Belmont at the Big A meet

With the Breeders' Cup a little over four months away, the 'Win and You're In' tickets to the signature event, the GI Longines Classic, are definitely numbered. The road to Del Mar currently goes through Churchill Downs on Saturday as Classic hopefuls enter the starting gate for the GI Stephen Foster Stakes. Looking to punch his ticket to the seaside oval is Godolphin homebred First Mission (Street Sense). The 'TDN Rising Star' certainly burned brightest when he took home the GIII Essex Handicap by five lengths at Oaklawn Park in...

You have to root for the people who strive so hard to make a go of racing in Northern California after Golden Gate Fields shut its doors for good June 9. Racing has a rich history in Northern California and there are hundreds of people, from hotwalkers to grooms to trainers to breeders, and everybody in between, who depend on the sport to put food on the table. They deserve better than the uncertainty that has left most everyone worrying about their futures after The Stronach Group announced it was...

Trainer Danny Gargan's stable is humming along at a nice clip in the wake of celebrating a little over a week ago his first Grade I win with Dornoch (Good Magic) in the Belmont S. and with Society Man (Good Magic) taking the GIII Matt Winn S. at Churchill Downs a day later. Gargan stopped by the TDN Writers' Room podcast for a conversation. Finally, to cap his stellar week, Complexion (Complexity) broke her maiden at first asking during the Belmont at the Big A meet on Friday, which earned...

6th-BAQ, $90K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6f, 3:39 p.m. ET. DEPUTY MISCHIEF (Into Mischief), a 3-year-old Bill Mott trainee, makes his first start for co-owners John Oxley, Neil Sands, Tom McCrocklin and Justin Casse. The $475,000 2023 OBS June Sale graduate is out of Canadian champion 2-year-old filly and 'TDN Rising Star' Delightful Mary (Limehouse). Herself campaigned by Oxley, she counts as a half-sister MGSW Delightful Kiss (Kissin Kris). Deputy Mischief has an extended female family which includes MSW Dr Ardito (Liam's Map) and Japanese multiple group 1 stakes runner-up Wilson Tesoro...

5th-BAQ, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 2:44 p.m. ET On Friday at the Belmont at the Big A meet, trainer Cherie DeVaux and co-owners Martin Schwartz and David Ingordo celebrated Reagan's Flame (Flameaway) coming home a winner over the turf in her first start. Now Schwartz and DeVaux send PURLOIN (Arrogate) to the post looking for a similar outcome. A $200,000 Keeneland September purchase by Midnight Bloodstock, the gray filly went for $400,000 during the OBS April Sale with DeVaux signing the ticket after she went 10 2/5 during...

2nd-Belmont The Big A, $90,000, Msw, 10-13, 2yo, f, 6fT, 1:10.46, fm, head. REAGAN'S FLAME (f, 2, Flameaway--Mizzen Donald, by Mizzen Mast), a 10-1 gamble on career debut, jumped away fairly, but was ridden along by Kendrick Carmouche to argue the early fractions inside of fellow firster Save Us Melania (Constitution). Shaking free from that one in upper stretch, the $185,000 OBS April breezer was clear into the final eighth of a mile and held on late to take it by a head. Favored Lamorna (Munnings), scratched out of last...

Keeneland's lawn debuted during the 1985 Fall meet in an era when American turf courses were just coming into vogue. According to a back issue of the track's media guide, through 2016 they had two names for their grass course. The Keeneland Course referred to the one with rail up, while the normal configuration with it down was called the Haggin Course. Named for Louis Lee Haggin II, who was not only Keeneland's President from 1940-1956, but the decade before had purchased the 550-acre Sycamore Farm in Woodford County. Serving...

The American Graded Stakes Committee has reviewed last weekend's five graded stakes races that were scheduled to run over the turf at the Belmont at the Big A meet and has determined that the original status will not be reinstated this year, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association said in a series of press releases Thursday. The Oct. 7 and 8 renewal of the GIII Jockey Club Derby Invitational S., the GIII Belmont Turf Sprint S., the GIII Futurity S., the GIII Matron S. and the GIII Noble Damsel S.,...

Due to inclement weather forecast late Saturday and into Sunday, NYRA has moved Sunday's $125k Glen Cove S. to Thursday, Oct. 19 and also the GIII Knickerbocker S. to Friday, Oct. 20, the track said via a tweet Thursday afternoon. Both races open to original nominations and supplements with the Glen Cove to be drawn this Saturday and the Knickerbocker on Sunday. The GII Sands Point S. is still scheduled for early on the card this Saturday before the rain arrives. Due to inclement weather forecast late Saturday & into...

With a nod to Chicago motorsport legend Jan Gabriel's famous call of Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!, the blockbuster weekend of horse racing isn't in the books just yet with 11 graded stakes scheduled. Out of those, three guarantee a starting spot in next month's 40th Breeders' Cup World Championships --'Win and You're In'. In Toronto, Woodbine Racetrack cards the GI E.P. Taylor S. A renewal of the celebrated 1 1/4 grass event, this year's edition includes Godolphin homebred and Dubai multiple group stakes winner With The Moonlight (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). The...

The parade of graded stakes races this Saturday is like a Christmas tree laden with presents. Towards the end of the celebration, as the wadded paper congregates, there will be a customary wistfulness that slowly sets in. We never want it to end. With 17, yes 17, graded races on the docket--nine of those have Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' status--it is going to be a splendid day to receive as Belmont at the Big A, Keeneland Race Course, Woodbine Racetrack, Gulfstream Park, Hastings Racecourse and Santa Anita Park...

After significant rainfall cancelled the entire Friday and Saturday Belmont at the Big A cards, a pair of Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' Challenge races were moved from Sunday to Wednesday in order to allow everyone to dry out. The GII Miss Grillo S., a pathway to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, brings together a cast of 12. Only Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott's Gala Brand (Violence) has graded experience. The chestnut filly delivered in her second start when she faced males and won the GIII...