T. D. Thornton

T.D. Thornton is a Boston-based journalist with more than three decades of experience covering Thoroughbred racing as a reporter, announcer and broadcaster. He is the author of the award-winning book Not by a Long Shot—A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track (2007). He also authored My Adventures with Your Money: George Graham Rice and the Golden Age of the Con Artist (2015), which details the audacious career of a 1900s racing tipster who later bilked the nation blind as a stock swindler.

The Week in Review: Random Thoughts on Fate's Gentle Nudge at the Derby Post Draw

With the assignment of GI Kentucky Derby post positions over the weekend, speculation takes a (slight) shift toward logical assessment. Here are some random takeaways on, well, randomness now that fate has left its gentle impression on the field… Dornoch getting buried in post one didn't exactly help the chances of two full-brothers winning the [...]

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Ky Appeals Court Denies Zedan 'Emergency' Relief for Muth's Derby Eligibility

A Kentucky Court of Appeals judge on Wednesday denied a motion by Amr Zedan's incorporated racing stable that would have conferred “emergency” status on his legal quest to get 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic) into the GI Kentucky Derby despite a ban by Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) against the colt's trainer, Bob Baffert. Technically, [...]

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CDI: Ruling Favoring Muth Would Create 'Media Circus' That 'Jeopardizes the Wellbeing of Horses'

Churchill Downs Inc., (CDI) invoked a horse-health argument on Monday in an attempt to get the Kentucky Court of Appeals not to overturn the banishment of trainer Bob Baffert that Thoroughbred owner Amr Zedan is trying to reverse so his 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic) can gain entry into the GI Kentucky Derby. “This [...]

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Zedan Appeals Muth's Derby Denial; Says Harm to Horses Who Might Get Excluded Is 'A Phantom'

One day after a lower court in Kentucky denied a motion to make Amr Zedan's 'TDN Rising Star' Muth eligible for the GI Kentucky Derby by overturning Churchill Downs Inc., (CDI)'s ban again trainer Bob Baffert, Zedan's incorporated racing stable on Friday asked the Kentucky Court of Appeals to “vacate the Jefferson Circuit Court's order [...]

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Zedan Vows Appeal after Judge Denies Derby Injunction

Amr Zedan's incorporated racing stable is planning an immediate appeal to a Thursday decision by a Kentucky judge who denied an injunction request that would have overturned Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI)'s ongoing ban against Bob Baffert. Zedan had initiated an Apr. 3 lawsuit in an effort to get his Baffert-trained 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good [...]

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Seven Equine Fatalities in March Raises Caution, but Not Alarm, from CHRB

In the wake of news that seven racehorses at properties under the jurisdiction of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) died in March, several commissioners and staffers at Thursday's monthly board meeting raised the verbal equivalent of a yellow flag with the goal of preventing future fatalities that would equate to a spike into red-alert [...]

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Horses Left Behind Gate at Both Evangeline and Indy

Races at Evangeline Downs and Horseshoe Indianapolis both went off without all horses being loaded into the starting gate on Wednesday. The fourth race at Evangeline Apr. 17, a mile route for $4,000 claimers, was declared a “no contest” by the stewards because multiple horses were involved. The $54,453 in mutuels for the race had [...]

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KY Judge Says He'll Rule on Derby Lawsuit by End of Week

The Kentucky judge overseeing the lawsuit initiated by Amr Zedan's incorporated racing stable against Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) to try and get Bob Baffert-trained horses unbarred from the GI Kentucky Derby told both parties Wednesday he now has a clearer understanding of a relatively new “meritless lawsuit” law to be able to issue a written [...]

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TDN Sophomore Top 20: Pace Scenario For Derby Coming Into Clearer Focus

The rankings below are independent from the “Road to the GI Kentucky Derby” leaderboard that Churchill Downs uses to determine starting berths. In addition, several horses listed here could be aiming for other Triple Crown races. 1) MUTH (c, Good Magic–Hoppa, by Uncle Mo) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Zedan Racing Stables Inc; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); [...]

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Week In Review: A 30-Year-Old Bugboy's First Win: 'The One You Least Expect'

At 84-1 odds, Boys and Bullets (Uptowncharlybrown) was lagging in 11th and last place nearing the quarter pole in last Wednesday's eighth race at Parx when 10-pound apprentice jockey Francisco Martinez patiently started picking off half the field. By the time Martinez set down his gelding at the eighth pole, Boys and Bullets was gathering [...]

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Zedan: Derby Ban Based on `Pretext,' Not `Health and Safety'

Amr Zedan's incorporated racing stable advanced its lawsuit to get Bob Baffert-trained horses un-banned from the GI Kentucky Derby by telling a Kentucky judge Thursday that the motion to dismiss filed by defendant Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) “confirms that the extension of its ban is based on pretext rather than genuine, fact-based concerns about health [...]

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Report: CDI Files Motion To Dismiss Zedan's Derby Lawsuit

Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) filed a motion Apr. 8 to dismiss a lawsuit by Zedan Racing Stables, Inc., that seeks to lift a CDI-imposed ban against horses trained by Bob Baffert in the GI Kentucky Derby. Jason Frakes of the Louisville Courier Journal was among the first to report on the motion, which was filed [...]

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