Trainer Shug McGaughey’s ability to bring horses back off extended layoffs will be tested Wednesday at Belmont Park when the filly Path and the colt Peter Island return to the races in a pair of first-level allowance races which highlight Belmont’s nine-race card.
The Harness Racing Social Media Initiative, in partnership with the U.S. Trotting Association and key partners, announced on Monday the launch of a new marketing campaign to help recruit new owners into the sport.
Golden Emperor will try to extend his winning streak to four as the likely favorite in a $25,000 starter optional-claiming race that kicks off Wednesday’s eight-race card at Gulfstream Park.
Matt Rose's analysis of the Tuesday 5/5 card at Yonkers Raceway.
A. Stevens Miles Jr., a retired banker and successful Thoroughbred owner and breeder, died April 29 in Louisville, Ky. He was 85.
Every win counts when trying to prove out a young stallion, but some wins count for a bit more. Pioneerof the Nile received arguably the biggest resume boost an emerging sire can get on Saturday when his son American Pharoah pulled away from Firing Line to win the Kentucky Derby by a length.
If there is one certainty in harness racing it is that there are no guarantees. Take for example two of last year’s most impressive juveniles, Mission Brief and Artspeak, a pair that excited the racing world with blinding speed, while at the same time offered a note of caution. The two have come back to race as three-year-olds and surprisingly, stunningly to some, have exhibited the same characteristics that marred them in some ways during otherwise brilliant seasons.
Mubtaahij, the eighth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, will ship to New York within the next couple weeks to be pointed to a start in the Belmont Stakes.
The Kentucky Derby marked a major coup for young stallions. Winner American Pharoah hails from the second crop of Pioneerof the Nile; runner-up Firing Line is a first-crop representative for Line of David; and third-place finisher Dortmund is from the third crop of Big Brown.
Trip Notes for May 1-3: Kentucky Oaks, Kentucky Derby, and more by Michael Hammersly.
