Horse Racing
Trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis entered not guilty pleas to the charges of drug alteration and misbranding during an arraignment Thursday before United States District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil. Due to the coronavirus, the arraignment was held via teleconference. Servis and Navarro were among 17 individuals arraigned Thursday for their alleged roles in a horse doping scandal. All 17 pleaded not guilty. The not guilty pleas were not a surprise as it is rare for defendants in a criminal case to plead guilty at the arraignment phase. Navarro has...
On Mar. 19, the New York Racing Association suspended racing for an undetermined period after a backstretch worker tested positive for COVID-19, which left New York horsemen scrambling to adjust and come up with Plan B for themselves, their horses and their staff. Nine days later--following the announcement that Aqueduct had been approved as a temporary hospital site--NYRA announced that the rest of the Aqueduct winter meet would be canceled and the Ozone Park oval would not host its traditional spring meet, headlined by the GII Wood Memorial S. "On...
Joe Miller and Kip Elser are no strangers to success in the American bloodstock business. In a 15-year stint with Kern Thoroughbreds, Miller has helped manage the racing and breeding operations of Tracy Farmer and Len Riggio's My Meadowview Farm, while Elser's Kirkwood Stables' graduates include GI Kentucky Oaks winners Plum Pretty (Medaglia d'Oro), Keeper Hill (Deputy Minister) and Gal In a Ruckus (Bold Ruckus); the top-level winning half-siblings Sharp Cat (Storm Cat) and Royal Anthem (Theatrical {Ire}); and GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero Alphabet Soup (Cozzene). Always ready to...
The federal judge in charge of the alleged racehorse doping case involving trainers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis, and 18 other defendants has set Apr. 2 as the new arraignment date. Court closures related to COVID-19 have already caused two postponements of the arraignment since Mar 23. In an effort to avoid another delay, the judge has ordered this Thursday's arraignment to be conducted via conference call. United States District Court (Southern District of New York) Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil also wrote in the Mar. 27 order that the missed time...
Nakayama Racecourse played host to the $320,629 Fukuryu S. Saturday, an allowance race that serves as the fourth and final scheduled leg on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. With the Run for the Roses delayed to early September, there could be more Japanese points races to follow, but with his 26-1 upset in the 1800-meter test, Herrschaft (Will Take Charge) earned 40 points and--at least for the time being--the Japanese berth in the starting gate at Churchill Downs. Away fairly from gate two, Herrschaft led them under the...
Godolphin homebred Tower of London (Jpn) (Raven's Pass) and Danon Smash (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), two of the best sprinters the country has to offer, go head-to-head for the third time in their last four appearances in Sunday's G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1200m) at Chukyo Racecourse. Group 1-placed over a mile as a juvenile, Tower of London has amassed an imposing resume over 1200-1400m in the last year or so, having set course records when taking out the G2 Keio Hai Spring Cup (1400m in 1:19.4) and the G2 Centaur S....
Two weeks ago, the bombshell indictments of trainers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis, et al., sandwiched between a volatile stock market and the spread of the coronavirus, were the talk of the industry, leading to renewed calls by some for the passage of the Horseracing Integrity Act in Congress. At the time, the doping scandal promised to upend racing's precarious standing, but with hindsight, the plunge of the markets and the rise of the virus may cost the racing and breeding industries greater long-term harm than what's alleged in the indictments....
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 Chukyo and Hanshin Racecourses. A preview of Saturday's Fukuryu S. (allowance), the final leg on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby, will appear in Saturday's TDN. The featured race on the weekend is Sunday's G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen: Saturday, March,...
Horse racing in South Africa has been temporarily suspended from Mar. 27 to Apr. 16, after a presidential directive was issued on Monday. The upcoming suspension is part of a three-week coronavirus lockdown, as cases in that country hit 554 on Tuesday.
According to the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, Robert Manfuso, who operated Chanceland Farm in West Friendship, MD, and was a former part-owner of Laurel and Pimlico, has passed away. He was 82. Manfuso died Thursday of natural causes. He was a member of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and the organization called him "a tireless advocate for Thoroughbred owners." That was just one of his many roles in the sport, as he had served as a member of the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors and as a director of Pinnacle...
Sunday training at Belmont Park will cease starting Mar. 29, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has confirmed. The cutback to a six-day weekly training schedule comes in the wake of Thursday's news that a Belmont backstretch worker tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The worker and his roommate, who live in a Belmont backstretch dormitory, have been in isolation since Mar. 13. That coronavirus diagnosis led to the indefinite suspension of live racing at Aqueduct Racetrack as of Mar. 20. NYRA had phased out stabling at Aqueduct at the...
Owing to the closure of all casinos and the elimination of on-track handle, officials at Gulfstream Park have announced reductions in stakes purses for the GI Curln Florida Derby and supporting undercard stakes Mar. 28. The Derby, which offers 170 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, has seen its purse slashed to $750,000 from $1 million, while the GII Kitten's Joy Pan American S. and GII Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Oaks will run for $200,000, down from $250,000. The Cutler Bay S. and Sanibel Island S., originally $125,000 events, will...