Horse Racing

by Alan Carasso Locally owned, but French-based French King (GB) (French Fifteen {Fr}) was given a perfect ride from the front by Olivier Peslier and proved not for catching, successfully defending his title in the US$1-million HH The Amir Trophy Saturday at Al Rayyan Racecourse in Doha. American import Standard Deviation (Curlin) rallied from midpack to be an excellent second, while Pedro Cara (Fr) (Pedro the Great) backed up his last-out Qatar Derby success with a running-on third-place effort. Away beautifully from gate one, the clean chestnut entire headed off...

by Alan Carasso The three-day HH The Amir Festival comes to a conclusion with the marquee race of the meeting, the US$1-million HH The Amir Trophy, a race which has attracted last year's top-three placegetters, a local legend looking for a third win in the event, an intriguing American import and some of the world's top jockeys. The locally owned French King (GB) (French Fifteen {Fr}) defeated Royal Julius (Ire) (Royal Applause {GB}) and the well-traveled Hunting Horn (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) with relative ease 12 months ago and proved the...

For the second straight month, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) has postponed voting on a motion pertaining to the exact specifications of whips that jockeys and exercise riders would be allowed to use. After 35 minutes of input from jockeys and the public at Thursday's monthly meeting in Sacramento, the board made a unanimous 4-0 vote to table the measure. Several CHRB members cited a desire to seek broader input that they hoped would help fine-tune the proposed amendments to CHRB Rule 1685. That was the same reasoning given...

Churchill Downs, Derby Divas and Norton Cancer Institute have opened the online nomination process to choose 146 breast and ovarian cancer survivors to march in the Survivors Parade at the 146th Longines Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs Friday, May 1. The 146 participants will be announced Mar. 23. Nominations can be made here. Since the first Survivors' Parade a dozen years ago, Churchill Downs has donated over $1 million to organizations that support the cause of women's health. For the fourth year in a row, Churchill will donate $50,000 to...

by Richard Edmunds, courtesy TDNAusNZ Two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock {Aus}) and his long-time companion Zac Purton regained their rightful place with their eighth Group 1 victory in Sunday's Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup at Sha Tin, his third consecutive victory in the 1400-metre event. From relatively humble beginnings as an NZ$60,000 purchase at the 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karaka, Beauty Generation first rose to prominence as a quality 3-year-old who placed in the G1 Rosehill Guineas and G2...

Champion Hong Kong stayer Exultant (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) can earn a long-awaited trip overseas with a strong performance in Sunday's G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin Racecourse, with the US$6-million G1 Dubai Sheema Classic (2410m) on the horizon. Winner of the 2018 G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase (2400m), the horse formerly trained by Mick Halford as Irishcorrespondent landed this event, but focused on a domestic campaign that saw him close the season victoriously in the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m). Third from a...

Trainer Coty Lee Davidson, 33, was killed and jockey Megan Fadlovich, 30, was injured in a single-vehicle accident on I-75S at County Road 329 in Florida just after midnight Feb. 14, Gainesville.com reported. Neither were wearing seatbelts. The vehicle suddenly veered off the road and overturned, ejecting Fadlovich from the passenger seat and over a guardrail. She fell 40 feet onto another guardrail on CR 329. She was taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center and is in serious conditioner. Davidson, the driver, got out of the vehicle to check on...

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 Kyoto and Tokyo Racecourses: Saturday, February 15, 2020 3rd-Kyoto, ¥9,680,000 ($88k), Maiden, 3yo, 1400m A SHIN EMBARR (c, 3, Carpe Diem--Ambling, by Chester House), a $270K Keeneland September purchase, turned in a promising debut effort to be second over this...

David Anderson had lost his father barely two months previously, at just 64, to a heart attack. Returning home, trying to light a path through the fog of sudden grief, Anderson had sat down with the farm manager, Ray Carroll. "Ray, what are we going to do here?" Carroll looked at Anderson and said: "Dave, I couldn't imagine working anywhere else in my life." "Perfect. That's all I need to hear. Let's put the pedal down and go for it." It was much the same with Marette Farrell, whose eye...

5th-Tampa Bay Downs, $20,000, Msw, 2-12, 3yo, 1mT, 1:36.47, fm. DOMESTIC SPENDING (GB) (g, 3, Kingman {GB}--Urban Castle {SW-Eng}, by Street Cry {Ire}) firmed into odds-on favoritism in the final minutes of wagering before easing out to a relatively generous even-money and turned in a promising career debut. Ridden for some gate speed by Antonio Gallardo, the 300,000gns Tattersalls October graduate settled in the second flight of horses about four away from the rail down the backstretch. Asked to loop horses four deep at the quarter pole, Domestic Spending came...

Playing in the NTRA National Horseplayers' Championship (NHC) for just the second time, Thomas Goldsmith of Montgomery, CA, amassed a total mythical bankroll of $404.10--second largest in tournament history--to take home the $800,000 first prize Sunday afternoon at Bally's in Las Vegas. Goldsmith, 57, defeated a field that totaled 694 entries from 564 individual players and a final table that included NHC Hall of Famer Trey Stiles, Ashley Taylor and Day 2 leader John Vail of Lyndhurst, NJ. The latter held on for second ($250,000), just shy of $30 behind...

Tom Amoss has taken this slowly with No Parole (Violence), allowing him to progress through the restricted Louisiana-bred ranks. But it's likely on to bigger and better for the colt, who posted a third consecutive dominating victory in annexing his first two-turn test in Saturday's Louisana Premier Night Prince S. at Delta Downs. Drawn outside in a field of six, No Parole found his way to the front with a minimum of fuss and settled very kindly through an internal second quarter mile that was timed in nearly 26 seconds....