Today's Edition

What was you favourite racing moment of the year? RS: The ITV images of the brothers Sheikh Hamad and Sheikh Fahad Al Thani high-fiving over HM The Queen as Roaring Lion won the QEII on QIPCO British Champions Day. Name a horse that stood out for you in 2018 RS: Roaring Lion. From The Craven Stakes in April to the Breeders' Cup in November, he danced all the dances. As tough as he was talented. And an outstanding achievement by a breeder, owner or trainer? RS: The continuing seam of...

When Royal Diamond (Ire) (King's Best) sprang a surprise to win the G1 Irish St. Leger at The Curragh in 2012, history records that former top jump jockey Tommy Carmody was the trainer. However it was Johnny Murtagh who was a major decision-maker in the horse's training regime at Murtagh's own Curragh-based yard, and it was a victory that made his decision to begin the process of changing from jockey to trainer an easier one. Murtagh took over the license from Carmody for the 2013 season but continued to ply...

Did the state of Maryland really need to spend $426,335 on a comprehensive, year-long study to tell us that razing outmoded Pimlico Race Course and replacing it with a gleaming, paradigm-shifting $424-million multi-use racetrack and entertainment destination will uplift the community and preserve the huge economic infusion the GI Preakness S. annually provides to Baltimore? The ambition and scope of the Phase Two vision released last week by the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) is truly stunning and innovative. This would be America's first real 21st Century racetrack, with an accent...

Robin Malatino is many things. Conventional is not one of them. It's a philosophy she's followed throughout her business career and one that has never seemed to fail her. Now the senior vice president of Malatino and Associates at Morgan Stanley in Celebration, Florida, she was also the CEO of the Saratoga Beverage Group, the company behind Saratoga Spring Water. Malatino and her husband Anthony led a group that saved the company after Evian decided to close it down in 1992, 120 years after its founding. The same company Evian...

While Audible (Into Mischief) seemed all but unbeatable in Saturday's GIII Harlan's Holiday S., returning to the Gulfstream Park strip over which he romped in both the GII Holy Bull S. and GI Florida Derby earlier this term, it was another sophomore--Sir Anthony (Mineshaft)--who stole the show. Sir Anthony belied 35-1 odds when annexing Arlington's Bruce D. Memorial S. in August, and resurfaced in a state-bred allowance at Hawthorne Oct. 5, getting the job done by a head. The chestnut added another Hawthorne score Nov. 1, and prepped for this...

Stonestreet Stables's regally bred 'TDN Rising Star' Dream Pauline (Tapit--Dream Rush) continued her promising ascent up the class ladder Saturday with a first graded success in the GIII Sugar Swirl S. at Gulfstream. Moving in to second down the backside behind an opening quarter of :22.73, the 7-5 chalk took over past a half in :46.26. She opened up some into the straight, but grew a bit leg weary late, only to be saved by the wire from Stormy Embrace (Circular Quay)'s advances. A six-length debut romper at Aqueduct last...

There are probably not two places on the planet more different than scruffy Laredo, Texas and charming and classy Deauville, France, but Cash Asmussen is equally comfortable in both environments. That's because they share a common element-the Thoroughbred race horse. Asmussen retired from riding in 2001 and most of his time since has been spent at the El Primero Training Center in Laredo. It was founded by his father, Keith, a former Quarter Horse jockey who is now known as one of the best in the business when it comes...

The Saturday racecard at Deauville was canceled after the second race at the request of the jockeys following bad weather conditions, according to the Jour de Galop. The jockeys, trainers and officials at France Galop met and the decision was made 45 minutes later. Gerald Hovelacque, a committee member at France Galop, said, "We made the decision to cancel the rest of the meeting given the weather conditions and at the request of the jockeys. The effect of the wind is such that they are freezing on horseback. There is...

City of Light (Quality Road), a dominating winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs Nov. 3, will make his next start in the $9-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park. "We're very pleased with the way the horse came out of the Breeders' Cup," trainer Michael McCarthy said. "He's had a couple of nice works so far. We couldn't be happier with the way he's training, and we're looking forward to taking part in the Pegasus." City of Light defeated Horse of...

And so the year wheels round to its end, releasing the excitements of 2018 towards their eventual repose in nostalgia--while, at the same time, hauling our ambitions for 2019 from the comfortable realm of dreams into the pitiless daily pressures of works, setbacks and races. This year, out of nowhere, that process yielded a colt of unprecedented accomplishment. But if it is too much to hope for another Justify (Scat Daddy) next time round, then at least the farm whose colours he carried in the GI Kentucky Derby can embrace...

Over two years ago, the tale of Starspangledbanner (Aus) (Choisir {Aus}) was recounted on these pages. His dual-hemisphere racing career saw him become one of the top sprinters on the planet and an unusual complication with his ownership saw a 5% share in him being sold on an Australian bloodstock trading website. The surprise and disappointment of Starspangledbanner's subfertility in his second career led to him being returned to racing and almost gelded, but then the phenomenal performance of his first small crop brought him back into people's minds. Then,...

TDN: Favourite racing moment of the year? MLF: Mab's Cross (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) winning the G1 Prix de L'Abbaye. The Armstrongs are fantastic contributors to the sport and it was a well-deserved Group 1 win after her near miss in the Nunthorpe S. TDN: A horse that really stood out for you in 2018? MLF: Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), from a 'who horse' in April to winning the G1  Irish and G1 Yorkshire Oaks, then almost beating the great Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the...