Wandering Eyes

Shaggy ridden by Adam Hyeronimus winning the Pierro Plate at Randwick. Photo: bradleyphotos.com.au Adam Hyeronimus is looking to keep Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) aspirations alive for unbeaten colt Shaggy when he lines up in Saturday’s Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Randwick. Trained by Allan Kehoe, Shaggy burst onto the scene two weeks ago, rising from wins at Coffs Harbour and the Sunshine Coast to claim an impressive Pierro Plate (1100m) victory at Randwick on February 15. Hyeronimus, who secured the ride after Aaron Bullock was unable to make the weight in Sydney, is relishing the opportunity to book a Slipper berth this weekend. However, with Shaggy not originally nominated for the $5 million feature, connections would need to pay a $150,000 late entry fee should he gain a spot. “It’s very exciting for the owners, but also for anyone who dreams of racing for the riches of two-year-old racing,” Hyeronimus said. “That’s the thrilling part about two-year-old races: horses can put their hand up, there’s so much on offer. “He’s traveled a fair way for a two-year-old and shown it doesn’t faze him. “I’ve ridden a lot of nice two-year-olds, and I think the common denominator is a horse that’s quite forward with a good attitude. It’s a very good recipe.” Shaggy is the +130 favourite with BlondeBet for the Skyline Stakes on Saturday, where he has drawn ideally in barrier three. Horse racing news View the full article

