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    • Japan's 2-year-olds are back in action on Dec. 21 in the Asahi Hai Futurity (G1), normally the bailiwick of runners destined for future glory at a mile.View the full article
    • Horse Racing Ireland has announced a prize-money boost of €4.2m to €74.7m as details for the 2026 budget was revealed on Friday. Equine welfare and integrity along with education and training as well as breeding and sales are other key areas that HRI has targeted for investment.  Details of the prize money strategy will be announced early in the New Year, together with 2026 revised race values which will commence from March 1. At the heart of this strategy is the delivery of a sustainable race programme and a competitive prize money distribution model. The budgeted number of race meetings in 2026 is 390. Meanwhile, following the recent Ministerial approval, the development of the Tipperary All Weather Track will commence early in 2026 with all-weather racing expected to commence in Q4 of 2027. This is a significant investment in the future of the racing industry.  There is provision in budget 2026 for grant aid for capital developments in racecourses under a new scheme launched during 2025. The expectation is that HRI will fund €20m-€24m by providing 40% grant aid over a 5-year period, underpinning total capital investment of €50m-€60m by racecourses on their public facing and industry facilities. With regards to funding towards breeding and sales, the IRE Incentive Scheme, designed to stimulate trade at Irish sales and to fortify the Irish thoroughbred breeding and racing industry is producing a significant multiplier effect in terms of investment in Irish-bred horses. In 2026, HRI will provide for €1.5m in vouchers, up by €0.2m from this year, for qualifying winners that can be spent on Irish-bred horses at Irish auctions in 2026 and 2027. Suzanne Eade, Chief Executive of Horse Racing Ireland, said, “Although HRI's overall allocation from the Horse & Greyhound Fund remained static in 2026, the revised allocation with €2m more available for current expenditure has allowed us to progress many of the ambitious plans laid out in our Strategic Plan 2024-2028. This has been achieved by driving efficiencies within the industry's operational expenditure, allowing us to respond to significant inflationary pressures.  “HRI has consulted with key stakeholders, owners, and racecourses in determining both prize money strategy and funding the changes for 2026. These increases in prize money are crucial to the attraction of inward investment into Irish racing, the widening of the ownership base, and the retention of both owners and horses.  “HRI welcomes the recent approval of the Tipperary All Weather Track Development by the Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, with the work due to commence early in 2026 for completion by the end of the following year.  “We have increased capital allocations, quite significantly, in the areas of equine welfare, in our people and their training, integrity, breeding and bloodstock sales and transformative digital and IT projects. “These measures, we believe, will provide Irish racing with a renewed stimulus, and afford greater attention to the people employed in it and to the horses themselves. As already stated, our commitment to nurturing success and inspiring participation will continue well beyond 2026 but it is vital these next steps are taken ahead of what will be an important year for our industry.” The post Boost In Prize-Money Revealed In Horse Racing Ireland Budget For 2026 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • What will racing look like in 10 years? We asked some of racing's best and brightest to give us their predictions. Want to submit an answer? Email suefinley@thetdn.com. BILL CASNER, CO-FOUNDER OF WINSTAR FARM What I am so optimistic about with horse racing right now is that young people are returning. Griffin Johnson has something like 2.5 million followers. When he went into the Derby, he had 1.2 million or something followers. He loves racing. He's got a vision of where it's going to go. He will bring, and he has the opportunity to bring, young people back to horse racing-make it hip-as long as we take care of our horses. Those young people must not see this as an abusive sport, which it has been. I've seen it for 62 years. But why I'm so optimistic is because we have put [the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act] HISA into effect. We have committed to eliminating the carnage. That's the number one thing-we have a future for the health and welfare of our horse. Without HISA, the outlook would be pretty grim. There are a lot of people out there that are anti-HISA. They look at HISA's growing pains, but they don't really reflect on what it has done for the horse. The only way we can survive as an industry is when we put the horse at the very top of the pyramid. And we have not been good at doing that in my lifetime. The horse has been a tool and it's been a commodity. You're talking about 10 years? You will have a fully matured HISA program that will be absolutely the cornerstone of our industry. We have the [diagnostic] tools. We're able to deal with [injuries] in an effective way before you ever have the catastrophic event. It's like the proverbial tear in the peanut package. I think we have a chance as an industry at rebirth. Golden Gate Fields | Horsephotos That said, California's gone. Belinda Stronach, she doesn't give a damn about horse racing. She could have been the one to save it. First thing she did was sell Golden Gate. Golden Gate was the heart and soul of the California breeding industry, and without that, the California breeding industry's gone. She's chosen to throw the industry in