Santa Anita Park’s 2011 Autumn Meeting begins Sept. 30, with 13 graded stakes, including six Grade I events to be run as part of Santa Anita’s Breeders’ Cup prep program that encompasses the first two weekends of the 24-day race meeting. The 2011 Breeders’ Cup will for the first time take place at Churchill Downs [...]
It was a moment right out of a Hollywood movie: 90-year-old man throws himself in front of a stampeding Thoroughbred to push a six-year-old girl to safety. But it happened for real, March 12 at Santa Anita Park, when paddock guard John Shear acted in the call of duty to maintain safety in the walking [...]
It was a wire-to-wire victory for Acclamation at the 21st running of Del Mar’s $1 Million Pacific Classic on Aug. 28. The five-year-old California-bred horse was ridden by Patrick Valenzuela. “He’s a great horse. And it doesn’t matter – grass or dirt of Poly. He’s just a runner,” Valenzuela said. Overall, Acclamation’s stellar performance at [...]
Jockey Chantal Sutherland veered from tradition when she decided to work the Del Mar meet this summer, rather than heading back to her native Canada to ride at Woodbine. But Sutherland isn’t one for following formulas. The only thing she likes to be predictable at is winning. “When you pick a meet, you kind of [...]
For the management team behind Acclamation, the choice was between the July 17 Grade III, $100,000 Sunset Handicap on closing day of the Hollywood Park meeting, or the July 23 Grade I, $300,000 Eddie Read Handicap on the opening weekend at Del Mar. The decision: scratch from the Sunset and gear up for the Read, [...]
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s J. Terrence Lanni has died at age 68. Lanni, who had been a member of the DMTC’s board of directors since 2001, passed away July 14 at his home in Pasadena, Calif., after a long battle with cancer. Lanni was also the former chairman and CEO of MGM Mirage, having [...]
Torrential rain and severe winds damaged at least nine barns at Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, KY, last night displacing about 150 horses and 100 backstretch workers housed on the premises, according to Associated Press. As a result, the track will be closed for live racing at least through today, though training will take place [...]
The 2011 Triple Crown season was all about the underdogs, with yet another longshot, Ruler On Ice, winning the 143rd Belmont Stakes June 11. The 24-to-1 shot broke the wire three-quarters of a length ahead of Stay Thirsty. Shackleford, who three weeks earlier won the Preakness Stakes as a 12-to-1 shot, finished fifth. Animal Kingdom, [...]
Shackleford scuttled the chances for a 2011 Triple Crown, as the first to cross the wire at the 136th running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes, May 21 at the Pimlico race course in Baltimore. He beat the favorite, Kentucky Derby-winner Animal Kingdom, by a half-length, as the race unfolded before 107,398 fans. The chestnut [...]
Twenty-to-one shot Animal Kingdom won the 137th Kentucky Derby on May 7 in a 2 ¾-length victory over second-placed Nehro. Mucho Macho Man finished third. A total of 19 horses competed for a piece of the $2.2 million purse as a record 164,858 spectators packed Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Archarcharch pulled up lame but [...]
