trainer

Doug Cowans, trainer of graded stakes-winning marathon specialist Next, joins the TDN Writers' Room.

Veteran trainer Dick Clark, who was based at Prairie Meadows this summer, has received a 90-month suspension and an $62,500 fine from the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU). The lengthy suspension and the fines were the result of five different positive tests that occurred with horses trained by Clark from June 19 to July 24. He was suspended 18 months and fined $12,500 for each offense. Clark's suspension is the lengthiest one handed down so far by HIWU. According to the HIWU website, in each case there was,...

John Ortiz draws the analogy of playing cards to what it feels like going into a stakes race at Saratoga. Everyone keeps their hand close and you never can tell who might be bluffing. But the trainer of Brightwork (Outwork) may have let his poker face slip when he spoke with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the paddock ahead of the GIII Adirondack S. on Sunday. "I walked in there confident and with a smile," Ortiz shared. "Irad had worked her and I said, 'You know what you've got and I...

Melanie Giddings had originally planned on a no-stress summer when she decided to move her fledgling stable from its home base at Palm Meadows up to New York for the Saratoga meet. "I had said, 'Why don't we just go up to Saratoga and enjoy ourselves?'" Giddings recalled with her signature easy smile. "No pressure, no nothing. Just take the horses there and see what we can do." Those expectations went out the window pretty quickly when a filly named Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) landed in her barn. The...

Dallas Keen, the Texas-based conditioner who has been training since 1986, has reportedly retired and will work alongside his wife, Donna Keen, at Remember Me Racehorse Rescue, according to Daily Racing Form. Accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), Remember Me is a well-known and high-profile retraining and rehoming program that often features bridleless horses. "I just want to make a difference with horses, especially off-track Thoroughbreds," Keen told DRF. "They're a little different than other horses. They're high-spirited. It's amazing how well they adapt to their second career. It's...

The British EBF, British horseracing's most active sponsor, has welcomed the appointment of two new Trustees to its board this month. Julian Dollar, the general manage of Newsells Park Stud since 2006 and prior to that the manager at Castleton Lyons in Kentucky, has joined the EBF as a trustee. He was also the assistant manager to Chris Richardson at Cheveley Park Stud. Currently standing at Newsells Park are A'Ali, Without Parole and Nathaniel. Joining Dollar as a trustee is recently retired Newmarket trainer Chris Wall, who will bring race...

It was a day Greg Foley will never forget when his stable got to the winner's circle for not just one, but two stakes wins last Saturday at Ellis Park. The barn's beloved Bango (Congrats) added to his already impressive resume when he took the Kelly's Landing S. Not long after, Stitched (Mizzen Mast) pulled a 46-1 upset in the GII Wise Dan S. to give Foley his second career Grade II victory. "It was an exciting day for sure," Foley said later the following week. "It was one of...

Attorney Alan Pincus Discusses HIWU Suspensions on the TDN Writers' Room.

Jena Antonucci became the first female trainer in history to win a Triple Crown race when her trainee Arcangelo claimed the GI Belmont S. The history-making horsewoman joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss her journey to the big stage.

One short elevator ride from the top of the Churchill Downs grandstand down to the ground floor was all the time it took for Phil Bauer to officially become a Grade I-winning trainer. On Kentucky Oaks Friday, Bauer was watching from upstairs as his trainee Played Hard (Into Mischief) took the lead going into the stretch of the GI La Troienne S. and, with Johnny Velazquez aboard, fought off last year's Oaks victress Secret Oath (Arrogate) to win by a neck. When Bauer and an elated crew of Rigney Racing...

This week, Larry Rivelli is counting himself lucky in more ways than one. Before this year, he had never seriously considered ever running a horse in the Kentucky Derby, but here he is now in Barn 1 at Churchill Downs with a 12-1 morning line contender. After training for more than two decades, Rivelli is sharing his first Derby journey with an ownership group that he calls family. Two Phil's (Hard Spun), the winner of the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks and a seasoned veteran among the Derby contenders with eight...

Norm Casse lived in Louisville throughout most of his childhood, but one spring, he spent a few months in Ocala with his father. Norm was responsible for getting himself up and out the door for school each morning while his dad was busy at the training center. One morning, as Kentucky Oaks day dawned, Norm's alarm never rang. It was well into the morning before Mark Casse burst into his son's room in a panic. "Norman, why aren't you at school?" he cried. [Elite_video_player id="2" html5videos_hd="https://player.vimeo.com/progressive_redirect/playback/822062086/rendition/540p/file.mp4?loc=external&signature=3c1cd569582ec02225920fa7b00321389eb3f5da89aa9f31b92dbb2f1307047a" html5videos_videoThumbnails_jpg="" html5videos_title="Norm Casse on...