Del Mar Thoroughbred Club

The 2025 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: 'Win and You're In' will feature 93 races in 15 countries, the most in the history of the event. Each winner receives an automatic berth into a corresponding race, with all fees covered. In 2025, Breeders' Cup Challenge races have been or will be contested at premier tracks in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dubai, England, France, Ireland, Japan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, the United States and Uruguay. While several international qualifiers--a record 49 overseas races are scheduled--have already been staged, the...

The $750,000 GI E.P. Taylor Stakes has been added to the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series as an official "Win and You're In" race, according to a release from Woodbine Entertainment on Thursday morning. The new designation offers the winner an automatic, fees-paid berth into the $2 million GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at the 2025 Breeders' Cup World Championships which is scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar. This year, the E.P. Taylor Stakes will be run Aug. 16, sharing the stage with Woodbine's King's...

Heavily favored Scipio sailed home a much-the-best winner of the Baffle Stakes at Santa Anita. The dark bay colt, twice graded-placed while still a maiden, earned his first career victory going one mile over the Santa Anita turf last time out and was the 4-5 favorite to make it two in a row while making his first start down the hill Sunday. He raced near the back of a compact field and was buried behind a wall of horses approaching the stretch. Tipped to the center of course at the...

The G1 Saudi Cup hero from a year ago, Senor Buscador, will aim to continue the legacy of his sire Horse of the Year Mineshaft at Lane's End as he stands for $7,500 LFSN, the farm said via a press release on Friday. Bred in Kentucky by Joe R. Peacock, Sr. and Joey Peacock, Jr., Senor Buscador retires from racing with $12,944,427 in earnings and was trained by Todd Fincher. The 7-year-old had shipped last week to Gulfstream Park where he was set to make another start in the GI...

White Abarrio (Race Day), a three-time Grade I winner for C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Antonio Pagnano, put in his final breeze Thursday morning for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. In company with regular workmate Silver Moonlight (Liam's Map), White Abarrio went four furlongs in :48.34 seconds over Gulfstream's main track, ranking eighth of 27 horses (video). It was his second work of 2025 following a bullet half-mile move in :47.81 Jan. 9. "He worked well," said trainer...

Leading Horse of the Year candidate Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) has an early 2025 racing schedule that could include two races at Oaklawn or a trip to Dubai, trainer Kenny McPeek said Wednesday afternoon via a press release from the Hot Springs track. Thorpedo Anna's conditioner said the filly--nicknamed the 'Grizzly Bear' last season--is under consideration for the GII Azeri Stakes Mar. 8 and the GI Apple Blossom Handicap April 12. The Azeri is Oaklawn's final major prep for the Apple Blossom. McPeek said Thorpedo Anna might take on males...

It's an interesting year when it comes to the Eclipse Awards, which will be announced next week. As always, there are the categories that are no-brainers where the winners should be unanimous. But there are several divisions this year that aren't so clear-cut, which will make for an interesting ceremony come Jan. 23. Here's a look at my ballot: Two-Year-Old Male: Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) Became the obvious pick after winning the 2024 GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Scary thing is that he might be no better than the third...

Last year, the Santa Ynez Stakes was issued a downgrade from its grade III status and tabbed as a listed race for 3-year-old fillies in 2025. However, Kentucky Oaks points remain on the table--10 will be deposited in the winner's account--when the bell rings at Santa Anita on Sunday. The Santa Ynez is now part of 1/ST Racing's 3-Year-Old Filly Series, which is sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Made the morning-line favorite at 5-2 is Hronis Racing's A.Z. Wildcat (Munnings). The chestnut stalked the pace nicely and ended up breaking her maiden...

All of us involved in this game tend to be exposed to its ups and downs on a scale proportionate to our means. That being so, there have unsurprisingly been some pretty wild extremes--for better and worse--in the story of the most lavishly funded program in its history. Just think back, for instance, to the last days of April 2001. Sheikh Mohammed had sent Street Cry (Ire) back to the United States, where he had been skillfully developed as a juvenile by Eoin Harty, with the mission of winning the...

Looking to snag the first graded stakes score of her career, Mrs. Astor (Lookin At Lucky) kicked home strongest of all in the GIII Red Carpet Stakes at Del Mar Sunday afternoon. The 4-year-old filly was last seen running fourth Oct. 20 in the GIII Dowager Stakes at Keeneland after closing from ninth. She'd mostly been contesting the allowance/optional claiming conditions in her career but had placed third in the 2023 running of the GIII Regret Stakes over the Churchill Downs grass along with a couple off-the-board finishes in Listed...

7th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 3:55 p.m. ET. A $1-million buy at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, YINZER (Twirling Candy) takes the racing stage for the ownership group of West Point Thoroughbreds, CJ Stables and Bill Farish. The Steve Asmussen trainee is out of Rehearsed (Tapit) who is a full-sister to GISP Closing Bell and a half-sister to GII San Felipe Stakes hero Hear the Ghost (Ghostzapper). Also making the races is Aerate (Candy Ride {Arg]). The Stone Farm homebred trained by Brian Lynch was produced by Ducru...

You can say this much for John Stewart, he doesn't think small. Looking to build a stable that can compete at the highest level not only in the U.S. but all over the world, the owner will compete in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup with his newest acquisition, the gelding Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {(Ger)}. Stewart purchased a majority interest in Goliath after he won the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at odds of 25-1. Since, he has won the G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris Stakes at...