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Alexis Badel snares January Cup in far happier circumstances than his first win in the Group Three
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Frankie Lor saddles a quarter of the January Cup field as Money Catcher looks to go back to back
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SCMP Best Bets: Punters set to board the Express
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After bumpy Happy Valley return, Harry Bentley looks to hit the board with an old friend
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David Eustace hopes early Hong Kong move will pay off: ‘It’s difficult to focus on two things at once’
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Karis Teetan rides sixth double in eight meetings as Majestic Knight continues strong form
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SCMP Best Bets: In-form mare can run a Pearla
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Brenton Avdulla eyes Happy Valley win with Howdeepisyourlove before possible Classic Mile bid
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Zac Purton and James McDonald leave Hong Kong on a high after collecting New Year’s Day trebles
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A bill that would authorize fixed odds betting on Thoroughbred and greyhound racing was filed Monday in the West Virginia Senate. If enacted, 5% of each licensee's adjusted gross wagering receipts from fixed odds wagering would go to a fund to supplement purses for Thoroughbreds and greyhounds. The money bet via Thoroughbred fixed odds would go to Thoroughbred purses; the greyhound revenue would be earmarked for greyhound purses. According to the text of Senate Bill 576, “Any content authorized for fixed odds wagering on horse races from West Virginia, or fixed odds wagering on dog races from West Virginia, to be offered for wagering by a licensed operator, licensed gaming facility, or management services provider, shall require the consent of the host racetrack and recognized horsemen's group for horse races.” The legislation was filed by Republican Senator Jason Barrett. The bill has been assigned to the Finance Committee, which Barrett chairs. The post Fixed Odds Wagering Bill Filed In West Virginia appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
I thought Kings and Queens were more into petanque Snow? But then every Queen needs an obsequious chamber maid. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
All-American National Champion gymnast Olivia “Livvy” Dunne along with Major League Baseball star Jayson Werth will host meet-and-greets in Sports Illustrated's Club SI at historic Churchill Downs during the 151st runnings of the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks and GI Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3, respectively. Club SI, a multi-year exclusive partnership between Churchill Downs Racetrack and Sports Illustrated, debuted at last year's Kentucky Derby and offers guests a modern, sophisticated race day experience as part of the racetrack's recent $200 million reimagined Paddock Project. As part of his Derby Week activities, Werth will also record an episode of his podcast, Off the Rail with ICON Racing, from Club SI, bringing fans exclusive insights and behind-the-scenes coverage of horse racing's biggest weekend. Affording guests an unparalleled behind-the-scenes experience, Club SI offers luxury dining with an immersive view of the Paddock and Paddock Runway. The interior design of Club SI showcases iconic Sports Illustrated magazine covers and editorial featuring past Kentucky Derby races, and a sneak peek into Sports Illustrated's new SI Resorts vertical. Club SI is open on select premium race days throughout the year at Churchill Downs. Guests have the option to book dining tables, indulge in gourmet dishes from the curated Chef's Table Buffet, visit dedicated wagering windows and private bars, and enjoy outdoor trackside viewing for live races. Steps from the club, guests are treated to the SI Enclosure which delivers a front-row experience of the Paddock with covered outdoor dining tables. The post Olivia Dunne And Jayson Werth To Host Oaks, Derby Festivities In Sports Illustrated’s Club SI 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 only rule is that there are no rules. Some of our most expensive freshmen are entering precisely the end game that drove their purchase: Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) and Muth (Good Magic) cost $2.3 million and $2 million respectively, as juveniles; Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) was a $950,000 yearling. Yet the GI Kentucky Derby remains as likely to be won by a $30,000 claim like Rich Strike (Keen Ice) or, most recently, a son of the $10,000 cover Goldencents. Last week, we saluted the advent of a $2,500 yearling by Preservationist on the Derby trail and now we find a colt topping the leaderboard by a stallion available at $2,000. Like Preservationist, the sire of Coal Battle had launched only a second crop of juveniles when packing his bags for a fresh start outside of Kentucky this spring. Coal Front was the overlooked fifth prong of Spendthrift's 2020 assault on the stallion market, the other four duly dominating the 2023 freshman title with much larger books: Mitole with 148 named foals, Maximus Mischief 128, Vino Rosso 162, and Omaha Beach 121. Coal Front had just 44, conceived at $5,000–yet his two stakes winners that year were a match for all his neighbors bar Maximus Mischief, with three. The cream has since risen to the top, Omaha Beach justifying his status as priciest of the five