Keeneland

Tickets for the 2020 Breeders' Cup World Championships will go on sale to the public Mar. 9 at 9:00 a.m. EST, the Breeders' Cup announced Tuesday. The 37th running of the Breeders' Cup will return to historic Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7. The 2020 World Championships marks the second time that the event will be held at Keeneland following its inaugural running at the venue in 2015, which was widely praised as one of the best in the event's history. On the...

While the Thoroughbred industries in some states have been wary of sports betting, a racing group in Kentucky has enthusiastically backed legislation in the Blue Grass state to make sports betting legal. The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) released a statement Thursday coming out in favor of House Bill 137, which would legalize sports betting in the state. The bill was passed unanimously by a House Committee Wednesday. "...HB 137 has real momentum and a real chance to become law. And we need your help to get it done and...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale continued with a session of steady trade Wednesday and a colt by Uncle Mo causing some early fireworks when selling for $400,000. Gabriel Duignan's Springhouse Farm purchased the pinhooking prospect, who was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of breeder Mike Abraham. The short yearling was one of seven horses to bring six figures during the auction's third session. In all, 232 horses sold Wednesday for a total of $5,207,200. The average was $22,445 and the median...

The popular Keeneland Library Series, which features new works about Thoroughbred racing, will kick off 2020 with two programs that go beyond highlighting traditional nonfiction material when Robin Traywick Williams discusses her award-winning novel, "The Key to the Quarter Pole," Tuesday, Jan. 21, and the documentary film "Born to Rein" is shown Tuesday, Feb. 4. "Our Lecture Series continues to showcase the culminating work of researchers who have tapped into the Keeneland Library's resources to generate new contributions to the industry record," Head Librarian Roda Ferraro said. "We are pleased...

LEXINGTON, KY--Michael Donohoe's mid-winter trip to Kentucky was made entirely worthwhile on Tuesday when Enaya Alrabb (Uncle Mo), the Grade I-placed 4-year-old he had purchased as a yearling for the Saudi Arabian-based Enaya Racing, topped Book 1 of the Keeneland January sale on a bid of $640,000 from agent James Schenck. The BBA Ireland agent has bought a handful of horses from the U.S. to run successfully for Enaya Racing in Saudi Arabia, like the three-time Saudi stakes winner Madtap (Tapit), and Donohoe explained that when his client learned he...

By Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The five-day Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale opened with a workmanlike session Monday in Lexington, with Applauding (Congrats), a mare originally led out unsold, ultimately bringing the day's highest price of $360,000. The session topper (hip 135) was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency and was purchased by Hunter Valley Farm. Tami Bobo's First Finds purchased the day's top-priced short yearling, going to $310,000 for a son of Quality Road (hip 242) from the Denali Stud consignment. "It...

Keeneland kicks off the 2020 sales season with a five-day renewal of its January Horses of All Ages Sale in Lexington Monday, with bidding slated to begin at 10 a.m. Temperatures are expected to be unseasonably warm during sales week and Keeneland officials hope the action inside the pavilion matches the weather outside. "There haven't been a significant number of external changes," Keeneland Vice President of Racing and Sales Bob Elliston said of his expectations for the January sale. "The economy is still solid, purses continue to rise domestically, the...

Keeneland's five-day January Horses of All Ages Sale begins on Monday, and the catalogue includes plenty of pedigrees to pique the interest of European shoppers. We ran through the catalogue and picked out a selection to highlight from Book 1 of the sale on Monday and Tuesday. Just the second short yearling to go through the ring on Monday is a daughter of Kitten's Joy (hip 4) who is a half-sister to Protectionist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), winner of the G1 Melbourne Cup and G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin. They are...

It's no secret that racing had a tough year in 2019. We asked a cross-section of participants what their number one goal is to make racing better in 2020. (Want to participate? Email suefinley@thetdn.com) BILL THOMASON, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, KEENELAND My goal for the New Year is simple in theory: to make racing a safer sport. In practice, however, meeting this goal requires unprecedented cooperation from various industry factions to adopt enhanced safety and integrity standards uniformly across all 38 racing jurisdictions.　It also means developing a true culture...

Meets Expectations (Valid Expectations--Meetmeontime, by General Meeting), the dam of multiple 2019 Eclipse Award finalist World of Trouble (Kantharos), headlines the latest round of supplements to Keeneland's January Horses of All Ages Sale, to be held Jan. 13-17, Keeneland announced Monday. Hunter Valley, agent, consigns Meets Expectations (Hip 398L), in foal to Uncle Mo. She is a daughter of Valid Expectations and a half-sister to multiple Grade II winner Bucchero (Kantharos). Also the dam of stakes winner Money Or Love (J Be K) and 2019 winner Alfie Solomons (Kantharos), she...

The Breeders' Cup appointed John Keitt as Chief Operating Officer and Rogers Beasley as Chief Strategy Officer. "We are excited to welcome John and Rogers to the Breeders' Cup team," said Drew Fleming. "With decades of experience outside and inside the Thoroughbred industry, John and Rogers bring to our organization extensive knowledge and expertise as well as proven track records of success and innovation. We are confident that they will instantly become indispensable assets to our team as we continue to grow and evolve our long-standing sport." As Chief Operating...

A pair of immaculately bred 2-year-old fillies by the late Deep Impact (Jpn) and produced by two mares of considerable importance in the U.S. broke their maidens about 30 minutes apart at Japan's Niigata Racecourse Sunday, Aug. 11. Sunday Racing Co. Ltd's Catulus Felis (Jpn), the first foal out of 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Stephanie's Kitten (Kitten's Joy), validated 3-10 favoritism to graduate over 1800 meters. Drawn gate 12 in the field of 14, the February foal was off a beat slowly then settled about...