Laurel River

Following their successes at Royal Ascot, Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) now share joint-fourth position after the fifth edition of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings for 2024 were released on Thursday. Auguste Rodin earned his rating of 122 when he won the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes by three quarters of a length from Zarakem (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) (120), while Rosallion gained a narrow victory over Henry Longfellow (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) (121) in the G1 St James's Palace Stakes. The only horses...

Following his impressive victory in the G1 Derby, City Of Troy (Justify) now sits alongside Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in joint-second position after the fourth edition of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings for 2024 were released on Thursday. City Of Troy earned his rating of 123 when defeating Ambiente Friendly (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) by two and three-quarter lengths at Epsom, fully confirming the promise he showed when unbeaten in three starts as a two-year-old. G1 Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River (Into Mischief) still tops the rankings with...

6th-Churchill Downs, $123,155, Alw, 5-2, (NW1X), 3yo/up, 7 1/2f, 1:27.44, ft, nose. CASTLEWARDEN (c, 4, Into Mischief--Calm Water, by Empire Maker) hit the board in his first pair of attempts last year, then punched through by 1 1/2 lengths over the Oaklawn slop Mar. 15. The 9-5 second choice tracked a pair of leaders up the backstretch. Castlewarden accelerated around the far turn and took over the lead before the top of the lane. Seemingly in control, favored Classic Legacy (Into Mischief) rallied in the stretch and the pair traded...

3rd-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, post time: 1:45 p.m. ET Authentic won the COVID-delayed GI Kentucky Derby in 2020, and it is fitting that the Horse of the Year's first starter, MISS MAKENNA, would do so at Churchill Downs in the days leading up to the Run for the Roses. The Apr. 26 foal, bred by Sierra Farm, is kin to five winners from as many to race out of Peggy May (Lemon Drop Kid), a daughter of Eclipse Award-winning grass mare Perfect Sting (Red Ransom) and a...

Dubai World Cup-winning trainer Bhupat Seemar is set to relocate his hugely successful Zabeel Stables to a new location at Meydan. Seemar landed the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup with the Juddmonte-owned Laurel River (Into Mischief), a victory that crowned a memorable season for the trainer given he landed a second UAE trainers' championship title. However, pastures new beckon for Seemar, who explained that his large string will be better suited to the new facility.  "To leave Zabeel with a Dubai World Cup as well as both the trainers' and...

Following his dominant victory in the G1 Dubai World Cup, Juddmonte Farms' homebred Laurel River (Into Mischief) is at the top of the second edition of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings for 2024 with a rating of 128. The 6-year-old was never threatened in the World Cup, romping home by 8 1/2 lengths over Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre) (120 on the Longine rankings), with Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) (121) a neck back in third. Laurel River came into the race having won the G3 Burj Nahaar by 6 3/4 lengths...

SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico--Todd Fincher cuts an easy path along the apron through the Sunday crowd at Sunland Park, giving nods and an occasional smile as he goes. It's closing day at the track and a homebred owned by Kirk and Judy Robison from his shedrow just won the Island Fashion S. Sporting his standard duds, including a ball cap, creased jeans and shades, Fincher has his modular phone slung on his belt, ready to be drawn from its holster. "Busy," replies the New-Mexico based trainer when asked about how...

It very quickly became clear that the stallions launched in 2019 included an above-average proportion equipped to last the course. And the start being made by their second crop of sophomores has only reiterated that impression. Thanks to the contentious prohibition of his ban by a gaming corporation, GI Arkansas Derby winner Muth is ineligible to give Good Magic a second GI Kentucky Derby from two attempts. (Though the Hill 'n' Dale sire might yet manage that with the same mare who gave him the first one, with Mage's brother...

I love Paris in the springtime, sang Ella Fitzgerald, and I'm pretty sure it was a thinly-veiled reference to her secret passion for heavy ground three-year-old maidens at Saint-Cloud. What Classic clues may we glean there? Well, maybe none. But I liked the look of Narkez (Fr), who gave his rivals a six-length walloping in the Prix Comrade last Tuesday, picking up where he left off after winning at Clairefontaine last October. Bred by Nurlan Bizakov under his Sumbe banner, the colt represents that magic Siyouni (Fr)-Galileo (Ire) cross, though...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- When the late Arrogate overcame a world of trouble to win the 2017 G1 Dubai World Cup, many racing fans said it was the best performance in the history of the race. To some, it rates right up there with some of the best performances ever seen. It's entirely possible that Juddmonte's Laurel River (Into Mischief) managed to upstage him Saturday with an absolutely stunning, front-running tour-de-force in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan, a result that even those closest to him may...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Twelve of the world's top middle-distance dirt horses representing a half-dozen racing nations will clash in Saturday's $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at sprawling Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. The fields and post positions for the evening's four non-Group 1 races--including the Dubai Kahayla Classic for the Purebred Arabians--were announced Monday, while stalls for the five elite-level contests were allotted during a ceremony Wednesday evening emceed by Rishi Persad and Laura King at the Armani Hotel at the iconic Burj Khalifa in Central Dubai. Ushba Tesoro...

Five returning champions and one previous champion highlight the prospective fields for the Dubai World Cup meeting to be held at sprawling Meydan Racecourse in Dubai Saturday, Mar. 30. The connections of 106 horses from no fewer than 12 racing jurisdictions have accepted invitations to the eight Thoroughbred races on a $30.5-million program that begins with the $1-million Dubai Kahayla Classic for the Purebred Arabians and concludes with the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup. The main event has attracted a field of 15 that is led by its defending champion...