by heading the cumulative table on nearly all indices. Yet Coal Front's five black-type winners (62 starters) represent a higher percentage of named foals than any stallion in the intake. In fairness, he's hardly typical of the ridiculous predicament in which so many young stallions find themselves today, having never benefitted even from the customary stampede from one new stallion to the next. His slide from a debut book of 89 to 51 mares last spring is nothing like as steep as that experienced by another from the same intake (on a different farm), from 221 to 34! But those who brought Coal Front to Louisiana deserve congratulations for recognizing that if you truly believe in a stallion, the time to double down is when everyone else is nervously moving on. The question now is whether Coal Battle is equipped for more searching tests ahead. For his success in the GII Rebel Stakes, over a barely extended mile, hardly diminished the sense that he's primarily a dasher. Coal Front himself won the GIII Razorback Handicap over a similar distance on the equivalent card in 2019, before adding the GI Godolphin Mile, but his previous graded wins had come over 6f/7f. Aside from this colt, he has produced Haulin Ice to romp the one-turn Azalea Stakes at Gulfstream, and dual 6f stakes winner Xtreme Diva. The oddity is that Coal Front's pedigree is loaded with Classic influences, notably Seattle Slew–whose son A.P. Indy accounts for both grandsire Bernardini and damsire Mineshaft, and who also sired Coal Front's third dam. Coal Front's sire Stay Thirsty now has an even more blatant sprint type at stud in Mind Control. It would be edifying, if a little unexpected, if this speed-oriented pair could extend a Bernardini male line to complement his remarkable legacy as a broodmare sire. Coal Battle may not get much assistance, in terms of stamina, from his maternal family–even though his dam Wolfblade (Midshipman) introduces three additional strains of Seattle Slew! (Her sire is out of a mare by his son Avenue of Flags, while the sires of her first two dams are out of mares respectively by Seattle Slew and his son Capote.) While Midshipman channels some sturdy Classic brands, and has had good stayers in Chile, his principal footprint as a broodmare sire is Golden Pal (Uncle Mo)–and the fact is that Wolfblade herself won eight times over 4.5f at Charles Town. Admittedly she operated under tags as low as $4,000, obtaining her solitary black-type amongst West Virginian state-breds. She's out of another sprinter, Venice Queen (Latent Heat), a half-sister to graded stakes winner Easy Time (Not This Time) with a couple of minor stakes placings to her name; while the next dam is an unraced Cape Town half-sister to GIII Iowa Oaks winner He Loves Me (Not For Love). Eventually the line tapers to the important mare Enchanted Eve, via her champion daughter Tempted. Overall, however, physique probably contributed more than page when Coal Battle realized $70,000 as a yearling, a top 10 price at the 2023 Texas Thoroughbred Association Sale. Bravo to Coal Battle's breeders Hume Wornall and Jay Adcock for raising a Derby colt, at the first attempt, from a mare anyone could have claimed for even less than her chosen partner's fee. (Adcock, incidentally, heads the partnership that brought Coal Front to his Red River Farm.) The placed horses Sunday cost $650,000 and $1.2 million respectively. So while nobody knows where Coal Battle may reach his ceiling, in distance or class–well, that's the whole point. Maximum Security | Sarah Andrew Maximum Misfortunes Secure Sympathy Except, of course, there are actually a whole bunch of rules. Just ask Maximum Security. There were the ones his rider was deemed to break in the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby; and then there were those flagrantly breached by his trainer, Jason Servis, who was jailed in 2023. Five years ago, Maximum Security was the inaugural winner of the G1 Saudi Cup, but his contentious disqualification (despite zero test abnormalities) was only confirmed last summer. In the meantime, the poor horse has been trying to shake free of this welter of misfortune and launch a stud career. When Coolmore bought into the horse, they knew that a son of New Year's Day might not work for everybody. But the functionality of his genes appeared evident: he was about to be anointed crop champion, a single horse having finished in front of him in nine starts; and would later win the GI Pacific Classic for his new trainer. Through no fault of horse or owners, however, Maximum Security would suddenly become a hard sell. He did muster 135 mares for his debut, at $20,000, but last year was down to 54 at $7,500. Of 51 first-crop starters last year, 17 winners were highlighted by just one stakes-placed horse and this spring Maximum Security was trimmed again to $5,000. How timely, then, was the succor he found last weekend, showing what he might yet do given a chance. Presumably he can't have received many more accomplished mares than GI Ruffian Handicap/GI Lady's Secret Stakes winner Tough Tiz's Sis (Tiznow). True, she appeared to have peaked as a producer with her first foal, GII Bayakoa Stakes winner Tiz Midnight, albeit the latter has since produced triple graded stakes scorer Midnight Memories (Mastery), while her Tapit half-sister came up with GIII Holy Bull winner Rocket Can (Into Mischief). But Tough Tiz's Sis is booked straight back to Maximum Security after the 'TDN Rising Star' debut of their son Tiz Secure, homebred by Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, at Santa Anita. With Maximum Promise third in the John Battaglia Stakes on the same day, perhaps Maximum