US RACING: Kentucky Derby gets new starting gate for 2020 race
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Horses running in the Kentucky Derby will break from a new custom-made 20-stall starting gate for the 146th edition in May. Churchill Downs said Monday the new contiguous gate will eliminate the wide gap between post position No. 14 in the standard gate and No. 15 in the auxiliary gate. The […]
FRENCH RACING: Star French jockey under investigation for alleged rape
PARIS, France (AFP) - Pierre-Charles Boudot, the jockey who rode the winner in the 2019 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, was questioned Thursday by investigators along with a woman who has accused him of rape. Boudot, 27, considered one of the best jockeys in the world, has been under investigation since the woman filed a […]
US RACING: Bob Baffert earns 3,000th win with Thousand Words at Santa Anita
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert got his 3,000th career victory when Thousand Words won the US$100,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Saturday. Thousand Words won by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 3 race named for Baffert's late client. The colt ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.64 at Santa […]
US RACING: Sir Winston returns to the winning trail
Belmont Stakes hero Sir Winston, making his first start on dirt since his Triple Crown victory last June, surged last to first on Friday in an allowance optional claiming race at Aqueduct that will have the Mark Casse trainee climbing back up the class ladder The son of Awesome Again, a Tracy Farmer homebred, trailed […]
US RACING: Belinda Stronach tells AP: Horse racing got 'a wake-up call'
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — There was a frothy cappuccino in a tall glass mug on the table in front of Belinda Stronach. She was seated on a white couch, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows to survey another sun-drenched day at Gulfstream Park. "It's so nice," she said, "when it's like this." Thing is, these […]
US RACING: Churchill Downs executive addresses surge in horse deaths
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The corporate owner of a New Orleans horse racing track appeared before Louisiana's Racing Commission on Monday to address a surge in horse deaths there. Mike Ziegler, executive director of racing for Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc., presented a list of potential reforms for the commission to consider, including restrictions on certain […]
US RACING: Mucho Gusto runs away, wins the $3 million Pegasus World Cup
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Irad Ortiz Jr.'s move paid off, and Mucho Gusto's earnings more than doubled in a couple of minutes. Ortiz made a last-minute decision to take the mount aboard Mucho Gusto, and picked the right time to let the four-year-old kick into high gear Saturday in the US$3 million Pegasus World […]
US RACING: Bricks and Mortar pulls off an Eclipse Awards sweep
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Best horse. Best trainer. Best owner. Best jockey. Best breeder. Bricks and Mortar had a perfect year, and the Eclipse Award voters gave his team a historic night. After going 6 for 6 — all on the turf — at six tracks last year, Bricks and Mortar and his connections […]
US RACING: Pegasus World Cup favourite Omaha Beach withdraws from event
Hours after Pegasus World Cup (G1) second choice Spun to Run defected from the race Thursday, favorite Omaha Beach followed. Trainer Richard Mandella told Gulfstream Park's publicity staff that Omaha Beach showed "light swelling" in his right-hind fetlock after training earlier in the morning, fearing it's the beginnings of a fracture. The 4-year-old son of […]
UK RACING: Enable to start 6-year-old career with Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
Enable, who will campaign in 2020 as a 6-year-old, was this week named a co-World's Best Racehorse along with two other European stars despite not winning her target race in 2019, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Trainer John Gosden said at a ceremony in London that another shot at the Arc, which Enable won […]