When Kristin Pierce of Tacoma, Washington, explains that she owns a retired racehorse who is aspiring to a second career that involves sniffing out lost hikers in the wilderness, even people who are familiar with Thoroughbreds are surprised to learn this olfactory skill comes naturally to horses and that they can learn to master it. Yet that's precisely what Prayerstone, a 12-year-old by 1996 GI Kentucky Derby champ Grindstone, has been taught to do over the last several years. Pierce told TDN in a recent interview that the strapping bay absolutely thrives on the scent work that she stumbled upon by chance when trying to come up with creative ways to occupy the gelding's busy mind during a long period of stall rest to recover from injuries. Now Prayerstone is healed and on the cusp of attempting his final field testing to qualify for a spot on the all-volunteer Northwest Horseback Search and Rescue (NWHSAR) unit that operates under the direction of the King County Sheriff's Office in Seattle. “Every time I tell someone he's training to be a search-and-rescue horse and working on scent detection, they're just amazed that horses can do that,” Pierce said. “It's not very common. I had never met anyone else who had done it before trying it myself.” Pierce said that sitting in the saddle atop Prayerstone while he's focused on trying to find a person in dense woods is at once gratifying and enlightening. “Usually he's a horse that doesn't have a 'stop button.' He just wants to go, go go,” Pierce said. “But when he's scenting, everything slows down, and he's very deliberate about where he puts his feet, where he puts his face, and in which direction he's moving. “He drops his head to the ground and his nostrils get huge. He is actively scenting. His eyes kind of half-close and his ears stick out to the side, and he is concentrating. So it's really fun to ride him then, because you can feel his whole self is focused on this thing I can't see, and he knows exactly where he's going. I just have to duck for the branches,” Pierce said. Prayerstone started three times in 2016 and '17 at the now-defunct Portland Meadows while racing for his owner/breeder, Tom Crader. He debuted in a fog-obscured stakes for Oregon-breds and finished eighth out of nine at 35-1 odds. Ten months later, he surprised with a 39-1 second, beaten only a head, when dropping into the maiden-claiming ranks. Start number three was another maiden-claiming attempt in which the 7-1 Prayerstone dueled inside, then steadily retreated to last in a field of eight. Right about the time that Prayerstone was easing into an early retirement, Pierce herself was getting back into enjoying horses after several decades of being a lapsed equestrian. “I guess you could call me an adult re-rider,” said Pierce, who is 47. “I rode horses as a kid, all the way up through college, and then took a break when I couldn't afford them. During COVID, I realized that my heart had a horse-shaped hole in it. So I started taking lessons and doing a partial lease at an event barn around here.” A friend who rode with Pierce found out Prayerstone was available to be re-homed, and thought he would be the perfect companion. She went and got the gelding and dropped him off at the barn for Pierce to check out. Prayerstone's sire, winner of the 1996 Kentucky Derby, had more traditional Thoroughbred talents | Horsephotos “He was stunning,” Pierce said. “He's a 17-plus-hand, 1,500-pound, old-fashioned, big, chunky Thoroughbred. And he has the classic Thoroughbred head–the 'look of eagles.' He looks like he's going somewhere.” Pierce continued: “He was restarted off the track by a phenomenal event trainer named Meika Decher. She did an absolutely beautiful job on his restart, and he lucked out. He got to spend four years in a 40-acre pasture up in the mountains with a bunch of other horses, just horsing around. But she knew that he was never going to be an advanced-level event horse, so she listed him for like $5,000. “I took him,” Pierce said. “I fell I love with his personality.” Had Pierce scheduled a pre-purchase veterinary exam prior to falling in love, Prayerstone's story might have turned out differently. “There were six pages of findings,” Pierce said. “So [Decher] was right that he was never going to be an advanced-level horse. And that was fine, because all I really wanted was a big buddy.” Pierce rattled off a list Prayerstone's medical shortcomings, focusing on the major issues. “He has kissing spine in seven places. He has shivers, probably. He also has some sort of horse version of Tourette syndrome. It's similar to headshakers, but all the treatments for headshakers make it worse, so he has a tic in his head and his neck. We've treated him for ulcers. I think I've had every part of him X-rayed and ultra-sounded,” Pierce said. “We started trying to do low-level eventing and little fun schooling shows, but his body just couldn't handle it. His legs seem to be made out of tissue paper, and he can't feel his feet, so he kind of runs like a Muppet. We tried to do a low-level cross-country event, but he smacked his legs into each other hard enough that he broke both his front splint bones and pulled a suspensory, so that was 10 months of stall rest to get him back together.” While confined to the stable, Pierce taught Prayerstone–whose nickname around the barn is Raven–how to use communication buttons that associate words with actions that some horses seem to understand. “Raven loves puzzles. He loves games and opening doors. He loves making loud noises and destroying things and generally being a 1,500-pound toddler,” Pierce said. Pierce faced a dual challenge of trying to keep Prayerstone from being bored in the short term while also knowing that on the other side of his long recovery, he was not going to be able to handle the endurance competing she had initially envisioned. And dressage was out because Pierce herself got bored going around in circles in an arena. “He will jump anything you point him at. He will happily gallop through a field where he can't see where he is going. But he does not want to be in an arena any more than I do,” Pierce said. “So we pivoted, and decided that his favorite place to be is out in the woods,” Pierce said. “But he needed some sort of mission in his life. A life of public service is what I thought.” Pierce is no stranger to second–or even third–career switches. She worked in the medical sector for 15 years testing experimental drugs on people. Then she trained to be a diesel mechanic. Now she's a project manager for Tacoma's wastewater treatment plant. Pierce happened to find some online literature about equine scent training, and the concept appealed to her because some of the conditioning to hone that skill involved positions she believed would give some relief to where Prayerstone had been hurting. “Doing all of the rehab, I realized that I needed a way to get him to move in a really biomechanically correct way, where he'd put his nose down and he'd lift his belly, and he'd kind of stretch out all of those spaces in his back where his spine is touching. And scent work seemed to do that,” Pierce said. “So I bought the Scentwork for Horses book [by Rachaël Draaisma] and I started working through the book by myself, and he just loved it,” Pierce said. At first the training is done with the horse on a long line without a rider. You show a treat to a horse and let it sniff it, then run backwards about 100 feet. “And the horse figures out pretty quick they should go find that person and get the cookie,” Pierce said. “After two or three iterations of that, the person can run away and hide behind a tree.” Pierce said this basic instinct comes naturally to horses. “Every horse I've presented this to has been interested. When they snuffle your pockets for treats, they're doing scent detection. When they are looking around in their stall for little bits of dropped food, they're doing scent detection. So similar to training dogs, you kind of encourage that, and then make it a little bit harder each time,” Pierce said. “He would search out lost socks in the arena,” Pierce said. “He would happily find one of my friends who would go hide in the woods.” Prayerstone's barn backs directly up to a military base that has 60,000 acres of trails, which civilians can access so long as they have a pass. This allowed Pierce to ramp up the scent training over a much wider range. “You're just promoting that natural behavior, and you're really along for the ride. My job is not to steer. It's really just to stay out of his way,” Pierce said. “With him, I notice that he will flick an ear in the direction of the scent, or he will swing his whole giant head in the direction of the scent. When he's on the trail, he puts his nose on the ground, arches his back and does this huffing noise. And when he loses the scent, he will start circling until he finds it again, just like a dog, and then follow it off again.” Pierce said the next big breakthrough for Prayerstone was when she vanned him eight hours into the mountains of central Oregon to attend a week-long clinic hosted by Terry Nowacki of Minnesota, whom Pierce described as “the brain trust behind using horses in scent detection the way that they use dogs.” Tracking dogs can outperform horses in thick underbrush, but horses have an advantage over longer distances. Their height also aids in picking up airborne scents that rise above the noses of dogs. “We can cover more ground. We can generally move faster over a longer period of time. And dogs aren't as effective scenting when they're panting,” Pierce said. “Horses don't pant, so when it's really hot or humid, they just keep going.” In fact, a tired horse will open its nostrils wider, exposing more olfactory receptors, which increases detection ability. In training for scent detection, the rider knows the parameters of the search. But in a real rescue operation like Prayerstone and Pierce hope to encounter with the NWHSAR, there are no defined borders as to where a lost person might be. “So we take every opportunity when we go trail riding to find every human being in that area, and I reward him,” Pierce said. “Every time we go out, it's an opportunity for him to find a person, even if I don't know they're there.” Prayerstone training through fire | Courtesy Kristin Pierce But can Prayerstone handle the physicality of search and rescue given his medical history? “Our area is mountainous and forested,” Pierce said, explaining that the terrain is rugged, but the pacing is deliberate, which helps Prayerstone. “We do have some big prairies, but it's mostly mountains and forest and 10-foot tall blackberry bushes and streams and bridges. Obviously, I'm not going to take him up high-angle rock faces, because he can't. But he will happily plow through brush. He loves it. “Lately we've been working on scent discrimination and tracking,” Pierce continued. “The two different kinds of scent detection are air-scenting and tracking. Air scenting is where you find any human in an area. Tracking is what you think of when you think of bloodhounds. You give them something to smell, and then they go find the thing that smells like that. He seems to enjoy the tracking, because it's a harder puzzle for him. “The main reward is finding the person, but Raven will never turn down a cookie,” Pierce said. She added that one time the gelding was so intent on his task that he tried to dig out a volunteer with his hooves when the person was hiding beneath a fallen tree. Pierce said Prayerstone still needs to pass a 36-point competency test to become a member of the NWHSAR, and she has to prove her map and compass skills. “Basically, Raven would have to get loaded up with everything he and I would need for three days independently in the woods, and then ride out 10-15 miles and camp, just the two of us. Then we have to go find our volunteer hidden 'victim' and bring him out together to be certified.” On the NWHSAR team, scent detection is not a requirement. The rescue team does most of its operations by following a search grid, with horses working in small groups to cover an assigned area. Pierce believes that once he's been certified to be on the unit, Prayerstone will be the only horse with that skill, which she hopes will add a specialized element to the searches. “The national search and rescue organizations don't certify horses for scent, just because there aren't enough of us,” Pierce said. “So right now we're training to take the dog certification. He can perform the tasks for being a scent dog, but we are working to find a group that will let us test as though he were a dog.” Once on the NWHSAR unit, members are responsible for paying for and maintaining their own horses, trucks and trailers, and they must self-deploy when called by authorities to help with a lost, missing or injured person. This often means getting an emergency call in the middle of the night and/or during foul weather. Pierce is investing time and money in other skills that might help Prayerstone handle chaos. They recently attended a mounted police skills course hosted by the law enforcement expert who trains New Orleans police horses to handle rowdy crowds during the Mardi Gras celebration. “The first thing they had us do was they lit off a smoke bomb in the middle of an indoor arena and had the horses walk through the smoke. Raven walked around it a couple times and was like, 'Wait, I know what to do.' And he walked right up to the smoke bomb and stomped on it,” Pierce said with pride. “That clinic was cool. He walked through fire that they set on the ground. He walked right up to a police car with the lights and sirens going and he stuck his head inside. He walked under an arch of fire,” Pierce said. “At this point, I know this horse will do anything I ask him to. He's the proverbial bomb-proof horse–quite literally,” Pierce said. Pierce said her important take-away message for second-career Thoroughbred owners is to consider alternative ways to keep physically challenged horses mentally engaged. “There are a fair number of ex-racehorses who have physical limitations,” Pierce said. “And I would encourage anyone with a horse like that to work at non-traditional things like this. Even if search and rescue isn't somebody's goal, just doing the mental games of scent detection work is so good for them, and gives them a sense of purpose and meaning.” The post Winning by His Nose: Retired Thoroughbred Uses Scent Detection to Find Lost Hikers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

