SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A contractual impasse between the New York Racing Association and TwinSpires, the advance deposit wagering platform owned and operated by Churchill Downs Inc., has resulted in the elimination of all NYRA content from TwinSpires as well as all CDI content from NYRABets, the ADW operated by the NYRA.
Skip to main content
Create Your DRF Account
New to DRF?
Everything you could possibly
need in one place
need in one place
Register
Don't have an account?
Register Here
DRF Past Performances
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – “From the outset, the Kentucky Derby has been great theater,” Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch wrote in May 2003. “H.P. McGrath’s Chesapeake was considered the one to beat in that first Derby on May 17, 1875, but broke poorly and never gained position. Fortunately for McGrath and the backers of his stable, McGrath had a pacemaker in the race. Aristides broke alertly, went to the front, and remained there most of the way to win by two lengths. The Little Red Horse was the toast of the turf.”
The Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation will not appeal a recent court ruling throwing out two positives in horses trained by Steve Asmussen in a case dating back to 2018.
The board of the corporation voted to accept the July 3 ruling from Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phil Shepherd that cited numerous reasons to toss the positive findings, including a determination by the judge that the corporation’s predecessor, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, had “elevated a guideline” to a rule requiring penalties for violations.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The race goals are changing rapidly at Del Mar this summer for the 4-year-old gelding Dr. Venkman.
Stakes-placed in sprints last October and in June, Dr. Venkman won his first start around two turns in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles, a victory expected to lead to a start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 31.
“He passed a big test,” trainer Mark Glatt said of the San Diego. “We better think about” the Pacific Classic.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The Chosen Vron, California’s top sprinter, had seven workouts between his win in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in July 2023 and a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita last November.
The Chosen Vron has not lost since, including a striking performance in Saturday’s $401,000 Bing Crosby Stakes that earned the 6-year-old gelding a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
For this year’s BC Sprint, trainer and co-owner Eric Kruljac is planning a more active preparation for The Chosen Vron.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Deterministic, second to Neat in the one-mile Manila Stakes in his turf debut, will stretch out to 1 3/16 miles in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational at Saratoga.
Trainer Christophe Clement said deep in the pedigree of Deterministic are fillies Amelia and Aquilegia, who were successful distance mares. Clement also felt Deterministic was doing his best running late in the Manila.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Brightwork, who won two stakes including the Grade 1 Spinaway here last summer, drew the outside in a field of six entered Sunday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs.
Brightwork, trained by John Ortiz, went 4 for 4 around one turn last year before finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Alcibiades and sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. The Test will be her first start of this year. John Velazquez has the call.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - National Treasure has won two Grade 1 stakes this year to emerge as the leading older dirt male in the country, though those accomplishments didn’t scare anybody away from the entry box for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga.
National Treasure, trained by Bob Baffert, was one of 12 horses entered Sunday for the Whitney, a 1 1/8-mile race that awards its winner a fees-paid berth into the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic to be run Nov. 2 at Del Mar. Last year’s Whitney winner, White Abarrio, also won the Classic.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While trainer Ken McPeek made his decision early to run the filly Thorpedo Anna against the boys in the Travers Stakes here on Aug. 24, trainer Todd Pletcher will take his time in deciding what’s next for Jim Dandy Stakes winner Fierceness and his stablemate Mindframe.
The way it sounded Saturday evening and again Sunday morning, there’s a very good chance that Fierceness doesn’t run in the Travers and a pretty good chance Mindframe skips it as well.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Ken McPeek says he likes a challenge and he’s going to take on a significant one when he runs the filly Thorpedo Anna against the boys in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 24 at Saratoga.
McPeek announced that decision Saturday a week after hinting that’s what he would do shortly after Thorpedo Anna won the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks by 4 1/4 lengths here on July 20. McPeek announced his decision on Fox Sports, which was broadcasting Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy from Saratoga.