Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities also co-honored the Champion Stakes (G1) and Japan Cup (G1) as the Longines World's Best Horse Race with an equal rating of 126.25.View the full article

Frigid temperatures caused a second straight day of cancellations at Mahoning Valley Race Course and Parx Racing Tuesday. Temperatures in the Philadelphia area reached only into the upper teens Tuesday, with real feel temperatures in the single digits. The projected high temperature near Mahoning Valley in Ohio Tuesday was 13 degrees. Both tracks were also forced to cancel their Monday race cards. The post Winter Weather KOs Tuesday Racing at Parx, Mahoning Valley appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The ASPCA Right Horse Scholarship will return for the 2026 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America thanks to funding by the ASPCA Right Horse Reimagining Racers Grant, the Retired Racehorse Project announced Tuesday. The scholarship will fund the costs of one stall and first discipline fee for up to 50 eligible horses competing at the 2026 event, a minimum value of $405 per horse. The grant also funds $4,000 in additional prize money for the Former Broodmare division, awarding $400 to second-place finishers in each discipline. Eligible horses include those adopted from ASPCA Right Horse Partner organizations; horses must be registered for the 2026 Thoroughbred Makeover. Horses meeting certain criteria will be prioritized to receive scholarship funding, including former broodmares, cribbers, those that require rehabilitation at the time of adoption, or have career limitations. Applications are open for the 2026 Thoroughbred Makeover through Jan. 23. Late applications will be open after 5 p.m. EST Jan. 23 through June 26. Horses can be registered along with submitted applications, and horses must be registered by July 28. For more information about the ASPCA Right Horse Scholarship, visit the Makeover Scholarship page on the RRP website. For more information about applying to the 2026 Thoroughbred Makeover, visit the Want to Apply page. The post ASPCA Right Horse Scholarship Returns for 2026 Makeover appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

With a rating of 130, the Aga Khan Studs homebred Calandagan has been crowned Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2025, ahead of five horses from four different countries who all tied for second on a rating of 128. At a ceremony to mark the Longines Racing Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London on Tuesday, it was confirmed that the performance of Calandagan when winning October's G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot was the best produced by any racehorse on the planet last year. The son of Gleneagles – who also struck at the top level in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Japan Cup during a blockbuster 2025 – becomes the first French-trained winner of the prize since Waldgeist shared the honour with both Crystal Ocean and Enable in 2019. The depth of the fields beaten by Calandagan last year is underlined by the standing of the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup among the world's highest-rated races of 2025. Indeed, for the first time, there was a tie at the top in the battle for the Longines World's Best Horse Race Award, with the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup both achieving a rating of 126.25. This figure is calculated based on the first four finishers in each race and the average of their ratings. Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) and Masquerade Ball (Duramente) were both involved in the five-way tie for second, having finished second behind Calandagan in the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup, respectively. Ombudsman, trained in Newmarket by John and Thady Gosden, was also successful in the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International, while Takahisa Tezuka's Masquerade Ball made the breakthrough at the top level when winning the Tenno Sho (Autumn) in his native Japan. Japan was home to another horse who achieved a rating of 128 in the G1 Saudi Cup and GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero Forever Young (Real Steel). Those performances were matched on dirt by only the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI Travers Stakes winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief), a late absentee from the Breeders' Cup Classic for Bill Mott and Godolphin. Completing the quartet of horses on a rating of 128 was the Hong Kong champion Ka Ying Rising, who proved himself the world's best sprinter when extending his winning sequence to 16 races in 2025. The son of Shamexpress was last seen winning the G1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin for the second year in a row, having previously pulled off a successful Australian raid in the G1 The Everest. Calandagan's stablemate Daryz (Sea The Stars) featured among the next wave of horses on a rating of 127, along with Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner). Daryz produced his career-best effort when winning the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, while