Security is starting to turn things round. On the face of it, his dam introduces no more glamor than his exiled sire, as a $2,200 yearling by Anasheed. But she was a half-sister to triple Group 1 winner Flat Out (Flatter), while Anasheed's overall failure doesn't alter the fact that he filters some of the best blood in the book. Who knows, perhaps Tiz Secure will prove the straw in the wind that allows Maximum Security to prove himself a victim, and not a beneficiary, of human vice. Honor A.P. | Sarah Andrew Not Just Vekoma Deserving Honor The stallion in Maximum Security's intake who's kicking on unmissably is Vekoma, whose promoters couldn't dream of a G3 Saudi Derby winner named more obligingly than Golden Vekoma. After shading a desperate race for the freshman title, Vekoma's sophomores are consolidating fast. He produced five stakes winners among his first juveniles, a tally matched by Tiz the Law and Complexity; but already has four in 2025, while Complexity remains his only peer with even two. Golden Vekoma is a half-brother to Midshipman's Dance (Midshipman), who won the Mockingbird Stakes last year. Their dam, Remington Park Oaks winner Sticks Wondergirl (Stevie Wonderboy), was the sole daughter of a Quiet American half-sister to a splendid producer in Choreograph (Dynaformer). The latter's serial stakes performers and/or producers for the exemplary Ramona Bass program include Goliad (War Front), who won a couple of graded stakes at seven last year. But don't overlook the sire of Heart Of Honor (GB), who had chased home Golden Vekoma on their previous start and again flew late when failing by just a head in his local prep for the UAE Derby last Friday. Sold as a weanling after his dam was exported to Britain, Heart Of Honor made €160,000 at the Arqana Breeze-Up and is hinting that Honor A.P. does not deserve to be swamped by the big numbers fielded by Vekoma and his pals at the top of the table. I remain convinced that Honor A.P. was the most talented of his crop and, while his slow-burning profile hardly promised a ton of precocious sprinters, he nonetheless included a couple of single-turn stakes winners among his first juveniles. The progress of his overseas flagship now confirms this beautiful horse ($850,000 yearling) as exactly the type to be supported by any breeders inclined to quell the witless trends currently putting the whole stallion scene in crisis. The post Breeding Digest: Can He Keep Piling On The Coal? 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
Dear Readers, If you are reading this, you are likely already involved and educated enough to understand the challenges and struggles our beloved industry faces. Conversely, I would like to focus on a few of the amazing things that the Thoroughbred racing industry offers. I will then challenge others to bring to light more positive news from our industry. Unfortunately, much too often, the only Thoroughbred news that reaches the mainstream media is negative. We, as an industry, must share, educate and enlighten others, both inside and outside of our world, about how special it really can be. Caring for a horse is, in my opinion, a very highly-skilled trade or even an art. There are very few trades left in our culture that you must learn from an expert themself. You cannot read in a book how to groom, ride, feed, shoe, etc. These are skills learned face to face, from a master, over many years. A master of the trade has exponentially more learning hours than any degree that any college offers. We have all seen a master horseman interact with a horse and it is magical. It is truly an art form when mastered. We should view horsemanship as more of an art, as possibly this could open up opportunities for additional educational funding. Thoroughbred racing bridges a cultural and social gap unlike any other industry. In what other industry does a Fortune 500 CEO ask opinions of a groom, rider or hotwalker? In what other industry does a bond between an owner, animal and all of the support staff often assimilate to more of a family feel, rather than just associates? Social status, ethnicity, gender, political beliefs, religion or financial status matters not when a “family” is cheering their beloved horse down the lane. It brings groups of people together that would never otherwise break bread and rarely cross paths in normal life. We should market the opportunities for a successful career. You don't have to have generational wealth, a college degree or even any specialized training to take a job and excel in this industry. That is what makes it so enticing and magical. The $1,000,000 dollar horse runs against the $1,000 horse in the Kentucky Derby, and that can be related to industry professionals. If you are willing to work hard and learn, there is no limit to your potential in horse racing. If you made it to this paragraph, I would wager your passion for the animals, industry, lifestyle and sport matches mine. I merely touched upon a few points. We have a culture that could slip away quickly without a fight. I challenge all of us to spread some good news about Thoroughbred racing. For example, let's focus on the inspiring aftercare success stories, or the first-generation immigrant family who just had a child graduate law school. There is much we have to be so proud of and we should spread the word. These majestic horses have often left us in awe. I can't imagine future generations not having the opportunity to feel the joy, euphoria and raw emotions that this industry has offered me. The post Open Letter To The Industry: Joseph Pickerrell 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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