economics

We have seen him race just six times to date and there is good reason to hope that the best could still be to come for the strapping four-year old Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}). Whatever else he goes on to achieve, it would be hard to surpass the delight he delivered for Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa in securing his first Group 1 triumph in the race sponsored by the owner's home nation, the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes. The mind of the colt's trainer William Haggas is...

LONDON, UK -- City Of Troy (Justify) and Laurel River (Into Mischief), owned by two of racing's superpowers, Coolmore and Juddmonte, have been jointly crowned Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2024.  At a ceremony to mark the Longines Racing Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London on Tuesday it was revealed that they had each gained a rating of 128, marking the first time since 2019 that two horses had shared the top spot in the world rankings.  The top-rated performance for City Of Troy came in the G1 Juddmonte...

Retirement is not on the agenda for multiple Group 1 and Classic-winning jockey Seamie Heffernan who, after partnering six winners so far during a winter stint in Bahrain, joked that he has 'a few scores to settle' back home in Ireland before hanging up the boots. It is nearly a year since the 52-year-old announced that he would not be returning to Ballydoyle to ride for Aidan O'Brien, as a result bringing the curtain down on a 30-year relationship that yielded countless big winners across the globe.  Heffernan has ridden...

As poster boys and girls go, the Group 1-winning three-year-olds Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and You Got To Me (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) aren't too bad at all. It's a truism that plenty of top-flight winners in Europe are owned by their breeders, but it also the case that all breeders have to sell some of their young stock, and plenty of hard graft at the foal sales can unearth a good one.  The Classic winner You Got To Me returns to the December Mares Sale next week in...

If the first half of the Flat season is for graduation ceremonies, this is the bit where Masters and PhDs are handed out. To see Ryan Moore sit so beautifully on City Of Troy - and this year's best horse race round Southwell so fluidly - was to feel a surge of anticipation greater than before his seasonal reappearance for the 2,000 Guineas.  We all love spring and the history-laden game of labelling three-year-olds 'Classic' winners. But sorry, late summer and autumn is when we really get ready to rumble....

'If Carslberg did weekends' was the caption on Tom Marquand's social media post beneath a photograph of the jockey with his wife, Hollie Doyle, after she had won her second Group 1 of the year aboard Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}). Marquand had himself lifted both of Leopardstown's Group 1 races the previous day with two of the best three-year-olds currently in training, Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio). Their mantelpiece may soon need reinforcement.  There are few sports in which men and women take each...

The six-length G2 Dante S. winner Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) will not be supplemented for the Betfred Derby a week on Saturday with trainer William Haggas fearing the Classic test will come too soon.  The long-striding chestnut colt, owned by Isa Salman Al Khalifa, ran just once at two last November and returned in late April to win a Newbury maiden before heading to York on May 16.  Economics had been taken out of the Derby entries before the Dante but had been listed as second-favourite for Epsom...

There was a proper Yorkshire feel to the winner of the Dante S., from breeder to trainer. William Haggas was absent from the Knavesmire but loves nothing more than having a winner at York, and Economics (GB), like his trainer, was born and bred in the county. The strapping son of Night Of Thunder (Ire) was bred by one of Yorkshire's finest farms, Copgrove Hall Stud, from a family nurtured by the late Guy Reed, who bred the colt's first three dams.  Copgrove Hall Stud manager Brian O'Rourke was all...

Every summer, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) takes in a small gaggle of college-age interns--what for many of them proves a baptism of the turf. This year's batch--three Yale undergrads studying economics, electrical engineering and political science--were tasked with a data-driven analysis of the economics of the national horse racing biz over the past 20 years. Harboring no previous relationship with the industry, the three undergrads came in free of prejudice and preconceptions. The result is a 33-page paper weaving piercing and worrying insights into the state of...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) has released its annual report, covering both the fiscal year 2019-2020 and the calendar year 2020. As expected, given the onslaught of a global pandemic, it paints a rather grim economic picture, but there are major positives to be gleaned, chiefly in the equine safety arena. When it comes to the business side of the equation, all-breed total handle generation during 2020 declined by 7% over the prior year. Because of a wholesale shift away from bricks and mortar wagering towards ADW platforms last...