Thoroughbred Daily News

For the sixth time since December Thoroughbred racing on the Southern California circuit has been staged at Los Alamitos Race Course in Orange County, juveniles trained by Bob Baffert swept the winter meet's featured events–the GII Starlet Stakes and GII Los Alamitos Futurity Stakes.

One week after Juddmonte homebred Consequent (Into Mischief) took out the fillies' event, earning 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, favored Litmus Test (Nyquist) followed suit in the Dec. 14 Futurity and picked up 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Baffert's first sweep came in 2017 courtesy of Dream Tree and McKinzie.

Despite those successes, Baffert was forced to settle for second in the trainer's standings, as Doug O'Neill sent out six winners to Baffert's four. With a closing-day double, Kazushi Kimura created a three-way tie for leading jockey with Armando Ayuso and Juan Hernandez. Each rode six winners.

Daytime Thoroughbred racing returns to Los Alamitos in 2026 with the LA County Fair Meet scheduled to begin June 19 and run through July 5.

The post Baffert Starlet/Futurity Sweep Highlights Los Al Winter Meet appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The topic of the diminishing North American Thoroughbred foal crop (estimated 17,000 for 2026) came up several times during last week's Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in Tucson.

This is often referred to as our industry's “horse shortage” problem. I try to avoid that term in my reporting unless I am directly quoting someone who says it.

Instead, the sport has long been dealing with an “owner shortage.” Breeders stand ready and willing to start producing more racehorses if only more buyers would step up to purchase and campaign them.

Another metric that doesn't get as much attention–the number of Thoroughbreds who make at least one start in a calendar year–can also be useful to watch.

Through this past Saturday's racing, that number stood at 42,198 with 2 1/2 weeks to go in 2025.

That figure, courtesy of the publicly available “by racing year' tabulations on Equibase, can be drilled down even further to see how many starts each of those horses have made.

I've always had both respect and a soft spot for the grizzled “war horse” veterans of the Thoroughbred world, probably because growing up on the now-defunct New England circuit, it was common see past performances of claimers whose ages were in double digits with lifetime starts in triple digits.

You generally don't see those types of horses these days for a variety of reasons–training methodologies have shifted toward a “less is more” approach; greater regulatory and veterinary scrutiny discourages running horses back too often, and there are far fewer racing stables competing at far fewer tracks–just to name a few.

The other day I was sorting the stat columns on Equibase to rank the horses this year by how many starts they have made.

Before I say what stood out, take a moment to quiz yourself: How many Thoroughbreds in 2025 do you think have started at least 20 times?

For extra credit, try to guess what that statistic was 25 years ago.

The answer, so far in 2025, is 24 horses with 20 or more starts.

A start | Sarah Andrew

I would have bet the “over” on that one, figuring it was higher. That equates to .05% (one-twentieth of one percent) of the entire group of 42,198 starters.

Three are tied with 23 to top the list. The rest fall between 20 and 22 starts.

(Side note: Those 24 horses at the 20-plus-start level were sired by 23 different stallions, with only Collected represented by two offspring.)

Turning the clock back to 2020 yielded a skewed set of numbers, because the COVID-19 shutdowns resulted in a massive loss of training and racing dates for the final 10 months of that year.

But still, as a benchmark, there were more starters in the pandemic year than there will be this year: 2020 featured 46,683 starters, with 19 hitting the 20-start mark despite the truncated season (.04% of all starters). Two tied at 24 races to top the year.

Ten years ago, in 2015, a total of 54,496 Thoroughbreds made at least one start, and 209 of them ran at least 20 times (.38%). Two tied atop the leaderboard with 28 starts.

In 2010, the pool of all starters was 69,689, with 348 horses racing 20 or more times (.49%). Two tied for most starts with 30.

In 2005 there were 74,282 starters, of which 440 started 20-plus times (.59%), with two topping the leaderboard at 31 starts each.

