Brendan Walsh

Edited Press Release Tyler Gaffalione capped off his third Kentucky Downs riding title in style, winning three races on Wednesday's closing-day card to finish with 12 victories for the FanDuel Meet, five more than 2021 riding champion and second-finisher Joel Rosario. Brendan Walsh earned his second training title, and first outright, at the track with eight wins, three more than Kentucky Downs' all-time win leader Mike Maker, who had a meet-high 10 seconds and nine thirds. Ken Ramsey, the winningest owner in Kentucky Downs history as well as Kentucky, won...

Austere, never far from the lead, powered home to an easy three-length victory in the Global Tote Juvenile Fillies S. at Kentucky Downs Sunday. The dark bay filly settled in third and was within striking distance racing up the hill. Waiting for racing room nearing the stretch, she tipped out three wide at the top of the lane and reeled in pacesetting Bella Haze with a furlong to run before drawing clear to the wire. Bella Haze held on to second as Latte Lizzie and Kodiac Wintergreen (Ire) (Kodiac {GB})...

The going sticks will get stuck and with the rails down or out, the Saturday graded stakes lineup trucks in with heaps of sod for your turf racing enjoyment. Whether you are a dabbling duck or one that takes a deep dive, there is something for everyone as the Downs--Kentucky and Colonial--plus Woodbine Racetrack and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, all feature high-level grass action. KENTUCKY DOWNS GRADED SIX PACK The uniquely designed turf course at Kentucky Downs cards the most graded stakes this Saturday, which will lead off with...

3rd-Kentucky Downs, $120,500, Alw (NW3$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 9-7, 3yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 1:41.01, gd, 1 1/4 lengths. LINDY (FR) (f, 3, Le Havre {Ire}--Llanita {GB} {SP-Fr, SP-USA, $135,802}, by Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), backed down to 1-5 in this scratch depleted U.S. unveiling, settled in a stalking third behind Delight (Mendelssohn) through an opening quarter in :25.25. With Do You Love Me (English Channel) assuming control through a :50.36, the French-bred took aim at the leader in the final furlong, gained control late en route to a confident 1 1/4-length victory...

On a day that was supposed to be a celebration of the Grade I Travers S., a pall was cast over Saturday's card at Saratoga when two horses broke down on the card and had to be euthanized. Including racing and training, they were the seventh and eighth equine deaths during racing at the meeting. Four horses have died during training. One Saturday fatality was on the turf, the other on the dirt. Both horses were ridden by Tyler Gaffalione. Travers Day continued a very difficult stretch for horse racing,...

Godolphin's Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), who crossed the wire first in Saturday's GI Test S., has exited her race well, trainer Brendan Walsh confirmed Sunday. The filly won the GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Acorn S. earlier this spring. "She's fine, she ate up good and has been eating peppermints all morning here, hanging over the door," Walsh said. "She ran well [Saturday], but it was just a little sharp for her, though she beat some very good fillies. The filly that broke down was the best of the day,...

SARATOGA  SPRINGS, NY -- With a simple but poignant salute Sunday morning, trainer Brendan Walsh honored Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) the ill-fated standout of the GI Test S., by giving the winner's blanket of flowers for the race to her trainer she was named for: Melanie Giddings. The flowers were placed as a memorial at the front of the filly's vacant stall. Maple Leaf Mel, unbeaten in her five-race career, was on her way to victory Saturday afternoon when she suffered the injury about 10 yards from the finish....

6th-Ellis, $70,000, Msw, 7-31, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:11.17, ft, 7 3/4 lengths. CONDON CANDY (f, 2, Unified--Sweetness 'n Light, by Distorted Humor) broke well enough to go on and set the pace from two off the rail, drawing away from her rivals at the three furlong marker. Widening her advantage while being kept to her task, Condon Candy made the margin 7 3/4 lengths over Regal Humor (Kantharos), who would come on from midpack to claim second after bouncing off runners at the break. A half-sister to Stormy Sky (Sky...

If you are searching for some Saratoga race name history, then head about 30 miles west from the horse hubbub in the complete opposite direction of Lake George. On Route 29 just outside Johnstown, New York, you'll find Johnson Hall, an impressive Georgian structure that became a historic house museum. In 1763, a century before Saratoga Race Course was founded, the manor was literally carved out of the wilderness as a symbol of refinement by power couple Sir William Johnson and his common-law wife, Molly Brant. On their turf they...

Nest (Curlin), last year's Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly, tuned up for her expected seasonal debut in the July 23 GII Shuvee S. with a four-furlong work in :50.00 (13/38) in company with unraced stablemate Onlooker (Street Sense) over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga Sunday. "It was a good work and a nice, strong gallop out. She seemed to keep going," trainer Todd Pletcher said. Owned by Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, Nest has been off since finishing fourth in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. During...

It was a banner weekend for Godolphin homebreds during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Cody's Wish (Curlin) added another chapter to racing's feel-good story with a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. The GI Kentucky Oaks winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) validated her upset neck victory on the first Friday in May with a heart-stopping victory in the GI Acorn S. The up-and-coming Loved (Medaglia d'Oro)--a 4-year-old half-sister to MGISW and young Darley stallion Maxfield (Street Sense)--made it three straight...

ELMONT, NY -- Godolphin homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) followed up her thrilling GI Kentucky Oaks victory with a hard-fought, head decision over Dorth Vader (Girvin) in Friday's GI Acorn S. at Belmont Park. Occult (Into Mischief) was another four lengths back in third. Cutting back to a one-turn 1 1/16 miles here, the 9-5 second-choice raced within striking distance in an outside fifth as the stretching-out and favored 'Rising Star' Munnys Gold (Munnings) led through fractions of :23.34 and :46.37. Pretty Mischievous loomed boldly while...