John Forbes

Long-time trainer Pat McBurney, a fixture at Monmouth Park for more than four decades and the current president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Virgil "Buddy" Raines Distinguished Achievement Award. The Raines Award, currently in its 28th year, is presented annually just prior to Monmouth Park's season opener. The track's 78th season of live racing gets underway on Saturday, May 13. "It's a tremendous honor to receive this award because of what it means to thoroughbred racing in New Jersey," said...

"Twelve-thousand dollars going once...twice...SOLD!" It was the Keeneland November Sale and for the second time in a year I had to watch my big beautiful chestnut mare slip out of reach. The former black-type runner was vanned 2,100 miles away to her next venture as a broodmare prospect despite having previously failed to conceive. Six years later, I would be paying that mare's bail from a Texas livestock yard after she failed to produce but one foal who has yet to race. A graded stakes-placed mare from humble beginnings with...

As someone who worked tirelessly throughout his career to promote New Jersey racing, first as a trainer then as a horsemen's rep, John Forbes no doubt would have liked what's being offered Saturday at the Far Hills hunt meet in the race named in his honor.  The John Forbes Memorial is worth $100,000, has attracted an evenly matched field of 14 and, run at two miles on the flat, is at a distance that makes it a handicapping puzzle. The Forbes Memorial is among the highlights on a card that...

The Far Hills steeplechase race meet will honor the late John Forbes--a fixture at Monmouth Park where he trained for 40 years--with the first John Forbes Memorial Race during its six-race program Oct. 15. The 101st Far Hills Race Meeting will offer $575,000 in purses for the six races at Moorland Farm in Far Hills, N.J., highlighted by the $250,000 Grade 1 Grand National. The John Forbes Memorial, the only flat race on the program, will be contested at two miles on the turf. It will go as the final...

A memorial service to celebrate the life of trainer and horsemen's advocate John H. Forbes will be held Saturday, September 25 at Monmouth Park's Turf Club from 2 to 5 p.m. Forbes, the longtime head of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and perennial top trainer at Monmouth, passed away this January. Anyone wishing to honor John's memory is welcome at the service.

OCEANPORT, NJ-Every year, opening day at Monmouth Park marks the unofficial start of the summer season on the Jersey Shore. This year, it seems, Mother Nature didn't get the memo. Fans on-hand for Friday's card braved temps in the mid-50's and steady rain that intensified as the twilight card wore on. Among the casualties, the day's feature--the Jersey Derby--was taken off the turf, losing a pair of 3-year-olds in the process, however, the show marched on resolutely. At the conclusion of the six-race card, total handle was $1,528,236, while the...

On a monumental day in her personal life, star bloodstock agent Liz Crow joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday for an in-depth discussion. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Crow talked about her pride in the enormous success of her now dual-champion $100,000 purchase Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), the status of the sale market after a tumultuous 2020, what traits she looks for when buying horses and much more. "She's taken us on an incredible ride to so many different racetracks and...

The New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association issued the following statement on the passing of horseman John Forbes, their longtime president who passed away Sunday at the age of 73. We are incredibly saddened by the passing of our friend, colleague and mentor John Forbes. Born to a family of horsemen, John was the consummate horseman. He was old-school. He was devoted to the horse, the industry and its people. He was never satisfied with the status quo. He demanded of the industry that which he expected of himself—honesty, integrity, hard...

John Hamilton Forbes, a top trainer on the New Jersey circuit for four decades and the president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, passed away Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 73 years old. "John was New Jersey racing," said Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, operators of Monmouth Park Racetrack.  "He was a tireless advocate for the industry, for the horsemen and for Monmouth Park. "With a boundless capacity for kindness, John embodied everything good about this business-honor, integrity, compassion and selflessness. More...

From the TDN LOOK Passion is a funny thing. What is it, you wonder, about one place or another, one person or another, one career or another that is so compelling that the person caught in its grip will do anything to have it? Ferrin Peterson can't exactly tell you why she will at least temporarily put aside the eight years of study and sacrifice that earned her a veterinary degree from UC Davis, one of the top schools in the country, and a lucrative-and safe-career as a large-animal vet....