california racing

At the OBS March Sale, trainer Michael McCarthy confirmed that his prize pupil Journalism (Curlin) continues to work well out in California as the colt prepares for his 4-year-old debut. "He's training great," McCarthy told TDN. "I don't see a whole lot of difference in him this spring compared to last. He's holding his weight well. Obviously, he's put some on since having a little bit of a break. He's training forwardly." McCarthy said that Journalism has drilled two good half-mile works at Santa Anita Park. "We're going to work...

With an elite-level victory under his belt, jockey Diego Herrera will move his tack east to set up at Gulfstream Park in South Florida, the track announced Sunday afternoon. The 21-year-old Herrera was the pilot aboard British Isles (Justify) last Saturday when the gelding pulled the upset to take home the Big Cap. An Inglewood, CA native, he's also won the 2025 GIII Cecil B. DeMille on Unrivaled Time (Not This Time) and the 2024 GIII Autumn Miss Stakes with Watchtower (Demarchelier {GB}). His move comes after Herrera traveled to...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday voted down a pair of dates allocation requests for spring and summer meets at Red Bluff (Tehama District Fair) and Ferndale (Humboldt County Fair), meaning that no Thoroughbred racing is likely to occur in 2026 on the state's once-vibrant Northern circuit that has been dark since December of 2024. "As much as I'd like to see them do well, they have no chance of success," the CHRB's chairman, Gregory Ferraro, DVM, said prior to the first of two separate votes that each...

The Tehama and Humboldt County Fairs have submitted summer race date applications to be considered at this Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. Tehama's proposed fair racing meet would run from Apr. 29 to May 26. Humboldt's requested dates would go from Aug. 5 to Sept. 1. There remain, however, several outstanding financial, bureaucratic and logistical questions about the proposed race meets that need to be rectified and a tight timeline to rectify them (particularly for Tehama County), according to a racing board staff analysis. The race date applications...

The year 2025 was not a good one for jockey Florent Geroux. A jockey who had won at least 100 races for 11 years in a row, and won 217 races in 2016, he won only 75 races last year. The start of 2026 was no better. When he left Fair Grounds after the Feb. 14 card, he had only seven winners on the meet. Worse yet, after going 5-for-5 on Disco Time (Not This Time), he lost the mount on the 3-2 favorite in the GI Pegasus World Cup...

At 78 years of age, Dana Halvorson is looking to move out of Washington State and live permanently at his farm in Ocala, Florida. He leaves behind a decades-long, storied career in the bloodstock world in Washington. He also leaves behind a state breeding industry in free-fall. Between 2005 and 2025, the number of mares bred dropped 94%, from 1214 to 70. Only two major farms remain in the whole state. "The West Coast has just taken a beating," said Halvorson, president of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Association...

Trainer James Cassidy died Wednesday at his home in Monrovia, California after suffering from heart disease. He was 80. Born Aug. 21, 1945 in New York City, Cassidy got his start working with show horses at the age of 12. He would later transition to racehorses and in 1975, Cassidy took out his trainer's license. He then spent more than a decade working as an assistant for such top Eastern-based trainers as Joe Canty, Frank Whitely and Charles Sanborne before striking out on his own. Cassidy's first starter as a...

A decision over a 2026 fair meet race-date proposal before the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was punted unanimously to a single-discussion meeting in February (the date yet to be decided) after last-minute reshuffling of the chairs behind the scenes led to an at-times contentious meeting Wednesday. The original proposal outlined 19 race weeks this summer between three different fair tracks: six racing weeks at Tehama District Fair, six racing weeks at Alameda County Fair, and seven racing weeks at Humboldt County Fair. The meeting agenda packet included either a...

Trainer John W. Sadler has been elected President of the Board of Directors of California Thoroughbred Trainers, Inc. [CTT], succeeding Eoin G. Harty, who has served in that capacity since 2019, and remains a Director, the organization said via a Tuesday press release. Sadler previously served as a Director or President of CTT on several occasions, most recently from 2010 to 2013. He was instrumental in developing the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation in 1998, which benefits and enhances the quality of life for backstretch workers and their families.

As California horse racing enters one of its most consequential years yet, the California Horse Racing Board's (CHRB) first meeting of the year this Wednesday includes a proposal for 19 weeks of fair racing in the North of California this year. The National Horseman's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) has also weighed in, offering its support for a live racing circuit in NorCal at the behest of a group of Northen California owners and trainers, according to a letter the organization sent to the CHRB Jan. 7. "We recognize under...

Trevor Denman will be honored with the Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence, according to a release by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters on Monday. Denman's award will be celebrated at the 55th annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards at the Breakers Palm Beach in Florida on Jan. 22. "What a wonderful way to end a 53 year career," said Denman "I am so honored to receive this award and will treasure it forever. I wish to thank Alan Balch of...

The board of directors of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) unanimously voted to appoint owner of Hill 'n' Dales Farms John Sikura to fill the vacant seat of Nick Alexander, subject to full board ratification at the upcoming Jan. 30 meeting, the owners group said via a Friday press release. "I have a great love for California racing dating to my youth attending Santa Anita with my father when Charlie Whittingham was our trainer," said John Sikura. "I currently have horses with Bob Baffert, and I can think of...