Mon, 10/20/2025 - 12:33

Three ratings-based handicaps fail to fill, will be brought back for Saturday

Barbara D. Livingston
Santa Anita is the first track in the country to use the new class-level ratings system.

Three handicap races proposed for Friday’s program at Santa Anita based on a recently created rating system failed to draw sufficient interest when entries were taken Sunday.

Three ratings-based races will be offered for Saturday’s program, with slightly different conditions for two races. Track officials said ratings-based races will be offered for Sunday’s final day of the track’s autumn meeting. Entries for those days were scheduled to be taken on Monday and Tuesday.

Santa Anita is the first track in the nation to offer handicap races based on ratings.

Mon, 10/20/2025 - 10:14

Sunland Park sold to casino operator

Coady Media
Sunland Park's richest race is the Grade 3, $400,000 Sunland Derby, which awards points toward the Kentucky Derby.

Sunland Park, the New Mexico racetrack and casino that sits on the western edge of El Paso, Texas, has been sold to Strategic Gaming Management, a casino operator with properties in Nevada and South Dakota. 

The sale of the track, which annually runs a mixed meet of around 55 days each year from January to early April, was approved at a Sept. 30 meeting of the New Mexico Racing Commission, effective Oct. 15, according to Ismael Trejo, the executive director of the commission.  

Thu, 10/16/2025 - 15:00

Del Mar fall meet pick six minimum will be $2, except on Breeders' Cup days

Barbara D. Livingston
The 16-day Del Mar fall meet will begin on Oct. 30.

The pick six will be more expensive at Del Mar this fall.

Track officials received approval from the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday to increase the minimum wager from $1 to $2.

The 16-day season starts on Oct. 30 and includes the Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The pick six will have a $1 minimum on Breeders’ Cup race days, according to documents Del Mar filed with the racing board.

Thu, 10/16/2025 - 14:19

Disco Time could head to Dwyer following comeback victory

Coady Media
Off his victory in the St. Louis Derby, Disco Time could start next in the Dywer at Aqueduct.

Disco Time has won stakes in Illinois and Louisiana and might soon land on the East Coast.

The unbeaten 3-year-old could be headed to New York next month for the $200,000 Dwyer at Aqueduct on Nov. 8, according to his trainer, Brad Cox.

Disco Time, who is based in Kentucky, has come under consideration for the one-mile race following his win in the $250,000 St. Louis Derby on Sept. 19 at Fairmount Park.

Thu, 10/16/2025 - 14:09

So There She Was, Lemon Zest may meet again in Mother Goose

Dustin Orona Photography
So There She Was, winner of the Remington Oaks, may meet runner-up Lemon Zest again in the Moother Goose at Aqueduct.

So There She Was, who won the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks last month in Oklahoma, and Lemon Zest, who finished second as the favorite, are both under consideration for the Grade 2, $300,000 Mother Goose at Aqueduct, according to their respective trainers.

The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies will be run Nov. 8.

So There She Was shipped in from Santa Anita for the Remington Park Oaks, where she was a 2 3/4-length winner, one start after running second in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines at Del Mar.

Thu, 10/16/2025 - 14:07

Touchuponastar being aimed at Louisiana Champions Day Classic four-peat

Hodges Photography
Touchuponastar is being pointed toward a four-peat in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds.

Touchuponastar’s primary objective for the remainder of the year is the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic on Dec. 13 at Fair Grounds, according to his owner, Jake Delhomme. The Grade 2 winner has won the race the last three years.

Touchuponastar remains in peak form for trainer Jeff Delhomme, and last weekend opened the Delta Downs meet with a track-record performance in the $100,000 Gold Cup.

Wed, 10/15/2025 - 15:51

Trainers in transition: Bell retires, Harty moves base to Kentucky

Barbara D. Livingston
Harty's move to Kentucky was motivated, in part, by how difficult it is to compete against his former boss, Bob Baffert, in California.

The Southern California Thoroughbred training roster recently lost two members with the retirement of Ray Bell and Eoin Harty’s decision to relocate to Kentucky on a full-time basis. 

Bell, 71, had his final runner at Santa Anita in May and opted not to ship a small stable to Del Mar for the summer meeting. Harty, 62, had his final starter in California at the end of July. He is currently based at Turfway Park. 

Wed, 10/15/2025 - 15:12

Belmont Park construction project celebrates milestone with 'topping off' ceremony

Belmont Park construction Sept 28 2025
Barbara D. Livingston
The new Belmont Park, shown in a Sept. 28 photo, is scheduled to open next September but patrons will have only partial access to the building as construction continues.

ELMONT, N.Y. - When Belmont Park reopens for racing in September 2026, the new building will not be a finished product, New York Racing Association officials said Wednesday, which will lead to limited patron access. 

“It’s still going to be an active [construction] site,” NYRA president and CEO Dave O’Rourke said. “We’ll have the first two floors done. We’ll have to limit [access] to some extent. The real question right now is how much of the grounds [will be open] because we’ve got about 30 acres here so people will be able to watch the races.” 

Mon, 10/13/2025 - 13:17

Longtime California equine tax attorney Craigo dead at 91

Richard Craigo, a leading equine tax attorney and a former regional president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, died Oct. 6 at the age of 91, according to his friends.

Born in Hot Springs, Ark., in 1934, Craigo lived in Los Angeles for much of his life. As a tax attorney, he represented numerous clients in California racing, notably Bob and Beverly Lewis, Allen Paulson, Marty Wygod, Bill Shoemaker, and Charlie Whittingham, according to an obituary published by Santa Anita’s publicity department.

Mon, 10/13/2025 - 13:15

After flirting with BC Sprint, Mandella likely to start Big City Lights in The Chosen Vron

Barbara D. Livingston
Big City Lights is likely to return from a layoff in the The Chosen Vron Stakes.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The recent training of the older sprinter Big City Lights is tempting trainer Richard Mandella into big ideas.

A winner of 7 of 13 starts, the 6-year-old Big City Lights is being prepared for a comeback likely to occur in the $100,000 The Chosen Vron Stakes for California-breds at seven furlongs on Nov. 8 at Del Mar.

However, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar a week earlier has Mandella’s attention for Big City Lights’s first start since an easy win by 7 3/4 lengths in the California Cup Sprint for statebreds at Santa Anita in January.