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Hong Kong Derby hero Sky Darci ‘pretty close to being spot on’ as racetrack return looms
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Hong Kong Derby hero Sky Darci ‘pretty close to being spot on’ as racetrack return looms
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Chad Schofield chases a Fantastic five with the shining light of his ‘disappointing’ season
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
After watching a bill she filed last July to restore a gambler's right to deduct 100% of losses from gambling winnings languish without consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada on Thursday initiated a discharge petition in an attempt to bypass committee action and force it to a vote before the full Congress. “My FAIR BET Act has been sitting in @WaysMeansCmte for eight months, despite commitments from @HouseGOP to restore the full gambling loss deduction,” Titus wrote Feb. 12 in a posting on the X social media platform. “I am now filing a discharge petition to bring it to the House floor for a vote. “Both high-stakes and hobby gamblers are struggling,” Titus continued. “And local economies like [Nevada's First District] that depend on gaming revenue are hurting. We need 218 signatures to bring this commonsense fix to the floor. Call your representatives and tell them to sign on.” The 2025 Tax Act (aka the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, reduced the percentage of gambling losses that a taxpayer can deduct from 100% to 90%. Previously, if a horseplayer won $100,000 and incurred $100,000 in gambling losses during the year, he or she would have been able to fully offset the winnings with losses, resulting in no taxable gambling income. But under the new rule, a bettor can deduct only 90% of those losses ($90,000), leaving 10% ($10,000) of taxable income, even though that gambler broke even in reality. This change does not affect 2025 tax year returns that gamblers are now preparing to file. It only applies to gambling wins and losses occurring in and after 2026. Additionally, the deduction is still only available to taxpayers who itemize deductions. It is unclear if Titus's use of the discharge petition will actually work, or if it will end up serving only as a procedural signifier to underscore her frustrations over being a Democrat trying to pass legislation in a paralyzed U.S. House of Representatives that is narrowly but steadfastly controlled by Republicans. According to a recent report in Newsweek, the current 119th Congress has produced the lowest legislative output in modern history, passing only a few dozen bills. Capitol Building | Getty The House's Ways and Means Committee is chaired by U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, and the committee's members are Republican over Democrat by a 26 to 19 margin. The Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over revenue and related issues, has reported on only 15 bills since Titus filed the FAIR BET Act on July 7. There are at least 58 bills in the queue for Ways and Means consideration according to the committee's web page on Congress.gov. The FAIR BET Act has 23 co-sponsors (13 Democrats and 10 Republicans). According to an explanation on Congress.gov, the House discharge rule “provides a means for Members to bring to the floor for consideration a public bill or resolution that has been referred to committee but not reported. Discharge is generally the only procedure by which Members can secure consideration of a measure without cooperation from the committee(s) of referral, the majority-party leadership, or the Committee on Rules. For this reason, discharge is designed to be time-consuming to execute and difficult to accomplish.” Although discharge petitions were once used only sparingly, they have lately cycled into vogue as a means to circumvent the stalled nature of governance in the U.S. Congress. But even if a petition does reach 218 signatures, an actual floor vote on the discharge motion isn't automatic. Consideration still depends on the House's schedule and on party leadership decisions. A report by National Public Radio (NPR) in January described the process this way: “Seldom-deployed in recent decades, the discharge petition is now seeing a surge in use and success.” According to NPR's research, since 2023, “seven discharge petitions have reached the 218 threshold, the same number as in the previous four decades.” Titus's discharge petition had been signed by no other legislators as of mid-morning on Feb. 13. The post Discharge Petition Filed In Attempt To Force House Vote On Restoring Gambling-Loss Tax Deductions To 100% appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Jockey Club published its 2026 Industry Impact Report Friday, which includes a consolidated statement of income for 2025 listing total investment in industry initiatives as $6.3-million, with nearly $1.7-million going to Thoroughbred aftercare, the organization said in a press release on