Keeneland

Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate on Friday vacated his own ruling from June which dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association against Churchill Downs and Keeneland for implementing rules prohibiting the race-day use of Lasix in 2-year-olds, according to published reports. The KHBPA had sought a temporary injunction to prevent the rules from being implemented, but Wingate ruled June 1 that the organization lacked standing to bring the litigatation. In his Friday ruling, Wingate agreed with the KHBPA's argument that it had not...

Overseas buyers are an ever-increasing fixture of the American yearling sales. It is not only the big-spending Maktoum family and Coolmore partners who are vital to the health of the market; an international presence stimulates spending at all levels of trade, fueled by visitors from all across Europe-not least the pinhookers who have enjoyed so much success with their buys at the breeze-ups-and Asia, Australasia and the Middle East. Global travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have, naturally, caused some unrest in the minds of sellers as they put...

Shannon Bishop Arvin, tabbed to replace Bill Thomason when he retires as Keeneland's President and CEO at the end of 2020, issued her first communique Wednesday evening. "First, I'd like to thank everyone who has been so kind and welcoming as I transition into my new role with Keeneland," Arvin said. "This is both a privilege and a responsibility that I do not take lightly, and I very much look forward to working alongside our team to support your needs as we move into the fall season and into the...

Keeneland is undergoing a "strategic realignment of its core racing and sales operations to strengthen its ability to execute its mission and better serve the needs of its global clientele," it announced Thursday. Shannon Arvin, who it was announced earlier this month will succeed Bill Thomason as the company's President and CEO at the end of 2020, will serve as Interim Head of Sales while a search is conducted this fall to fill that role. While a partner at the Lexington law firm Stoll Keenon Ogden (SKO), Arvin has served...

There was no hotter trainer on the grounds through opening weekend at Saratoga than Christophe Clement, which is saying something considering the array of champion and Hall of Fame conditioners that occupy the backstretch of America's premier race meet. After winning five races from 13 starters in the first four days of the stand, including a pair of graded stakes victories, Clement joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland to discuss his hot start. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, the French-born trainer...

It took a long journey for trainer Tom Drury to get to where he is now, with a GII Toyota Blue Grass S. winner and major GI Kentucky Derby contender in his barn. There were years when Drury didn't win any races, which had him questioning whether he was made out for the training business. But life is good now for Drury, largely thanks to a Bruce Lunsford homebred named Art Collector (Bernardini), and he joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday to talk about his prized pupil...

A surge in positive Coronavirus tests among jockeys was met on Tuesday with a flurry of new movement-related restrictions at Thoroughbred tracks from coast to coast in an effort to keep the pandemic from spreading further. For the industry in general, any sizable spike in COVID-19 positives among participants will almost certainly trigger another wave of racetrack shutdowns. But for jockeys specifically, the balance of maintaining safety under pandemic precautions often comes down to treading a fine line between protecting one's health versus protecting one's livelihood. Since the end of...

Doug Cauthen is the managing partner at Doug Cauthen Thoroughbred Management LLC. As anyone not under a rock is noticing, COVID-19 hospitalizations and infections are on the rise across the country, and this tragedy is causing renewed shutdowns and concurrent economic damage to many businesses and families. As everyone is learning, a positive step towards avoiding rollbacks and future shutdowns is to wear a mask and socially distance, and to accept and follow protocols which are put in place to screen event attendees. In order to have a successful horse...

All-sources wagering during Keeneland's five-day summer meeting, which concluded Sunday, totaled $63,299,331, with average daily all-sources handle reaching $12,659,866. Wagering was boosted by a single-day all-sources handle for Saturday's 10-race Toyota Blue Grass card of $23,834,972, second only to the record $25,809,200 set for last year's 11-race Blue Grass Day card. The All-Stakes Pick Five Saturday handled $1,395,051, well above the former record of $1,079,197 set on Blue Grass Day last year. Keeneland's first-ever summer meet was created after the track's traditional 16-day spring meet was cancelled due to the...

The running of the GII Ruffian S. Saturday at Belmont lacked the sizzle that was part of the narrative for several other major races over the weekend, but that wasn't the fault of Monomoy Girl (Tapizar). She did exactly what was asked of her. She showed up and beat four overmatched horses in an effort that was more perfunctory than impressive. "This was a nice race for her to come back into stakes competition and now we can tackle some bigger races and a tougher field, too," jockey Florent Geroux...

Saturday's GII Appalachian S. winner Enola Gay and her dam Dakota Queen carry names of WW2 flying machines (with parallel connections to family females). Enola Gay is the world-famous nickname of the B-29 aircraft who dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945 (mother of the pilot, Paul Tibbets, was Enola Gay Tibbets), while Dakota Queen was the Italy-based B-24 bomber valiantly captained by George McGovern in WWII; he made a dangerous emergency landing, saving his crew aboard the badly damaged plane, which was named after his wife...

Bruce Lunsford's GII Toyota Blue Grass S. winner Art Collector (Bernardini) returned to trainer Tom Drury's Skylight Training Center base in Goshen, Kentucky Saturday night and options for the colt's next start are still open. "I am going to get with Bruce in the next couple of days and figure out what we will do," Drury said. "Art Collector will stay at Skylight for a little while because it is quieter there and then like we have done before, two weeks or so before he runs we will bring him...