Forums

All race day test samples (post-race and TCO2) collected from participants in the 2025 Breeders' Cup Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar have been cleared by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare UnitView the full article

All race day test samples (post-race and TCO2) collected from contenders in the 2025 Breeders' Cup held Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club have been cleared by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) and purse distribution has begun accordingly, the organizer said in a press release on Friday. In 2025, the Breeders' Cup was run for a third year under the full jurisdiction of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority (HISA), including the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which took effect in May of 2023 and is administered and enforced by HIWU. As was the case under Breeders' Cup's anti-doping and medication control rules that were in place before HISA's ADMC Program was implemented, the vast majority of medication is prohibited within 48 hours of the 14 Championship races and the undercard. All potential Breeders' Cup competitors were also subject to out-of-competition testing for banned substances leading up to the two-day global festival of racing. The post HIWU Clears Race Day Samples From 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championships appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky., is saddened to report that 1997 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, Touch Gold, has been euthanized at the age of 31 due to the infirmities of old age. View the full article

By Michael Guerin Nobody loves consolation prizes. They are nice and all and even more so when they come with winning part of the $200,000 stake Friday’s Allied Security NZ Pacing Free at Addington did. Leap To Fame won that lion’s share with his lion’s heart carrying him to the winner’s circle just days after his humungous second in the IRT New Zealand Cup. Most horses would have still been at home, having an nice nap in the Canterbury sun, but Larry did what Larry does. He got up, went to work and as almost always happens when he is able to lead he won, holding out Republican Party and Merlin. This was a Group 1.  No small deal and yet for Leap To Fame it was the “other” race he wanted to win this week. You could tell as much as co-trainer Trista Dixon got Larry ready to leave Addington, as well as herding the kids while husband Grant was out on a catch drive in the last race. “It has been a great week and obviously we didn’t get the Cup but he still went so well so we were really proud,” says Dixon. “It is lovely to pick up this race and show everybody he still has it, which we never doubt. “But I think he is looking to get home. He will fly to Sydney and have a night at Robbie’s (Morris) stables and then be home by I think Wednesday. “He has been away from home for a long time and has done such a wonderful job.” Leap To Fame looked like a horse who had been away from home for ages. We all know how it feels. You get tired, miss your routine, things just become that little bit harder. And sitting parked for 3200m in a New Zealand Cup wouldn’t have done a lot for his sense of humour either. So yes we didn’t see the absolute best of Leap To Fame in the Free-For-All on Friday.  But even below his peak, tired after Tuesday and ready to go home, he won a Group 1 beating the best pacer in New Zealand this spring and the Free-For-All defending champion. He achieved most horse’s career highlight as an afterthought. Thanks for coming Larry, get home safe. View the full article

By Michael Guerin There isn’t much Robert Dunn hasn’t achieved in his career. He was winning the biggest pacing Cups decades ago and Diamond Racing then started adding big trotting success to their arsenal just a few years ago. But now, when he should be in the twilight of his career, the man known as “RJ” has found another special horse, this time to share with daughter-in-law and training partner Jenna and his son John. Because Got The Chocolate is the real deal. He has to be because he shouldn’t have been able to do what he did in The Velocity at Addington on Friday, sit three wide then parked and beat a very good horse in Marketplace. And for good measure tear 1.4 seconds off the 1980m mobile three-year-old national record, all after never seeing the marker pegs. It was the third straight time Got The Chocolates has bested Marketplace after playing second fiddle to him for the first year of their careers. Make no mistake, there are no excuses and no arguments: Got The Chocolates is our best three-year-old pacer.  Not by much, but by enough. “That was very special because it was such a great race, what racing needs,” said Dunn. “He has always been a good horse but when he had no gate speed it made it so hard on him. “But we added a nose roll to his gear which helps him concentrate better behind the gate and that has helped him get handier early. “But of course he is also bigger and stronger. He is just a better horse than he used to be.” The pair will clash again in next Friday’s NZ Derby for which Got The Chocolates is now incredibly the $1.45 favourite, with Marketplace at $3.20, odds which would have seemed impossible at the start of this campaign. “We are so thrilled to have a horse like him for Ross and Angela (Gordon, owners) and we will get him home tonight and get him into the surf tomorrow to help him recover.” Safely through the next Friday’s Derby, Got The Chocolates could even tempt Team Dunn to look at a race like the Chariots Of Fire at Menangle in March, a track that would suit his racing style but might charge his some hefty tax for his lack of gate speed. “We haven’t campaigned one in Australia for a long time but maybe this horse could change that,” says RJ. HIs incredible form resurgence also suggests that whoever wins next Friday’s Derby could be named New Zealand Three-Year-Old Pacer of the Year. Just another unbelievable possibility this most wild of Cup Weeks has raised. View the full article

