LEXINGTON, Ky. – Veteran jockey Robby Albarado underwent surgery Monday at University of Kentucky Hospital for a compound lower-leg fracture he suffered when thrown from his mount several strides out of the starting gate during the eighth race Sunday at Keeneland.
The setback will sideline Albarado for an undetermined period and will force him to miss his ride on J Boys Echo in the 143rd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Churchill Downs
Track: Fast
Weather: Clear
Temp.: 55
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After McCraken suffered his first defeat in five career starts when he finished third as the 8-5 favorite in the Blue Grass Stakes earlier this month, trainer Ian Wilkes was looking for a sign here Monday that McCraken was indeed moving in the right direction in the second and most serious of his three works leading up to the Kentucky Derby.
Hence, winner of the Sunland Derby in his last start, will be ridden by Florent Geroux in the Kentucky Derby on May 6 at Churchill Downs, trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday.
Hence is son of Street Boss who has won twice in six starts. He is owned by the Calumet Farm of Brad Kelley.
Hence worked five furlongs in 1:00 on Monday morning at Churchill Downs, his third work since the Sunland Derby. He is scheduled for one more work prior to the Kentucky Derby.
Geroux has never ridden Hence in a race before. Sunland-based Alfredo Juarez Jr. rode Hence in the Sunland Derby.
There will be a celebration of two riding careers still gloriously active, mixed with the sad reminder of a great who recently died, at this year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
Current jockeys Javier Castellano and Victor Espinoza, the late jockey Garrett Gomez, and three-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova have been elected into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, the organization announced Monday.
Tim Capps, a longtime racing executive who was the director of the University of Louisville’s Equine Industry Program, died Saturday, several months after being hospitalized in Louisville for a stroke, according to friends and associates. Capps was 71.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Reach the World, fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8, was euthanized on Saturday after suffering severe injuries to his right foreleg in a workout at Santa Anita.
Reach the World was nearing the end of a team exercise when he was stricken. Jockey Martin Garcia was able to pull up Reach the World, who was vanned off. Garcia was not injured.
Trained by Bob Baffert for Don Alberto Stable, Reach the World was considered a candidate for the Belmont Stakes on June 10.
Author Eliza McGraw won the 11th annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award on Thursday night for her book “Here Comes Exterminator! The Longshot Horse, the Great War, and the Making of an American Hero.”
The award recognizes the best book focused on any aspect of Thoroughbred racing published in the previous year, with the winner receiving a $10,000 prize. The winner was announced during an invitation-only reception at Castleton Lyons in Lexington, Ky., a property owned by the family of the late Ryan.
Tim Van Berg, the son and former assistant of Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg, was found dead in his sleep at his California home early Wednesday. He was 59.
Tim Van Berg was a top assistant to his father in the 1980s and ‘90s. “Tim would run the shed at Santa Anita when Dad had a string at Hollywood Park or Del Mar,” said his brother, Tom Van Berg.
Tim Van Berg briefly trained on his own, winning with 14 of 78 starters from 1998 to 2002. He eventually left the racing business and was a co-owner of an automotive shop at the time of his death, said his brother.
Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman has been honored with the Charles W. Engelhard Award for outstanding coverage of the Thoroughbred industry.
The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA) and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) feted Privman and its champions, including Arrogate, Beholder, Songbird, and Tepin, at an annual awards luncheon Thursday in Lexington, Ky.
The Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering has notified trainer Jorge Navarro that a horse he trained tested positive for cocaine after a race at Tampa Bay Downs in February, and Navarro said he plans to contest the finding.
In an administrative complaint dated March 16, the division said that Navarro’s Minecraft, a 7-year-old gelding, tested positive for cocaine following a second-place finish in a $5,000 claiming race on Feb. 8. Minecraft was claimed in the race by trainer Dennis Ward for owner Ridenjac Racing.