Romantic Warrior and Sierra Leone both ran their best races of last year in defeat, when finishing second behind Forever Young in the Saudi Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic, respectively. The Todd Pletcher-trained Fierceness (City Of Light) was one of five horses on a rating of 125 after his third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He was joined by a pair of multiple Group 1-winning members of the Classic generation in Europe, Delacroix (Dubawi) and Field Of Gold (Kingman), plus Japan's G1 Dubai Sheema Classic hero Danon Decile (Epiphaneia) and Aidan O'Brien's Jan Brueghel (Galileo), who defeated Calandagan by half a length when winning the G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom. Minnie Hauk was another Group 1 winner on that Epsom card for Ballydoyle when landing the Oaks. With a rating of 123, the daughter of Frankel was the top-rated filly or mare in the world last year, having also won the G1 Irish Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks, before filling the runner-up spot behind Daryz in the Arc. The veteran Anmaat (Awtaad) was also rated 123 after finishing second behind Ombudsman in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes and behind Delacroix in the Irish Champion Stakes, while White Abarrio (Race Day) ran to the same figure when winning the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes. Overall, 279 horses, trained in 15 different countries, were rated 115 or higher last year. This figure was up from 273 in 2024. World's Top Races in 2025 The ratings for the world's top 100 Group/Grade 1 races of last year were also published on Tuesday, in tandem with the Longines World Racing Awards. As mentioned above, the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup shared top billing with a rating of 126.25. In the Champion Stakes, the first four finishers were Calandagan, Ombudsman, Almaqam (Lope De Vega) (122) and Delacroix, before the winner of that contest followed up in the Japan Cup at the expense of Masquerade Ball, Danon Decile and Croix Du Nord (Kitasan Black) (122). This is the first time that the Champion Stakes has won the award, while the Japan Cup takes the title for the second time in three years. It was first celebrated in 2023. The Breeders' Cup Classic was best of the rest on 125.50, followed by Ascot's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (125.00) and Meydan's Dubai Sheema Classic (124.00). Europe's richest race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, finished just outside of the top 10 with a rating of 123.75, narrowly ahead of the G1 Coral-Eclipse, won by Delacroix, on 123.25. In the five respective distance categories, the highest-rated races were: The Everest (121.00, Sprint); Saudi Cup (121.00, Mile); Champion Stakes (126.25, Intermediate); Japan Cup (126.25, Long); and Gold Cup (117.50, Extended). The GI Spinster Stakes, which went the way of Gin Gin (Hightail), was the world's highest-rated race for fillies and mares on 116.75, while the top contest for three-year-olds was the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2,000 Guineas) on 121.50. Museum Mile (Leontes) (121) was a decisive winner of the Satsuki Sho ahead of Croix Du Nord and Masquerade Ball. Britain hosted 20 of the world's top 100 Group/Grade 1 races in 2025, with another 19 in Australia and 16 in America. In total, 10 different countries had at least one race featured among the top 100, with the others being comprised of Japan (15), Hong Kong SAR, China (11), France (10), Ireland (4), the United Arab Emirates (3), Germany (1) and Saudi Arabia (1). Meanwhile, James McDonald won the Longines World's Best Jockey title for the second consecutive year and third time overall. The New Zealand-born, Australian-based jockey also won the Longines World's Best Jockey Award in 2022. The awarding of the title is based upon performances in the top 100 races mentioned above, with jockeys earning 12 points for a win, 6 points for placing second and 4 points for placing third. McDonald ended 2025 with a total of 184 points, ahead of Mickael Barzalona with 132 points and William Buick with 114 points. The post Calandagan Adds Longines World’s Best Racehorse Crown to 2025 Spoils appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Seize the Grey (Arrogate–Smart Shopping, by Smart Strike), winner of the 2024 GI Preakness Stakes, was represented by his first foal when stakes-winning Dontmesswithjoanne (Pioneerof the Nile) produced a colt at Tanya Johnson's Red Gables Stud Jan. 17. “We couldn't be happier with this mare's first foal for us. He is strong, correct, and has impressive size,” Johnson said. “Seize the Grey delivered everything we were looking for in this mating, and we are excited to watch his progress.” In addition to the Preakness, Seize the Grey also won the 2024 GI Pennsylvania Derby and GII Pat Day Mile Stakes. He covered 196 mares–fifth most of any first-crop North American stallion in 2025–and stands at Gainesway for a 2026 advertised fee of $25,000. The post First Foal a Colt for Preakness Winner Seize the Grey appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article