Commissioner

If there are two sports whose paths have mirrored each other historically, it would be baseball and horse racing in America. Both are tradition-driven and both enjoyed prominence for decades. And both recently have dealt with challenges, scandals and declining interest. One sport though has chosen to embrace innovation. Baseball has developed multiple changes over several years as they fought to gain fan, media and sponsor revenue. To our credit, racing has innovated in several spaces, specifically health and safety, but not so much in product presentation. The last major...

by Armen Antonian Ph.D As the 2021 Breeders' Cup approaches, there is much for horse racing to celebrate. New procedures put in place at racetracks to prevent horses with pre-existing conditions from racing have reduced fatalities. And the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) will be implemented next year to standardize medication of horses. But from California to Kentucky to New York, horse racing is still under a magnifying glass. In the absence of national leadership, individual racetracks struggle to manage ongoing issues and each, on their own, is responsible...

Sunday, Saratoga SARATOGA OAKS INVITATIONAL S.-GIII, $700,000, Saratoga, 8-8, 3yo, f, 1 3/16mT, 1:54.42, fm. 1--CON LIMA, 121, f, 3, by Commissioner 1st Dam: Second Street City (SW, $209,843), by Consolidator 2nd Dam: Trix City, by Carson City 3rd Dam: Always Nettie, by Vice Regent ($15,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV; $19,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $22,000 RNA 2yo '20 OBSMAR). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph F. Graffeo, Eric Nikolaus Del Toro & Troy Johnson; B-Lisa Kuhlmann (TX); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Flavien Prat. $375,000. Lifetime Record: 13-7-5-0, $884,865. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click...

Coach took her record to a perfect three-for-three with an authoritative victory in the Rags to Riches S. at Churchill Downs Sunday. The dark bay filly, a 4 1/2-length debut winner sprinting six furlongs at Indiana Grand Aug. 10, romped home by 9 3/4 lengths going 5 1/2 furlongs at that oval in a Sept. 15 allowance contest. Hustled up to keep pace with the early frontrunners, Coach was a tracking third down the backstretch. She strode up to challenge for the lead with a three-wide move on the far...

Commissioner (A.P. Indy--Flaming Heart, by Touch Gold), the sire of 22 winners from his first crop including the Grade III-winning Island Commish, has been acquired by HRH Prince Saud bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud for his new farm in Saudi Arabia. The deal was brokered by Andrew Cary of Cary Bloodstock in Lexington. Bred and raced by WinStar Farm and trained by Todd Pletcher, Commissioner-a member of the final crop for his legendary sire-was beaten four lengths into second by Tonalist (Tapit) in the 2014 GII Peter Pan S....