Led by Breeders’ Cup winners Corniche and Echo Zulu, as well as last weekend’s significant prep winners – Early Voting, Messier, and White Abarrio – and major stakes winners Newgrange, Rattle N Roll, Slow Down Andy, and Smile Happy, a total of 312 3-year-olds have been made early nominees to this year’s Triple Crown.

The early nominations were announced Monday afternoon by Churchill Downs, which plays host to the first Triple Crown race, the Kentucky Derby, on May 7. The Preakness on May 21, and the Belmont on June 11, complete the series.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Knicks Go never set foot at Santa Anita, but his imprint is expected to be all over the 51st Eclipse Awards here Thursday night.

Knicks Go is heavily favored to be named both Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male for 2021. His jockey, Joel Rosario, is favored to be named the best at his profession. And his trainer, Brad Cox, is a finalist in search of repeating an honor first bestowed upon him in 2020.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Country Grammer, who has not started since May 2021 when he won the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, will ship across the world for a potentially lucrative comeback on Feb. 26 in the $20 million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh.

Trainer Bob Baffert confirmed Sunday that Country Grammer has received an official invitation from Saudi Cup officials, and the 5-year-old would train into the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Twisted Tom was a multiple stakes winner at age 3 and even competed in the 2017 Belmont Stakes. Over the years, however, his form tailed off and, via the claim box, he switched barns frequently, ultimately plummeting to the bottom-level claiming ranks.

On Saturday, trainer Richard Schosberg claimed Twisted Tom for $10,000. The 8-year-old gelding was immediately retired. By Sunday morning he was on a van to East Greenbush, N.Y., and Re-Run, a facility that retrains Thoroughbreds for a second career.

William F. “Billy” Reed, whose work as a sports journalist included decades of high-profile coverage of the Kentucky Derby and other major racing events, died Saturday in a Louisville, Ky., hospital after suffering from liver disease and other ailments. He was 78.

Reed, a native of Mt. Sterling, Ky., wrote extensively for the Louisville Courier-Journal, Sports Illustrated, and the Lexington Herald-Leader prior to going into semi-retirement about 10 years ago.

Corniche, the unbeaten winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and a finalist to be named champion 2-year-old male of 2021 at the Eclipse Awards on Thursday night at Santa Anita, is training at WinStar Farm in Kentucky but is not quite ready to breeze, Marette Farrell, the racing manager for his owners, Speedway Stables, said Friday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – For a 10-week period in the late summer and early fall of 1996, Alphabet Soup was given a four-race campaign that ended with an upset win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Woodbine.

Normally, a win in the continent’s biggest race would lead to championship consideration, but 1996 was the year of Cigar who earlier in the year had gained international attention by extending a winning streak to 16 races.

The BC Classic would be Alphabet Soup’s finest moment, and the highlight of a 24-race career.

Florida veterinarian and animal-products salesman Seth Fishman, the first person to face trial in a sweeping case that prosecutors say documented the use of illegal and undetectable performance-enhancing drugs at tracks across the country, was convicted in New York on Tuesday on charges that could put him behind bars for 20 years.

NEW YORK – A jury on Tuesday began deliberations in the federal trial of veterinarian and animal-products salesman Seth Fishman.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for about 30 minutes before retiring for the night without reaching a verdict. They will resume deliberations Wednesday.

NEW YORK – Closing arguments were a late scratch Monday in the trial of veterinarian and animal-products salesman Seth Fishman being held in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil met the lawyers for both sides in her chambers and then called the jury into the courtroom and sent them home. She told the jurors to return to court Tuesday.

“There has developed legal issues that need to be dealt with,” Vyskocil told the jury of eight women and four men.