Sports

Kurow was the epitome of country racing, as usual. Well presented track, happy and substantial crowd and hospitable committee.  Sharrock was on course, as he usually is these days,  as were Peter and Dawn Williams,  it would have been enjoyable even without Jing producing her result at her first start for us.  One of the most genuine in his congratulations was previous trainer Kenny Moore,  he's a thoroughly decent bloke and does love his horses. 

Gerardo Corrales, Mike Maker and John Stewart's Resolute Racing were the leading jockey, trainer and owner, respectively, during the Holiday Meet at Turfway Park. Corrales booted home 14 winners, outdistancing Fernando de la Crus, Luan Machado and Irving Moncada, who each rode 11 winners. Corrales was the leading rider at the Holiday Meet from 2020 through 2022 and the Winter/Spring Meet in 2021-2022. Runners sent out by the Mike Maker barn won seven races, one better than Larry Rivelli and three clear of Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, John Ennis and Brendan Walsh on four victories. Resolute won its first owner's title as part of a six-way tie for the top, but posted earnings of $199,253, just better than Godolphin with $169,894. Also finishing with two wins were Two Hearts Farm, Tom Lambro, Bubba Rodgers, Ricky Short, and the partnership of Down the Stretch Racing, Craftyhorse Racing, Homer Schafer, and Robert Sulzberger Jr. The Holiday Meet delivered strong returns for horseplayers, with the average 50-cent Pick 5 paying a remarkable $32,219, showcasing the sizable wagering pools available on a nightly basis. Additionally, the average $2 win mutuel returned an impressive $18.37. The Winter/Spring meet at Turfway begins on New Year's Day with a special 1 p.m. post time. Racing continues Thursday through Saturday beginning at 5:55 p.m. The post Corrales, Maker, Resolute Win Turfway Titles appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Old Friends Retirement Farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, has announced the addition of six graded stakes winners to their farm: Count Again, Delaunay, Mission Impazible, Normandy Invasion, Rainbow Heir and Warrior's Reward. “Without a doubt, this has been a banner year for new arrivals at Old Friends,” said John Nicholson, President and CEO of Old Friends. “Having these horses take their place as new residents is further testimony that Old Friends continues to earn its reputation as a longstanding leader in Thoroughbred aftercare. “We remain grateful to the connections of all of the 297 horses who reside at our farms and, most importantly, to the many people who contribute to Old Friends which makes it possible for us to provide such a safe and comfortable retirement for these horses, all of whom gave their best for us.” Each of the six has settled in at Old Friends, having arrived at different stages during 2024. The post Old Friends Welcomed Six Graded Winners In 2024 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The momentum built by the opening-day, six graded-stakes program at Santa Anita carried on into the weekend, as bettors pushed all-sources handle to over $50.4 million over the course of the 39 races between Thursday, Dec. 26 and Sunday, Dec. 29. Aided by strong support from owners and trainers that led to an increase in field size from 2023, the stretch was led by the $21.4-million turnover on Thursday's program, topped by the GI Malibu Stakes, won by Raging Torrent (Maximus Mischief) and the GI La Brea Stakes, taken out by Kopion (Omaha Beach). That amount was the third-highest recorded on opening day in the history of the track and was the fourth time in the last seven years exceeding $20 million. Total attendance for the four days was better than 62,000, with over 41,000 heading through the turnstiles on opening day. Santa Anita hosts a special New Year's Day program this Wednesday, with nine live races, and the four-day week continues Friday through Sunday. The post Santa Anita Handles Over $50M On Opening Weekend appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Camelot (GB), sire of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Bluestocking (GB), is the champion sire in France for 2024 as well as being the leading stallion in Europe. He also had the third home in the Arc, Los Angeles (Ire), who earlier in the season had landed the Irish Derby. Bluestocking's top-level wins in 2024 included the Pretty Polly Stakes and Prix Vermeille, while Camelot's durable son Luxembourg (Ire), who has recently retired to Castle Hyde Stud, added a fourth Group 1 win to his tally in the Coronation Cup at Epsom. Among Camelot's other major winners in France were OTI Racing's Sevenna's Knight, whose three group victories included the G2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier, and the Wertheimer-bred Pensee Du Jour (Ire), winner of the G2 Prix Corrida. The stallion's total earnings in France were just over €5 million.  Second in the French table was another 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner, Sea The Stars (Ire), whose leading runner in the country was the well-bred Sosie (Ire), winner of the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G2 Prix Foy. Lope De Vega (Ire), who provided two of this year's French Classic winners in last-gasp Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Rouhiya (Fr) and Prix du Jockey Club winner Look De Vega (Fr), took third in the championship, just ahead of the leading sire domestically in France, Siyouni (Fr).  The remarkable Mqse De Sevigne (Ire) kept the flag flying for the Haras de Bonneval resident, with her wins in the G1 Prix Rothschild and G1 Prix Jean Romanet being a repeat performance of her double strike in Deauville the previous summer. Wootton Bassett (GB) may have left France four years ago but his legacy continues in the country where he made his name, and he was fifth in the sires' table, separating Siyouni from his fellow Aga Khan Studs stallion Zarak (Fr). The latter, a son of Dubawi (Ire) and the brilliant Zarkava (Fr), is the real rising star of the French ranks.  