Hockey

A grade 1 winner in 2025, Lovesick Blues is currently in Dubai preparing for the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1).View the full article

Westwood won the recent San Pasqual for the late John Shirreffs, and Vodka Vodka could give trainer Aggie Ordonez, also the trainer of Beholder Mile entrant Om N Joy, a big day.View the full article

The Jockey Club of Canada's Graded Stakes Committee held its annual review of the graded and listed stakes races in Canada and the number of higher level races will remain at 41, according to a press release late on Tuesday from the Jockey Club of Canada. The Committee reviewed the North American Race Committee (NARC) figures for all graded, listed and potentially listed races in Canada. Based on the data, the committee determined that the GIII British Columbia Derby will be downgraded to listed status and the early October running at Woodbine of the bet365 Algonquin Stakes for 2-year-olds on the turf will be upgraded to a Grade III. Additionally, the Century Casino Oaks, King Corrie Stakes, Niagara Stakes and Thorncliffe Stakes will all be upgraded to listed status. The Graded Stakes Committee meeting was conducted by Chair Ross McKague, who was joined by appointed members David Anderson, Jim Bannon, Jeff Begg, Catherine Day Phillips, Bernard McCormack and The Jockey Club of Canada's Chief Steward Chief Stipe Anderson. Also attending were racetrack representatives Allen Goodsell, Teagan Goodsell and Mike Vanin from Alberta. McKague represented Manitoba, and Julia Bell & Scott Lane stood for Ontario. The post Review Of Canada’s Graded Stakes Stands Pat At 41 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Another strange quirk in the programming in Southland, Wyndham and Winton Cups rating 55 to rating 90, why not all in, going to be off at least  40m so why a restriction, these are cup races, imagine having a rating93 trained in Southland, seems a bit odd to me.

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 talk about what is a divisive issue for the industry and his personal feelings that there should not be a full ban of Lasix, Moquett appeared on this week's edition of the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week. Moquett said that the use of Lasix is something that is beneficial to the horse and something that, if taken away, would leave trainers without a valuable tool. “I think the definition of a horseman is to do right by your horse and to take every possibility to minimize the risk of anything bad happening,” he said. “Every day, every morning, the horsemen that I know, they make sure that all the snaps are closed on the gates. They make sure that the nails are pushed in the stall so that there's no shot that a horse would scratch it. We're constantly trying to minimize the risk of anything bad happening to a horse. That's our whole job. Training Horses 101–take care of your horse, do everything in your power to minimize the risk of something bad happening. Lasix falls into that category. I'm not out here asking for race-day medications such as pain-maskers, performance-enhancers, or steroids or any of that business. I'm asking for some people to use common sense. There's been a smear campaign on Lasix. You see people calling it doping. You see people calling it performance-enhancing. It's not any of that. It's just something we can use to help with the problem of horses bleeding.” Under current HISA rules, horses are not permitted to use Lasix in two-year-old races or in stakes races. Moquett said he had no problem keeping those regulations in place. “The current model that we have, everybody has basically agreed that it's fine,” he said. “I like the fact that 2-year-olds don't have it. I'm okay with the fact that graded stakes horses don't have it. But with the day-to-day horses that are competing, it's a safety tool that ought to be used.”   It was pointed out to Moquett that when HISA banned Lasix in the stakes and juvenile races there was an outcry, with many people casting a dire picture that included horses bleeding frequently and openly in races. Most people agree that never happened. When asked why the situation would be any different if there were a full ban, this was his reply: “First and foremost, I would say that just because you haven't seen (horses bleed) in those races doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't happened. It's the same reason I put on a seatbelt. That's to be careful and take the necessary precautions. I don't want my horse to ever experience bleeding. I don't. This is something that can minimize the risk of something bad happening to a horse.” He was also asked why European racing, as well as racing in most of the rest of the world, seems to do fine without the use of Lasix. “I always like to steer away from comparisons,” he said. “But things are different here. First off, at Churchill Downs and at Oaklawn, there are no green pastures. There are no trees. We lovingly call Churchill 'Riker's Island' because it's just concrete pavement everywhere. That's not the case in Europe. We have long meets. They don't. It's just not the same. There's more turf racing there, where you just gallop around and sprint home for the most part. It's not like here, where there is more dirt racing and speed is the name of the game. It's always laughable to me whenever they compare racing here versus racing in Europe.” The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was Knightsbridge (Nyquist), who got a 112 Beyer figure in his romp in the GIII Gulfstream Park Mile. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar, which stands the sire Heartland. Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV, and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Bill Finley, and Zoe Cadman took a look back at last week's preps for the GI Kentucky Derby. Though he finished second, the team was very high on the performance of Chief Wallabee (Constitution) in the GII Fountain of Youth and predicted he will only get better. The trio delved into the story of Hawthorne declaring bankruptcy, and what it means for the future of racing in Chicago. The podcast wrapped up with a preview of this Saturday's two Derby preps, the GIII Tampa Bay Derby and the GII San Felipe Stakes. To watch the video version of the podcast, click here. To listen to the audio, click here. The post To Discuss Potential Ban Of Lasix, Moquett Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Presented By Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article