Friday. Located at the back of the document, last year's income statement itemizes industry initiatives and investment, which includes funding America's Best Racing ($2.164 million), aftercare ($1.67 million) and industry support ($2.5 million) for a total of $6.3 million. Since 2010, The Jockey Club says it has re-invested more than $112 million back into the industry. This year, another $7 million will bring the investment total to nearly $120 million to fund and grow the sport in areas such as aftercare and second careers for Thoroughbreds, promotion of the sport, education, and national and international collaboration. “The Jockey Club remains steadfast in its mission to improve Thoroughbred breeding and racing,” said James L. Gagliano, president and COO, The Jockey Club. “Each year we continue to expand on that mission by assisting Thoroughbreds throughout their lives and marketing and growing the sport and its fanbase.” The statement of income also includes the operating results of The Jockey Club's tax-exempt Registry as well as its wholly owned subsidiaries. The statement was prepared for internal management reporting and may reflect allocations that may differ from those used in external financial reporting and publicly disclosed tax forms such as IRS Form 990, which discloses financial information specific to the tax-exempt Registry only. “Releasing our consolidated statement of income reiterates our commitment to transparency within the industry,” Gagliano said. Click here to view the report. The post The Jockey Club’s ’25 Consolidated Income Reports $6.3 Million For Industry Initiatives And Investment appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Wagering on Lecomte Stakes (G3) runner-up Mesquite in Pool 4 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager has been suspended due to a suspected soft tissue injury that removed him from Kentucky Derby consideration.View the full article -
‘People Are Really Starting To Follow Us’ – Breeders Get Behind Capital Stud and New Recruit Topgear
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
For a team which prides itself on never taking a backward step, Topgear is a suitably-named newcomer to the stallion roster at Capital Stud for 2026, with this latest offering being snapped up by breeders with such alacrity that the forward-thinking operation in County Kilkenny must be doing something right. Founded in 2020 by Ger O'Neill and Darragh McCarthy, Capital Stud describes itself as “a syndicate made up of prominent industry figures who have committed to supporting their stallions in the breeding shed and in the sales ring”. “We'd like to get as big as we can,” added O'Neill in an interview with TDN Europe in January 2024. “We're very motivated to make Capital Stud better and are excited to see how far we can go in this industry. It's a very hard business, but it's an enjoyable one, and I'd love nothing more than to be standing one of the big-name Flat stallions. That's the goal. If we don't hit that goal, fine, but it won't be for a lack of trying.” Following the arrival of Topgear, there is clearly a strong belief among the team at Capital Stud that its hard work might be about to pay off. The son of Wootton Bassett joins Castle Star as one of two Flat stallions on the roster, having won seven of his 18 starts when trained in Chantilly by Christopher Head for owner Hisaaki Saito. Four of those victories were achieved in Group company, including a five-and-a-half-length demolition of some smart rivals in the G2 Challenge Stakes at Newmarket in October 2024. “We'd been on the lookout for a while for a horse that could elevate our Flat side of things a little bit,” reiterates Cormac O'Flynn, who joined the team at Capital Stud around the time that the Derby hero and leading National Hunt stallion Authorized relocated there from Turkey. “We'd followed Topgear for a long time and I suppose, when he won the Challenge Stakes in Newmarket, that was probably the standout performance that we'd been looking for. We moved very quickly afterwards and were delighted to put an agreement in place.” Saito, meanwhile, has stayed involved in Topgear and is keen to support his stallion career, according to O'Flynn. If backing their stallions in the sales ring is just as important as doing so in the breeding shed for the team at Capital Stud, then they appear to have found a kindred spirit in the Japanese owner. At last year's Goffs November Sale, for example, Sebastien Desmontils of Chauvigny Global Equine signed for three first-crop foals by Good Guess on behalf of Saito, clearly eager to row in behind the stallion who had carried his owner's silks to victory in the G1 Prix Jean Prat. Saito's trio of purchases at Kildare Paddocks included the most expensive colt at €150,000 and the most expensive filly at €105,000. “We all saw what he did with Good Guess at Goffs November,” O'Flynn adds. “It was great to see and he's pledged something similar for Topgear. We look forward to hopefully getting some good foals