New Zealand's leading 3-year-old Savaglee was due to touch down in Melbourne on the afternoon of Feb. 27 ahead of his bid to become the second Kiwi raider in three years to prize the Australian Guineas (G1) crown from the grasp of the locals. View the full article

Gulfstream Park has changed run-up distances for 1 1/16-mile and 1 1/8-mile races contested over the main track, the South Florida track announced Feb. 27.View the full article

By Adam Hamilton Expect to see a better and sharper Merlin when he chases a Miracle Mile berth at Menangle on Saturday night. Co-trainer Scott Phelan said the star pacer’s second at Menangle last Saturday night has “brought him on plenty” ahead of Saturday night’s $100,000 Group 2 Cordina Group Sprint (10.30pm). Merlin, who races as Its Merlin in Australia, will need a top three finish to be certain of a spot in the $1 million Miracle Mile a week later. He’s got the draw to do it from gate one and regular driver Zachary Butcher returns to the sulky. “He definitely needed the run last week and Gavin (Fitzpatrick) drove him well considering where he was at,” Phelan said. “He’d only had one quiet trial going into it, so he’s benefited a lot from the run. “I was happy with how he went and he’s come through it really well.” Its Merlin is in the stronger of the two qualifiers with arch Kiwi rival Dont Stop Dreaming (gate two), dual NZ Cup winner Swayzee (five), classy mare Eye Keep Smiling (four), Captain Ravishing (eight) and Tact McLeod (12) among his major rivals. “It’s a strong race, but the draw is a huge help. We’re not used to getting the pegs at Menangle,” Phelan laughed. Merlin is currently the second favourite at $3.80, with Swayee the top pick at $2.25. “We have to take advantage of the draw. He’s got the gate speed to use it. “I’ll leave the driving up to Zac, but sometimes you’ve just got to back your horse. “It’s a mile and he’s got a great draw, we won’t be handing the lead away. If he does, something will really have to earn it.” That could be Swayzee, who is sure to be driven aggressively by Cam Hart. Phelan admits stablemate Sooner The Bettor faces a challenge from a wide draw (gate eight) in the other qualifier. “He’s fine. The vet said he pulled-up sore after that first run he had at Menangle, but he was fine the next day,” he said. “The draw is the issue. He had great draws when he ran so well in those Menangle races, including the Miracle Mile, this time last year. “There’s a lot of speed and nice horses inside him this week.” It’s a similar story with Phelan and Barry Purdon’s Chariots Of Fire runner Better Knuckle Up, who has drawn nine, but will move down to seven. “He’ll also improve from his first run over here,” Phelan said. “It’s just hard to see where he’ll end up from the draw. “If they go hard, he’s certainly a good enough horse to be right in the finish, but he’s going to need the run to suit.” Purdon is chasing a fifth Chariots Of Fire win. His four wins is already a training record. View the full article

