Bill Finley

Oisin Murphy, the British Champion Jockey in 2019, 2020 and 2021, decided to spend part of his winter riding at Gulfstream Park. He didn't come just for the sunshine. Murphy felt that experiencing something different, riding on the dirt and competing against one of the best riding colonies in the world, would further his career. How has he done? Has the experience made him a better rider? Those were questions we asked Murphy when he joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast sponsored by Keeneland. Murphy was the Green Group...

On the surface, the case against trainer Jeffrey Englehart seems pretty cut and dried. He had a horse test positive for Clenbuterol, the bronchodilator that is on the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) list of banned substances. Trainers found using banned substances can be suspended for up to two years. But Englehart, who races at the NYRA tracks and at Finger Lakes, is adamant that he never gave the drug to the horse in question. "We don't use Clenbuterol. Period," Englehart said. So is there more to this story?...

Could this be the year? Michael Iavarone discusses his chances at this year's Pegasus.

These are busy times for Alan Foreman, who is the general counsel to the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, a member of Maryland's Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority (MTROA) and serves as an ombudsman for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU). He took time out of his schedule to join the TDN Writers' Room Podcast, sponsored by The Green Group. It is his work with the MTROA that has received the most attention of late as the Authority recently issued a plan that...

Alan Foreman is an equine law expert in Maryland, and he's also the HISA Ombudsman, helping horsemen navigate the new laws under HISA. He joins the TDN Writers' Room this week with both hats on, talking about changes going on with HISA and in Maryland as a new structure takes shape for racing there.

Michael Blowen, the founder of Old Friends, has stepped down as President of the Thoroughbred aftercare facility. He joined this week's Writers' Room to discuss the announcement.

Michael Blowen had no money, no farm, no horses and no backers. But he did have an idea. He wanted to open a farm that would be a sanctuary for some of the sport's biggest names who were either gelded or no longer being used as sires or broodmares. Somehow moving mountains, he pulled it off and his Old Friends Farm became home to hundreds of Thoroughbreds and a popular tourist attraction. But now he has decided to retire, 20 years after he opened Old Friends, and turn the reins...

Luis Yamil Marcano, who spent most of 2023 riding at Belterra Park, before returning to his native Puerto Rico in October to ride at Camarero, died Sunday night from injuries he sustained from a motorcycle accident. He was 19. The news was first reported on Camarero's Facebook page, which posted the following: "Camarero Racecourse regrets the sudden death of rider Luis Yamil Marcano. Luis graduated from the Agustín Mercado Reverón Equestrian Vocational School in 2022 staying active since then in races at Camarero Racecourse and several racecourses in the United...

On this week's episode of the TDN Writers' Room, Pat Cummings fills us in on the latest updates with the National Thoroughbred Alliance.

In late October, prominent and outspoken owner Mile Repole announced that he was launching something he called the National Thoroughbred Alliance (NTA). Repole's goal is to shake things up in the industry and makes changes for the better. That will be the goal, too, of his right hand man, Pat Cummings, who came over from the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation to serve as Repole's executive director. On this week's TDN Writers' Room sponsored by Keeneland, Cummings was asked about the goals for the Alliance, how he can build consensus in a...

The New York Gaming Commission issued a statement Friday regarding the controversial disqualification of Brick Ambush (Laoban) in the Dec. 16 Great White Way S. at Aqueduct that was meant to bolster the argument that the stewards made the right call, but it included a photo that could be construed as doing the exact opposite. The TDN and other news outlets received an email from New York Gaming Commission Director of Communications Brad Maione that included six screen shots from the race taken at the point where there was contact...

Following the controversial disqualification of Brick Ambush (Laoban), who crossed the wire second in Saturday's $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct, owner Dean Reeves said he will appeal the decision of the stewards. In a roughly run race, there was an incident at the quarter-pole where Big Torpedo (Big Brown) and Solo's Fury (Solomini) both checked sharply. Big Torpedo finished fourth and Solo's Fury was last of 12. A strong case can be made that Antonio of Venice (Laoban), the race winner with...