INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Unlike a year ago, trainer Bill Mott does not have a wish list of races in which he’d like to run Sovereignty in 2026.
Okay, maybe one.
“I’d like to make the Breeders’ Cup Classic at the end of the year and whatever makes any kind of sense in between,” Mott said the day before Sovereignty was crowned 2025 Horse of the Year and 3-year-old champion male at Thursday’s Eclipse Awards ceremony at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.
PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Sovereignty, who in 2025 won the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers as part of a 5-for-6 campaign, was voted Horse of the Year, capping another big night at the Eclipse Awards for Godolphin, the global racing and breeding operation headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
James Cassidy, who began training in his 40s and had 10 Grade 1 wins in the 2000s and 2010s, died on Wednesday at his home in Monrovia, Calif., his friends said.
Cassidy, best known as Jim, was 80 and had been suffering from heart-related health issues in recent years.
In addition to operating his stable, Cassidy served two terms as president of the California Thoroughbred Trainers Association – in 2009, and again from 2012 to 2019. The organization represents trainers in regulatory matters and works with racetrack management on a wide variety of issues.
The Maryland Stadium Authority, which in 2024 announced plans to rebuild Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, has reached a tentative agreement with The Stronach Group to acquire Laurel Park for the purposes of developing it into a year-round Thoroughbred training center when racing operations switch to Pimlico on a full-time basis in 2028.
Laurel Park will replace the previously chosen site of Shamrock Farm in Woodbine, Md., as a training facility.
It was unclear how much The Stronach Group will receive for the property at Laurel.
Santa Anita filed a petition for a writ of mandate against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the state Department of Justice in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, seeking a return of 26 slot-styled parimutuel gaming machines seized by law enforcement officials at the track late Saturday afternoon.
The machines, known as Racing on Demand, were installed Jan. 15 and were in operation for three days in a first-floor pavilion before they were confiscated.
While there figures to be some drama in categories such as older dirt male, jockey, and perhaps trainer, Thursday’s Eclipse Awards ceremony in South Florida is expected to be another big night for Godolphin, the global racing and breeding operation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruling leader of Dubai.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The seizure of 26 slot-styled parimutuel gaming machines at Santa Anita late Saturday by law enforcement officers is expected to lead to legal action by the track as soon as this week, a high-ranking executive said Monday.
The machines, which offered a single game called Racing on Demand, were installed last Thursday and were available to the public for less than three racing days before the government intervened.
The reorganization of Harris Farms, the famed California Thoroughbred breeding facility, has been underway since the death of owner John Harris last July.
Gone are the stallions who stood at the Coalinga, Calif., property that is undergoing a transformation to cropland. The farm has reduced its herd of mares and moved them to nearby Sanger, Calif. A reduction sale of racing and breeding stock was conducted last August, with 75 horses selling for $1,045,000.
Golden Tempo came out of his Lecomte Stakes win in good shape, at least as of Sunday, and all being well will make his next start Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds in the Risen Star Stakes.
A debut sprint winner on Dec. 20, Golden Tempo closed from last of 10 to win the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte by three-quarters of a length, though he was going away at the finish. His raw time of 1:44.98 worked out to an 81 Beyer Speed Figure, up from a 78 in his debut, but a pedestrian number for a Kentucky Derby prep in mid-January. That left the colt’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, unconcerned.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Brad Cox will hold the upper hand when he sends out the undefeated Disco Time and Florida Derby winner Tappan Street against 10 rivals in Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park.
The 10th running of the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup will highlight an outstanding 13-race program that also features the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf and $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
First post on Saturday is 11 a.m.
