Today's Edition

by Joe Bianca, from the TDN Weekend "Thanks for bringing the weather with you." I'm in the sprawling metropolis of Houston, Texas, and it is indeed feeling like New Jersey: 53 degrees and drizzly. Walking into the headquarters of Texas Crude Energy, the first thing I notice is how much smaller the office is than expected. The second is the disarming personality and dry Texan humor that has seeped into the company's Southern California-bred president and CEO, Peter Fluor. You wouldn't know it by the three-story office building and its...

Darley and Godolphin had an excellent year in 2018 both with Group 1 winners on the track in their blue silks and for their sires. In Part 2 of this Q&A series, the TDN's Alayna Cullen catches up with members of the European nominations team to talk about the highlights (click here for Part 1). TDN: 2018 certainly has been an exciting year for the Darley stallions and for Godolphin. Can you sum it up? David Walsh: It's been an incredible year for Godolphin. To have 30 individual Group 1...

There was a period when it was unclear whether Frank Mirahmadi would ever see a racetrack again. It's a long time ago in feeling, considering where he sits now. In fact, it's hardly two years since the veteran racecaller was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, stunning the racing world and putting an indeterminate halt to his decades-long career. Having recently been named the new announcer at iconic Santa Anita Park, precisely where he grew up falling in love with horse racing, Mirahmadi understandably struggles to explain the forces that...

What was you favourite racing moment of the year? Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) winning the G1 Irish Oaks. She is a seriously classy filly, and it was lovely to see William Haggas's patience being rewarded. Most of all, I thought James Doyle gave her a masterful ride, the way he resisted the temptation to use the whip showed a lot of courage. It was jockeyship of the highest level. Name a horse that stood out for you in 2018? Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), especially...

After devoting the first two installments of this series to young stallions whose reputation hitherto rests on the work of farm promoters, and the response of their clients, today we move onto those who have just received their first exposure to the chill winds of the marketplace. For the sires offering their first yearlings in 2019 have, of course, already processed some of them at auction as weanlings. But if they are no longer shadow-boxing, nor have they reached the definitive test of the prizefight. This phase is rather like...

A pair of sidelined 'TDN Rising Stars' from Hall of Famer Bill Mott's barn are beginning to gear up at Payson Park for 2019. Two-time Grade I heroine Elate (Medaglia d'Oro), off since finishing a painful second to Abel Tasman (Quality Road) with a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure in a roughly run renewal of the GI Personal Ensign S. at Saratoga Aug. 25, will return for a 5-year-old campaign. The Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider homebred faced the starter only one other time in 2018, capturing the 1...

This year has been a landmark one for Dublin trainer Adrian 'Ado' McGuinness with a personal best of 28 Irish flat wins and just over €400,000 in prize-money. In fact, the last two seasons have seen a significant upturn in the fortunes of the McGuinness stable, and while the higher calibre of horse the trainer has at his disposal is no doubt a factor, so too is the organizational structure of the business. Two years ago, Godolphin Flying Start graduate Stephen Thorne--a second cousin and neighbour of McGuinness--joined the trainer as...

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted in response to Kevin Blake's Dec. 13 Op/Ed on the foal sale market and potential solutions to the challenges at the bottom of the market. Should you wish to chime in, please send your thoughts to garyking@thetdn.com. A few points in response to Kevin Blake's excellent piece on the foal sales results in 2018. The first is that I think he underestimates the cost of getting an animal from conception to foal sale. For our stud, the average cost of getting from...

When Sunday's 11th race at Gulfstream came off the turf after overnight rains, it lost a lot of its luster, as the field of lightly raced 2-year-old fillies scratched down significantly, leaving little proven dirt form. But the group was not devoid of talent, as one promising young filly showed when romping to a professional score at first asking. Point of Honor (Curlin) was a popular item when put through the ring as hip 123 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. After an intense round of bidding, the Siena Farms-bred...

From managing to tie with Joseph O'Brien and Gary Carroll for the Irish apprentice title without a major backer to conducting exhaustive tours of the stables of Britain in search of his latest opportunity, Ben Curtis always seems to be a man in a hurry. Even this interview is carried out from the golf course, issued in rat-a-tat fashion between shots. "I've always been the same," he says. "I don't really come from a racing background, so I've kind of had to work a bit, not harder than everyone else,...

After its popularity earlier this year, Young Guns returns with all new questions and young professionals. In the first edition we speak with Bobby Jackson, the Digital Marketing Executive at Tattersalls in Newmarket TDN: Tell us about your career to date? Bobby Jackson: I did the BHA Graduate Programme straight out of university in 2013 which was a great first step into the industry. I then had a variety of roles; working at Whitsbury Manor Stud, Salisbury Racecourse, the Licensing Department at the BHA, before spending two years at Great...

Kukulkan (Mex) (Point Determined) has already proven that he is among the greatest horses ever bred and raced in Mexico, but how will he fare against some of the best dirt horses in the U.S.? That question will be answered Jan. 28 at Gulfstream when the soon-to-be- 4-year-old will take on Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky) and other major stars in the GI Pegasus World Cup. Trainer Fausto Gutierrez has confirmed to the Thoroughbred Daily News that his unbeaten horse will return to Gulfstream for the $9 million race. He was...