Flanery, President of Churchill Downs Racetrack. "Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we've been able to join our fellow Kentuckians in...

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 and Tokyo Racecourses: Saturday, May 16, 2020 5th-NII, ¥9,680,000 ($90k), Maiden, 3yo, 2400mT PYRAMID MOON (c, 3, Cairo Prince--She Hung the Moon, by Malibu Moon) failed to handle a sloppy Kyoto main track on October debut, but improved to...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-GP, $45K, Msw, 3yo/up, 5fT, post time: 2:41 p.m. ET UNCLE GEORGE (Uncle Mo), a $310K acquisition out of the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-Bred Sale, gets his career started for Jump Sucker Stable and trainer Christophe Clement. The bay colt is a half-brother to fellow Empire-bred Epping Forest (Exchange Rate), who defeated open company at first asking sprinting five furlongs over the Belmont turf and was runner-up in the 5 1/2-furlong Coronation Cup S. at the Spa in 2017. Uncle George's dam was a...

2nd-Gulfstream, $40,000, Msw, 5-14, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :52.39, ft. DAYOUTOFTHEOFFICE (f, 2, Into Mischief--Gottahaveadream, by Indian Charlie), one of a trio of horses sent off the joint-second favorite at odds of 3-1, won the break and was never headed en route to a 4 3/4-length debut success Thursday at Gulfstream Park. Quickly into stride from the three hole, the dark bay set the pace along the inside, tracked intently by fellow 3-1 chances Acting Lucky (Tapizar) and Rock With Robin (Vancouver {Aus}) deepest on the track. She shrugged off...

Officials at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA, announced late Wednesday afternoon that the track has received approval from the Los Angeles County Health Department to resume safe live racing beginning this Friday, May 15, as part of Los Angeles County's revision of its 'Safer at Home' guidelines. Racing will be conducted without spectators and with essential personnel following strict protocols to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. "We are very grateful for the open and continuous communication with both the Health Department and Supervisor Kathryn Barger's office," said...

Addressing the plight of the state's racetracks on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf laid out a difficult path that must be followed before the state's three Thoroughbred tracks can start running again. As is the case with many governors, Wolf has put forth a plan that calls for the state to reopen in stages, in Pennsylvania's case red, yellow and green phases. While horsemen have advocated that racing, without spectators, should be among the first businesses in the state to reopen, Wolf said the tracks cannot resume racing until their...