in front of him, and other buyers as well, at foal and yearling sales in the coming years.” Topgear will certainly be on the right track if he can produce foals that take after himself, with O'Flynn describing the almost-jet-black stallion as “a forward horse”. “He stands about 16.1hh and has plenty of size and a good walk, so he'll tick a lot of the commercial boxes as well,” he adds. Of course, whilst Topgear's best performance didn't come until the autumn of his five-year-old season, it's worth remembering that he'd previously been precocious enough to win three times as a juvenile, culminating with a narrow victory in the G3 Prix Eclipse at Chantilly. “He was an unbeaten two-year-old,” O'Flynn says of Topgear's early career on the racecourse. “He shared characteristics with his father in a lot of ways – he was probably a seven-furlong specialist, really. We then didn't get to see him at three. Unfortunately, he broke his pelvis and missed 577 days. “He came back and really peaked as a five-year old, winning the Group 3 [Prix du Pin] in Longchamp over seven [furlongs] and then following that up in the Challenge Stakes, a Group 2 where he got the big Timeform rating of 123. He was very impressive that day, winning by five and a half lengths, and that was probably his standout performance. “We kept him in training as a six-year-old and Christopher Head was adamant that a Group 1 was within reach. It started great. He won a Group 3 [Prix du Palais-Royal] on his first start and we went to Royal Ascot very excited but, unfortunately, he aggravated the pelvis again, so we kind of looked after him from there.” O'Flynn adds, “He was a very tough racehorse and very resilient. He ran 18 times, won seven races and was second on a further five occasions. Hopefully, he can put that grit and toughness into his stock and give himself a chance of success as a stallion.” One thing is for sure: Topgear won't lack for support if the way he went down with breeders during the recent ITM Irish Stallion Trail is anything go by. One of five sons of Wootton Bassett to retire to stud in Ireland for 2026, Topgear offers a point of difference, according to O'Flynn, having been introduced at a fee of €7,500. He explains, “Wootton Bassett speaks for himself, an incredible stallion, and he's going to leave a big legacy, hopefully. He's five sons at stud this year. We're delighted to be able to give breeders access at probably a different price point to a lot of them, so he represents tremendous value. “He's by Wootton Bassett and out of a Giant's Causeway mare [Miss Lech], out of a Quiet American mare [Mysterieuse Etoile], so he's a big outcross and he'll be able suit a lot of the population [of mares] in Ireland, England and France.” O'Flynn continues, “Fingers crossed, we've a good group of breeders that have come together. We did a syndication for him when we got him here. A lot of Irish breeders have bought one and a half or two percent shares, so we have a nice group. We're keen to do that here at Capital Stud, to allow people to come on the journey with us and, hopefully, set us up for success in the long term. “It's still in its infancy, really. We're quite young, but people are really starting to follow us. There are a lot of young breeders and we're trying to be as dynamic as we can, offering opportunities to buy into stallions or trying to open up new bloodlines. “We stand here sons of Deep Impact [Martinborough], Montjeu [Authorized], Starspangledbanner [Castle Star], Wootton Bassett and Frankel [Mirage Dancer], so to be able to offer a younger, more dynamic group of breeders access to those stallions and to buy in to them is important to us. Hopefully, we can all go on the journey and win together over the coming years.” The post ‘People Are Really Starting To Follow Us’ – Breeders Get Behind Capital Stud and New Recruit Topgear appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
At an unspecified date in the future Saudi Arabia will have a brand new racecourse at Qiddiya City, which will eventually host the Saudi Cup, according to an announcement made earlier this week. But for now the world's richest race belongs in Riyadh. Development has continued apace at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, which has now been in operation for 24 years. Much has changed, even in the short history of the Saudi Cup, both to the infrastructure at the racecourse and in the status of some of the contests. The Saudi Cup itself gained a Group 1 tag back in 2021, ahead of the third running of the race, and now it is joined at that international top tier by the Howden Neom Turf Cup, which on Saturday will become the first Group 1 race on grass to be staged in Saudi Arabia. Bob Baffert served up the Field of Dreams analogy in an interview during the week, and of course when $20m is attached to a race it will draw top horses from all over the world. In 2021, Classic winner Mishriff became the first European to take the race, and remains the only one to have done so, with subsequent