The Wire

The Wesley Ward-trained #7 Artie’s Princess (2-1) headlines a fine field for Saturday’s $150,000 Whimsical S....

Following 26 millimetres of rain since racing yesterday, and with a few false patches of ground which means the ability to race may be marginal, an inspection has been called for 12.45pm.   We are also looking at options to re-align the rail to avoid these areas.   And so...

Publisher Ray Paulick has interviewed all sorts on The Friday Show, but this time around, the spotlight is on him. On this week's episode, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills asks Ray about his beginnings, both in horse racing and covering the sport, which horses inspired him along the way, and what...

All hail mighty Tapit! The king of American classic stallions sired his fourth winner of the Belmont Stakes when last …Continue reading →...

Detailed analysis of the 2021 Roxelana Stakes field by James Scully of TwinSpires....

Last week, I stopped by John and Leslie Malone's 2,200-acre Bridlewood Farm in Ocala before attending the OBS June sale and got a good look at an intriguing freshman sire who'd topped the June sale six years earlier at a then-record price of $680,000. By Candy Ride (Arg) from the...

How about Love? Off a 10-month layoff, on the lead, swarmed by a Breeders' Cup winner. Never in doubt.  Owned by Coolmore, ridden by Ryan Moore and trained by Aiden O'Brien, Love garnered the Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes to highlight day two. Making her 4-year-old debut, the 1000 Guineas,...

The Jockeys' Guild decision to cancel insurance for jockeys who ride in races at Monmouth Park is vindictive and dangerous. To proclaim Monmouth's new whip policy “extremely dangerous and is creating an even greater risk to both the equine and human athletes, including the potential for injury and/or loss of...

Citing concerns about a growing lack of diversity in the gene pool of Thoroughbred racehorses, the Jockey Club, which is the registrar of the breed in the United States, in 2020 promulgated a new rule.  Stallions foaled in 2020 and thereafter are limited to breeding 140 mares per season.  In...

In economics for like a bazillion years (I don't think this time frame is accurate, I am not an economist), we've heard a firm produces product until its marginal cost equals the price. In terms for the rest of us, they produce something at X price until the next unit...

A few years back, Joe asked me about my schedule and I said, "Well, I have Royal Ascot next week." He said, "You're going...?" I said, "No, but I'm watching." I'm watching again.  Poetic Flare just galloped in the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes. Bred, owned and trained by...

June is synonymous with the Belmont Stakes, run annually every June at Long Island’s beautiful Belmont Park. For the Turf History Times, Long Island is also synonymous with its legendary 19th-century track, the Union Course. The Times visited the former site of this course in Queens where Neir’s Tavern, the track’s...

This year has been a good one for the family of the mare Nijinsky Star, a half-sister to stakes winner …Continue reading →...

Elusive Honey April 27, 2000 – June 6, 2021 Elusive Quality – Honey Sipper (Drone) Elusive Honey was a twenty-one year old daughter of Elusive Quality who also sired Smarty Jones. As a filly she raced 14 times. Trained by … Continue reading →...

It’s the perfect storm. The adrenaline rush. The fast lane. The highs and lows. The risk. The urgency. The vibrancy. The gamble. The concussions.  I found myself and still do sometimes saying, “Oh, I’ll be all right because I have that horse running Saturday. If he wins, it’ll make everything...

Overcast. Brisk. Rain-sodden ground. We needed the rain, we got it. Good for the garden. Off the turf for Make A Stand at Pimlico yesterday, off the turf at Delaware today, off the turf around the Mid-Atlantic, it’s the Upperville Horse Show, of course, it rained this week. A timeless...

Jockey Jose Ferrer leads the Monmouth Park jockey standings with nine wins thus far, and spoke this week to Horse Racing Nation about the New Jersey Racing Commission's whip rules. The strictest in the country, the regulations allow jockeys to only utilize the whip for reasons of safety, but to...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That seems to be the prevailing attitude toward American horse racing's Triple Crown whenever agents of change suggest tinkering with  the timing or distances of the trio of 3-year-old classics. In an era when trainers are looking for a minimum of four to...

Detailed analysis of the 2021 Mint Julep Stakes field by James Scully of TwinSpires....

With so much attention focused on the drug test that could lead to the disqualification of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, there's been barely a peep about how American racing managed to get through a Triple Crown season with all of its participants competing free of race-day furosemide, the anti-bleeding...

Trainer extraordinaire Bob Baffert was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 2009.  His enshrinement certainly won’t be rescinded irrespective of a documented record of equine drug violations, including most notoriously Medina Spirit in the 2021 Kentucky Derby and eventual Triple Crown winner Justify in the...

I watched the U.S. Women's Open in golf this past weekend on and off. I wondered if Lexi Thompson, the front-runner with a 4 shot lead, could battle some demons and get the job done. On Sunday, after she hit her second to six feet on the par five first...

Our wagering game is an incredible mental exercise for many reasons. And one of its characteristics I like best is the variety of thought when it comes to doping out various bets. This includes, for me at least, ticket themes in serial wagers. I was speaking with horseplayer Mike Maloney awhile...

The 153rd Belmont Stakes and the 242nd Epsom Derby were run on June 5, 2021.  Before the day was over, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin had accomplished an historic first-ever feat:  winning the 1 ½ mile Epsom Derby and the 1 ½ mile Belmont Stakes on the same...

There is much to be said for pausing and considering how much the sport and the breed owes to the …Continue reading →...