The consistent Two Phil’s, who punched his ticket to the Kentucky Derby with a breakout win in the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby on Saturday at Turfway, is bound for trainer Larry Rivelli's Hawthorne base for a few weeks of training before returning to Churchill Downs.
Rivelli reported that all was well on Sunday morning with Two Phil’s, saying that the colt slept well, ate well, and was happy the morning after his victory.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Rocco Bowen will likely miss the remainder of the Oaklawn Park meet after fracturing his pelvis in a Saturday incident behind the starting gate, according to his agent, Gene Short.
The season runs through May 6.
Bowen, 33, was injured in the eighth race, when his mount, the maiden Paid Double, reared up while being loaded into the gate, throwing the rider. Bowen found himself pinned against the gate, said Short.
FanDuel, the giant sports-betting company that owns the account-wagering company formerly known as TVG, has reached an agreement on an extension to its existing contract for multiple sponsorships with the Breeders’ Cup, the two companies announced on Wednesday.
The extension will carry the sponsorships through the 2024 Breeders’ Cup, scheduled to be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club outside of San Diego. This year’s Breeders’ Cup is scheduled for Nov. 3-4 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
Jockey Luis Saez knew what it felt like to win the Kentucky Derby for about 22 minutes. Then, he didn’t.
The disqualification of Maximum Security from the 2019 Kentucky Derby for interference – and two subsequent losses in the Derby – officially leaves Saez zero for 9 in the race every jockey wants to win. Six weeks out from the 149th Run for the Roses, May 6 at Churchill Downs, Saez finds himself the regular rider of two of the more promising contenders in Instant Coffee and Tapit Trice.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – It either was 1988 or 1989 when Bob Baffert first laid eyes on Lanfranco “Frankie” Dettori.
“I saw him in the paddock there at Santa Anita one time,” Baffert said. “He was just jibber-jabbering, talking to somebody. I was like, ‘Who’s that kid?’ ”
Thirty-five years have gone by since Baffert and Dettori crossed paths. Baffert recently turned 70, Dettori 52. The years have marched forward like a well-mannered set going out to train early on a crisp morning. Is time a line or a circle? Everything is coming back around.
Attorneys for Bob Baffert raised multiple legal issues related to the testing of post-race samples of 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit and the protocols followed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in investigating the horse’s positive test in an appeal held on Tuesday morning of penalties issued by the KHRC in the case last year.
ARCADIA, Calif. - California trainer Tim Yakteen may have runners in Kentucky Derby prep races in four time zones in coming weeks.
Yakteen said on Sunday that he plans to start Fort Bragg in the Grade 3 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park in New Mexico on March 26, Reincarnate in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 1, National Treasure in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland at April 8, and Practical Move in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8.
Trainer Brad Cox has won the first three Fair Grounds stakes races leading to the Louisiana Derby and will have three chances to win the Louisiana Derby itself.
Cox won the Gun Runner in December with Jace’s Road, the Lecomte in January with Instant Coffee, and the Risen Star in February with Angel of Empire. Angel of Empire is headed to the Arkansas Derby, while Cox entered Jace’s Road and Instant Coffee as well as Tapit’s Conquest when entries were taken Saturday for the March 25 Louisiana Derby.
My father, Ralph Rampellini, held a trainer’s license in the 1960s when he took a job as a swing-shift groom for Syl Veitch at Belmont Park.
He wanted to learn the art of conditioning racehorses from one of the best, and Veitch imparted lessons my father would call on throughout a career in which he trained for Nelson Bunker Hunt, Leslie Combs II of Spendthrift Farm, and John Franks.
It was a dream realized for the “city boy” – to find his place in racing. The sport is one my father and I talked about on a daily basis, up until his passing on Saturday at age 78.
