Santa Anita Park

In a vote by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association board of directors, Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) has been crowned the 2023 Florida-bred Horse of the Year. The result was announced Monday night at the FTBOA Awards Gala. Bred by Richard Heysek's Caperlane Farm, who was also presented with the Needles Award recognizing the Small Thoroughbred Breeder of the Year in Florida, the Bob Baffert runner also took home the awards for champion 3-year-old colt and champion male sprinter. In 2023, Speed Boat Beach won the GI Malibu S....

The 2024 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In will consist of 82 races in 12 countries and host track Del Mar will run six on a schedule with several new additions, the organization announced via release Monday. In its 18th year, the Win and You're In (WAYI) program gives each winner an automatic qualifying position with fees paid into the corresponding race at the 2024 World Championships. In addition to the domestic schedule, forty-one international races will be held at premier tracks in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, England,...

A good 10 years ago in the Santa Anita paddock garden, former trainer Matt Chew was leading a stately old schoolmaster named Fred through and around an afternoon gathering of children with developmental issues when a diminutive figure from the crowd locked eyes with the horse. "I walked over and handed him the shank and said, 'here, take him. He's yours,'" says Chew about the curious soul, a 10-year-old named Austin, onto whom he foisted the docile Fred. "He starts walking around with the horse and he starts talking to...

The exhilarating rush of adrenaline created when seeing your Thoroughbred soar across the finish line creates a sweet taste of victory that brings a sense of satisfaction and a touch of disbelief. That often-elusive flavor remains on one's tongue in a constant search for more. Taste of Victory Stable's founders Kyle Yost and Brian Richardson have reveled in that sensation, knowing it can be interspersed with bitter moments that only life and owning Thoroughbred racehorses can produce. The seeds of Thoroughbred ownership are typically planted by family and/or friends. Yost,...

Things are heating up and the prospective field for the GI Kentucky Oaks is starting to take shape. Tarifa (Bernardini) won the GII Fair Grounds Oaks last Saturday and is very much looking like the horse to beat in the Kentucky Oaks. At Turfway Park, the former claimer Everland (Arrogate) earned her way into the Oaks with a win in the Bourbonette Oaks. Two huge preps will be run this Saturday--the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks and the GIII Fantasy at Oaklawn. Here's a look at the latest installment of our...

1/ST TECHNOLOGY has partnered with Tier-1 operator bet365 to deliver horse racing to that company's U.S. customers via 1/ST BET, The Stronach Group said in a Wednesday release. The partnership will power the stateside launch of bet365's Advance Deposit Wagering on horse racing, across web and mobile app channels, in U.S. jurisdictions where ADW is accepted. "This is a tremendous opportunity to partner with one of the premier brands in sports betting and for 1/ST BET to showcase its best-in-class pari-mutuel horse racing wagering experience to bet365's customers," said Keith...

1/ST Racing's $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 wager featuring Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park will be seeded with an additional $100,000 for Saturday, Mar. 30, highlighted by Gulfstream's GI Curlin Florida Derby.  Additionally, the Coast-to-Coast Pick 5, which is offered every Saturday and Sunday with a 15% takeout has been extended through Santa Anita's closing day Sunday, June 16. The only exception is Apr. 13 and Apr. 14 when Santa Anita transitions to its Hollywood Meet. With the Coast to Coast's "no-consolation" provision, if there are no tickets with five correct...

6th-Santa Anita, $65,500, Msw, 3-23, 3, 4,/5yo, f/m, 6f, 1:11.59, ft, 3 lengths. IN THEORY (f, 3, Mendelssohn--Lady Hansen {SP}, by Hansen) was sent right out for the early lead under Juan Hernandez and took control from She's No Angel (Street Sense) through a :21.89 opening quarter. As that rival faded, the 1-2 favorite pulled away handily and turned for home alone on the lead, cruising under a hand ride to win under wraps by three lengths over Queen of Naples (Hard Spun). An $800,000 2-year-old buy out of the...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This column is highlighted by the victory of Royalty Interest in Central Florida. Le Havre Fave Gets The Job Done Klaravich Stables' Royalty Interest (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) scored the second win of her career at Tampa Bay this past weekend (video). Bred by China Horse Club International, the bay sold for €50,000 to Seth Klarman's operation during the 2021 Arqana October Yearling Sale. The fourth foal out of stakes winner Dusky...

Ahead of a critical California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting Thursday to decide essentially whether or not to give Northern California stakeholders a fighting chance to build a circuit in the void left by the imminent closure of Golden Gate Fields, 1/ST Racing and Gaming set out their stall Tuesday in a letter to the regulator urging them to decline race dates to the North. In a proposal to the state regulator, the California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) outlined a 10-week meeting this year that would run from Oct....

A deal that Del Mar has made with a titan of Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) provides a rare glimpse into the tremendous sway that individual players can wield over track and racing officials, the potentially lopsided economic ramifications of such deals, and the tremendous pressures that California executives are under with competing jurisdictions that enjoy purse subsidies not available in the Golden State. It also turns a spotlight onto a world largely hidden from the public eye-one that industry leaders are generally loathe to discuss publicly, and in which just...

1/ST Racing, the owners of Santa Anita, have threatened to close or sell the "Great Race Place," making the threats on the eve of a critical meeting of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) in which the future of racing in the northern half of the state will be decided. Santa Anita has been calling for racing to shut down in the North, which, it believes, will help strengthen racing at Santa Anita and the other Southern California tracks. The story was first reported by John Cherwa in the Los...