Longtime and prolific horse owner and breeder Frank Calabrese died Monday, Nov. 4 – his birthday – at age 96 in Park Ridge, Ill.

Colorful and bombastic, Calabrese was best known as a perennial leading owner at Arlington Park, but also found success at racing’s highest level. His homebred Dreaming of Anna won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2006, earning championship honors that year, while Calabrese’s Silver Maiden captured the Grade 1 Frizette in 1997. In 1994, Calabrese won the Ohio Derby with Exclusive Praline.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Drayden Van Dyke has been fined $15,600 and suspended three days for overuse of the whip in his winning ride aboard Soul of an Angel in Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar, according to a ruling published by Del Mar stewards on Sunday.

The ruling stated that Van Dyke used his whip seven times, one more than the permitted level. The infraction was Van Dyke’s third such incident in the last six months, resulting in more severe penalties.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Much was expected from the contingent of 19 horses sent here from Japan for the Breeders’ Cup, but those expectations fell short as the Japanese failed to win a race.

With the Saturday morning scratch of Awesome Result from the BC Distaff, only 18 horses ran. Rousham Park’s neck loss to Rebel’s Romance in the $5 million Turf was Japan’s best finish. Shahryar finished third in the Turf.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Charlie Appleby describes Rebel’s Romance as “a yard favorite,” which makes sense considering the gelding has been part of the stable’s team for more than four years.

Racing fans on three continents can agree with the sentiment. They have witnessed the Rebel’s Romance brilliance, most recently a victory for the second time in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar. Rebel’s Romance, owned by Godolphin Racing, won the 2022 BC Turf at Keeneland. With Saturday’s win, he is the first two-time winner in non-consecutive years.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Let’s run it back in 2025.

While the Breeders’ Cup definitely is returning to Del Mar next year - Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 - there is the real possibility that the one-two-three finishers from Saturday’s $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic will attempt to make it back here as well.

Add in Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Thorpedo Anna and Dirt Mile victor Full Serrano returning to run in 2025 with the Classic as a potential goal, and the possibilities are endless for next year’s Classic.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Starlust was racing in his fourth country this year when he won Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar in a 33-1 upset.

There are possible plans for a start in a fifth country before the end of the year.

Trainer Ralph Beckett said on Sunday that Starlust will be considered for the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint, a $3.34 million race at six furlongs at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Dec. 8.

DEL MAR, Calif. – More Than Looks will be back for more.

The Breeders’ Cup Mile winner will get a winter freshening before returning for a 5-year-old campaign, trainer Cherie DeVaux said Sunday morning.

More Than Looks earned a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure for a career-defining victory on Saturday, coming from last to first under Jose Ortiz to win the Mile by three-quarters of a length. His turn of foot from the three-sixteenths pole to the wire was, as usual, scintillating.

Total betting on the nine Breeders’ Cup races held on Saturday at Del Mar in Southern California was up 4.0 percent compared to total betting on the Saturday Breeders’ Cup slate last year at Santa Anita Park, according to charts of the races.

The Saturday total, $106.76 million, validated a decision by Breeders’ Cup to significantly alter the Saturday race order to fit the day’s most prestigious races into an early-afternoon broadcast window on the flagship station of NBC, the Breeders’ Cup’s broadcast partner.

Trainer Dan Blacker admitted the reality of having won his first Breeders’ Cup race with Straight No Chaser in the Sprint on Saturday afternoon at Del Mar still hadn’t sunk in yet by the time he returned to the barn for training hours early Sunday. 

“Everything had been pointing up to this race with him for the last six months, and just to get through all that and win, it’s really so unbelievable,” said Blacker, who trains Straight No Chaser for My Racehorse. “He’s such a really talented horse and I’m just so thrilled for him and the connections.”