Tue, 10/29/2013 - 15:33

Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint: Hard to say goodbye to Groupie Doll

Groupie Doll, shown at Santa Anita on Tuesday, will be sold at Keeneland on Nov. 6.

A fair number of Breeders’ Cup horses will be making their final starts Friday and Saturday. Win or lose, that means some teary farewells are in store, whether in front of television cameras or back in the relative privacy of the stables.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 15:16

Breeders' Cup: Guillot apologizes to Lukas over Travers accusation

Barbara D. Livingston
Will Take Charge (left) and Moreno, who finished a nose apart in the Travers, are expected to be rematched in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 21.

At a press conference following Monday’s post-position draw for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Eric Guillot, the trainer of Moreno, apologized to D. Wayne Lukas, the trainer of Will Take Charge, for accusing Lukas’s rider, Luis Saez, of carrying an electrical device during the Travers, in which Will Take Charge beat Moreno by a nose.

Will Take Charge and Moreno, who also finished first and second in the Pennsylvania Derby, are part of a 12-horse field entered in Saturday’s Classic.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 14:08

Breeders' Cup: Mott, like his horses, getting better with age

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer Bill Mott (right) will send out the 7-year-old Flat Out (left) in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Bill Mott turned 60 in July, but in much the same way as his horses do, Mott isn’t getting older – he’s getting better.

In a career that will go down as among the best of any Thoroughbred trainer, Mott is in the midst of an exceptional year. With two months left in 2013, Mott has won 21 graded stakes, the most since he captured 23 in 2007, and only six behind his career high of 27 achieved in 1998.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:19

Harold Tannenbaum, former DRF editor, dead at 86

Harold Tannenbaum, a former managing editor of the Eastern edition of the Daily Racing Form whose journalistic career spanned nearly a half-century, died Oct. 28 at his home in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 86 years old.

Tannenbaum served as special features editor at Daily Racing Form in Hightstown, N.J., until his retirement in 1992. He was previously turf editor and managing editor.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:17

Breeders’ Cup Mile: Returning to championship day with Obviously is a win for Mitchell

Shigeki Kikkawa
Mike Mitchell, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2012, returns to this year's Breeders' Cup Mile with Grade 1 winner Obviously.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The last two races turned in by Obviously, one of North America’s best turf milers the past two seasons, were subpar by his standards, providing grounds on which to wonder if Obviously is doing quite as well as he was one year ago, when he finished a gallant third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile behind Wise Dan and Animal Kingdom.

His trainer, Mike Mitchell, almost certainly is in a better place.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:15

Delaware: Average daily handle rises 13 percent for 2013 meet

A slight reduction in the number of live racing dates helped Delaware Park register double-digit gains in daily average handle this season.

According to figures released by the track earlier this week, Delaware Park’s all-sources daily handle rose 13 percent from $1,255,612 a year ago to $1,421,646 during the 2012 meet that ended Oct. 9.

Overall all-sources handle was down 1 percent with $115,151,678 for 81 days in 2013 compared with $116,771,916 for 93 days in 2012.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 11:52

Santa Anita: Pick six carryover tops $439,000 as Rousing Sermon heads Big Bear

Barbara D. Livingston
Rousing Sermon, who was stuck earlier this season before winning an optional claimer last out at Santa Anita, will aim for two in a row in Thursday's Big Bear.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup week at Santa Anita begins with jackpot – a two-day, $439,664 pick six carryover Thursday that kicks off a weeklong gambling extravaganza.

“It starts off with a bang with the pick six, and we go from there,” track president George Haines said. “We’re looking at probably a $2 million pool” with new money.

Pick six bonanzas have become the norm at the autumn meet – the Thursday carryover is the 11th from 20 days of racing. Management will take all the carryovers they can get.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 11:39

Breeders' Cup: Willie Carson hoping to make new memories with Chriselliam

Breeders' Cup Photo
Dayjur (left) jumped a shadow near the wire while seemingly on his way to victory in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Sprint, handing the race to Safely Kept. Willie Carson rode Dayjur that day, and 23 years later will try to get an elusive Breeders' Cup win as part-owner of Chriselliam.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Few people have had as diverse a life in racing as Willie Carson.

Carson, 71 was the champion jockey in Britain five times from 1971 to 1983. He bred Minster Son, the winner of the 1988 English St. Leger, and was a commentator on the BBC’S television racing coverage until last year.

Carson also is a part-owner of Chriselliam, who starts in Friday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, fresh from a win in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket on Sept. 27.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 21:39

Breeders' Cup 2013 entries, odds

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Mon, 10/28/2013 - 16:56

Breeders' Cup: Lasix ban for juveniles gets one last hurrah

The Great Lasix Experiment ends here, but the debate is expected to continue.

The waning effort to ban the race-day use of Lasix, an anti-bleeding medication legal to administer in every jurisdiction in North America, will have one last hurrah at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, where the drug will be banned for the second year in a row for all horses entered in races restricted to 2-year-olds.