Del Mar

Del Mar will open its 2024 summer meeting Saturday, July 20, according to a press release from the track. The slightly later-than-usual start to the season was keyed by the fact that the San Diego Country Fair will operate a bit past its usual closing date July 4, going forward instead to Sunday, July 7. Del Mar will need the extra time from July 8 onward to prepare its racing surfaces and stable area for the start of the meet and to ensure its safety protocols are all in place,...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Star Fortress in the Cardinal S. beneath the Twin Spires on Thanksgiving.   Graded Glory For Star Fortress    John Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock Services' Star Fortress (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) won the GIII Cardinal S. on Thanksgiving at Churchill Downs (video). The daughter of G3 Sirenia S. third Lady Aquitaine (El Prado {Ire}), who was a 130,000gns Tattersalls December foal buy...

The Chosen Vron's (Vronsky) story will continue in 2024. Trainer Eric Kruljac will bring the 5-year old gelding back for another year he announced Thursday. The gelding started an eight-race win streak at Los Alamitos in September of 2022 which ended with his fifth-place finish in this year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. "I've put the Breeders' Cup behind me," said Kruljac. "He was kind of covered up. He might have had a little trouble getting out. I think he was behind a couple of horses and when they took off...

For those eschewing shopping in favor of racing on Black Friday, Churchill Downs obliges with a pair of graded events, while Aqueduct and Del Mar offer graded stakes of their own on either coast.    'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense) looked poised to join the upper echelon of the sophomore class with his win in the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. in April, but the Godolphin homebred was knocked out of the GI Preakness S. and was sidelined until returning with a gritty allowance tally at Keeneland Oct. 14....

12th-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, post time: 4:43 p.m. Rigney Racing acquired LEGADEMA (Arrogate) for $590,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September, the fourth most-expensive of her late sire's 61 final-crop youngsters sold (66 ring) last year and the second-priciest of his fillies. Rigney gave $600,000 for a daughter of Peggy May (Lemon Drop Kid) at the same sale. A half-sister to SP Cursor (Quality Road), Legadema is out of a winning half-sister to former 'TDN Rising Star' and Grade I winner Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song)--the dam of GSW...

Churchill Downs will host two Grade III races to go with your turkey and gravy Thursday, while Del Mar will add its own graded event for dessert. The GIII Cardinal S. opens the holiday action in Louisville with a field of seven fillies and mares expected to go nine furlongs over the Churchill turf. CHP Racing's Saffron Moon (Malibu Moon), the 2-1 morning-line favorite, is making her first start against stakes company for trainer Chad Brown. The 4-year-old has three wins in four turf appearances and is coming off a...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last seven days, trainer Jaime Cruz has been suspended for 15-days--beginning on Nov. 21--after his runner, Animal Princess, tested positive post-race for Detomidine, which is used primarily as a sedative in horses. Detomidine is also labelled as an analgesic. Trainer Tanner Tracy has also been suspended for seven days--beginning Nov. 15--after a post-race sample from his trainee, Carry On, tested positive for...

Nysos (Nyquist), a jaw-dropping 10 1/2-length debut winner at Santa Anita Oct. 21 and a no-brainer 'TDN Rising Star,' takes on four rivals in Sunday's GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar. Purchased by Baoma Corp for $550,000 at the OBS April Sale, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert takes the blinkers off for this seven-furlong test. He is the 4-5 morning-line favorite. Baffert will also saddle Wine Me Up (Vino Rosso), who followed a second-place finish in the GI American Pharoah S. Oct. 7 with a well-beaten eighth in...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Dolce Zel in the Kathryn Crosby S. at Del Mar last Saturday.   Sweet Success For Zelzal Filly Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Robert LaPenta and Michael Caruso's Dolce Zel (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) padded her stakes resume with a victory in the Kathryn Crosby S. at Del Mar last Saturday (video). The Phil D'Amato trainee was bred by Scuderia Micolo di Nicola Galli and...

1st-Del Mar, $61,000, Msw, 11-12, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.31, ft, 3 1/4 lengths. GRAZIA (f, 2, Uncle Mo--Tonasah {MGSP, $196,660}, by Malibu Moon), installed the hot 2-5 choice for this unveiling, broke alertly and was up to hound Girl of My Dreams (Kantharos) through an opening quarter in :22.26. Pulling on even terms with the early pacesetter exiting the far turn, Grazia inched ahead rounding the final turn, dispensed of that rival in early stretch and was 3 1/4 lengths clear of She's a Tempest (Connect) at the wire. The...

Trainer Bob Baffert went 0-for-9 in Breeders' Cup races, and four months ago he received his dis-invitation to the 150th GI Kentucky Derby in the form of an extension of his original two-year suspension from properties owned by the gaming company Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI). But neither the Breeders' Cup blanking nor the Derby banishment should be taken as indications that the Hall-of-Fame conditioner is running low on horsepower, particularly in the 2-year-old division. A pair of Baffert juveniles on the first two days of the Del Mar meeting this...

Jockey Abel Cedillo will pack up his tack from Del Mar and move east for the winter to Turfway Park for their meeting that starts Nov. 29. He has every intention of returning to the seaside oval next summer, but says the timing just seemed right to try something new. "I just want to go because I've never gone out of California," Cedillo says. "I'm still young so I don't want to wait until I'm too old to make the move. I'll take my chance right now." Cedillo, who has...