2020

After a pandemic-stricken year in which ADW revenues hammered California industry coffers, the first month of 2021 brought with it a flurry of budgetary and purse account developments in response. First came the announcement from the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) that they had reached an agreement with TVG, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, The Stronach Group's 1/ST Racing, and NYRA to inject some $15 million into the purse fund over the course of two years. In response, a subsidiary of the gaming corporation Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) filed a...

My moment of the year was the Ascot Gold Cup win of Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). If there was one significant puncturing of the general gloom with a shot of light it was this emphatic display from everyone's favourite stayer. I just love him, he's a top horse with the requisite looks to remain in the collective racing memory for a long time. I was too young to appreciate Ardross and thought I'd have to wait a long time for another Yeats, but along came this wonderful specimen...

If nothing else, 2020 was a news-making year. From the indictments to the coronavirus to the passage of the Integrity Act, the news started early and just kept on coming. For the first time ever, the TDN eclipsed 8 million pageviews. What were the most popular stories among those? We took a look back at the most-read stories of the year; while the indictments and the virus dominated the news, we also found some surprises. Standardbred Horseman John Brennan Dies of Coronavirus, March 10, 2020. Coming on the heels of...

In this TDN series we ask a group of experts for their predictions for the 2020 flat season in Europe. Today we hear from Dermot Cantillon. TDN: Who do you think will be the leading first-season sire this year? DC: This time last year there were some very positive comments coming from the breeze-up men for Night Of Thunder (Ire). This year I'm hearing similar talk about Belardo (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). A Group 1-winning 2-year-old, so it will be interesting how his breezers sell but it could be...