The year 2000 is the farthest-back the Equibase online database goes for these types of rankings, and it yields the most mind-boggling numerical nugget: Although there were fewer starters (71,156) in 2000 than there would be in 2005, an astounding 1,101 horses 25 years ago (1.5%) made at least 20 starts.

And that group of 1,101 in the 2000 season included a subset of 23 who raced at least 30 times (the high-start mark was 36).

Put another way, the same number of horses who started 30-plus times a quarter-century ago is nearly equal to the number of 20-start horses this year.

The above exercise isn't meant to say that Thoroughbreds aren't as capable of starting as often as their contemporaries from earlier in the 21st Century. While that statement certainly could be true, there aren't as many racing outfits or opportunities to prove it either way.

But they definitely aren't building racetracks like they used to, and the reasons why were articulated in an intriguing talk at the U of A Symposium by Todd Gralla, the director of Equestrian Services for Populous, a global architecture firm specializing in sports and entertainment facilities like Camden Yards, the Sphere in Las Vegas, and the currently under-construction New Highmark Stadium, the soon-to-be home of the NFL's Buffalo Bills.

Over the past four decades, Gralla has played roles in the development of more than 400 racing and equestrian venues worldwide, including the Olympics, the current rebuilds of Belmont Park and Pimlico Race Course, plus renovation projects at Churchill Downs.

In a panel called “Building the Future of Racing: Major Construction Projects Transforming America's Tracks,” Gralla gave perspectives on what shaped the designs at the three Triple Crown tracks.

Churchill Downs wasn't being built from scratch and already had an iconic design feature in its twin spires, so that distinction didn't need tweaking, Gralla said.

“Belmont, as we kind of looked at the historic structure that was there, the new arena that we built next to it, [the question became] 'What's the next step for architecture over there?' And the leadership wanted something a little bit more contemporary. So our inspiration was the ribbon, which symbolizes victory. And that's kind of the way that the design came together.”

Populous describes the new Belmont as “draw[ing] inspiration from the flowing, mutable shape of a ribbon–the traditional symbol of victory–and mark[ing] an intentional departure from the current Belmont style.”

Pimlico's cupola and weather vane | Horsephotos

The new design is supposed to “introduce greater transparency” and “reduce the scale of the building to be properly sized” for changing needs and trends, the company's website stated.

“Now at Pimlico, what's interesting is there wasn't a lot there that was great to work from,” Gralla continued.

“The existing buildings that we just tore down in the last couple months were not architecturally significant at all,” Gralla said. “What was architecturally significant [was] the original clubhouse that burned down in 1962, which has the weathervane and the replica of the cupola that was the winner's circle. So we're using that for inspiration at Pimlico, and trying to do something that's real Baltimore, that kind of goes back to the original history of 'Old Hilltop.'”

Gralla said the barns that will house GI Preakness Stakes horses and entrants in other big stakes will be brought close to the frontside paddock.

“Part of the reason we pulled those up front is we're trying to give visitors a horse experience,” Gralla said. “We want them to be able to see the trainers, horses, jockeys in their daily routine.

“And then we're using a lot of the stretch apron area to build a pavilion to support a lot of picnicking, tailgating out there, as well as [temporary structure] overlay during the Preakness Stakes,” Gralla said.

So what's driving the main changes in sports architecture right now?

“One is revenue,” Gralla said. “Our clients in the professional sports business are making tons of in-venue revenue. And it's not gaming, and it's not wagering on sports. In fact, at the New Highmark, the clients don't want sports wagering facilities in the physical facility because it's not worth the square footage.

“That's really interesting, when a client tells you, 'Giving up square footage for wagering on sports is not worth putting in my sports stadium,'” Gralla said. “That's the complete opposite of kind of where we are in racing right now.

“We are also making venues smaller,” Gralla said. “And in those venues, we've designed over the past 20 or 30 years? We're going back into those major-league sports venues and we're removing capacity. We're changing seats into clubs and into social areas. Because that's what the younger generation wants. They don't want 'butt-in-seat' for two or three or four hours.