a ditch over more money. Beyond that, I'm optimistic. We have a chance for Arizona to come around again, perhaps have a place for those Western horses to run in Arizona. It's a big population center. The future of the Kentucky horse racing industry is so bright, because of the significant impact of historic horse racing on the economics. We have the best circuit in the country. Wyoming, too. Owners will go where the money is, you know. They've got historical horse racing up here. This is a market that really has a future in horse racing with this wonderful tool to grow our purses. Everything revolves around purses. Historical horse racing is a product that is owned by the industry. The commissions control it–it's not controlled by the legislature. What the legislature gives the legislature can take away. But with historical horse racing machines, those feed back into purses. We're also in a whole different age now of [artificial intelligence] AI. We're going to see in the next three years or so our whole economic paradigm change. It's a changing world. But I'm excited. I'm 77 years old and I am eating it up. I'm a horse junkie. I bought another mare the other day–I've got about 20 mares now. You know, every time one of those mamas gives me a new gift, man, it's just like Christmas. It's wonderful. The post Racing In 2036: Bill Casner appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • The inaugural edition of the $1-million Abu Dhabi Gold Cup will be run on Saturday, February 7. The one-turn turf mile will be the most valuable Thoroughbred race ever to be held in Abu Dhabi, with the winner set to receive $600,000. The race is free to enter, with entries closing on February 4. Travel and stabling costs for overseas runners will be paid for by the Abu Dhabi Turf Club with owners, trainers and jockeys also being hosted for the event. Racing manager Ali AlJAaffal said, “The $1-million Abu Dhabi Gold Cup will be the most valuable turf mile race to be staged in the Gulf region in 2026 and the new race demonstrates the ambition and vision of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the determination to take horse racing in Abu Dhabi to new levels. The Abu Dhabi Turf Club has long been an integral part of the globally respected horse racing scene in the UAE, and we look forward to attracting a truly international cast of participants to the inaugural $1-million Abu Dhabi Gold Cup and to developing the race into one of the most prestigious turf mile contests in the world in the years to come.” The race will be linked with the $1-million GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic, run over nine furlongs at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, May 2. The winner of the Abu Dhabi Gold Cup will receive an invitation from Churchill Downs Inc. to run in the Kentucky race, with entry fees waived and a travel stipends offered by the Abu Dhabi Turf Club. CDI vice president of racing Gary Palmisano said, “Churchill Downs, Inc. is fully committed to encouraging international participation in our extensive portfolio of Grade I races and we are delighted to announce the new link up between the $1-million GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic and the inaugural $1-million Abu Dhabi Gold Cup which is the most valuable mile race in the Gulf region. The Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic is one of five Grade I races on Kentucky Derby Day, annually one of the most spectacular days of sport in America broadcast to tens of millions of people throughout the world, and the association with the Abu Dhabi Turf Club is a demonstration of our commitment to international racing at the highest level.” The post Inaugural Abu Dhabi Gold Cup To Carry Million-Dollar Purse; Race Linked To Turf Classic appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • David Ward's year of celebration with Starman has continued into the run-up to Christmas as his filly Sound And Vision provided the breakthrough first-season sire with his 42nd winner at Southwell on Friday. After watching the Ed Walker trainee collect the five-furlong novice, he was keen to reflect on the season of all seasons. “You go into the year with hopes and dreams, don't you? But in life, hopes and dreams get dashed, never mind in horse racing,” he said. “To come out the other end with those hopes and dreams exceeded is amazing. You have to remind yourself the journey we have enjoyed with this horse ever since Lady Iman won first time out at Dundalk earlier in the year. To where we are now, it has been a white-knuckle ride. Unbelievable.” To illustrate how in vogue Starman is in right now, Tally-Ho Stud made something of an unprecedented move earlier this week to issue a statement saying that the stallion was full at €40,000. Two races after Sound And Vision on the Friday card, the filly Florida Suite made it 43 in the nursery. “They've never had to do that before,” Ward added. “He filled up pretty quickly last year as well, but he has been pretty close to full for the past number of weeks and obviously got over the line the other day. Every day has been Christmas for me for a long time this year. What more can you say? He's remarkable in his temperament and he's remarkable in what he has achieved at stud. Hopefully he will continue to be remarkable.” 1st-Southwell, £6,300, Novice, 12-19, 2yo, 4f 215y (AWT), :58.71, st. SOUND AND VISION (IRE) (f, 2, Starman {GB}–Commodus {Ire}, by Australia {GB}) Sales history: €21,000 Wlg '23 GOFNOF. Lifetime Record: 4-1-0-1, $6,707. O-David Ward; B-Michael & Martin Butler; T-Ed Walker. The post ‘Every Day Has Been Christmas’: Ward Celebrates Starman’s 42nd – And 43rd – Winner appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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