A bill has been introduced into the New Jersey Legislature that would reduce the minimum number of statutorily required Thoroughbred racing days from 50 to 25, setting up a conflict between horsemen and breeders in the state.
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DRF Past Performances
Performances by 3-year-olds, including victories in all three Triple Crown races, feature prominently in this year’s list of candidates for the Moment of the Year, an award administered by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association that is determined by votes from racing fans.
Voting for the 11 candidates opened on Tuesday at the X social-media site and at NTRA.com. Voting closes on Jan. 15, with the top vote-getter scheduled to be honored at the Jan. 22 Eclipse Awards Ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida.
Business-wise, U.S. Thoroughbred racing had another middling year in 2025, with total handle falling slightly compared to the year earlier, combined with a continued erosion in the number of races held.
In total, commingled handle on U.S. Thoroughbred races in 2025 was $11.03 billion, down approximately $235 million from 2024, a decline of 2.1 percent, according to figures distributed by Equibase on Monday. Though the declines have been slight, it was the fourth straight year of declining handle.
Jockey Alex Birzer reached a milestone of 4,000 Thoroughbred wins in North America on Friday night, when he guided Big Duck to a 1 1/4-length victory in the fifth race at Delta Downs.
The win was one of two on the card for the rider, who was aboard Big Duck for his wife, trainer Bonnie Birzer. The horse paid $11.20.
Birzer has just resumed riding. He had been sidelined for months by injuries sustained in a starting gate accident June 30 at Prairie Meadows. Birzer's first race back came Dec. 20 at Delta. He hit the milestone on his next night to ride, which was Friday.
Flavien Prat came painfully close but ultimately fell just short of overtaking Irad Ortiz Jr. atop the earnings standings for North American-based jockeys in 2025.
Despite winning three races on Wednesday’s card at Aqueduct – the final program of 2025 – Prat fell $1,669 shy of Ortiz’s mark of $40,497,847, a single-year earnings record for a rider. Prat finished with $40,496,178.
Both Ortiz and Prat surpassed the previous single-year mark of $39,693,365 set in 2023. Prat led all jockeys in earnings in 2024 with $37,286,176 en route to winning his first Eclipse Award.
Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland has put a hold on one barn and isolated a “non-Thoroughbred” mare who tested positive for the highly contagious disease equine herpesvirus.
The mare tested positive for equine herpesvirus three days ago after displaying symptoms of the disease, but she is currently doing “remarkably well” and has not spiked a fever since the initial diagnosis, according to Dr. Kathleen Anderson, Fair Hill’s equine medical director.
The Ladies Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs will be run as a Grade 1 for the first time in 2026, while the Franklin-Simpson Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters at the same venue and the Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita will no longer be recognized as top-level races next year.
Those are three of a myriad of changes announced on Friday to the 2026 graded stakes list by the American graded stakes committee of the Kentucky-based Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reaffirmed an earlier ruling that held that the enabling legislation creating the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority passes constitutional muster.
The ruling – the third in which the Sixth Circuit court affirmed HISA’s constitutionality – will have no immediate impact on the day-to-day regulation of horseracing in any state. The Sixth Circuit is one of three courts that are considering the constitutionality of the enabling legislation, in part because of a directive from the Supreme Court.