turf racing

It's the end of an era for the Virginia Derby. After 21 editions dating back to 1998 at Colonial Downs, the 1 1/8-mile turf event that historically anchors the Closing Day card will move to the main track and be conducted in March as part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby. And so it seems only fitting that a pair of horses who took on the Triple Crown trail just this season brought this race down to the wire with GIII Gotham Stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Deterministic...

Kentucky Downs is offering massive purses this year--even more massive than usual--and their VP of Racing, Ted Nicholson joins the hosts to discuss how the track pulls it off.

Colonial Downs Racetrack has pushed its Festival of Racing, which includes the GI Arlington Million, back a day after it was originally scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 10, the track said in a Wednesday release. The decision to switch the card to Sunday, Aug. 11 was made after confirmation from weather experts that heavy rain caused by Tropical Storm Debby would hit the Tidewater by the end of the week. While most of the conditions are expected to clear the area by Saturday, safety is the highest priority. Gates will open...

Colonial Downs Racetrack in New Kent, VA has rescheduled their Thursday and Friday racing cards to dates next week due to impending weather in the area from Tropical Storm Debby. The Thursday, Aug. 8 card will move to Monday, Aug. 12 while the Friday, Aug. 9 card will be held as drawn Tuesday, Aug. 13. Officials are still monitoring the weather as it relates to the Colonial Downs Festival of Racing card Saturday which includes the GI Arlington Million and the Breeders' Cup WAYI GII Beverly D. Stakes. A decision...

It took her every single stride of the stretch to get there but Waves of Mischief just edged out race favorite Pin Up Betty (Constitution) to take Sunday's GIII Pucker Up Stakes at Ellis Park. Making her fourth start over as many tracks for Brendan Walsh and Qatar Racing, the $575,000 OBS March grad came out a winner on debut at Keeneland in April, just managed to hit the board in the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico May 17 and was well out of it after racing keen early last out...

Saving her best kick for the final stretch, first time starter Virgin Colada (More Than Ready--Episcopal, by Carpe Diem) mounted a strong charge down the lane to graduate and earn a 'TDN Rising Star' for her efforts at Saratoga on Sunday afternoon. Sporting the silks of John Stewart's Resolute Racing, the filly debuted as a 9-2 shot here. The 2-year-old, who saved every bit of ground while at the rear of the field until the top of the lane, launched her bid down the center of the course and sailed...

In the calm before the storm that will be next weekend's GI Kentucky Derby, a lone pair of graded turf races offer opportunities for older horses on the West Coast Saturday. Golden Gate Fields, whose closure was announced last year, cards their final GIII San Francisco Mile S. A full field of 12 lines up for the one-mile contest and while the race is open for those 3-years-old and up, the youngest runner is Blaine Wright's 4-year-old Clovisconnection (Vronsky). The class appears to be deepest amongst the 5-year-olds with Phil...

'The Week in Review', by T.D. Thornton A few items that stand out after sifting through Friday's "Pimlico Plus" report issued by the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority (MTROA). The ambitious $400-million plan, which is subject to legislative approval, re-imagines the state's racing consolidated at one publicly funded track in Baltimore, the closure of Laurel Park, the construction of a new training facility in the state, and 1/ST Racing and Gaming ceding control of day-to-day Maryland racing to a non-profit entity. Triple Crown traditionalists who are already in a tizzy...

6th-GP, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, 2:34 p.m. ET. I SEE YOU LOOKIN (City of Light) makes his first start Sunday for trainer Todd Pletcher. The $400,000 Keeneland September Sale grad is a half-sister to MGSP Lady Aces (Constitution), who was purchased for $200,000 at Keeneland November last year by the China Horse Club. Dam Economy of Motion (Pleasantly Perfect) is herself a half to MGISW Paradise Woods (Union Rags). Digging deeper into this extended female family, we find this debut runner's third dam is a half-sister to MGSW Mr. Greeley...

Following months of heavy rain, the New York Racing Association will reduce the number of turf races offered at the Aqueduct Fall Meet. A total of 13 races will be moved to the main track from Nov. 9 through 19, which covers the final eight days of the current condition book. There will be a reduction of two turf races (races four and nine) on the 9th, three on the 10th (two, three and five), one on the 11th (race four) and 12th (race nine), three on the 16th (one,...

The GIII Bank of America Valley View S. kicks off the graded action on the final two days of the fall meeting at Keeneland, and a mostly evenly matched group of sophomore fillies will head to the post. Sacred Wish (Not This Time) was something other than a failure on the main track, with placings in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks--in her first start following a private acquisition by a partnership group headed up by Black Type Thoroughbreds and Swinbank Stable--and a near miss behind Wet Paint (Blame) in the...

9th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 5:16 p.m. ET Fresh off his inaugural stakes win last weekend, Darby Dan's first-crop sire Copper Bullet will be represented by Winchell homebred COPPERDROP in her grassy Keeneland debut here. Out of a productive Tapit dam who is full-sister to GIII Silverbulletday S. victor War Echo as well as a half to GI Forego S. winner Pyro (Pulpit), the Steve Asmussen trainee counts TVG.com Pegasus S. hero Pneumatic (Uncle Mo) and the stakes-placed duo of Costa Terra (Gun Runner) and Echo Again (Gun...