Eclipse Award

HOT SPRINGS, Arkansas--He got the call. They needed him and he was all too ready to oblige once again. Just like any serious athlete, you never really get comfortable with that dreaded word--retired. The chance to strut your stuff in front of the home crowd is just too enticing and probably most of all it is the opportunity to relive the good ole days. For Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), who won three editions of the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H., a GI Breeders' Cup Sprint--which earned him Eclipse honors--and took home...

Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg})--both in their first year of eligibility--head a list of nine racehorses, six trainers and two jockeys who were named as finalists on this year's Hall of Fame ballot by the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame Nominating Committee Tuesday morning. Also on the ballot are: 2010 champion 3-year-old filly Blind Luck (Pollard's Vision), eight-time Grade I winner Game on Dude (Awesome Again), three-time Eclipse champion Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat), 2011...

Kazushi Kimura earned his third consecutive riding title at Woodbine with 161 victories during the 2023 meeting which concluded Sunday, while Mark Casse was the track's leading trainer for the 15th time. "I am very grateful to all the trainers and owners who gave me an opportunity to ride so many great horses this year," Kimura said. "I'd like to thank the grooms, exercise riders, hot walkers, gate crew, outriders, and everyone who makes our sport so great. And I would like to thank all the horses, the stars of...

Veteran jockey Junior Alvarado has been named the winner of the 2023 Mike Venezia Memorial Award. Alvarado, based this summer at Saratoga Race Course and the regular rider of GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody's Wish, was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia family, representatives of the Jockeys' Guild and retired Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore. Alvarado will be recognized in a winner's circle ceremony at Saratoga Saturday. "The Venezia Memorial Award is about representing the sport we love so much in the best way...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There will be no easing back into competition for champion Nest (Curlin). Certainly not on a Sunday in July at Saratoga Race Course. In the first start of her 4-year-old season--which was delayed by illness--in the GII Shuvee S., Nest is likely to face Clairiere (Curlin), the leader of the older female dirt division, and GI La Troienne winner Played Hard (Into Mischief). "It's not the position we set out to be on at the beginning of this year, but it's kind of where we are,"...

The Maryland Horse Library and Education Center will hold a duplicate book sale May 17 and May 18 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Reisterstown. A large collection of classics, many out-of-print, as well as newer offerings will be available for purchase. Local authors will be on hand at designated times throughout the day Wednesday to sign their books, with new copies available for sale. Josh Pons, Eclipse Award-winning writer of "Country Life Diary" and "Merryland" about the Pons family's farms in Harford and Baltimore Counties, as well as...

St. Elias Stable and Repole Stable's GI Kentucky Derby favorite Forte (Violence) arrived at Churchill Downs on Monday following a 14-hour van ride from trainer Todd Pletcher's winter base of Palm Beach Downs in South Florida. Last year's champion juvenile colt bedded down in his barn 39 and joined fellow Derby hopefuls Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) and Tapit Trice (Tapit), both who arrived in Louisville on Sunday. Forte, who won last year's G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and G1 Hopeful S. before being honored with the Eclipse Award, has won both the...

Hotelier Greg James, who has over two decades of pinhooking under his belt, will be looking to follow up on a career year in the sales arena when the 2-year-old auction season opens next week with the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale. James, with consignor Jesse Longoria, will offer six juveniles at the three-day auction, led off by a New York-bred son of Laoban (hip 79) who is scheduled to work during Tuesday's first session of the sale's under-tack show. "So far, Jesse is very optimistic," James said of...

Xtra Heat (Dixieland Heat--Begin, by Hatchet Man), winner of 25 black-type races in an overachieving career that saw her named the Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old filly of 2001, passed away last December at the age of 24, according to a release from Woodford Thoroughbreds. Bred in Kentucky by Pope McLean, Sr., Pope McLean, Jr., Marc McLean and P. Feringa, the diminutive Xtra Heat sold for less than five figures as a weanling, yearling and 2-year-old, but won her first six races before tasting defeat for the first time in the 2000...

Diana Firestone, who, along with her husband Bert campaigned a number of champion horses, including 1980 GI Kentucky Derby winner Genuine Risk, passed away peacefully at her home in Florida on Feb. 12. She was 91. In 1980, the Firestones won an Eclipse Award as the nation's top owners. Bert Firestone passed away in 2021. "I can't say enough good things about her and Bert and the opportunity they gave me when I shifted from the Midwest to New York," said Hall of Famer Bill Mott, who was hired by...

Leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. equaled the record for most wins by a jockey on a card at Gulfstream Park Friday after riding the winners of seven consecutive races on a nine-race program. Ortiz shares the Gulfstream record with four other jockeys: Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey (3/11/96), Tyler Gaffalione (7/4/17), Luis Saez (1/24/18; 3/29/18) and Paco Lopez (3/21/20). Ortiz became the only jockey in Gulfstream history to win seven races in a row. "It feels great. Everything worked out so good today. Everything came out perfect out there. It...

Breeders' Cup Sprint champions in their races, both Goodnight Olive and Elite Power turned heads, as they rattled off a string of quality victories. GOODNIGHT OLIVE Goodnight Olive brought a salty four-race win streak into her stakes debut and then promptly reeled off two of the biggest Grade I prizes for female sprinters, making her a no-brainer choice for Eclipse champion female sprinter. She debuted in 2021 with a runner-up finish in a Gulfstream maiden, then went to the sidelines for seven months, never to lose again. The dark bay...