Breeders' Cup

HOKKAIDO, Japan-"The world is getting smaller," MV Magnier remarked when discussing some of the pedigrees on offer at this year's JRHA Select Sale, and so it proved when a Kitasan Black (Jpn) colt out of the multiple Group-1 placed Galileo (Ire) mare Delphinia (Ire) set a new record at ¥590 million [roughly €3.34 million] for the highest-priced yearling ever sold at the premier Japanese sale.   It was Rodeo Japan-a guise for an anonymous Japanese owner-who came out on top in the bidding war for lot 100, who boasts a strong...

Informed Patriot (Hard Spun), third in Saturday's GIII Indiana Derby, has been added to the line-up for the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, which will be held Monday in Lexington. He is catalogued as hip 523 and consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. Third in last year's GIII Street Sense Stakes, Informed Patriot opened his sophomore campaign with a third-place effort in the Smarty Jones Stakes. He won the Bathhouse Row Stakes at Oaklawn in April. Racing for J. Kirk and Judy Robison and trained by...

   The X-Ray Files series, now in its second year and presented in cooperation with the Consignors and Breeders' Association, uses conversations with buyers and sellers to contribute to the discussion on the sales and training process. Joseph O'Brien, the son of legendary trainer Aidan O'Brien, has steadily built up an impressive reputation of his own, first as a jockey with 31 top-level wins worldwide and now as a trainer with Group 1 wins from Ireland to Australia, France, England and the U.S. O'Brien became the youngest jockey to win...

The one-mile Tapeta track currently under construction at Belmont Park will become the exclusive winter racing surface on the New York Racing Association circuit when the Long Island facility reopens in 2026, NYRA announced Monday. The change will result in approximately three months of racing exclusively on an all-weather surface with the shift from dirt to the all-weather in the winter months expected to enhance equine safety and provide additional opportunities for the circuit's year-round horse population for the benefit of the state's Thoroughbred racing ecosystem. "At its core, our...

Returning to New York from a winter working in Louisiana, the first since his emigration, Ignacio Correas appeared literally a shadow of his former self. His former vet came from the old country and found that Correas, this blueblood of the Argentinian Turf, had lost around 30 lbs. "What are you doing here?" his visitor asked. "Why don't you go back? I mean, look at you." "Don't worry," Correas replied. "I'm going to be okay." Now, 23 years later, he sits outside the Keeneland barn that houses the leading turf...

There is no doubt that one of the feel-good moments in an excellent week of action at Royal Ascot came when Isle Of Jura (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) won the G2 Hardwicke Stakes on the final day of the meeting. Much of the joy that sprung from the result was aimed towards jockey Callum Shepherd after he had missed out on a plum ride in the Derby. But the importance of the win for the horse's trainer, George Scott, who was enjoying a first Royal Ascot success, and his owner...

Providing that she maintains her form over the summer, G1 King Charles III Stakes victress Asfoora (Aus) (Flying Artie {Aus}) could take her globetrotting trip to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, trainer Henry Dwyer said in an interview with racenet.com.au. With that win at Royal Ascot, a race part of the 'Win and You're In' program, she secured a guaranteed fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Asfoora is the sixth Australian-trained sprinter to claim the race, formerly called the G1 King's Stand Stakes. "The Breeders Cup...

Champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) worked a half-mile in :51 flat Friday for trainer Todd Pletcher over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga in preparation for a start in the GI NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes July 20 at Monmouth Park. Joining the GI Curlin Florida Derby winner on the work tab Friday was Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables recent GII Suburban Stakes winner Crupi (Curlin), who covered a half-mile in :52.85 in company with Talk of the Nation (Quality Road). "Both works were...

George Bernard Shaw offered the pithy observation that, "England and America are two countries divided by a common language." The quote seems appropriate when viewed through the lens of a pilot program set up by the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI). This week, ORI board members donned the famous finery--don't forget the millinery either--of the Royal Meeting at Ascot, but it wasn't all about one's garb. They were on hand to impart their own tradecraft to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and their investigators, while in turn soaking up English...

Over the next fortnight, board members of the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI) will participate in a new exchange program, which features an intensive tour of hallowed racing sites in Ireland and England. "The new program is a continued effort by the ORI to exchange tradecraft and weigh how integrity is protected in different countries across the world," said ORI's immediate past chairman Jason Klouser. The small group, which includes Klouser, Tyler Durand, J.C. Jaramillo, Juan Estrada and David Duncan, will make stops at The Curragh, Leopardstown and Coolmore. Fellow...

After a disappointing showing in Saturday's GI Metropolitan H. at Saratoga, the owners of White Abarrio (Race Day) have decided to send last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner back to trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. Dave Grening of the Daily Racing Form was first with the story. White Abarrio was with Joseph until last spring when the trainer was temporarily suspended by Churchill Downs after two of his horse died around the time of the Derby. Joseph's situation in New York was also in limbo and owners Clint and Mark...

Drayden Van Dyke was quick out of the gate in his first weekend of riding at Gulfstream Park, finding the winner's circle on five of nine mounts, all of whom are trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. The 29-year-old jockey, who switched his tack from Santa Anita for a 30-day trial run at Gulfstream, won aboard his only mount Friday before winning on two of four mounts Saturday. Sunday, he won with Novo Sol in the second race and with Practically Dark in the eighth. Van Dyke earned the Eclipse Award...