When Rashmi (Oscar Performance), the latest ingenue to punctuate a dynasty of George Strawbridge-bred starlets, made short thrift of the latest running of the GIII Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita, her win affirmed the charmed run enjoyed by her trainer, Jonathan Thomas, shows no outward signs of lost momentum. Will Then (War of Will) cruising away with the GIII Jimmy Durante Stakes. Truly Quality (Quality Road) showing rare quality in the GII Hollywood Turf Club Stakes. Mrs. Astor (Lookin At Lucky) doing double Grade III duty in the Red Carpet and Robert J. Frankel Stakes. Rashmi's back for more in the upcoming GII Buena Vista Stakes. Whatever happens this weekend, it's been a profitable 12 months for the stable, one memorable afternoon after another under a roaring California sunshine. Just don't fool yourself into thinking this has translated into some kind of gilded age for the barn. “Right now, we're got 19 horses,” says Thomas, at the end of training one recent morning. He had 34 horses at his height last year. Fifty-two is the most he's ever trained. “This is the smallest I've been by far.” A couple of new owners have gravitated his way the past year. They brought with them an additional five horses. Not many, considering the outsized impact Thomas's small stable has had in California, since he made a serious winter base here towards the end of 2023. And he's lost to answer why. “It's a good question. If it's all on us, I'd like to know so I could do a better job of attracting more horses,” Thomas says. Rashmi | Benoit “I think at the end of the day, you have to take responsibility for the spot you're in,” he adds. “I don't know if we don't advertise enough. Or if it's just a byproduct of where the business is at the moment. I know we've had some really good clients that I adore, that we've done well with, but have joined some super-group partnerships. I know with those, we're not on the receiving end.” This leaves the Thomas stable at an inflection point–both geographically and figuratively. His Santa Anita barn (number 59) sits at a crossroads. Training track immediately left. Main track straight on. Barn area off to the right. Robert Frost would have a field day. But for Thomas to break into the next sphere as a trainer, he needs more horses. That's the curve he needs to climb. That a small stable nearly ten years into the job, but which has so consistently punched above its weight, is struggling to attract new well-heeled benefactors poses a conundrum worth dissecting. Luckily, Thomas is in contemplative mood. He bats back a question about the evolving nature of ownership with an anecdote involving a trainer with a sobriquet that left no room for uncertainty. The Chief. “He had two horses go to the gate to breeze,” Thomas recalls, of Allen Jerkens. “He had jockeys on. I can't remember who, but he had two good jockeys on. You could tell it was a pretty important workout. One of the horses was just lathered, didn't want to go into the gate. Fractious.” Jerkens steered his golf cart to the gate and called the whole thing off, told the jockeys to take the horses home. “He called a complete audible just because he didn't like what he was seeing. He didn't want to add fuel to the fire. There was a chance where maybe you could have blown the horse's brains,” says Thomas. “I thought that was really cool. If you're an assistant or something, you feel the pressure. 'I've got to do this.' But he didn't give two shits. He did what was the right thing to do,” says Thomas. “He probably brought that filly back and schooled her a hundred times until she was good.” The lesson here is one of experience–that the confidence to venture off the beaten path comes with a familiarity of the terrain that only time and practice can bring. “Really, it's not who's winning most, it's who's making the least amounts of mistakes that is the most successful at the end of the day. But you've got to get things wrong to learn how to get things right. You've got to take chances. You've got to try things to learn,” says Thomas. The backbone of experience is opportunity, however. And one way to foster the sort of environment where opportunities are extended is to approach the trainer-owner relationship collaboratively. “I tell anyone new, whenever I have the luxury of talking to someone new in the business, 'you have to be okay at embracing when things don't work out,'” Thomas says. “You have to have the sort of backing where people are allowing you–or maybe not 'allowing,' but be able to understand–that mistakes are palatable, and you can problem solve with the client,” he says. “'Hey, we're going to be 30-1. It looks silly to run on paper. But I feel the horse is doing well. Would you like to take a shot?' If they're in and you give them equity in the decision-making, if it's a screw-up, it's fine because you're in it together,” he says. “But if it works, then it's great.” But how do you give the young trainer given so few of these opportunities in the first place the chance to make mistakes? The freedom to shape their skills at the gristmill of trial and error? The conversation turns to the evergreen topic of the nation's numerically dominant super trainers. More specifically, if training has become an out-and-out numbers game, what hope is there for the smaller outfits? “They're very good at what they do,” Thomas says, stressing how he harbors no animosity towards the big barns that are simply capitalizing on a welcoming marketplace. “But I've seen the consolidation of things happen faster in the last two years in real time than ever before.” This consolidation has been across the board. In breeding. In pre-training. “I know some very good smaller boutique places like in Ocala that break horses–they're dying on the vine because those partnerships are now going to one place,” says Thomas. And with that consolidation has emerged an increasingly select commercial market that “runs racing,” he says. “A lot of the expensive horses are, understandably, being bought to end up being stallions or broodmares. If they're stallions, they're only going to a handful of people. And they're only going to a handful of people because for whatever reason, those horses are deemed worth more because of who had them,” says Thomas. Thomas with Catholic Boy | Sarah Andrew “I've sat in on enough stallion deals and been a part of those things where it's like, there's this formula for a stallion. Unfortunately, it's just how it is,” says Thomas, who brings up Catholic Boy, his dual GI winner. “It was hard getting a stallion deal done with him.” Which leads to a curious creation of Thomas's–the idea of a bonus structure that benefits smaller barns. “What if you had a horse with a guy that had under 30 horses or 40 horses, and they were running for $30,000 or $40,000 more [than the bigger-number trainers] in a race?” Thomas suggests, describing such a system as incentive driven. “You can't keep taking. People are tired of being taken, and owners are the ones that get taken the most. They're paying multiple entities, multiple places. I pay my staff. We work hard to make sure we take care of everything. But the owner's ultimately paying. That's why you've got to give,” he says. “You have to find a way to incentivize someone to move horses.” Such a seemingly leftfield proposition–the oft-proposed remedy to the super trainer bugbear are stall limits–belies someone steeped in the sport's traditions, and the notion of standing-on-the-shoulders-of giants. Indeed, when Thomas first came marching back to his office at training's end, he brought with him tales from a morning spent sifting through the mental libraries at the disposal of Santa Anita mainstay, Neil Drysdale. “I haven't talked to him as much about actual horse training as much about business. The state of the business, forecasting where we're going to be in a couple of years,” says Thomas. “I've loved our time here in California, and I'm rooting for this place to keep going,” he says. “I think it's really just a matter of money at the end of the day, isn't it? Wherever