Two more horses at Fair Grounds tested positive for equine herpesvirus Saturday. The horses are housed in barn 36 and are trained by Mike Stidham. These were the second and third horses in barn 36 to test positive for the EHV-1 wild-type.
Stewards in Kentucky have issued a ruling rescinding a 40-day suspension handed down last year to trainer Mike Maker for a post-race positive of dextrorphan, the metabolite of a once-common ingredient in cough syrup, according to a copy of the ruling and racing officials.
Tourist came into 2016 still seeking the first Grade 1 win of his career. He got that in August, when he won the Fourstardave at Saratoga, and he wound up his 5-year-old season – and career – with two Grade 1 wins, a Breeders' Cup trophy, and as a finalist for an Eclipse award as the champion older male turf horse of 2016.
Trainer Chad Brown's stable already was loaded with high-class turf horses when Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms told Brown early in 2016 they were sending him another star. Flintshire's world travels twice had brought him to the United Sates for single races. Now, he would be spending the entire 2016 season with Brown.
Highland Reel's performance in winning the Breeders' Cup Turf in his only U.S. start was enough to give him a spot as one of three finalists for the Eclipse Award in the older male turf division.
The Sunshine Millions has been a favorite of fans and horsemen alike each January since its inception in 2003. But the popular series of races, which once again serve as a lead-in to the Eclipse Award ceremonies here at Gulfstream Park later this month, will take a bit of a hit this winter with the announcement that purses have been cut from the $900,000 originally earmarked for the five races on the schedule to only $600,000.
If you want an idea of the regard trainer Chad Brown has for New Money Honey, his quote after he sent out his filly to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf speaks volumes. “I think the sky is the limit,” Brown said of New Money Honey. “A mile [the distance of the Juvenile Fillies Turf] is as short as she wants to run. I think this filly has an unbelievable future.
The Eclipse Awards are 46 years old this year, and it should come as no surprise that there have been some interesting and distinctive divisional finalists over that time. But Lady Aurelia, a finalist for champion 2-year-old filly of 2016, might very well be the most unique Eclipse Award divisional finalist ever.
Now that the dust has settled, it doesn't really matter that Champagne Room was 33-1 when she won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. The only thing that REALLY matters is, Champagne Room won the Juvenile Fillies.
In 2015, Tepin became the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Mile in five years. In 2016, she reached a unique milestone – the first American-based horse to win the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting in England. No wonder Tepin is again a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding turf female of 2016, a title she won in 2015.
