Horse Racing
I am going to pick Runhappy as my leading freshman sire. Unfortunately, I do not have any of them in the barn. We seemed to get outrun on all of the one ones that we wanted. I vetted a lot of them at the yearling sales and really liked them physically. He was a very fast horse himself and it looks like he is going to pass that trait on. My under-the-radar stallion would be Not This Time. We had a filly slated for Gulfstream that could be any kind...
On this program 12 months ago, Allied Racing Stable's By My Standards (Goldencents) belied odds of 22-1 to upset the GII Louisiana Derby. He'll be a fraction of that price and even of his 6-1 morning line when he makes his return to graded-stakes company in the GII New Orleans Classic S. at the Fair Grounds. The bay colt overcame the widest stall in a field of 12 to break his maiden by better than four lengths last February and was prominent in the Derby before rallying late to score...
Despite being taken out of his best game to sit on the pace in 2019, Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway) gave Chad Brown a second victory in the GII Mervin Muniz Memorial S. and the four-time Eclipse Award winner has two chances to go back-to-back in the race named in honor of the beloved former Fair Grounds racing secretary. OXO Equine's Instilled Regard (Arch) makes his third trip to the Big Easy, having won the 2018 GIII Lecomte S. ahead of a fourth in the GII Risen Star S. while...
Both the Winchell Thoroughbreds-owned Summerly (Summer Squall, 2005) and Untapable (Tapit, 2014) used a victory in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks as a springboard to success at Churchill Downs on the first Friday in May. That particular double will be delayed this year, but Finite (Munnings), bred by Winchell and campaigned in partnership, can take the first step as the likely heavy favorite in the Saturday co-feature in New Orleans. The current pole sitter on the TDN Kentucky Oaks Top 10, Finite enters the Oaks on a five-race winning skein,...
"Only fools, liars and charlatans predict earthquakes." So said the man who instead gave us a means of measuring tremors once they have actually happened, Charles Richter. But how about when an earthquake announces a Charlatan? Because on the equivalent of the Richter scale, for those who try to quantify a horse's talent against the clock, a 105 debut Beyer for 'TDN Rising Star' Charlatan (Speightstown) at Santa Anita last month represented a convulsion that brought every other member of his crop crumbling to the ground. Some even whispered the...
NETFLIX, ANYONE? In these days of self-isolation, the need to find your next great t.v. series is greater than ever. We asked some industry folks what they're watching these days, and for their top recommendations to last us until we can leave our homes again. Pull up a couch! BECKY THOMAS I think at times like this we should all binge watch (if we weren't taking care of these horses we can't sell!) "Curb Your Enthusiasm." It is funny and lighthearted about ordinary every day activities. JEN ROYTZ, RETIRED...
Gulfstream-based jockey Rajiv Maragh announced Thursday via twitter that he has decided to stop riding indefinitely due to the coronavirus outbreak. He told the TDN that the reasons for his decision include that his wife is five-months pregnant with their first child. Maragh is listed on one horse Friday at Gulfstream, Yes I See (Exchange Rate), the 5-2 second choice in the line in the second race. "I am doing this mainly for the health and welfare of myself and my family," he said. "I have a pregnant wife at...
Coronavirus has had a major affect on horse racing all across the globe, forcing the temporary abandonment of racing in a handful of prominent racing states in America, as well as Britain, France, hard-hit Italy and South Korea, while other places soldier on in front of empty grandstands. Hong Kong lies roughly 700 miles due south of Wuhan, the widely accepted epicentre of the virus's outbreak, but owing to aggressive action by the government and a populace that adhered strictly to preventive measures, racing has been allowed to continue in...
Sent out at 70 cents on the dollars to follow up on a 6 1/2-length success over track and distance Feb. 15, Ain't No Elmers (Goldencents) decimated a field of first-level allowance company by nine lengths Wednesday to become the newest 'TDN Rising Star' at the Fair Grounds. Content to drop back off a fast early quarter mile after taking them wire-to-wire first time out, Ain't No Elmers was trapped out four wide, but traveled into it nicely with cover as they approached the top of the lane. Switched out...
NEWMARKET, UK—It's hard not to feel like Christmas has just been cancelled. The Flat turf season doesn't revolve around Newmarket, of course. There are more than 14,000 horses in training in Britain and only about 2,500 of those are based in the East Anglian town, but that does make it the busiest training centre and, as the place where it all began, Newmarket lays claims to being the sport's unofficial HQ. Having emerged from the wettest and windiest of winters with the start of the turf now just days rather...
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, with a holiday Friday providing three days of racing (still spectator-free) at Nakayama and Hanshin Racecourses. The latter hosts the Listed Wakaba S. Saturday in which the promising American Seed (Tapit) makes his black-type debut: Friday, March 20, 2020 4th-NKY, ¥13,830,000 ($127k),...
John Joseph Greely IV, a fourth-generation Central Kentucky horseman who was the driving force behind 'Make-A-Wish' Day at Keeneland among his philanthropic endeavors, passed away Mar. 15. He was 54 years old. Born in Lexington Jan. 24, 1966, into a family with its roots deep in the Thoroughbred industry, Greely graduated from the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN, in 1984 and five years later, from the University of Kentucky. Always giving of his time and perpetually engaged towards the betterment of the business he loved, Greely was actively involved in...