Breeders' Cup Classic

Favored at 2-5 in defense of his title in Wednesday's Listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Race Track outside Tokyo, Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) was produced wide into the stretch and kicked home smartly, but was forced to settle for second behind all-the-way winner William Barows (Jpn) (Mikki Isle {Jpn}), who scored the upset as the 7-1 third choice. Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) chased the early pace, but weakened in the straight to finish fifth, beaten 8 1/2 lengths. William Barows, a Group 2 winner on dirt...

Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), in the eyes of most the two premier older dirt horses in Japan, are set to face each other for the fourth time in Wednesday's ¥68 million ($473,620) Listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Racecourse located about 20 miles east of Central Tokyo. Ushba Tesoro is the defending champion in the 1800-meter contest, having scored by a comfortable 1 1/2 lengths (video) before running on fairly to finish fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita...

SOUTHWELL, UK -- It is not often that the eyes of the racing world are on Southwell. The country track had been closed to the public for nine months until early August following extensive flooding, but on Friday it was the place to be as the top-rated horse in Europe, City Of Troy, descended on Nottinghamshire with an entourage akin to a Taylor Swift tour. He even brought his own American starting stalls. And swift is how he looked as he eased clear of the five-strong working party from Ballydoyle,...

For many lifelong racetrackers, it's a natural ascent to start out as a hot walker, move up to becoming a groom and perhaps eventually, work your way towards exercise riding. That wasn't the case for Edgar Revolorio, groom of GI Breeders' Cup Classic hopeful Highland Falls (Curlin). Revolorio grew up around horses in his native Guatemala and when he moved to Texas to work with Quarter Horses, he started out there as an exercise rider. As he gained experience on the racetrack and learned more about the art of grooming,...

It wouldn't rise to the level of a horse like Dare and Go stunning history-seeking Cigar in the 1996 renewal, but it was a surprise of similar magnitude in Saturday's GI FanDuel Pacific Classic, as Calumet Farm's Mixto (Good Magic) plugged on late and grabbed an exceptionally game Full Serrano (Arg) (Full Mast) to earn a fees-paid berth into the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at odds of 22-1 some may have considered underlaid. Mixto, who owned just a maiden victory from 13 starts prior to Saturday, was...

SAPPORO, Japan -- While other racing nations are becoming accustomed to lauding the overseas success of Japanese runners and looking on with awe at the huge financial clout of the country's domestic racing programme, it would be folly to think that Japan's racing scene does not face its own specific issues. Indeed, the host nation for the 40th Asian Racing Conference (ARC) was put under the spotlight in Sapporo on Thursday when leading trainer Yoshito Yahagi and breeder Kenichiro Mishima took to the stage to discuss ways in which Japanese...

When people discuss Horse of the Year candidates, the name Next (Not This Time) almost never comes up. That's despite what is currently the most impressive winning streak and show of dominance in the sport. He's won eight of his last nine, all of them stakes, by a combined 81 3/4 lengths. On Sunday at Saratoga, he won the Birdstone Stakes, doing so while never appearing to do more than galloping across the track in what amounted to a paid workout. We haven't seen a horse like this for a...

It's a Grade I bonanza Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course, as the track plays host to a trio of elite-level races--short and long, turf and dirt. The richest of the three events is the $1-million Whitney Stakes, offering the winner a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar on the first Saturday of November. National Treasure (Quality Road) is the 9-5 favorite on David Aragona's morning line and can further tighten his grip on the handicap division with a victory. The $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling...

John Magnier was in mischievous form at Sandown after he and his wife Sue had joined the wider Coolmore team for celebratory photographs with their Derby and Eclipse winner City Of Troy.  It has been well documented how important this colt is to the operation: the European champion two-year-old of 2023, he is by the Triple Crown winner Justify, who was recruited at vast expense to stand at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky. For that stallion to prove himself adept at siring top-class runners on both dirt and turf would...

Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) will miss the John A. Nerud Stakes at Belmont's Aqueduct meet according to a report from C Two Racing Stable. The 5-year-old, who was moved back to trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. after finishing off the board in both the G1 Saudi Cup and the GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap for trainer Rick Dutrow, had been targeting the July 6 cutback but is still getting over an illness following his start in the Met Mile. "We are not going...

Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense), impressive winner of the GII Alysheba S. at Churchill Downs May 3, will take the next logical step in the $1-million GI Stephen Foster S. beneath the Twin Spires Saturday, June 29. "He ran a huge race," trainer Brad Cox told the Churchill media office. "We're very proud of his effort, Down the lane, it seemed like he was getting stronger as he got closer to the wire." Favored at just over even-money in the 8 1/2-furlong Alysheba, the homebred sat handy...

The GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic and the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf will both receive individual $1-million purse increases, Breeders' Cup Limited announced Tuesday. Beginning with this year's 41st World Championships at Del Mar, the purse of the 1 1/4-mile Longines Breeders' Cup Classic will increase from $6 million to $7 million, while the purse of the 1 1/2-mile Longines Breeders' Cup Turf will increase from $4 million to $5 million. This raises total purses and awards for the Breeders' Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing's most prestigious two-day event,...