By Michael Guerin The hesitation in Pete McMullen’s voice suggests there could be relief in sight for New Zealand’s beleaguered open class trotting stars. Because after driving Gus to a massive Cup week Group-1 double the Queenslander says he may not be back for the first half of 2026. McMullen was all controlled aggression to add the NZ Trotting Free-For-All to the Renwick Farms Dominion Trot from Tuesday, sitting parked to hold out Muscle Mountain and Oscar Bonavena in another no-argument performance, with leader Jilliby Ballerini fading out. It capped a mammoth week for McMullen and wife Chantal Turpin, who trains Gus, but while they have loved their time in Christchurch and all going well will be back for next Cup week, McMullen wasn’t sure whether an autumn campaign up north will be in the offing. “We have had discussions about the slot race (TAB Trot at Cambridge in April) but not very seriously and haven’t really got into it yet,” said McMullen. “So we will see what happens but I am not sure his owners will be buying a slot.” They probably won’t have to as after his dominance of the two huge trots at this carnival Gus will be at the top of many slot holders shopping lists if the Turpin/McMullen team are up for another Trans Tasman trip in April. What would help is if they are able to get Gus to trot well right-handed, which would open the door for races like the Rowe Cup at Alexandra Park a few weeks later and make the trip a multi-target campaign. But considering how long it has taken them to get Gus close to faultless left-handed, the Queensland couple may not be rushing to start tinkering with him to go the other way around. And any New Zealand autumn campaign is complicated by the fact the Inter Dominions are now based in Queensland during the winter, on Gus’s home track and after this week he, and Victorian star Keayang Zahara, might scare most of the Kiwis away from making that trip. Muscle Mountain was brave in second and Oscar Bonavena again flashed home for third but as good as they were this week of open class trotting belong to the horse with the little name and big heart. View the full article

By Michael Guerin For a few tear-soaked minutes at Addington on Friday there were no borders. No Australia, no New Zealand, no nationalistic racing pride, no sides. Tracy The Jet may have lived up to her name leading throughout in the $500,000 Ascent to continue the total Australian domination of this week at Addington yet that wasn’t what was on anybody’s mind.  This was about brave trainer Jess Tubbs and her late husband Greg Sugars. Tubbs trains the Victorian trotting filly and brought her back to Addington, the place Greg drove their champion trotter Just Believe to win the Dominion this time last year. But Greg wasn’t there on Friday. He died in his sleep in April after a shock medical event in New South Wales where he was campaigning the couple’s horses. Tubbs had understandable trepidation about coming back to Addington, last year’s carnival having meant so much to her and Greg. “It was hard coming back after what we did here last year,” says Tubbs. “I watched the race in the stable and straight away there were tears, tears from everybody. “It means a lot to do this, to come back here and have something nice happen. But of course it makes me think of Greg.” While nothing can compare with what Tubbs has been through these last seven months the gravity of the moment was felt around Addington, nowhere more so than in the stabling area that houses the close-knit harness racing participants. There was admiration, for trainer, horse and driver James Herbertson, the young Victorian superstar who has been a rock for Tubbs in recent months. As it turned out, after the incredible sentiment of the build-up, the race itself was a stroll. Tracy The Jet rolled along in front as her Kiwi rivals played dodgem cars in behind and at the end it was left to fellow Victorian filly Gatesys Gem to chase her home after sitting in her slipstream. Tracy The Jet will stay in Canterbury for a week and compete in either the New Zealand Trotting Derby or NZ Oaks at Addington next Friday. She will be favourite in either. The man who was missing at Addington would be proud. View the full article

