thoroughbred racing

Jockeys Javier Castellano, Mike Smith, John Velazquez, Manuel Franco and Tyler Gaffalione have pledged a percentage of their earnings from the GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Kentucky Derby race cards to help rider 28-year-old rider Vinnie Bednar, who suffered a catastrophic fall at Los Alamitos Racetrack Aug. 22. Bednar is currently experiencing lower-limb paralysis following initial surgery at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. He remains hospitalized while awaiting transfer to the Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, a world-renowned, premier center for spinal and brain injury. The accident occurred in...

The G1 2000 Guineas card at Newmarket on June 6 and Japan's G1 Yasuda Kinen on June 7 will be simulcast for betting beginning in the late evening of Saturday, June 6, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced on Sunday. Newmarket's seven races are headed by the 2000 Guineas, where European Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal) is expected to take part. Meanwhile in Japan the next day, the 1600-metre G1 Yasuda Kinen features Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and the race will be...

Rewards4Racing, the industry's rewards programme, will be offering its services and expertise to all UK and Irish racecourses, the organisation announced on Wednesday. In 2019, 960,000 tickets were purchased by the reward programme's members, and data has show that they attend race meetings more frequently and spend more when they come racing. One of the tracks that has accepted the offer is Plumpton Racecourse. Racing begins again in the UK on June 1, while Irish racing kicks off on June 8 after extended coronavirus-induced breaks. "During these unprecedented times, there...

A series of new one-hour evening programmes on Irish racing on consecutive Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in June and early July on RTE television have been confirmed by Horse Racing Ireland and RTE on Tuesday. These new programmes, to be broadcasted on RTE2 and RTE Player with 10 extra meetings confirmed up to mid-July, will be held from 7-8 p.m. on Fridays and from 5-6 p.m. on Saturdays/Sundays. Hugh Cahill will be the main presenter, with guest analysts joining regulars Jane Mangan, Ted Walsh and Ruby Walsh. All of RTE...

Fresh from a break having garnered the immensely valuable Longines Turf H. at Riyadh Feb. 29, George Strawbridge's Call the Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}) managed to continue the winning sequence in Sunday's G3 Prix de Barbeville at Deauville and book a potential trip to Royal Ascot. Prior to his Saudi venture, the homebred had been out of luck but always on the premises in seven starts since his defeat of Holdthasigreen (Fr) (Hold That Tiger) in the 2018 G1 Prix du Cadran at Paris Longchamp and it was that old...

The 12 Godolphin Flying Start Trainees for 2020-2022 were announced on Tuesday. Split evenly between the sexes and hailing from Australia, France, Ireland, the UK and the USA, the dozen students will participate in the Thoroughbred Industry Management and Leadership Programme where they will study and work in Ireland, the UK, the USA, Australia and Dubai. The course is accredited by University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Business School as a Graduate Certificate in Management. The trainees are as follows: George Broughton, UK Samantha Bussanich, USA Devon Dougherty, USA Solène Hudbert,...

Along with New York and London, Paris has earned another, more unwelcome renown of late but on the day that most of the rest of France emerge from their doors closed shut by COVID-19, the Bois de Boulogne bears witness to the first major sporting action since mid-March. Such is the tightrope nature of the industry's predicament at present, it was enough to convince President Macron at the 11th hour to allow racing to take place within the "red zone" which is still under strict lockdown. ParisLongchamp has seen its...

With the majority of U.S. tracks unable to race in April,  total pari-mutuel handle during the month fell by 24.42%. Bettors wagered $639 million during the month after wagering $845 million during April 2019. The numbers were provided by Equibase. It has been a roller coaster year for betting on U.S. racing. After posting an 11.8% increase over the months of January and February, handle fell by 22.8% in March when most tracks were forced to close. For most of April, there were only five Thoroughbred tracks racing, but several...

Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Ltd, which owns the majority of the racecourses in South Africa, is facing bankruptcy, Sporting Post reported on Monday. The company released its unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial results for the six months that ended on Jan. 31, 2020, and reported a loss of R115.1 million. Phumelela may now choose to file for voluntary liquidation. Racing was supposed to resume last Friday, May 1, but South Africa has continued its lockdown protocols due to the coronavirus. The G1 Horse Chestnut S., G1 South African Derby and...

Andrew Thornton reports himself to be nearing full health after recovering from coronavirus. The Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning rider caught the virus in March, describing how he was "knocked sideways" by the illness. He said, "The last week I have been just about back to 100%. "Where it came from I don't know, but luckily Yvonne [wife] and Harry [son] have both managed to avoid catching it. I just tried to separate myself--I used a different bedroom and bathroom, I just stayed away from them. "I struggled to get up before...

With their own domestic racing programmes decimated by COVID-19, many Europeans naturally looked to Randwick's card in Sydney to get their weekend fix of high-class racing. There was further reason to focus on 'The Championships' with Newmarket-based William Haggas having a fancied runner in two of the Group 1 races, the G1 Schweppes Sydney Cup and the G1 Longines Queen Elizabeth S. Happily, his representative Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB} won the latter race, the meeting's showpiece feature. This triumph (which, of course, is likely to be the final British-trained overseas...

Coronavirus cases in Japan spiked on Sunday, leading to a state of emergency in some regions set to be declared by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday. One-hundred forty-three new coronavirus cases in Tokyo were confirmed on Apr. 5, bringing the total in Japan to 4,563. The state of emergency, made possible by a recently amended law, empowers local authorities to instruct the public to stay at home and request the closure of schools and other facilities. Racing in Japan, which has continued...