runnings having gone to horses trained in Saudi, America and Japan. Yoshito Yahagi is the only trainer to have won it twice, initially with Panthalassa in 2023, and he has brought last year's winner, Japan's Horse of the Year Forever Young (Real Steel), back for another shot in an attempt to extend his record further still. Japanese horsemen now come in droves to the winter fixtures in the Middle East. In the six-year history of the Saudi Cup, 16 of the 47 international thoroughbred races have gone to a Japanese runner and there are 20 horses from the country here in Saudi. It should come as no surprise as, in addition to the Cup itself, Japan secured a clean sweep of last year's turf races with Shin Emperor (Siyouni), Ascoli Piceno (Daiwa Major) and Byzantine Dream (Epiphaneia). The latter has not travelled to Saudi this year for a repeat attempt at the G2 Red Sea Turf Handicap but is instead in Qatar where he will run in the G2 HH The Amir Trophy. For this year's main event, Forever Young will be tough to beat. Baffert, having twice finished second in the Saudi Cup, launches a double-pronged attack and said on Thursday that the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos (Nyquist) is the best horse he has brought for the Saudi Cup to date, from five previous runners. He also fields Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach), who the trainer compared favourably to his 2022 runner-up Country Grammer. Yahagi's former assistant Kyoko Maekawa, the first female trainer to be licensed in the JRA, has her first shot at international glory with Sunrise Kipangu (Kizuna), a versatile sort when it comes to both trip and surface. Her compatriot Noriyuki Hori, who came close to Royal Ascot glory last year with Satono Reve, will saddle the third challenger from Japan, Luxor Cafe (American Pharoah), the mount of Joao Moreira. The Godolphin-bred Banishing (Ghostzapper) was bought by Larry Roman for $80,000 as a four-year-old in training, and Roman has raced him since then with trainer David Jacobson. On Saturday Banishing will race for those two partners along with Sharaf Al Hariri, who bought into the six-year-old in recent days – a strategy which worked well for him when he took a share in the 2024 winner Senor Buscador just prior to the race. Meanwhile the fellow American-trained Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo) will also carry local hopes. The Brad Cox trainee, the winner of four graded stakes at up to nine furlongs, is now listed in the ownership of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz and Sons. Ghaiyyath filly Ameerat Alzamaan leads a team of five Saudi-trained challengers and will be ridden by Ryan Moore. The four-year-old was runner-up to Mhally (Sergei Prokofiev) in the G3 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup, a Saudi Cup qualifying race over course and distance. Bridesmaid Survie goes for Group 1 glory The new Group 1 status of the Howden Neom Turf Cup, along with its $3m purse, has proved sufficient enticement for the new connections of Survie, who changed hands for 1.9 million gns at Tattersalls in December. The five-year-old daughter of Churchill now runs in the colours of Doreen Tabor and has moved to the stable of George Boughey, who gave her a warm-up run, and win, in the Winter Derby Trial at Lingfield on January 31. “She came out of the race good, she didn't do a huge amount last week but has shipped over in great shape,” Boughey said. “Dropping back to this 2,100-metre trip was always my plan, especially with this race having been upgraded to a Group 1 and with an extra $1m in prize-money, it was an obvious point for her.” Survie has been placed in Group 1 contests on four occasions, including when second to Sparkling Plenty in the Prix de Diane. She fully deserves to be a top-level winner in her own right but will have to see off last year's winner, the aforementioned Shin Emperor, as well as recent G2 Bahrain Trophy winner Royal Champion (Shamardal) and his runner-up Galen (Gleneagles). Alohi Alii (Duramente) claimed the G3 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano on his last trip outside Japan and will likely be better suited by the 2,100-metre trip and faster ground after being thwarted in the Arc. The 2024 G1 Dubai Turf winner Facteur Cheval (Ribchester) and last year's GI Canadian International winner Silawi (Dubawi), now seven and six respectively, add some depth to an 11-strong field drawn from six different nations. Melrose winners clash in Red Sea Turf Bar two runners from Japan – Struve (King Kamehameha) and Vermiclles (Gold Ship) – the $2.5m G2 Red Sea Turf Handicap is an entirely European affair featuring some well known names and emerging stayers. The last two winners of York's Melrose Handicap, so often a good pointer to some progressive types, face each other, with Tom Clover's Tabletalk having been gelded since we saw him last at Chester in August. The trainer rides him daily and feels he will be well suited to the faster ground he will