Touchuponastar earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 108 last Saturday night, when he improved his Delta Downs record to 8 for 9 while defeating open company in the $100,000 Delta Mile. Plans call for him to return to the Louisiana-bred ranks for the $150,000 Champions Day Classic on Dec. 13 at Fair Grounds.
“We’ll point towards that,” Jake Delhomme, the retired NFL quarterback who owns Touchuponastar, said Tuesday. “It’s really good timing. We’ll see how it all shakes out. He’ll let us know.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Sunday is the last scheduled day of turf racing, it is possible that could be extended by one week, weather permitting.
Andrew Offerman, NYRA’s senior vice president racing and operations, said there will be extra races written on the overnight for next week, but only for the outer turf course and no more than two races per card would be used.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Joel Rosario, who hasn’t ridden since Nov. 7, will miss his assignments this week due to a sprained ankle suffered during the last race on that card.
Rosario was injured when his foot got caught in the stirrups before he lost his iron altogether trying to avoid a fallen horse in front of him. Rosario eased his horse, English Castle.
Rosario was forced to take off Saturday and Sunday and is now targeting Nov. 20 for his return to the saddle, according to agent Ron Anderson.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Courting, the $5 million sale-topper at the Keeneland 2024 yearling sale who won his maiden at Aqueduct on Sunday, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen Stakes here on Dec. 6, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
Jockey Luis Saez, who ranks as North America’s fourth leading rider by mount earnings in 2025, is scheduled to winter at Oaklawn Park, according to his agent, Kiaran McLaughlin.
This will be the first time the rider has been based in Hot Springs, Ark. Oaklawn puts on a holiday meet from Dec. 12 to Jan. 4. Following a three-week break, racing resumes and will be held from Jan. 30 to May 2.
The owner of Hastings Racecourse & Casino in Vancouver, British Columbia, has reached a “definitive agreement” to sell the casino operation at the track, progressing to a final stage in making the sale.
Great Canadian Entertainment, the owner of the track and casino, said that the agreement to sell the casino to the Tsliel-Waututh Nation is still subject to “customary closing condition and approvals.” The two sides first signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the sale in June.
All-sources handle at the Belmont at the Big A meet that ran from Sept. 11 through Nov. 2 was $235,332,799, down 10.3 percent from the 2024 meet figure of $262,241,609, according to figures provided by the New York Racing Association.
Each meet consisted of 30 racing days (after cancellations), with the 2025 meet conducting 280 races compared to 285 in 2024.
Both meets were blessed by good weather which forced only seven scheduled turf races at each one to be transferred to the dirt. There were 130 turf races run this fall compared to 126 during the 2024 fall season.
Wolfie’s Dynaghost didn’t race between March 2024 and June 2025 but has come back a tiger at age 7. His first start for trainer Brian Lynch came Saturday at Churchill and yielded a front-running, 2 3/4-length victory in the River City Stakes. Wolfie’s Dynaghost beat 10 rivals and got a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, close to his career best.
“He’d been touting himself,” Lynch said.
Lynch will take Wolfie’s Dynaghost to Florida and aim for the Dec. 20 Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream as a possible prep for the Pegasus World Cup Turf.
Ben Colebrook trains a stable of fewer than 20 runners, but three are 2-year-olds who could make their presence felt in 2026.
Percy’s Bar will get a winter break after a troubled third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. After being disqualified from first to second in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland, a race in which she was best, Percy’s Bar got brushed on the first turn of the Juvenile Fillies, then mugged in upper stretch, still finishing with interest for third.
While a minor illness cost division leader Sovereignty a chance to face older rivals in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, his fellow 3-year-olds hardly covered themselves in Classic glory. Journalism, the Preakness winner, finished fourth, while Baeza, the Pennsylvania Derby winner, was sixth. Nevada Beach, hero of the Goodwood Stakes, finished seventh.
That’s not to say the sophomore set won’t eventually catch up to their elders, and Magnitude will get his chance against older rivals Nov. 28 at Churchill in the Grade 2, $600,000 Clark Stakes.