the money goes, people follow.” The operations of another track mainstay have also caught the trainer's eye. “I really watch [Bob] Baffert's horses. He's able to extricate the innate talent of a lot of these horses with speed. It's kind of like you need to do it because you're preparing a horse for war. If you're training a soldier, you're not going to be soft on them. You got to train them for the battle. He does it as well or better than anyone that's ever done it,” says Thomas. “The brilliance for a lot of these guys, it's not so much what they're doing when they're breezing, it's when they're not breezing,” says Thomas. And Baffert, he adds, “gallops his horses very gently in between.” Then there's the knowledge and guidance imparted through the stable's current primary benefactor, Strawbridge, who has patronized the stable for about five years. “I'm getting through his breeding program the last two years by far the best horses that I've had. They are very, very well-bred. They're leaning on generations of hard work and planning. I always look at it like we're the beneficiary of being associated with someone like him who's got a lifetime of work behind him. Also, he's a very good horseman,” says Thomas. “He's very easy to make decisions with because he's seen this happen time and time and time again. There are a lot of times I don't have answers, but I'll ask a lot of questions, and through that, we'll get somewhere. Thomas with Frankie Dettori after a recent win | Benoit “I'll ask him, 'Hey, I'm not seeing what I think I need to see from this horse. You've had the family, what do you think?'” Thomas recounts. “'Oh, well, I think we stopped on the mother and gave her time. Why don't we turn this one out for six months and come back?'” Which brings the conversation full circle to the stable's trajectory, and another curious position that Thomas finds himself in–that of an unpaid ambassador for California racing. One common reason trainers give for avoiding the West Coast is the heightened veterinary scrutiny. While the advent of federal rules has somewhat leveled the playing field nationally, house rules mean California still wields arguably the strictest set of pre-race veterinary hurdles. “Honestly, I have found everyone that is instituting those rules to be very forthcoming, transparent, helpful, in navigating rules. After a couple months, I felt like it was kind of second nature. All these rules are implemented for the safety and betterment of horse racing, so we're fully behind all of them,” says Thomas. “In a way it's made life easier,” he adds. “If we've had a horse where you're kind of straddling the fence between do we turn them out, or do we get a little more aggressive with medication, it's an easy answer. You give a horse a time off.” Thomas doesn't know how many 2-year-olds are headed his way this year. He hopes for a handful or so from Strawbridge. His ideal stable number would be somewhere between 50 and 60. With so few horses currently at Thomas's disposal compared to so many of his stakes race competitors, does this impact the way he approaches the morning training? “It doesn't,” he says, adamantly. “I train what I have in front of me. You're going to do the best you can with what you have. What else are you going to do? I can't back off the gas and go, 'Well, I better preserve these because I don't have horses coming in.' It's the wrong thing to do for the horses and the clients,” says Thomas. “I've got a really good group of employees right now. They're a great crew. But I don't know what the complexion is going to look like in two, three months,” Thomas says. “Honestly, if in three months I'm down to four horses, but we did the best we could with what we have, I can walk out the door knowing I did the best job I could.” Such bleak words from a trainer who has made such a sparkling impression in one of racing's toughest circuits is a curiosity. No, not just a curiosity. A pretty damning indictment of an industry with its priorities all back to front. The post The Curious Case of Jonathan Thomas appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Waverley trainer Bill Thurlow will continue his southern raid this weekend when Steal My Thunder is joined by reinforcements Royal Sovereigns and Field Of Gold at Wingatui’s inaugural Property Brokers Otago Classics Day. Steal My Thunder headed south earlier this month and was victorious in her southern debut in the ODT Southern Mile Qualifier – Summer Cup (1600m) at Ascot Park a fortnight ago. While victorious in the race, she failed to collect enough points to make the final field for the $200,000 ODT Southern Mile Final (1600m) on Saturday, but Thurlow has found her a nice consolation in the Gr.3 White Robe Lodge Weight For Age (1600m). “She is not going to make that (ODT) field. She was probably always never going to make it, there are a lot of qualifying races, and a lot of points accumulated early on,” Thurlow said. “It is designed for those southern horses, and I am happy with that. “The White Robe is a very good substitute. If she can run top four I would be rapt. I am not sure she can, but she is in good form, and she apparently has done very well.” Steal My Thunder has been staying with Gore trainer Ellis Winsloe and will be reunited with her two stablemates at Wingatui on Saturday after their long-haul trek from the north. “Two of them (Royal Sovereigns and Field Of Gold) left home on Tuesday and they have had two nights in Christchurch before going down (on Friday),” Thurlow said. “Steal My Thunder stayed with Ellis Winsloe and she will come back from Invercargill to Wingatui for the race and then come home.” While it is a big trip from Waverley, Thurlow expects them to handle it in their stride. “The older horse (Field Of Gold) has been there and done that. He went down for the (New Zealand Cup) carnival when he was a three-year-old when Tony Pike trained him,” he said. “The young horse (Royal Sovereigns), it (travel) might just tickle her up a little bit being her first time, but other than that she will be pretty right.” Field Of Gold has seen a fair bit of the country in the last few weeks, having finished seventh in the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa earlier this month before his southern journey. “I am really happy with him,” Thurlow said. “I thought his run in the Herbie Dyke was good. He didn’t sprint home, but he just kept grinding away and he was still doing good work late. I am expecting him to run very well.” Thurlow is also pleased with Royal Sovereigns, who was fourth in the Gr.3 Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) at Trentham last month. “I am really happy with her. She had a week off after Wellington, where she went super,” Thurlow said. “I am hoping we have got her forward enough for the mile, I think we have, but that is my only little question mark. Having said that, with the trip away, and she is only a lightly-framed filly, I think we will be fine. “If she runs up to how she has been racing up here, she will be right there.” Thurlow is excited to be a part of the inaugural Property Brokers Otago Classics Day, and said it is great for southern racing. “It is very good prizemoney and I feel the horses we are sending down there deserve a chance at it,” he said. “It is massive, and it is great for South Island racing.” Meanwhile, Thurlow said the $1 million Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) dream with Twisted Love is over. The promising filly, who won on debut at Waverley last month before being sold for to Australian syndicator OTI Racing, had hit a snag in her preparation and Thurlow felt the best course of action was to give her a break before she continues her racing career in Melbourne. “It was really unfortunate. She just got to the stage where I think she maybe wasn’t going to quite cop the rest of the campaign and she had a bit of blood elevation, and a couple of things weren’t right,” Thurlow said. “We have decided to up stumps on this campaign, and she is flying out to Melbourne on Saturday.” View the full article