The twilight Show Day meeting, complete with four Group 1s and the two $500,000 slot races, is underway at Addington Raceway. It promises to be one of the great race days of the year and there are trans-Tasman battles right across the day. By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk  IRT SIRES STAKES SERIES 2YO CHAMPS MBL TROT (G1) The day’s opening Group 1 started in similar fashion to Tuesday’s IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup meeting – and that was with an Australian victory. Victoria’s Kyvalley Ray, trained by ex-pat Kiwi Brent Lilley, made it three wins from four New Zealand starts. Driver Blair Orange was unhurried off the gate, and sat parked for most of the journey outside Petite Armour and John Dunn. It came down to a two way battle with Kyvalley Ray just outmuscling his rival.  Kyvalley Ray was backed into $1.80. Who’s Ya Daddy finished third, the trifecta paying $33.10. MAJESTIC HORSEFLOATS LP ‘THE ASCENT’ (MOBILE TROT) (Listed) The Australian domination continued with a very emotional victory in the $500,000 slot race for the trotters. Gun Victorian filly Tracy The Jet and driver James Herbertson led from start to finish and hot on her heels was fellow Australian Gatesys Gem who held on stylishly for second. It was a commanding performance as Tracy The Jet set a new national record of 2:23.7 (1980m). The Tony Herlihy-trained and driven Youneverknow finished third. There were plenty of tears and hugs post race with Tracy The Jet’s trainer Jess Tubbs returning to Addington for the first time since the death of her husband Greg Sugars in April. This time last year the Tubbs-Sugars combo won the Renwick Farms Dominion Trot with their champion trotter Just Believe.  “To get this win for Greg is special and makes me so proud,” Tubbs said post race. It was Tracy The Jet’s ninth win in 14 starts. Last year’s inaugural THE ASCENT winner was another Victorian in Keayang Zahara. BOB McARDLE SIRES’ STAKES STHN MARES MBL PACE (L) The draw (13) did her no favours but Esmeralda was in a class of her own in the Bob McArdle. Trainer-driver Gerard O’Reilly gave the Always B Miki four-year-old a perfect trip – they were aggressive early and were in the lead with a lap to go and never looked in danger, winning by five lengths. She paid $9 for the win, her fifth in 15 starts. Favourite Ruby Roe went round three wide and finished third with Amaretto Franco mounting a stern challenge out wide to finish second.  DUNSTAN SIRES’ STAKES SERIES 2YO FILLIES FINAL (MOB PACE) (Gr1)   It was the second Group 1 for the week and the 50th overall for co-trainer Cran Dalgety when favourite All Of Me took out the 2YO Fillies Group 1. It was a Cran and Chrissie Dalgety-trained quinella with The Queens Gambit (Kimberly Butt) finishing second. It also completed a 2YO Group 1 double for Kentuckiana Lodge after Freeze Frame and Butt upset in the Colts and Geldings Final on Tuesday. “It’s just one of those weeks when the stars align,” said Cran Dalgety post race, “it’s a big thrill.” It was All Of Me’s second win in five starts, following on from Kaikoura on November 3. The Dalgetys’ stable star Republican Party lines up in the Group 1 Allied Security Free For All Pace at 8.07pm after his sixth placing in Tuesday’s IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup.  AZAP ELECTRICAL NZ TROTTING FREE-FOR-ALL (MOBILE TROT) (Gr1) It takes some trotter to win the Cup Group 1 double but that’s exactly what Aussie star Gus has done this week. He followed up his win in the Renwick Farms Dominion Trot with a dominant win in the Free For All. Driver Pete McMullen was forced to bide his time from a second row draw, only to make a mid race move and sit parked outside hotpot Jilliby Ballerini. As the $1.75 favourite faded, Gus was only getting warmed up and he cleared out from the pack in impressive fashion. “It’s a bit unreal,” said McMullen post race, “he raced super.” Summing up his week he said : “It’s incredible.” Gus has now won four of his last five starts and 18 overall.  HILL LEE & SCOTT ‘THE VELOCITY’ (MOBILE PACE) (Listed) It was billed as the $500,000 match race between Marketplace and Got The Chocolates and what a race it was. From his handy draw (2) Marketplace, the $1.85 favourite, headed for the front with Craig Ferguson controlling the tempo. John Dunn meanwhile had to go three wide and then sit parked with Got The Chocolates before he served it to his great rival. He was four lengths off the lead at the 400 metre mark but it was Got The Chocolates who prevailed in an epic battle, with Australian Fait Awaits and Bettors Anvil filling the minors some seven lengths away. As commentator Matt Cross said “Got The Chocolates – he is New Zealand’s best three-year-old.” It was his ninth win in 23 starts. “He must have a big ticker this fella,” said Dunn post race. ALLIED SECURITY NZ PACING FFA MOBILE PACE (G1) When Leap To Fame rolled to the front it was game over as Australia continued to make their considerable presence felt at Addington. “Larry”, as he’s known, is a $5m plus earner and an absolute superstar of the sport. This was win number 59 from just 75 starts. “It’s a helluva relief,”trainer-driver Grant Dixon admitted afterwards. Big Kiwi hope Republican Party pushed him hard in finishing second with Merlin, who had sat parked, holding on for third. Leap To Fame started a $1.80 favourite following his brave second to Kingman in Tuesday’s IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup.      View the full article

Sam Agars SPARKLING FELLOW - R4 (12) Did everything but win first up and looks suited here   Jay Rooney BEAUTY BOLT - R10 (5) Big run last start and looks the one to beat from a far better draw today   Owen Goulding HARRY'S HERO - R2 (14) Desperately unlucky when blocked late last time out and can make amends   Phillip Woo SPARKLING FELLOW - R4 (12) Is ready to break through after a solid second fresh   Shannon (Vincent Wong) SPARKLING FELLOW - R4 (12) Looks a good chance after catching the eye...View the full article