T.D. Thornton

After a very successful mini-meet highlighted by the running of the GI Belmont Stakes, NYRA is set to return to Saratoga for the start of the 2024 meet. Guiding the ship will be NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke, who will be hoping for sunny skies, no breakdowns and record attendance and handle numbers. That's a lot to ask, but it is Saratoga, where magical things happen. To talk about the meet, O'Rourke joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast Presented by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of...

David O'Rourke, the President and CEO of NYRA, joined this week's TDN Writers' Room ahead of the opening week at Saratoga.

Horsemen who are alleging a "present and clear danger" because of a decade's worth of purportedly uncorrected safety issues at Camarero Race Track continue to legally spar with the corporate owners of Puerto Rico's only track and the gaming commission that regulates the island's racing. In response to an Apr. 26 federal lawsuit filed by the Puerto Rico Horse Owners Association, Inc. (PRHOA), both the owners of the track and the Gaming Commission of Puerto Rico filed responses in the United States District Court of Puerto Rico this month that...

It's a good time to be Flavien Prat. He has amassed $13.4 million in earnings so far this year, is riding regularly for the Chad Brown barn and, through the first half of the year has won 26 graded stakes, four of them worth $1 million or more. This is what he hoped for when he made the decision in 2022 to leave Southern California, where he was dominating, to come East, which is firmly established as one of the very best jockey colonies in the sport.      ...

Flavien Prat is performing at the top of jockey standings both in New York and on a national stage. The rider joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss his background in the sport, the move from California to New York, the recent impressive win aboard Unmatched Wisdom and more.

The field for the GI Belmont S., ranked in "likeliest winner" order: 1) SIERRA LEONE (c, Gun Runner--Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B Tabor, Derrick Smith Westerberg, Rocket Ship Racing LLC & Peter M. Brant; B-Debby M Oxley (Ky); T-Chad Brown. Sales History: $2,300,000 Ylg '22 FTSAUG. Lifetime Record: GISW, 5-3-2-0, $1,918,000. Last start: 2nd May 4 GI Kentucky Derby. This relentless, long-striding closer looms as the most logical choice to be draped with a blanket of white carnations Saturday at Saratoga. Yet...

Jockey Keith Asmussen joins the TDN Writers' Room to discuss his family's illustrious history in the sport and his first-ever mount in the GI Kentucky Derby.

When Gulfstream Park staged the "Race of the Century" 56 years ago this spring, 17,300 fans packed the grandstand. They stared out onto a horseless track, where an empty starting gate was parked ceremonially at the 1 1/4 miles position. They rooted, cursed and cheered home their picks. Not a single person ended up witnessing the race. Yet those in attendance--and a nation of fans who tuned in via the NBC Radio broadcast or read about the outcome in coast-to-coast newspaper coverage--seemed to be in vehement agreement for weeks afterward...

Brad Cox won four stakes races over the weekend, including the GII Louisiana Derby and the GII Fair Grounds Oaks. But such a run of success has almost come to be expected from a trainer who never seems to have a bad week. Cox will arrive at Churchill Downs with an army of stakes-caliber horses, including threats for the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Kentucky Oaks. The multiple Eclipse Award winning conditioner was our special guest on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this...

The Jockey Club of Canada will present Robert "Red" McKenzie with the Special Sovereign Award during the 49th annual awards ceremony on the evening of Thursday, Apr. 18 at Paramount Eventspace in Woodbridge, Ontario, the organization said in a press release Thursday afternoon. Selected unanimously by the Jockey Club of Canada's Stewards, the Special Sovereign Award recognizes a particular achievement within a given year. The honor is being bestowed upon McKenzie for becoming the oldest trainer to saddle a winner in Canada, doing so at the age of 96 on...

Henry Argueta, formerly the assistant to the now-imprisoned trainer Jason Servis, was sentenced to a prison term of "time served" and two years of supervised release after working out a cooperative plea bargain with prosecutors in the wide-ranging 2020 racehorse doping conspiracy case that has already netted several dozen convictions. The sentencing paperwork filed Dec. 21 for Argueta's final judgment in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) stated that he pleaded guilty to three felony charges listed in a superseding information document in exchange for other charges...

The former New York-based veterinarian Alexander Chan has filed a hand-written plea from prison asking for a reduction to his 30-month sentence that was handed down in May as punishment for his role in the wide-ranging 2020 racehorse doping conspiracy case. In December 2022, Chan had cut a deal with prosecutors that involved pleading guilty to a single felony charge of drug adulteration and misbranding in exchange for two other felony counts against him being dropped. Chan's filing with the court on Monday was submitted without an attorney acting on...