LEXINGTON, Ky. – Joshua Griffin reached up and touched American Pharoah on Sunday morning at Keeneland, and the pure joy on his face, the squeals of delight, brought his parents to tears. American Pharoah may have been favored in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but the thought of meeting American Pharoah, well, they thought that was a longshot.
Joshua is 15. He lives in Texas, and he has cerebral palsy.
Distressed trainer Maria Borell said Monday that owner Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale has refused to communicate with her amid the uproar caused by his firing of Borell as the trainer of Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Runhappy.
Borell, speaking from her base at the Thoroughbred Center training facility in Lexington, Ky., said she was moving her other horses out of the barn where Runhappy now will be trained by Laura Wohlers and into different stalls at the training center.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Following another dominating performance aboard American Pharoah, this time in Saturday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, Victor Espinoza got off the Triple Crown winner one last time and waved to an appreciative, raucous crowd at Keeneland.
Accompanied by a quartet of security guards, Espinoza was hustled through the walking ring and back to the jockeys’ room on his way to one last press conference to talk about another winning ride on the horse of a lifetime.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – From his vantage point in the paddock, surrounded by family and friends, Ahmed Zayat turned his head away from the television screen as American Pharoah cruised through midstretch, his record-setting victory in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic all but assured at that point, and began to well up with emotion.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Total handle on the 13 Breeders’ Cup races held Friday and Saturday at Keeneland in Lexington was down marginally compared with handle on the same races last year at Santa Anita, according to charts of the races, despite the appearance of superstar American Pharoah in the final race of his career.
Wallace Dollase, who trained the 1990s champions Itsallgreektome and Jewel Princess, died in Kentucky on Friday after a lengthy illness, according to his son, Craig Dollase.
Best known as Wally, Dollase was 78. He retired from training in late 2011.
Born in Fort Atkinson, Wis., Dollase had a background in the pharmaceutical industry before turning to Thoroughbreds. He initially ran Rancho Rio Vista Farm in California in the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, Dollase moved to Los Angeles, where he launched his racing stable.
Within five years, Dollase had his first champion.
Betting on the four Breeders’ Cup races held Friday at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., was up 2.9 percent over betting on the same four races held at Santa Anita Park on the Friday Breeders’ Cup card last year, according to charts of the races.
Representatives of Pennsylvania’s horseracing industry are expected to meet throughout next week in an attempt to resolve concerns raised by the state government over the budget of the racing commission, according to officials who participated in talks this week.
Jockey Don Simington sustained the most serious injuries in a Thursday night spill at Delta Downs in which three other riders were also thrown from their mounts. Simington broke an arm and ribs and cracked a vertebra, his pelvis, and a shoulder in the incident, according to Don Stevens, a spokesman for Delta.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Beholder, who on Thursday was scratched from Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, was scheduled to fly back to California on Sunday and will race next year, trainer Richard Mandella said at Keeneland on Friday.
“She’ll have six to eight weeks off, and then we’ll get her ready,” Mandella said, adding that Beholder’s main goal in 2016 will be the Breeders’ Cup, to be run at Santa Anita, where Beholder won the Juvenile Fillies in 2012 and the Distaff in 2013.
“I know how to find my way there,” Mandella said.
