Kentucky Derby
Edited Press Release Churchill Downs Incorporated released the following statement Saturday in response to questions about track safety during the meet: In today's first race, Kimberley Dream (Colonel John) sustained a significant injury--a distal sesamodean ligament rupture--to her left front leg. A similar injury occurred to Lost in Limbo (Into Mischief) during Friday's seventh race. Unfortunately, in both scenarios, attending veterinarians determined that the injuries were inoperable and unrecoverable and made the difficult but most humane decision to euthanize. We send our deepest and most sincere condolences to the connections...
The hearing officer assigned to oversee trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Racing Stables' appeal of penalties related to the drug disqualification of 2021 GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) has issued a recommended order to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) that the underlying stewards' rulings be affirmed in their entirety. The 47-page report was made public via press release by the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet early on the Friday evening of the long Memorial Day holiday weekend. Its issuance comes 765 days after Medina Spirit crossed the...
'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), a latest seventh to Mage (Good Magic) in the GI Kentucky Derby May 6, went five furlongs in 1:00.22 over a fast Belmont main track Friday morning in his penultimate work ahead of the GI Belmont S. at Big Sandy June 10. He galloped out three-quarters of a mile in a strong 1:12.60 and was up seven furlongs in 1:25. "Super breeze, big gallop out," trainer Todd Pletcher said following the work. "He seems to really like the main track here. I'm very, very...
White Abarrio (Race Day) has been taken away from trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. after his suspension by Churchill Downs during a week when two of his horses died from unexplained causes at the Louisville track, according to a Tweet posted by White Abarrio's owners, C2 Racing Stable. He was scheduled to arrive at his new trainer Rick Dutrow's barn at Belmont on Tuesday. Parents Pride (Maclean's Music) and Chasing Artie (We Miss Artie), both owned by Ken Ramsey and trained by Joseph, collapsed and died April 29 and May 2, respectively. Parents...
After a series of false starts, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) signature anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program is now set to go into effect Monday. On Friday, TDN spoke with HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus on a variety of topics including the launch of HISA's signature drug control program, operational expenses, the Forte situation, Kentucky Derby week and Texas. The following is a very lightly edited version of that interview. TDN: Last week, the TDN published a story on the headwinds facing the Texas racing industry. In it,...
TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, whose graduates have been hitting on all cylinders on the racetrack recently, begins Monday morning at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. A total of 603 juveniles have been catalogue for the two-day auction and bidding begins at 11 a.m sessions Monday and Tuesday. "There has been a lot of interest and we have the right people here--either they have been here or their agents have been here to watch the horses breeze," Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett said at...
Sunday morning's work tab at Churchill Downs featured a trio of trainer Brad Cox's GI Kentucky Derby runners who recorded their first breezes since running on the first Saturday in May. At 5:30 a.m., third-place finisher Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) recorded a half-mile move in :49. The colt, owned by Albaugh Family Stables, is possible to run in the GI Belmont S. June 10. Shortly after, Verifying (Justify), who finished 16th in the Derby, worked a half-mile in :49.60. At 7:45 a.m., Gary and Mary West's Hit Show (Candy...
Eclipse Award winner Forte (Violence) worked a half-mile in :50.31 breezing Sunday morning at Belmont Park, which has him back on a path to make it to the GI Belmont S. It was his first work since he was scratched the morning of the GI Kentucky Derby by a state veterinarian due to a foot bruise. After the scratch, Forte was placed on the vet's list in Kentucky for 14 days, which meant he could not run in the GI Preakness S. "He looked very good in this work and...
GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) drew post three in the field of eight set to go in the $1.65-million GI Preakness S., to be held Saturday, May 20, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The second jewel of the Triple Crown drew only one starter from the Kentucky Derby, but it was the one who won the Derby and the only one with a chance for a Triple Crown. Mage was installed as the 8-5 favorite at the draw, which was held at Baltimore's Guinness Open Gate Brewery....
The three-day under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale begins Tuesday morning at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. The first 200 catalogued juveniles are slated to work Tuesday, followed by hips 201 through 400 on Wednesday and hips 401 through 603 on Thursday. Each session of the under-tack show begins at 8 a.m. The May sale, which produced this year's GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), will be held next Monday and Tuesday with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m.
Baseball had a problem. Because games were taking way too long, because stolen bases were near an all-time low, because defensive shifts were cutting down on offense, the product that is baseball wasn't as good as it could be. Too many boring, interminable, bad games could only mean one thing, that fans were and would continue to lose interest in the national pastime. Sound familiar? Horse racing has a Triple Crown where the product has been weakened because trainers, who simply refuse to run their horses back on short rest,...
Next week at this time, we'll know if the sport is on the cusp of another Triple Crown sweep. Of all the potential excuses for GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) not emerging victorious from the GI Preakness S., intense media pressure is unlikely to be one of them. You could make the argument that the diminutive, white-blazed chestnut with the endearing overbite has enjoyed one of the least-scrutinized post-Derby weeks of any winner in recent history. That's not so much because the spotlight on his accomplishment has dimmed....