DEL MAR, Calif. – Shortly after he arrived in Southern California from Hong Kong in late 2019, jockey Umberto Rispoli set a goal of winning a riding title at Del Mar or Santa Anita.
Nearly six years later, Rispoli reached that achievement at the Del Mar autumn meeting that ended Sunday. Coincidentally, he is bound for Hong Kong this week to ride an international jockey competition at Happy Valley Racecourse on Dec. 10 and to ride at Sha Tin Racecourse on Dec. 14.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Reef Runner returned to the work tab here Saturday for the first time since his fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. It must have been a warming thought for trainer David Fawkes, who sat shivering outside his barn at Churchill Downs awaiting the arrival of the van scheduled to take more than a dozen of his Kentucky-breds to Arkansas, where they will winter at Oaklawn Park.
The first serious snowfall in Kentucky was expected on Tuesday, but the long winter meet at Turfway Park begins on Wednesday and could heat things up with large fields and a lucrative stakes schedule.
Turfway, in Florence, Ky., across the river from Cincinnati, officially splits its four-month slot into two meets. The Holiday meet opens Wednesday and conducts night racing through Dec. 27 on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule, with the exception of being dark on Dec. 24, 25, and 31. The winter-spring meet immediately follows, opening on Jan. 1 and running through March 28.
DraftKings Sportsbook has arrived in Missouri with an exceptional welcome offer for new bettors. The platform is celebrating its launch by giving first-time customers a guaranteed $300 bonus when they place a $5 wager on Dec. 1.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Society’s Thunder has been a model of consistency this year while failing to find the winner’s circle. The hard-luck 6-year-old is dropping to the right spot in Thursday’s featured conditioned allowance/optional claimer and could prevail with a pace setup that should be to his benefit.
Missouri is moving toward legal online sports betting, with a full launch today, on 1 December 2025. Fanatics Sportsbook has already secured its place in the state and is preparing an early welcome for new users. The operator is promoting a large pre-launch package that rewards customers who get set up before the first day of betting.
Missouri is moving towards full legal online sports betting, with the first apps expected to go live today. FanDuel Sportsbook has already secured its place in the market. Currently, it is inviting new customers to register ahead of launch.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If Rezasrolex is the undisputed king of the local Tapeta course, Great Venezuela is surely the queen.
Rezasrolex has posted seven consecutive victories over Gulfstream Park’s synthetic track while Great Venezuela has won six of seven, a record she should be heavily favored to improve on when facing six rivals in Sunday’s $100,000 Islamorada, an overnight handicap for fillies and mares to be decided at 5 1/2 furlongs.
It takes nearly no time identifying Dragoon Guard as a plausible winner of the $250,000 Cherokee Mile, featured race at Churchill Downs on Sunday – Churchill’s last race day until Derby Week 2026.
The trickier task: deciding what to do with him.
The morning line lists Dragoon Guard as the 2-1 favorite in the 11-runner Cherokee Mile, which is open to older horses and contested around one turn. That’s not an impossible number, but the 4-year-old colt easily could go off considerably lower.