encounter in Riyadh. The 2025 Melrose winner was the Juddmonte homebred Tarriance, a son of Frankel from the family of Hasili who has also recently been gelded. Trained by Andrew Balding, his only blip in six runs to date was his last-place finish in the St Leger on soft ground, but he too should enjoy these more suitable conditions. “It's great having a Juddmonte horse out here,” said the trainer's wife Annalisa Balding. “He didn't run at two and just improved so much last year. He's very straightforward and hopefully will enjoy the trip.” Epic Poet (Lope De Vega) was second in the race last year for David O'Meara, who said of the seven-year-old, “I think his prep, especially going out to Dubai this year, has been better. “I'm unsure about the draw in 12, but we're hopeful. He's very versatile and can sit right behind the leaders or take his time in the back if they're going hard.” Joseph O'Brien has scratched his Melbourne Cup runner-up Goodie Two Shoes but is still double-handed thanks to last year's Derby third and G2 Prix Dollar winner Tennessee Stud (Wootton Bassett) and G3 Ballyroan Stakes winner Sons And Lovers (Study Of Man). Burdett Road (Muhaarar) is guaranteed to be the only Saudi runner who did his Middle East prep at Cheltenham, but last year's Champion Hurdle runner-up is plainly in good form from his National Hunt exertions as he ran a decent second in a conditions race in Dubai last month. The French-trained greys Presage Nocturne (Wootton Bassett) and Espoir Avenir (Montmartre) have looked a picture training together in the morning this week but they are not just here to look pretty. Both are Group 3 winners over this trip at Longchamp and Presage Nocturne went off favourite for last year's Melbourne Cup. Lazzat and Panja Tower a class above in 1351 Turf Sprint Annaf (Muhaarar) won the $2m 1351 Turf Sprint two years ago and Mick Appleby's seven-year-old finished sixth of 13 last year. In this third appearance he faces a solid Group 1 performer in Lazzat (Territories), who could well add to trainer Jerome Reynier's burgeoning haul of international wins. Donnacha O'Brien's first runner in Saudi Arabia is Comanche Brave (Wootton Bassett), who drops back in trip for this 1,351-metre contest. Ridden by Ryan Moore, he backs up quickly after finishing third in last weekend's Listed Abu Dhabi Gold Cup. “He is a horse I always wanted to bring back down to sprint distances,”O'Brien said. “This is his first step in that direction. He is a horse with a lot of natural pace and hopefully that will bring out a bit of improvement.” The G1 NHK Mile winner Panja Tower (Tower Of London), representing trainer Shinsuke Hashiguchi, looks the pick of the three Japanese runners and is versatile regarding trip. Points to be made in the Saudi Derby The G3 Saudi Derby has been given something of a boost by its star graduate of 2024, Forever Young. Three of the six runnings have gone to Japan, and this year's most talked-about horse is Satono Voyage (Into Mischief), the winner of three of his four races in Japan including the Cattelya Stakes, which carries points for the Kentucky Derby, as does this race. Satono Voyage is trained by Hiroyasu Tanaka, whose biggest threat in attempting to land this prize could come from compatriot Junji Tanaka (no relation), who saddles another multiple winner Best Green (Smart Falcon). The American challengers attempting to pick up some Derby points include the Brad Cox-trained My World, from the first crop of Darley's Essential Quality, and Obliteration (Violence), who was fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint for Steve Asmussen. Karl Burke has sent Pontefract Listed winner Shayem (King Of Change), the winner of three of his four starts last year, and James Doyle's mount is not the only European runner in the reckoning as Gianluca Bietolini brings his Deauville Listed winner Cielo Di Roma (Romanised) and has secured the services of Mickael Barzalona. Breeders' Cup Sprint form tested The Grade I winners Elite Power and Straight No Chaser are both former winners of the G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint, for which last year's runner-up Muqtahem (Soldier's Call) reappears with a string of five Saudi wins to his name since then for trainer Abdullah Alsidrani. The Bob Baffert-trained Imagination, last seen finishing runner-up in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, sets a decent standard and will reoppose fellow Into Mischief colt American Stage, who was fourth behind him at Del Mar and is making his first visit to Riyadh for this meeting's most successful trainer Yoshito Yahagi. The Naoya Nakamura-trained four-year-old Yamanin Cerchi (Four Wheel Drive) has a progressive look to him and closed out last year with a hat-trick of Listed wins before finishing second in the G3 Capella Stakes in mid-December. The post International Cast Assembled as Forever Young Bids for Saudi Cup History 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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