Cigar

Twenty-five years ago, Cigar put together a perfect 10-for-10 season in the middle of a streak of 16 straight wins. We remember it here. It was the sixth race on an ordinary Friday card in October at Aqueduct some 26 years ago and there was nothing to suggest that the $34,000 allowance event would ever have any relevance. Jose Santos was aboard the favorite, a recent allowance winner who started out at Suffolk Downs named Golden Plover. Julie Krone had the mount for Tom Skiffington on second-choice Taddarruj. The third...

"It's all I've thought about for forever," said 25-year-old Corbin Blumberg. And he's not really exaggerating. The Potomac, Maryland native was just a toddler when one VHS tape sold him on horse racing for life. Blumberg learned to read by studying past performances, and has since traveled the world in pursuit of furthering his knowledge of the industry. Less than a month before this year's Kentucky Derby, the Godolphin Flying Start graduate signed on as the Racing Manager for Starlight Racing. It was an eventful start to the job when...

When it comes to training racehorses, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has pretty much seen it all over the past half a century. In 2019, however, Churchill Downs served as a backdrop for a rare first for the Hall of Famer, who captured his first GI Kentucky Derby with 'TDN Rising Star' Country House (Lookin At Lucky). Fast forward a year and Mott closes in on another personal first, namely his 5,000th career win, which places him seventh overall, and fourth among leading active trainers. "I am proud of...

This is the second installment in a series highlighting racetrack photographers. We'll be asking about the most memorable horses, races, and people they've viewed through the lens and talking about how the craft of equine imagery has evolved. Each time we profile a photographer, TDN will feature their hand-selected favorite shots in multiple editions throughout the week. Members of the Coglianese family have been photographing horses at New York racetracks since the early 20th Century. Bob Coglianese, 85, first started shooting horse races in 1952 under the tutelage of an...

If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturday would have been the 25th renewal of the Dubai World Cup. The iconic 2000-metre dirt race (and for five renewals synthetic) has held sway as the world's richest race for 22 of its 24 renewals, first at Nad Al Sheba and later Meydan, and it has produced some sterling results. The TDN's Tom Frary has paid homage to Dubai Millennium (GB) on the 20th anniversary of his victory, and so with that notable performance aside we look back on some of the other...