Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association

Brad Cox won four stakes races over the weekend, including the GII Louisiana Derby and the GII Fair Grounds Oaks. But such a run of success has almost come to be expected from a trainer who never seems to have a bad week. Cox will arrive at Churchill Downs with an army of stakes-caliber horses, including threats for the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Kentucky Oaks. The multiple Eclipse Award winning conditioner was our special guest on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this...

Edited Press Release The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association will run 23 stakes at Pennsylvania tracks throughout 2024, including five for PA-Sired, PA-Bred runners. 2-year-olds will have added opportunities, as the PA-Sired, PA-Bred Stallion Series returns in its third year with four stakes worth $400,000. The Series will continue into 2025 with races for 3-year-olds, with a $50,000 breeder bonus paid out to the top three point-earning horses after the third leg. The first of 23 stakes with purses of $100,000 will be run April 22 at Parx Racing: the Unique...

These are busy times for Alan Foreman, who is the general counsel to the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, a member of Maryland's Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority (MTROA) and serves as an ombudsman for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU). He took time out of his schedule to join the TDN Writers' Room Podcast, sponsored by The Green Group. It is his work with the MTROA that has received the most attention of late as the Authority recently issued a plan that...

Michael Blowen had no money, no farm, no horses and no backers. But he did have an idea. He wanted to open a farm that would be a sanctuary for some of the sport's biggest names who were either gelded or no longer being used as sires or broodmares. Somehow moving mountains, he pulled it off and his Old Friends Farm became home to hundreds of Thoroughbreds and a popular tourist attraction. But now he has decided to retire, 20 years after he opened Old Friends, and turn the reins...

It's been a remarkable year for trainer Linda Rice, who either won outright or tied for the lead at five straight meets at the NYRA tracks, and it might get even better. She entered the week with 157 wins at the three NYRA courses this year and needs just eight more to break the single-season record held by David Jacobson. Her stable has already amassed $10 million in earnings, a record for her barn, and $4.3 million more than her stable made last year. How has she done it? Those...

Next (Not This Time) isn't just winning races. He is destroying the competition. A marathon-race specialist, he did it again last week at Parx, when he won the GIII Greenwood Cup S. by an astounding 25 lengths. It's been quite a ride for his trainer, Doug Cowans, who claimed the now 5-year-old last year for $62,500. To talk about Next and to discuss his future plans, Cowans joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week. Despite his horse's...

A 2-year-old filly who ran fourth as a first-time-starter in a $100,000 stakes for registered Pennsylvania-bred and -sired offspring in August has had her state-bred status stripped after the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) determined she was actually bred in New Jersey. Brian Sanfratello, the executive secretary of the PHBA, disclosed the "status removal" for Miss Ellary (Social Inclusion), during the Sept. 26 meeting of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. Miss Ellary earned $5,520 for her fourth-place debut Aug. 21. But Sanfratello said the PHBA subsequently received and investigated a...

Owners Leslie and Pierre Amestoy have been involved with a bunch of good horses, some of them stakes-winning Quarter Horses, but never anything like Practical Move (Practical Joke). The winner of the GII San Felipe S. and the GI Santa Anita Derby so far this year, he will be among the favorites in the upcoming GI Kentucky Derby. The TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented by Keeneland caught up with the Amestoys this week to find out more about their operation, their background and their thoughts on Practical Move. They were...

The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association released its 2023 stakes schedule for locally bred horses they said on Thursday. The list includes 29 stakes to be run at state-wide tracks throughout the year, with seven slated for Pennsylvania-sired and bred runners. The first of 23 stakes with purses of $100,000 will be run Monday, Apr. 24 at Parx Racing, followed by a summer stakes schedule hosted by Penn National and Presque Isle Downs. The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's signature event, Pennsylvania's Day at the Races, will be held Monday, Aug. 21...

Wanamaker's will host the second annual Pennsylvania-bred Sale in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA), with bidding scheduled from Dec. 4-8. Pennsylvania-bred weanlings, yearlings, broodmares, and horses of racing age will all be offered. "I think the Pennsylvania-bred online auction hosted by Wanamaker's is just one more added benefit to the Pennsylvania program," said Brian Sanfratello, executive secretary for the PHBA. "It gives some of our breeders the ability to sell their horses without all the costs involved in sending them to a regular sale." Entries for the...

After a season of near perfection that included six stakes wins, Daniel Lopez and George Chestnut's homebred Chub Wagon was named 2021 Pennsylvania-bred Horse of the Year at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's 43rd annual Iroquois Awards, held May 13 at The Inn at Mendenhall in Chadds Ford, Pa. The richest state-bred of 2021 when banking $487,400, Chub Wagon scored in eight of her nine starts at age four, and was second in her only loss. After getting her first stakes win in the Unique Bella at Parx in April...

The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association has released the 2022 stakes schedule for state-bred horses with 27 stakes to be run at Pennsylvania tracks throughout the year totaling over $4 million. The stakes action kicks off Apr. 25 at Parx Racing with two seven-furlong $100,000 races for older horses: the Unique Bella for fillies and mares, and the Page McKenney H. Seven $100,000 stakes will be carded on Pennsylvania Day at the Races Aug. 22 at Parx, including the first two events of the inaugural 2-year-old PA-Sired PA-Bred Stallion Series. The...