Myakkabelle has been a model of consistency in the lead up to the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and she will take the final step towards the $1 million feature in Sunday’s Gr.2 Jennian Homes Lowland Stakes (2100m). A filly by War Decree, Myakkabelle was amongst the action in each of the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m) and Gr.2 David and Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m), the latter her first time facing off against Oaks favourite Leica Lucy. While Leica Lucy will be the odds-on pick and filly to beat at Trentham this weekend, Myakkabelle has continued to please her trainers Ben and Ryan Foote, both on and off on race track. “She was very good in the Fillies Classic, she probably just came to the end of it 100m out but she still fought on strong,” Ben Foote said. “We’re trying to bring her up to peak at the Oaks, but her work on Tuesday was as good as I’ve seen it, so I think everything is coming to hand nicely with her.” Joining Myakkabelle on the journey from their Cambridge base will be Rayet and Nancy She Wrote, two mares with a definite liking for the champagne turf. Rayet came desperately close to winning two starts back at the course, while on the same day, Nancy She Wrote saluted over subsequent winner Lanikai. The pair will start in the MG Tiling and Clarky’s Painting 1200 and Laser Electrical 1600 respectively. “Rayet went a great race there two starts back and then came home strong last start, but she’d actually smacked her head in the gates,” Ben Foote said. “A couple of horses were declared non-starters, but because she ended up in the trail, she didn’t. “It was still pretty much a non-race for her I think, and we’ll be expecting her to turn that around on Sunday. “She (Nancy She Wrote) is a horse with a lot of ability that needs a lot of things to go her way. “Trentham is such a big, roomy track and things seem to go her way a bit more, she always races well there so we decided to head back down.” Meanwhile, the stable will be represented in the lucrative COMAG Wairere Falls Classic (1500m) at Matamata the day prior with The Odyssey. The son of Zacinto has already tasted success in an innovation race, winning last year’s $350,000 Remutaka Classic (2100m), and has gone on to win in open company this term as well as placing in the Gr.3 Waikato Cup (2400m). “He’s been a slow-maturing horse, but he’s strengthened up a lot, his work has been very good,” Ben Foote said. “He’ll need a touch of luck from the barriers, but he’ll go a good race and then we’ll be on to better things hopefully.” Earlier in the week, Kakadu got the stable off to winning start at Taupo, producing a dominant victory in the Central Livestock (1200m). A two-time winner on the Cambridge Synthetic, Foote was rapt to see his charge bring that ability to the turf after testing out various distances. “He’s been a hard horse to work out, some people get off and tell me that he’s a stayer, while others say he’s a sprinter,” he said. “He’s a very big horse that is still maturing. “We decided to freshen him up and go back to sprinting him, so hopefully we’ve got him worked out now as well. “He’s always shown us plenty and to win on quite a firm surface yesterday was good to see, sometimes when they go well on the poly you would think they need the easing out of the track.” View the full article