“We're also really looking for unique experiences in those stadiums [based] around that game day. And racing is really full of those,” Gralla said.

“When we look at a typical game day for a fan at an NFL stadium, we kind of try to assess what their pre-game looks like, what time they arrive, what their in-game [behavior] looks like, and what does it look like outside [after] the game day. Because where we're getting money and revenue is pre- and post-game right now, assuming that everyone is already in there for the game.

Churchill's Homestretch Club | courtesy of CDI

“For horse racing, we don't have just one game, right? We have 10 or 12, so you break [the card] down into even more tiny little segments,” Gralla said.

“When we started working with NYRA, one of the first things that was done was to look at entry scans for the Belmont Stakes, for example. And what we learned is that most people going to the Belmont Stakes–and any kind of stakes or big race day, really across the board at any track–people aren't even there for the first half of the card. How do we get them there for the first half of the card to spend more, wager more?

“And then also they're leaving very quickly after that [feature] race, even though we may have one or three races after that. How do we keep them [and] keep them engaged?” Gralla asked.

Gralla answered his own question, from an architectural standpoint.

“We're looking at unique experiences, we're looking at more social spaces versus seats, and even trying the eke more out of every square foot of that building as possible.

“We know that moving low seats from up high in a stadium down to field-side makes them worth more. We've done similar things at Churchill, when you look at the Homestretch Club, where we've got all the loge or banquettes down at trackside–very popular, worth a lot of money, and worth coming for the entire card.”

A key, Gralla said is freedom to move around.

Better food and beverage offerings are great, Gralla said. Spreading them out around the property is even better.

“So we're not keeping people just in one area of the building,” Gralla said. “In a lot of our current tracks–like all of the facilities at Pimlico we just tore down–you weren't free to move around. You had a certain space, and you were kept there.”

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HONG KONG, CHINA – Two days before one of Hong Kong's biggest days of racing, Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges sat down with the press in a member's room overlooking Sha Tin Racecourse for a wide-ranging discussion of everything from the quality of Sunday's Longines Hong Kong International Races to the state of racing and wagering globally. Warning of a “massive generation issue” for the sport, Engelbrecht-Bresges's focus returned several times to the need for racing to incorporate emerging technology, both from a wagering standpoint and as a means to attract younger racing fans.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club opened Conghua Racecourse in Guangzhou in 2018 and expects to hold its first race meet at the Mainland China track in October.

“Conghua has been a game changer for our development,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “If you look long term, I believe there will be development of the breeding industry in China. Maybe it will take 10 years, but it will. So then, the two racecourses [Happy Valley and Sha Tin], plus Conghua, with the greater Bay Area, will be the triangle of world-class racing in China. Having the training center in China, expanding the horse population, is a must.”

The first race meet at Conghua had originally been planned for April, but its delay until October will allow officials to offer patrons a higher quality experience, according to Engelbrecht-Bresges.

“We have invested even more in technology,” he said. “Because we benchmarked the kind of experience you have to provide in China. The digital experience we have in Hong Kong is good. In China, it's three to five years ahead of Hong Kong. And the customer expectation is not a Hong Kong expectation, it's a mainland expectation. In terms of navigation, payment, solutions regarding wayfinding, from interaction information, if you don't have an integrated solution, you would be seen as a dinosaur. So, we invested now another, around HK$100 million, or 10 million euro, to create a customer experience which was on par with the customer experience you have now in a major sports stadium. We built this first on the mainland, and then we have the opportunity to probably transmit this and bring it into Hong Kong.”

While wagering on racing is not allowed on mainland China, the idea of wagering on races from Conghua in Hong Kong remains a tantalizing possibility, but Engelbrecht-Bresges said even without gambling, racing in Conghua will give the HKJC an opportunity to grow the sport.

