thoroughbreds

Monmouth Park and the connections of last year's champion male sprinter, Book'em Danno (Bucchero), are negotiating to get the five-year-old New Jersey-bred gelding to race at Monmouth on Friday, July 17, which is the day before the track's premier event, the GI Haskell Stakes. Dennis Drazin, the chairman and chief executive officer of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth, disclosed the plans during Wednesday's New Jersey Racing Commission meeting. Drazin explained that the initiative would involve a special day in Book'em Danno's honor, with the aim of promoting the overall...

Despite broad Thoroughbred industry support, those who seek to keep the slaughter pipeline active are flexing their muscles in Washington D.C. in the hopes of trying to kill progress. One such group is the Public Lands Council (PLC), a nonprofit representing cattle and sheep farmers who graze herds on public land. The National Thoroughbred Alliance sent a letter to the PLC's executive director Kaitlynn Glover, reprinted below for industry awareness, after a PLC publication indicated their active opposition to the Van Drew--Titus Amendment which passed last week, calling these accomplishments...

The major yearling sales are still a few months out, but to Kristin Brennan they are right around the corner. The yearling manager at Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center isn't concerned because she's always dialed in. As part of a family of horsemen, including her father Niall and brother Colin, who helms the operation at Highlander in East Texas, Kristin has literally grown up around the sport of horse racing. "I started riding when I was maybe three and my granddad would come from Ireland and he'd throw...

Due to heavy, sustained precipitation, Sunday's flat meet at Fair Hill, part of the two-day "Fair Hill Turf Showcase" over Memorial Day weekend, has been canceled, the National Steeplechase Association said via a release on Saturday. After several days of rain in the region, racing officials and horsemen scrutinized the turf course on Saturday morning and, out of an abundance of caution, decided to abandon the event. Tickets purchased for Sunday will be refunded. Live racing will resume on Memorial Day Monday at 1:00 p.m. ET with a nine-race card....

In 2020, the Southern California Equine Foundation and its research arm, the Dolly Green Research Foundation, funded the development of the world's first standing PET scanner. Standing PET showed potential to allow the detection of specific pre-existing injuries which hitherto escaped recognition by either clinical exam or diagnostic technique. That investment has proved invaluable to the safety of California racing.  Standing PET technology is now deployed in racing venues ranging from Australia to Europe. The Board of Directors of the SCEF/DGRF is composed of industry representatives, veterinarians and trainers. From...

Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable's homebred Golden Tempo (Curlin), the Keeneland-based winner of the May 2, GI Kentucky Derby, on Saturday turned in his second of three works at the track in preparation for the GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course June 6, according to a press release from Keeneland on Saturday morning. With jockey Jose Ortiz aboard for trainer Cherie DeVaux, the colt covered five furlongs on a good track in 1:00.20. The workout was originally planned for Friday, but was postponed due to wet conditions after...

The New York Backstretch Employees Pension Trust has a bit of a "well-kept secret" shroud to it. Even longtime Thoroughbred owners who compete on the New York Racing Association (NYRA) circuit are sometimes unaware that a pension fund exists for the backstretch workers, and that 2% of the purses at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course are invested toward the retirements of the people who provide daily, hands-on care for horses. Despite the under-the-radar nature of the fund, those who oversee it are continually trying to make sure...

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) has appointed Dr. Megan Knoell and Donald Little, III to its board of directors, according to a press release from the organization on Thursday. Dr. Knoell is the founder of Knoellwood Equine and has dedicated her career to providing individualized equine care with a focus on general medicine, geriatrics, and sports medicine. Little currently serves as Vice President of Sales at Centennial Farms, continuing a family legacy deeply rooted in the Thoroughbred industry. "We are thrilled to welcome Megan and Donald to the TRF Board...

A three-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey and a member of the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame, Ramón A. Domínguez has been retired since 2013, when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a racing accident. He has since devoted his time to helping causes like the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and New York Race Track Chaplaincy, and he was instrumental in the introduction of the 360 Gentle Touch Riding Crop, a modernized and more humane version of the traditional whip. After the initial recovery from his accident, Domínguez was...

Horses long ago tutored Eoin Harty in the kind of coincidences that defy rational explanation, as we'll discover when reaching the story of Well Armed. But losing both parents inside a week, in February, was maybe not quite as bewildering as it may seem. As Harty says himself, after 66 happy years together, perhaps the reason his father followed his mother so quickly was not so much a heart attack, as a broken heart. As a fifth-generation trainer, Harty owed not just personal but professional formation to his Irish genes....

The purse for Churchill Downs's marquee race for older horses, the Grade I Stephen Foster on Saturday, June 27, has been doubled from $1 million to $2 million, according to a press release from the track on Wednesday. Billed as the "Summer Showdown," the 45th running of the 1 1/8-mile dirt race for 4-year-olds--which is part of the Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' Challenge Series--will be broadcast on NBCSN and Peacock from 4:30-6:30 p.m. (all times Eastern). Five of the world's elite dirt horses have already expressed interest in...

Golden Tempo (Curlin), the winner of the GI Kentucky Derby, put in his first workout at Keeneland on Friday, May 15 since capturing the big race for trainer Cherie DeVaux, according to a post on X by Gabby Gaudet. In company with 4-year-old stablemate So Sandy (Omaha Beach), the 3-year-old drilled four furlongs in :48.60 (10/74). The splits for the half mile move were :25.2, :36.2 and :48.3. Golden Tempo galloped out five-eighths in 1:01.1. Owned by Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, the colt could be pointing to a...