turf racing

Seven 3-year-old males have assembled to contest the annual renewal of the GIII Penn Mile Stakes over the turf on Friday evening. Look for D J Stable's MSW Alpyland (Vekoma) to garner quite a bit of interest by the betting public. Starting back in January, the gelding captured a pair of black-type wins when he took home the hardware in the Dania Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park and in the Columbia Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. The Mark Casse trainee finished fourth in the GI American Turf Stakes on the...

Sandtrap (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}--Zindaya {GSW, $567,240}, by More Than Ready) began her career as a juvenile in the care of trainer Ralph Beckett and the dark bay broke her maiden at first asking to earn a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', at Salisbury that September. The filly was the runner-up to eventual GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Gezora (Fr) (Almanzor (Fr) in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs Stakes at Deauville a month later. Both Sandtrap and Gezora were transferred to Chad Brown's...

After being delayed due to punishing winter weather in January and February, and with continued overnight cold extending into March, turf racing will return Thursday, Apr. 16 at the Big A, NYRA announced Sunday afternoon. The eight-race card has four turf contests slated to go at Aqueduct and will still commence earlier than both 2024 and 2025 despite the two-week delay. A six-furlong maiden sprint on the outer turf for fillies and mares will inaugurate grass racing in Race 4 and sophomore fillies will run a mile maiden special in...

The 2026 start of turf racing at Aqueduct Racetrack will be moved back two weeks due to the impact of heavy snowfall in January and February paired with continued cold overnight temperatures in March, according to The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) release Sunday. Turf racing was initially slated to begin on Friday, Apr. 3, but the launch of the 2026 grass campaign on the NYRA circuit will move to Thursday, Apr. 16. The Listed $150,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes, which was slated to be the first turf stakes...

On May 22, the HISA Board of Directors will take a vote that could result in the ban of Lasix in all races. Any decision made by the Board, whether to keep the rules as they are, or to enact a full ban, must be unanimous. In response, five trainers and Eric Hamelback, the CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, signed a letter imploring HISA to continue to allow the use of the medication in most races. Trainer Ron Moquett was among those signing the letter. To...

Lael Stables's MGISW She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}), considered the top American runner to challenge the Europeans in GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf Stakes, continued her steady pattern for trainer Cherie DeVaux by working a half-mile in :48 on Friday morning at Keeneland. Drilling with stablemate & GSW Taking Candy (Twirling Candy), the 4-year-old logged her fifth Friday half-mile breeze since winning the GI E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 16, which offered the filly an automatic ticket to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar....

Down on the Lone Star Park turf, Ritzaphena (Lexitonian--Ritz and Glitz, by Desert Party) held on late to graduate at first asking and also hand her first-crop sire his first win. The 2-year-old exited from the extreme outside and worked her way over nicely to rate in third around the far turn. Gearing up through the backstretch, the filly started to make her move on the leader and she took control around the far turn. Ritzaphena was pursued by Shidoni (Gormley) down the lane, and she found the wire in...

The Saratoga meet has just gotten started and it's already appears that Mother Nature is ready for a nasty fight, one NYRA is going to have a hard time winning. On paper, Saturday's card looked excellent with the GII Bowling Green S. and the GI Diana S., plus three maiden 2-year-old races that included a lot of horse with a lot of potential. But the card was wrecked before it started, thanks to a deluge of rain Saturday morning. It came down hard and heavy for about an hour. They...

8th-Fair Grounds, $53,800, Alw (NW1X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 3-21, 3yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:04.31, fm, 3/4 length. HEY BERTIE (f, 3, Kantharos--Believe in Bertie {MSW & MGSP, $413,482}, by Langfuhr) debuted a winner by 1 1/2 lengths in an off-the-turf sprint in New Orleans Jan. 17. After firing a bullet on the fast track in the Big Easy Mar. 14 (4f, :47.80, 1/114), the filly was well-backed as the 9-5 choice here. The homebred bided her time near the rear of the field up the backstretch as a scramble for the...

2nd-GP, $94K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:25 p.m. ET. Carrying the same colors as her successful dam, DOUBLE JEOPARDY (Uncle Mo) is set for her unveiling for Bass Stables and Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. The first-time starter is out of Avenge (War Front), the winner of back-to-back editions of the GI Rodeo Drive Stakes, who counts as a full-sister recent GII Buena Vista Stakes heroine Liguria. Double Jeopardy's older half-sister Defiance (Curlin) broke her maiden at first asking at Santa Anita Jan. 26 for Ramona Bass. Also on...

Every few years the Eclipse Award goes to a horse (always a turf horse) who ships in from overseas--usually fresh--and wins a Breeders' Cup race and our designated voters make the horse an American champion. I remember going down to New Orleans 25 years ago to watch the 9-year-old gelding John's Call (Lord At War {Arg})--a people's horse if there ever was--be named champion turf horse after watching him win the Sword Dancer (by nine lengths) and the Man o' War. Unfortunately in the GI Breeder's Cup Turf he got...

It's the end of an era for the Virginia Derby. After 21 editions dating back to 1998 at Colonial Downs, the 1 1/8-mile turf event that historically anchors the Closing Day card will move to the main track and be conducted in March as part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby. And so it seems only fitting that a pair of horses who took on the Triple Crown trail just this season brought this race down to the wire with GIII Gotham Stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Deterministic...