Keeneland

The Organization of Racing Investigators opened the final day of its Parx conference with another set of timely presentations. Topics included the impact of bush track racing, and a variety of legal and scientific case studies, which were all geared for the investigator's toolkit. With varied backgrounds in law enforcement and security, many attendees have experience growing up around horses. Investigators work for tracks and racing commissions, but they can never turn their backs on the chance to improve their techniques and plug into the ORI network fiber. Kassie Creed,...

Louis Lee Haggin III, hailing from an illustrious racing family and a longtime fixture at Keeneland, died Mar. 5, according to Keeneland Tuesday. He was 88. A lifelong Thoroughbred owner and breeder, Haggin III managed his family's Sycamore Farm. A great, great grandson of legendary horseman James Ben Ali Haggin, who was also the founder of Elmendorf Farm, Haggin III's grandfather, Hal Price Headley, was among the founders of Keeneland. His father, Louis Lee Haggin II, served as the track's second president and subsequently its chairman. "Keeneland mourns the loss...

With a strong first day program which ran the gambit from the centrality of horse racing's societal license to the destructive use of xylazine to an update from the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, horse racing investigators at the annual Organization of Racing Investigators were immersed in some of the most pressing issues affecting the sport. Hosted by Parx Racing and sponsored by everyone from Keeneland to the Breeders' Cup, over 100 specialists who protect racetracks in America and several other countries, listened, asked questions and made connections, all in...

Keeneland will open its hiring center Tuesday, Mar. 5 and invites interested parties to apply either in person or online for the 2024 Spring meet to run Apr. 5-26. Positions to be filled include concessions, culinary dining, guest services, parking, retail, security, track kitchen and other areas at the racecourse. The majority on offer are entry level and do not require formal training beyond the paid training provided by Keeneland. The hiring center is located on the second floor of the grandstand and will be open every Tuesday and Thursday...

Claiborne Farm Feb. 29 reported the first mare has checked in foal to Annapolis (War Front), the operation said in a release Thursday. The 5-year-old was bred to St Claude (Tiznow), who is owned by Pete and Martha Williams and is boarded at Nicky Drion Thoroughbreds. She is from the family of Horse of the Year Flightline and tallied her first registered colt Jan. 12 by Army Mule. A graded stakes winner at 2 and 3 as a homebred for Bass Racing under trainer Todd Pletcher, Annapolis set a new...

Opening an occasional series focused on Irish expatriates in Kentucky, TDN meets a son of Co. Meath testing the GI Kentucky Derby water with his impressive Leonatus S. winner. As migrations go, one is rather less surprising than the other. On the one hand, over the past two years the synthetic circuit at Turfway has consecutively delivered the winner and runner-up in the definitive test of a dirt Thoroughbred. On the other, the trainer hoping to produce another GI Kentucky Derby horse from the same unlikely platform is only the...

The case of Jeffrey Englehart, who bought a horse at an OBS 2-Year-Old sale in June who had given Clenbuterol sometime before being purchased by Englehart, has renewed questions about the role of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and whether or not it would be in the sport's best interest for it to expand its jurisdiction to cover sales as well as racing. Currently, HISA has no authority over a horse until it has its first recorded public workout, which is when it becomes a "covered" horse....

Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Doncho (g, 3, Mo Town--Sassy Redhead, by Henny Hughes), an eye-catching winner in a pair of attempts going six furlongs at Fair Grounds this winter, is aiming to make his next start in the $400,000 Lafayette S. at Keeneland Apr. 5. "We've got the Lafayette circled as his next spot opening day at Keeneland," trainer Michelle Lovell said. "We'll see if he'll stretch out to seven furlongs. I think that he will." Gelded as a juvenile last September, Doncho lit up the tote board with a...

The 2024 All American Thoroughbred Stallion Sale put on by Jockeys and Jeans raised a total of $95,550, the organization announced Friday. The proceeds, which will benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF), are a record for the sale which also included a record 48 seasons sold. Donations came from 32 farms across seven states and included 73 no-guarantee seasons purchased by 25 individual breeders. "It was truly a community effort and one whose response proves racing is indeed a community; one that cares," said Interim Jockeys and Jeans President...

The Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation was established in 2020 in memory of Gerry Dilger, the beloved and well-respected breeder and pinhooker of such horses as GI Kentucky Derby winners Nyquist and Always Dreaming, who passed away on Feb. 24, 2020. The Foundation awarded three scholarships for 2024 for the Kentucky farm experience to Sean Berns and Sara Pepper to go to Springhouse Farm in Lexington, and to Larry Mulvaney, who was placed at Hunter Valley Farm. A pair of 2023 scholarship recipients--Ivanna Dempsey and Elle Sorensen--who did their farm...

Light Up Racing, the initiative launched late last year, will host two community events in Lexington in the next two weeks. The events are "designed to empower and educate individuals within the Thoroughbred industry on the power of positive communication and the role of social change in shaping the future of horse racing. These events aim to introduce participants to the tools and knowledge to advocate for the sport effectively, engage in meaningful conversations, and transform perceptions within their networks and beyond," according to the announcement by the organization Wednesday....

Koji Maeda, whose homebred Lani (Tapit) finished ninth to Nyquist in the 2016 GI Kentucky Derby, could have another Classics contender on his hand after Ramjet (Jpn) (Majestic Warrior) turned on the afterburners in the final 300 meters to post a convincing victory in Sunday's Listed Hyacinth S. at Tokyo Racecourse. Having earned 30 Derby points as a result, the dark bay now leads the Japanese series with one race remaining. Clearly last away from the stalls, Ramjet had only one rival behind as he came under a ride at...