1st-Aqueduct, $77,600, Msw, 2-27, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:39.84, ft, 15 3/4 lengths. VANILLA SUNDAE (f, 3, Gun Runner–Vanilla Bean Back, by Empire Maker) finished sixth as the third wagering choice in her career debut sprinting six panels at the Spa last August before catching another off track in her next start–a mile test at the Big A Nov. 21–and faded late to finish a well-beaten fourth. Finally catching a fast track this time, the even-money second choice sprinted to the front, carving out a modest :24.18 quarter mile. Still on top through a :48.02 half, she started to draw away from the compact field turning for home and rolled home all alone, winning by 15 3/4 lengths over Stone Cold Kelly (Laoban). Stablemate Ice Cream Boat (Outwork) rounded out the trifecta. Sales History: $150,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 3-1-0-0, $52,400. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. O-Repole Stable; B-Karen Ewing (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. The post Gun Runner’s Vanilla Sundae Romps at Big A appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Explore a multitude of captivating racing promotions offered by horse racing bookmakers on Friday, February 28. Immerse yourself in the thrill with generous bonus back offers, elevating your betting experience. Delve into these promotions from top-tier online bookmakers to maximise your betting opportunities. The top Australian racing promotions for February 28, 2025, include: Today’s best horse racing promotions Blonde Boosts! Elevate your prices! BlondeBet T&C’s Apply. Login to BlondeBet to Claim Promo DOUBLE WINNINGS ALL RACES AT MOONEE VALLEY | UP TO $50 BONUS CASH Get DOUBLE WINNINGS paid in BONUS CASH. Applies to Win, Place & Top 2/3/4 markets (excludes SRM). First eligible bet per race. Must apply Promotion in bet slip. Cash bet only. Max Bonus $50. Picklebet T&Cs apply. Login to Picklebet to Claim Promo COPYCASH. GET COPIED. GET PAID – Get paid $0.10 every time someone uses Copy Bet to copy your bets Earn $0.10 per unique Copy Bet. Max $1000 per week. Copy Cash is real money into your account. Dabble T&Cs apply. Login to Dabble to Claim Promo Moonee Valley – Friday Bonus Back 2nd All Races Any Race. Any Runner. Any Odds. Get a Bonus Back if your runner comes second. Fixed odds only. Eligible customers only. T&Cs apply. T&C’s apply. Login to UniBet to Claim Promo Owners Bonus – Win a bet on your horse & receive an extra 15% of winnings in cash Account holder must be registered as an official owner of the nominated horse. Fixed odds only. PlayUp T&Cs Apply. Login to PlayUp to Claim Promo Odds Drift Protector If the price at the jump is bigger than the price that you took, we will pay you out at the bigger odds Eligible customers. T&C’s apply. Login to Bet365 to Claim Promo Moonee Valley & Canterbury | Friday Best Tote Exotics Available on Exactas, Quinellas, Trifectas & First Fours. Eligible customers only. T&Cs apply. customer T&C’s apply. Login to UniBet to Claim Promo BoomBet Daily Race Returns Use your daily Race Returns to back a runner in ANY RACE you want* and if your horse doesn’t win but finishes in the specified positions, you get your stake back as a bonus bet. 18+ Gamble responsibly. Can be used across any race and code unless specified in customer’s BoomBox. Fix odds, win bets only. Max bonus $50. Login to BoomBet to Claim Promo How does horsebetting.com.au source its racing bonus offers? HorseBetting.com.au meticulously assesses leading Australian horse racing bookmakers, revealing thoroughbred bonus promotions for February 28, 2025. These ongoing offers underscore the dedication of top horse racing bookmakers. In the realm of horse racing betting, when one bookmaker isn’t featuring a promotion, another is stepping up. Count on HorseBetting.com.au as your go-to source for daily rewarding horse racing bookmaker bonuses. Enhance your value with competitive odds and promotions tailored for existing customers. Easily access these offers by logging in to each online bookmaker’s platform. For valuable insights into races and horses to optimise your bonus bets, trust HorseBetting’s daily free racing tips. Horse racing promotions View the full article

