Gunite

With Santa Anita Park set to begin its fall meet, fans will be greeted by a pair of all-new state-of-the-art paddock video boards beginning on opening day, Friday, Sept. 29, 1/ST Racing said in a press release late Thursday. Manufactured by US-based Daktronics, the video boards each measure nine feet tall by 16 feet wide. While the previous paddock video boards had a pixel pitch of 15mm, the new boards provide much higher quality viewing, with a finer 6mm one. To view a time-lapse installation click here. Breeders' Cup Stars...

Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred Gunite (Gun Runner), winner of the track-and-trip GI Hopeful S. as a juvenile and runner-up in the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. 12 months ago, parlayed a tactical advantage Saturday into a vengeful victory in Saratoga's GI Forego S. The Steve Asmussen pupil had come up a head short of 2022 champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. going a furlong shorter in the slop here July 29, and was 6-5 to get the better of that formidable foe this go around....

It's a bit of Christmas in August Saturday at venerable Saratoga Race Course, which plays host to no fewer than five Grade I events for horses of all ages--on dirt and on turf--topped by the main event on the summer calendar, the $1.25-million GI Travers S. While the fields are short on numbers, they are long on quality, as three of the races have attracted reigning Eclipse Award winners, none of whom are anything close to a cinch in their respective heats. Champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has...

Now, that's how you celebrate a birthday. Champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) came charging down the sealed, sloppy stretch at Saratoga to nail Gunite (Gun Runner) by a head in Saturday's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. on Hall of Famer Bill Mott's 70th birthday. Racing over a wet surface for the first time, the even-money favorite was sixth though an opening quarter in :22.64. He was tipped out by Irad Ortiz, Jr. approaching the quarter pole and set his sights on the aforementioned slight second choice, who enjoyed first run...

A few weeks before the opening of the Saratoga meet, Steve Asmussen paid a visit to Lexington to see an old friend. The Hall of Fame conditioner stopped by Three Chimneys Farm, as he does regularly, to check in on Gun Runner. "It's Three Chimneys," Asmussen explained with a shrug from his barn at the Oklahoma earlier this week. "It's a beautiful place and Gun Runner deserves the adulation. He is a very special horse." A few hours after he made that statement, Asmussen's star filly Echo Zulu, of course...

Equine or human, history is always about the six degrees of someone in racing's world. For instance, at 100-1 Jim Dandy beat Triple Crown champion Gallant Fox in the 1930 edition of the Travers S., which only featured four entries total. The horse who set up the longshot by engaging in a speed duel with the favorite over the mud was Whichone, a colt owned by Harry Payne Whitney (yes, that important family). And what other Thoroughbred did Whitney own? Well, that would be Upset, who did just that, when...

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) has won three Grade Is and earned an Eclipse Award, but in Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss H. the 4-year-old filly added to her resume when she posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 112--the fastest number recorded by any horse going six furlongs this year. "I'm extremely proud of her race. That obviously was an impressive race and that would put a [big] number on it," Asmussen said. "I'm very happy with how she came out of the race yesterday....

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- It would be difficult to imagine that anyone has embraced and enjoyed their time in the Emirates more than trainer Jeremiah O'Dwyer, his wife Alison and exercise rider Chelsie Raabe. From the perspective of the 130 or so horses taking part on World Cup Night, the same could perhaps be said for Sibelius (Not This Time), who would make his way to the Meydan main track about the same time the sun was peeking over the horizon, then would just stand there, like class horses...

WinStar Farm, Commonwealth Thoroughbreds and Zedan Racing's defending G1 Dubai World Cup champion Country Grammer (Tonalist) tops a dozen North American entries for the Dubai World Cup program at Meydan Racecourse Saturday, Mar. 25. The prospective fields were revealed overnight by the Dubai Racing Club. The 6-year-old is one of 13 in the field for the $12-million centerpiece of the meeting, including no fewer than eight runners from Japan topped by Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), who registered a half-length defeat of Country Grammer in the G1 Saudi Cup last...

Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), who defeated Country Grammer (Tonalist) in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup this past Saturday, has arrived in Dubai alongside his erstwhile rival ahead of the Mar. 25 Dubai World Cup meeting. Now the third-highest earning Japanese-trained horse of all time, the Yoshito Yahagi-trained Panthalassa has been nominated for both the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup, as well as the G1 Dubai Turf. Last year's Dubai World Cup winner for Bob Baffert, Country Grammer was joined on the flight by G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint second Gunite...

Named the 2022 Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter, Juddmonte's Elite Power (Curlin) picked up right where he left off with an easy 3 1/4-length score in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint Presented By Sports Boulevard. The favorite held fellow American-bred challenger and GI Hopeful S. hero Gunite (Gun Runner) in second in the $1.5-million 1200-meter race. In between horses as Meraas (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) showed the way, the $900,0000 Keeneland September yearling raced in the last third of the field away from the kickback in the center of the track....

by Brian Sheerin in Riyadh, Heather Anderson & Alan Carasso Wherever and whenever horses from Japan show up on the world stage, recent history dictates that they are to be taken very seriously. As recently as 12 months ago at the Saudi Cup meeting, horses representing the island nation accounted for four of the evening's six big races, and a month later in yet another desert destination, they somehow managed to one-up themselves with a spectacular five-timer on Dubai World Cup night. The nation has yet--repeat, yet--to break through in...