Earlier this month a 1/50th share in the stallion was sold for €800,000 during an Arqana online sale. Zarak's first Classic winner came this year when Metropolitan won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains. He is now ensconced at Haras d'Etreham. G2 Prix d'Harcourt winner Zarakem (Fr) has recently joined Ciaron Maher's stable in Australia with a plan in place for him to return to France to join the Etreham ranks at the conclusion of his racing career.  On the subject of Haras d'Etreham, two of their younger members are making notable inroads in the stallion ranks. City Light (Fr), by Siyouni, was the leading first-season sire of 2023 and he has backed up that early good impression with an eleventh place finish in the general sires' table in France. He was actually eighth overall by number of winners (42) from just two crops of racing age, including the G3 Prix Miesque winner Mimos (Fr) and six other stakes performers.  The champion first-crop sire title returns to Etreham for 2024 and has been won by the dual Group 1-winning sprinter Hello Youmzain (Fr), an increasingly useful looking son of Kodiac (GB). His 13 winners in France (from 33 runners) put him one ahead of Wooded (Fr), Haras de Bouquetot's similarly fast son of Wootton Bassett. In total, Hello Youmzain was represented by 21 winners across Europe, which put him in fourth position in that particular table, behind Sergei Prokofiev, Pinatubo (Ire) and Mohaather (GB). He has sired two Group 3 winners to date – Electrolyte (Ire) and Misunderstood (FR) – along with two other stakes performers.  In third among the French freshmen is Etreham's Persian King, while another Bouquetot resident, Romanised (Ire) was fourth. The latter, a son of Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) who won the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Prix Jacques le Marois for Ken Condon, has sired nine winners to date. You can take the boy out of Germany… Sea The Moon (Ger), winner of the G1 Deutsches Derby ten years ago, may never have stood in Germany but he continues to make his presence felt in his native country. The Lanwades stallion is the German champion sire once more, having also won the title in 2023 after siring the winners of the both the Deutsches Derby and the Preis der Diana (in which he also had the first three home). He was also Germany's leading first-season sire of 2018. The Derby winner of 2023, Fantastic Moon (Ger), continued to be Sea The Moon's leading earner this year, adding the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden to his Classic success, and he now joins the stallion ranks himself at Gestut Ebbesloh.  Fantastic Moon is not the only son of Sea The Moon to be retiring to stud in Germany in 2025 as Assistent (Ger), winner of the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern, returns to Gestut Rottgen, where he was bred, with an impressive seven stakes wins to his credit from 23 starts for Henk Grewe. This year's Deutsches Derby winner Palladium (Ger), also trained by Grewe, was sold at the Arqana Arc Sale in October for €1.4 million and has now joined Nicky Henderson's stable with a jumping career ahead of him. Whether he will be sent hurdling as an entire remains to be seen, but he helped his sire Gleneagles (Ire) to second place in the German stallion table. The range of the Coolmore sire's offspring was highlighted when Mill Stream (Ire) won the G1 July Cup over six furlongs, and it is worth reflecting that Gleneagles also had the runner-up in the Derby, Ambiente Friendly (Fr). Incidentally, Palladium's Classic victory also ensured that his breeder Gestut Fahrhof will be crowned champion breeder in Germany this year. In third and fourth in the German sires' table were the late Adlerflug (Ger), whose son Goliath (Ger) ensured that his name was still in lights across Europe by winning the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, and Soldier Hollow (GB), who died in May and was also represented by a British Group 1 winner in Tamfana (Ger).  Make Believe Leads the Way in Italy Irish-based stallions dominated the Italian sires' championship in 2024, with Ballylinch Stud's Make Believe (GB) leading the way, largely thanks to his unbeaten juvenile daughter Klaynn (Ire). Trained by Endo Botti and bred by Massimo Parri's Allevamento Le Gi, Klaynn's three victories included the G2 Premio Dormello and Listed Premio Repubbliche Marinare Trofeo. Make Believe's trio of stakes winners in Italy this year was completed by G2 Premio Gran Criterium winner Lazio (Ger) and the Listed winner Fast Spirit (Ire). The Parri family also bred the leading scorer for the runner-up in the table, Sioux Nation. The three-year-old Sioux Life (ITY), who, like Klaynn, is trained by Endo Botti and is out of a mare by Rip Van Winkle (Ire), completed an excellent October for the Tuscan-based Le Gi when winning the G2 Premio Lydia Tesio and G3 Premio Verziere Memorial Aldo Cirla. She has also won three Listed races across the last two seasons.  The G2 Derby Italiano winner Borna (Fr), who was later runner-up in the G1 Deutsches Derby, ensured third place in the Italian table for his sire Saxon Warrior (Jpn). Among the first-season sires in Italy, the exquisitely bred Mount Everest (Ire), by Galileo (Ire) out of Six Perfections (Fr), has made a positive start from his base at Azienda Agricola Luciani and is the country's leading freshman sire with seven winners from 13 runners.  Behind him in the table is Starfield Stud's Far Above (Ire), whose two Listed winners, Kabir (Ire) and the Group 2-placed Nigrum Regina (Ire), have both struck in Italy.    The post Camelot, Sea The Moon and Make Believe Top Sire Lists Across Europe appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article