A year after Honor Marie ran in the Kentucky Derby (G1), Kerry and Alan Ribble are back on the road to Churchill Downs as Drexel Hill targets the May 2 Kentucky Oaks (G1).View the full article

Super Saturday in Dubai has been upstaged a little bit by the success of the Saudi Cup program, but the March 1 renewal still has plenty of firepower for horses looking for a spot on Dubai World Cup night.View the full article

8th-Gulfstream, $78,540, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($75,000), 2-27, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:50.16, ft, 2 1/2 lengths. GRANDE (c, 3, Curlin–Journey Home {GSW, $225,997}, by War Front) put in a promising debut performance going an eighth of a mile shorter to take a win first-time out at odds of 9-1 Jan. 11. Now favored at even-money facing winners for the first time, the Triple Crown-nominated colt sat poised in second just off pacesetter Jimmy's Dailys (Vekoma) who spurted to the front from the rail. Tracking that runner past the half in :47.61, Grande began to assert himself off the far turn and quickly put 2 1/2 lengths on the early leader, holding that advantage while ridden out to the line. It was the second win on the afternoon at Gulfstream for Todd Pletcher and Repole Stables who also scored with Edgy (Arrogate) in race four. Journey Home, who sold for $650,000 in foal to Curlin at KEENOV in 2021, has already produced Ticker Tape Home (Medaglia d'Oro), GSW, $273,916 and now has two winners from three to race. This is the family of GI Arkansas Derby winner and Japanese sire Nadal (Blame). Journey Home visited both Into Mischief and Tapit for this season. Sales History: $300,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $88,200. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. O-Repole Stable; B-KatieRich Farms (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. #5 GRANDE ($4.20) and John Velazquez (@ljlmvel) impress in Race 8 at @GulfstreamPark nabbing another victory for the team of @PletcherRacing and @RepoleStable. Our on-site coverage from Gulfstream continues on @FanDuelTV, presented by @ClaiborneFarm. pic.twitter.com/nvKgwLWzSF — FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) February 27, 2025 The post Grande Stays Perfect With Allowance Win At Gulfstream appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Back in the late 2000s, the racing world was captivated by the formidable Zenyatta, who put together an astounding 19-race winning streak with her trademark rallies from far back. Then there was Rachel Alexandra, whose jaw-dropping performance in the 2009 Kentucky Oaks and historic Preakness Stakes victory were part of an undefeated campaign that saw her capture Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and Horse of the Year honors. Both Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra commanded respect, were immensely popular, and deserved all of their accolades. But during that same era, Blind Luck crafted a terrific career in her own right. From her winning debut in the early summer of 2009 at Calder to her career finale at Santa Anita in early October 2011, Blind Luck proved herself to be an owner's dream. Over the course of her 22-race career, Blind Luck accomplished the following: She won 12 races at 8 different tracks across North America. She won 10 graded stakes (6 of them being a Grade I), and was third or better in 9 others. She captured multiple graded stakes wins in each of her three seasons of action. She won several major races, including the Hollywood Starlet, Kentucky Oaks, Alabama Stakes and Vanity Handicap (now the Beholder Mile). She proved she could win on dirt and synthetic tracks, and was successful both sprinting and routing. She was named Champion 3-Year-Old Filly for the 2010 season. To win or place in 19 graded stakes is the sign of a truly special racehorse. That is even more true considering Blind Luck visited so many tracks in the country. She also defeated Havre de Grace, the 2011 Champion Older Mare and Horse of the Year. During an era where racing understandably watched the flashy and amazing performances of both Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, Blind Luck quietly went out and did her job when she left the starting gate. She never attained the popularity her contemporaries enjoyed, but Blind Luck put together a memorable and underrated career. She traveled many miles across North America to compete during her three seasons at the races. Her next stop should be Saratoga, as Blind Luck's work on the track is Hall of Fame worthy. The post Letter to the Editor: Blind Luck Should Be in the Hall of Fame appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

A monument by sculptor Jocelyn Russell commemorating the story of the late Cody Dorman and 2023 Horse of the Year Cody's Wish will be installed at the Kentucky Horse Park, with dedication scheduled for this October. Titled “The Bond: Two Hearts—One Spirit,” the monument's creation will be documented at CodysWishMonument.com. “The relationship we share with the horse is special,” said Lee Carter, Director of the Kentucky Horse Park. “It can raise our spirits and improve our well-being. There is no better example of this than the bond between Cody Dorman and Cody's Wish. Creating the monument, “The Bond: Two Hearts—One Spirit,” will celebrate this special relationship. We are honored to place this monument at the Kentucky Horse Park as a reminder that our lives can be lifted up by a horse that leans down.” Financial support is being accepted, with donor plaques at the site available with pledges of $5,000 or more. All donations are tax-deductible through the 501(c)(3) corporation Angels Without Wings, Inc. “Our hope for this monument will stand not only as an inspiration but an example that you can conquer the mountains that lie in your path especially when you have love in your heart for everyone around you,” said the Dorman family. “This above all, is the message that Cody and Cody's Wish gave us, they made each other better. And as we all watched, we became better ourselves. God bless and thank you once more for your support now and throughout this journey.” The post Cody’s Wish Monument Slated for Horse Park appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

GI Arkansas Derby winner and GII Risen Star Stakes winner Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) has had his first mare checked in foal, Taylor Made Stallions officials announced Thursday afternoon. In addition to his graded scores, the Albaugh Family Stables runner also was third in the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby behind Mage and Two Phil's, where he earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. Angel of Empire is standing his first season at Taylor Made for $7,500 S&N. The post First In-Foal Mare for Angel of Empire appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Bloodstock agent Clay Scherer was scouting horses for Jon Hansen's partnership Net Birdie and noticed a bay New York-bred colt by the promising young New York stallion Honest Mischief at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.View the full article

Canterbury Park racing officials have released a condition book for the first 10 days of the 2025 season that runs 51 days, May 24-Sept. 20, and its Thoroughbred stakes schedule.View the full article

Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. has cross-entered the promising colt McAfee, a half brother to 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, in both the March 1 Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack and the City of Brotherly Love Stakes March 4 at Parx Racing. View the full article

Canterbury Park racing officials have released a condition book for the first 10 days of the 2025 season that runs 51 days, May 24 through Sept. 20, and its Thoroughbred stakes schedule.View the full article

This year’s Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) March 1 at Gulfstream Park drew a solid field headlined by recent Holy Bull Stakes (G3) winner Burnham Square and Sovereignty.View the full article

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New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame trainer Mike Moroney died in Melbourne Feb. 27 at the age of 66.View the full article

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Friday's Observations features a daughter of dual Group 1 winner Watch Me (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}). 3.10 Chantilly, Mdn, €27,000, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f (AWT) WHY NOT AGAIN (FR) (Siyouni {Fr}) is the meeting's most significant debutante as the first foal out of the G1 Coronation Stakes and G1 Prix Rothschild heroine Watch Me (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}). Entrusted to Fabrice Chappet by her owner-breeders Haras de Saint Julien and Regula Vannod, she faces nine rivals on this Polytrack bow. The post Daughter Of Watch Me Debuts At Chantilly appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The first mare bred to Grade I winner and stakes-record setter 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) has been checked in foal, Claiborne Farm announced Feb. 27. The mare Itgetsgreaterlater (Justify) hails from the family of GISW Cupid (Tapit). Prince of Monaco, winner of the 2023 GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity and narrow runner-up in the 2024 GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., stands at Claiborne Farm for $30,000 LFSN. The post First Mare Checked In Foal to Prince of Monaco appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article