turf racing

1st-Monmouth, $55,250, Msw, 8-6, 2yo, 1mT, 1:39.91, fm, 4 lengths. NOMOS (c, 2, Uncle Mo--Westit {GB} {SP-Fr, SP-USA}, by Tapit) went off favored at 9-5 in this grass debut and got a clean start against the fence from the two slot after the rail horse steadied and was pulled up early in the race. Racing in the middle of a tightly-bunched group into the backstretch through an easy opening quarter in :24.15, he stayed glued to the inside and began to pick up momentum and position as the field swung...

by Bill Finley and Stefanie Grimm Mike Repole has had dozens of top horses and has won a slew of 2-year-old maiden races in Saratoga over the many years he's been a force in the ownership ranks. But, usually, Repole's strength is with young dirt horses. It might be time to rethink that. Repole is the co-owner of what is arguably the top grass horse in the sport in the 4-year-old Up to the Mark, the winner of this year's GI Turf Classic S. at Churchill Downs and the GI...

A champion and dual Group 1 winner in her native Brazil pre-import, R Unicorn Stable's Macadamia (Brz) (Hat Trick {Jpn}) consolidated some very solid recent American form to post a first elite-level victory in this country in Monday's GI Gamely S. at Santa Anita. None of the seven entrants in the nine-furlong test seemed especially keen to lead, but eventually, Flavien Prat allowed School Dance (Animal Kingdom) through to take up the running in advance of Bellamore (Empire Maker), as odds-on Queens Goddess (Empire Maker) took back off that pair...

By the age of nine, most racehorses have left their best days well behind them. However, 5-1 shot Red Knight (Pure Prize) clearly did not get that memo, pulling off the most important victory of his career in Saturday's GI Man o' War S. at Belmont. Breaking from the inside gate under Irad Ortiz, Jr., the chestnut trailed the field early while racing inside of favored 3-5 European import Warren Point (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was caught napping at the start with Frankie Dettori in the irons. Up front, Channel...

On the day before racing at Santa Anita is scheduled to resume Friday with five turf races following an 11-day break that had been planned before recent grass-course drainage issues arose, staffers with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) deemed the turf to be ready to handle horses. The last two dates that Santa Anita had raced, Apr. 8 and 9, a total of five turf races had to be swapped from the "firm" grass course to the "fast" main dirt track because of slippage problems on the far turn....

Exaulted didn't even try the turf until his 11th career start back on Jan. 2 but the 6-year-old has more than made up for lost time with his third straight win on the Santa Anita grass course, taking the GIII American S. Sunday. Entered off a pair of 93 Beyer Speed Figure efforts--a career high--against allowance and optional claiming company respectively, Exaulted earned 9-5 second choice honors for his first graded-stakes race since contesting the GII Triple Bend S. last May. Sent to the front after a sharp beginning from...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-GP, $84K, Msw, 3yo, 1mT, 12:40 p.m. Just a $100,000 Keeneland September purchase, ODE TO WAR (War Front) is a son of MG1SW Odeliz (Ire) (Falco), Italy's high-weighted older mare who RNA'd for $1.5m at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Already the dam of a pair of winners, Odeliz is a half to SW Pamplemousse (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) and traces back to MGSP Uncoiled (Fr) (Giant's Causeway) and MGISW Amorama (Fr) (Sri Pekan). Trainer George Arnold has tagged Luca Panici for the ride. The...

Turf racing will return to Fair Grounds for the track's "Road to the Derby Kickoff Day" card, to be held Monday, Dec. 26. Officials at Fair Grounds previously suspended turf racing Nov. 25 to allow the Stall-Wilson course to recover from damage to its inner portion. With the portable rail set at 34 feet, fields will be limited to eight runners for the Blushing KD S.and Buddy Diliberto Memorial S. With the same parameters, turf racing will again be conducted Dec. 31 with the runnings of the Pago Hop S....

Santa Anita's winter meet, dubbed the 'Classic Race Meeting,' will open on its traditional Dec. 26 date with a new minimum stakes purse of $100,000 for both dirt and turf black-type events. In addition, allowance races will get a boost, with all open allowances set at $85,000 and first- through third-condition allowances run for purses ranging from $72,000 to $76,000. It is the largest purse structure in Santa Anita's 88-year history. "There's no denying that expenses are up, across the board, in all facets of our economy," said Santa Anita...

Due to a forecast calling for heavy rain, live racing has been cancelled for Saturday, Oct. 1, for the all-turf Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet, the track announced on Friday. The six races scheduled for Saturday will be extras when entries are taken Tuesday, Oct. 4, for the Friday, Oct. 7, card. The five remaining all-turf cards following tonight's program will take place Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 22 with the exception of Saturday, Oct. 15, when Far Hills will feature its 101st steeplechase meet.

He's a rebel with a Causeway. But he is a rebel, all the same; or a maverick, at least; an outlier. Certainly we can't expect everyone to train horses like Kenny McPeek, nor indeed to buy them the same way. Apart from anything else, most people simply wouldn't be good enough.

If this is seeing the future, then maybe it really will work. Among all these tiny, straggling groups negotiating the arid wastes of the dirt stakes program, we finally reach a true oasis in the GI Caesars Belmont Derby Inv.