Larry Jones, the trainer for the fallen Eight Belles, on Tuesday ordered drug testing as part of a necropsy in order to prove that his horse was not on performance-enhancing drugs.
Jones left little doubt that tests would come back negative on Eight Belles, who was euthanized on the track after breaking both front ankles following [...]
The eyes of the racing world shift from Churchill Downs to Pimlico Race Course as the Triple Crown players set their sights on Baltimore for the 2008 Preakness Stakes on May 17.
This morning trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. informed Maryland Jockey Club officials that Kentcuky Derby winner Big Brown will be Baltimore bound for the middle jewel.
Out of the possible Preakness Stakes contenders, eight rested horses emerge to face Big Brown: Behindatthebar (Lexington Stakes winner); El Gato Malo (San Rafael winner); Giant Moon (Count Fleet winner); Harlem Rocker (Withers winner); Kentucky Bear (third, Blue Grass); Stevil (fourth, Blue Grass) Tres Borrachos, (third, Arkansas Derby) and Yankee Bravo (California Derby winner).
Horse trainer Carl Nafzger, jockeys Edgar Prado and Ismael “Milo” Valenzuela as well as horses Inside Information, Manila and Ancient Title were elected to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame on Monday. Induction ceremonies will be on August 4 in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Carl Nafzger conditioned champion horses such as 1990 champion 3-year-old male Unbridled, 1998 champion 3-year-old filly Banshee Breeze and 2006 champion 2-year-old male Street Sense who won last year’s Kentucky Derby. Nafzger was also the 1990 Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer.
Edgar Prado became the 16th North American rider with 6,000 victories on February 9. Prado won the 2006 Kentucky Derby aboard Barbaro and the Belmont Stakes on Sarava in 2002 and Birdstone in 2004. Edgar Prado received the 2006 Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey.
Jockey Rafael Bejarano, currently Santa Anita Park’s leading rider with 60 wins, was injured in a spill during the 8th race at Santa Anita’s March 13 horse racing program. Rafael Bejarano is expected to miss two to four weeks after fracturing two vertebra.
Bejarano, who was aboard a 3-year-old maiden gelding Parisian Art, was unseated when his mount sustained an apparent fatal heart attack inside the 8th pole. At the time of the spill Bejarano had eased his mount to the back of the 12-horse field when Parisian Art dropped suddenly to the ground. Jockey Rafael Bejarano was thrown head-first to the surface and was taken for examination by ambulance to nearby Arcadia Methodist Hospital.
Rafael Bejarano was scheduled to ride Grade 1 winner Georgie Boy in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita on Saturday, March 15. Jockey Michael Baze will replace him while Martin Pendroza will be riding Go For Cover, the horse Michael Baze was supposed to ride for the San Felipe Stakes.
Seven horses, three jockeys, and two trainers have been selected as the 2008 finalists for election to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame. The 12 finalists were determined by a vote of the Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, which considered a total of 81 candidates.
Contemporary female horses: Inside Information, Open Mind, Silverbulletday, Sky [...]
Retired Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens will announce the winner of the 2008 Santa Anita George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award this Saturday on HRTV. The announcement will be made at approximately 3:15 p.m. PST.
Five jockeys were selected as candidates for this year’s prestigious Woof Award, which has been presented annually by Santa Anita Park since 1950: Roberto Gonzalez, Aaron Gryder, Randall Meier, Richard Migliore and Mario Pino.
Hall of Fame jockey Jose Santos has settled his libel lawsuit against The Miami Herald for printing an article that falsely accused Jose Santos of carrying an unauthorized and illegal object in his hand during his ride of 2003 Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide.
Kentucky Derby racing stewards later concluded Santos was holding only his whip.