Sun, 11/30/2025 - 16:12

Winning fifth Hollywood Derby a milestone close to Brown's heart

Benoit
Salamis was given a Beyer Speed Figure of 85 after winning the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Saturday.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The late Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham needed 22 years to win four runnings of the Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park from 1967 to 1989.

Chad Brown won a record fifth running of the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Saturday with the lightly raced Salamis. All of Brown’s Hollywood Derby wins have been at Del Mar, beginning with Annals of Time in 2016. Del Mar began running the Hollywood Derby in 2014 after Hollywood Park closed in 2013.

The milestone of winning a fifth Hollywood Derby over the weekend was not lost on Brown.

Sun, 11/30/2025 - 14:49

Trainer Walsh hitting career highs with two more graded stakes victories

Coady
Bella Ballerina was given a 79 Beyer Speed Figure after winning the Golden Rod at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

Brendan Walsh went into last week’s racing already having won a greater number of races and a greater amount of purse money than during any full season of a training career that started, for all intents and purposes, in 2012. Walsh also came into it with six more graded-stakes wins, 15, than in any previous year, and he came out of it with two more after Lush Lips won the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere on Friday and Bella Ballerina the Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

Sun, 11/30/2025 - 14:21

Aqueduct cancels final eight races of Sunday's card after jockeys refuse to ride

Barbara D. Livingston
Aqueduct jockeys protested on Sunday after NYRA officials sent home Brian Pochman, the assistant clerk of scales.

The final eight races of Aqueduct’s Sunday card were canceled when the jockeys refused to ride, citing myriad differences with management of the New York Racing Association. 

Kendrick Carmouche, one of the leading riders on the circuit and the New York representative for the Jockeys’ Guild, cited several instances over the last year or more that the riders feel demonstrated a lack of respect by management to them. 

The most recent came Sunday, when NYRA officials sent home Brian Pochman, the assistant clerk of scales. It was unclear exactly why Pochman was sent home. 

Fri, 11/28/2025 - 08:42

British Columbia to claw back casino subsidies from Hastings

Four-Footed Fotos
Hastings in Vancouver runs 45 days of live racing between May and October.

The provincial government of British Columbia has informed horseman at Hastings Park in Vancouver that purse accounts will no longer receive subsidies from slot machines in an adjacent casino starting next year, according to a letter distributed by the track’s horsemen group.

Wed, 11/26/2025 - 15:15

Los Alamitos to implement increased safety protocools demanded by the CHRB

Barbara D. Livingston
Three Quarter Horses who ran in time trials for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Sunday had to be euthanized.

Los Alamitos plans to implement wider safety protocols at its evening meeting for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds after three Quarter Horses were euthanized as a result of injuries sustained during time trials for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Sunday.

B Ratifyed, Backside Ace, and Champions Run were euthanized after sustaining musculoskeletal injuries, according to the California Horse Racing Board’s website.

Mon, 11/24/2025 - 12:57

Rags to Riches, champion and Belmont Stakes winner, dead at 21

Barbara D. Livingston
Rags to Riches (outside) outduels Curlin to become the third filly to win the Belmont Stakes, in 2007.

Champion filly Rags to Riches, historic winner of the 2007 Belmont Stakes, among other major races, has died, the international Coolmore group reported on Monday.

The 21-year-old daughter of A.P. Indy passed "due to the infirmities of old age," according to a Coolmore release.

Sun, 11/23/2025 - 16:45

California highway traffic takes toll on Del Mar Saturday card

Benoit
Nevada Beach was given a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for Saturday's victory in the Native Diver Stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. - It’s a decades-long frustration for local commuters, and on Saturday afternoon it affected the races at Del Mar.

Southern California traffic.

Before dawn on Saturday, Interstate 5, the main route between Los Angeles and San Diego, was closed for several hours. It had significantly curtailed traffic flow in the morning and afternoon while police conducted an extensive investigation regarding a search for a suspect after a lengthy car chase and a shooting, according to news reports.

Wed, 11/19/2025 - 15:50

Harness dates awarded to Fresno

The California Horse Racing Board on Wednesday granted dates for a five-month daytime harness racing meeting at the Fresno fair tentatively scheduled from December 2026 to early May 2027.

No harness racing has been held in California since early May of this year at Cal-Expo in Sacramento after the board of directors at that state fair property terminated a lease agreement with the meeting's operators, Watch and Wager LLC.

Mon, 11/17/2025 - 11:43

Grade 1 winner and stalwart stallion Mizzen Mast euthanized

Benoit Photo
Mizzen Mast had three stakes wins in five U.S. starts, including victories in the Malibu and Strub.

Juddmonte homebred Mizzen Mast, a Grade 1 winner who went on to a long and successful stallion career for that outfit, was euthanized in late summer due to the cumulative effects of old age. The Cozzene horse, who had been pensioned following the 2021 breeding season, was 27.

“It wasn’t any [one thing], it was just more of an amalgamation of a bunch of things,” Juddmonte manager Garrett O’Rourke said. “They’re never easy decisions, but they’re easier when the horse is telling you, ‘Look, I’m ready.’”

Sun, 11/16/2025 - 16:42

Ground Support will get winter off, point to stakes in spring

Debra A. Roma
Ground Support was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.

The turf-route filly Ground Support, a good third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, will have a winter respite and point to stakes races in the spring, trainer Kelsey Danner said Sunday.

Ground Support debuted at Kentucky Downs on Aug. 30 and won a maiden route at odds of 100-1.

“Apparently, none of my employees talked to anybody,” Danner said. “She’d been breezing really nice.”