Blood-Horse

Randy Winick, trainer of the 1993 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Brocco, died Feb. 15 at age 76. He trained many stakes winners throughout his career, including grade 1 winners Dontstop Themusic, Country Queen, Mitterand, and Spence Bay.

2019 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner Blue Prize died the evening of Feb. 15 from complications of colic following a troubled foaling, according to Paulick Report. She was 13.

The Cincinnati Trophy Stakes will run at Turfway Park on Feb. 20. The field of 11 is headlined by recent Turfway Park winners, Map of the Moon and Dame Laura.

Bill Recio supervised the breaking and training of multiple grade 1 winners, including multiple champion Songbird. Recio and his wife, Lynn, operated Lynnwood Stable near Ocala, Fla.

Inspired by the strong performance of purse sources, Fair Grounds announces the addition of two race dates to the 2025-26 meet. The additional days will be Monday, March 9, and Monday, March 16.

A classy sprinter since he burst on the racing scene as a juvenile, 6-year-old Damon's Mound pursues a seventh stakes victory in his 19th-career race in the Feb. 21 Gulfstream Park Sprint.

All horses will be required to have a veterinary statement stating they are suitable to perform in the under-tack show. Any entries without an affirming statement will be scratched from the sale.

Street Beast and Fulleffort, the 1-2 finishers of the Leonatus Stakes, will need to fight off some out-of-town shippers as Turfway Park joins the Road to the Kentucky Derby Feb. 21 in the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes.

The program, established in 2024, aims to provide 25 externships to vet students with a focus on networking opportunities in equine veterinary medicine and establishing a mechanism to identify, recruit, and retain young veterinarians.

In this week's Maiden Watch, Trouble Calling, a Dialed In half brother to grade 1 winner Troubleshooting, draws off to a 6 1/4-length with to earn his first career victory Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Byron King's Top 12 on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, presented by Spendthrift Farm.

Caitlin Courtney has been named the new director of sales at Denali Stud after 11 years working with St George Sales and Brookstone Farm.

A University of Kentucky study suggests the use of ertugliflozin keeps a horse's blood sugar and insulin levels down after a corticosteroid joint injection. With insulin tied to laminitis, this discovery could provide safer care for at-risk horses.

For the fifth straight year, the European Pattern Committee has reduced the number of black-type races, which chair Jason Morris says, "reflects the collective responsibility that the EPC member countries share towards enforcing quality control."

Leading young sire Zarak will miss the start of the covering season due to an accident in his stable, the Aga Khan Studs revealed Feb. 17.

Dollars & Sense with Frank Angst looks at Forever Young's remarkable career as an example of an international approach that could keep racing's top stars in training. Read more:

J. Paul Reddam homebred Pavlovian, recent winner of the Sunland Park Derby, is among the top 10 by points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Reddam has won the Derby twice but Pavlovian could become his first homebred starter.

Grade 1 winner Baeza will head East to join the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The move comes just days after the passing of his former trainer, John Shirreffs, who died Feb. 12 at 80. The Daily Racing Form first reported the news.

With drafts from leading owner-breeders such as the Aga Khan Studs and the Wertheimer family, along with horses in training from the yards of Francis Graffard and Amy Murphy, there is something for everyone at Arqana.

On the Feb. 16 episode of BloodHorse Monday: Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith remembers late trainer John Shirreffs, Louie Rabaut and Sean Collins recap Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) prep action.