“The fan base in not necessarily based on wagering capability,” he said. “If you would widen the fan base, you have to have different experiences. And we experimented with immersive experiences, to demystify horse racing because for many younger people who are not caught up in the sport, it is very difficult to understand. So that is what helps us with the business model in China, which is not built on wagering. It's a business model which is fan based, to have other income streams. Especially, we think there is a huge income stream which we have seen in merchandising. We have partnerships now with a China travel group. We could bring any merchandise we have into China. So how you build now, new value propositions would give you different incomes.”

While developing technology for new fan engagement, the HKJC is not neglecting advancement in wagering technology. With legislation passed by the Hong Kong Legislative Council in September, HKJC could begin offering betting on basketball–focused mainly on the United States' National Basketball Association–beginning next fall, pending licensing.

In advance of basketball wagering–and with the possibility of other sports to follow–Engelbrecht-Bresges said the HKJC has moved to modernize its wagering system.

“We have already invested heavily to modernize our tech stack,” he said. “We have decided we want to build a new system and work on an external base of a system which is available, but which we will have to modify significantly. But this will be the system of the future because we will invest now in the next five years probably around HK$8 to HK$10 billion in technology. And this is a completely new technology step. Our parimutuel system is probably the system that can handle the most transactions, we can handle seven or eight thousand transactions per second, but we want to build a new system which will go up to 20,000 a second and will be built on completely different platforms. So that is the next significant investment we have.”

When asked what he sees as racing's current challenges, Engelbrecht-Bresges said, “I think we have a massive generation issue. If we are not able to widen our customer base and become more attractive to a wider customer segment, we will become a sport whose relevance in five or 10 years is really a challenge.”

Looking ahead, he added, “Going forward, I would like to see that we create much more global international events and that the sport globally unites more to be advocates of the sport and not get dragged down into the battles of–I call them ankle biters. We have to stop this. We have to step back and say what is our strategy, what's our vision and overcome certain personal dislikes. Because it's bad for the sport.”

Back to the more immediate topic of Sunday's four international races, featuring a pair of Hong Kong champions in Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) and Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), Engelbrecht-Bresges admitted he was rooting for the home team to do well. Just not too well.

“I hope that we see world-class competitions and we see exciting finishes,” he said. “Safety is extremely important. And I am maybe a little bit biased, but I would like to see that there is a little spread and it's not only a Hong Kong domination. It's an international week. And even though you are proud when your home team wins, if your home team is too dominant, then nobody wants to come. I have a certain preference that two of the Hong Kong horses show how good they are, naturally. But I would like to see a spread really of results and not just Hong Kong domination.”

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Turfway Park Racing & Gaming has moved Saturday's full Synthetic Championships program to Sunday, Dec. 21, due to extreme cold temperatures and accumulating snow forecasted for the Florence area, a press release from the track on Saturday morning said.

The National Weather Service is calling for 3-7 inches of snow throughout the day and evening, with temperatures expected to fall into the single digits and wind chill values approaching minus 9 degrees overnight.

The Sunday, Dec. 21 program will feature the complete $1-million Synthetic Championships, including the $250,000 Prairie Bayou, $250,000 Holiday Cheer, $250,000 My Charmer and the $250,000 Holiday Inaugural presented. The card will not be re-drawn.

First post is 3 p.m. ET.

Mother Nature wins this round. With a Winter Storm Warning and extreme cold and snow in the forecast, tonight's card at @TurfwayPark has been canceled.

We'll share more information regarding makeup plans as it becomes available.

— Kevin Kerstein (@HorseRacingKK) December 13, 2025

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Echo Town (by Speightstown), the winner of the GI H. Allen Jerkens, was purchased by Tyree Wolesensky and has relocated to her Leadem Farm in Arkansas for the 2026 breeding season, according to a release from Vinery Sales on Friday.

Brokered by Vinery's Jay Goodwin, Echo Town has arrived in Arkansas and is ready for inspection. He will stand the 2026 season for $3,500.

“Just really excited for Arkansas breeders to have a Grade I-winning sprinter with that pedigree, who has already proven the ability to sire precocious graded stakes winners,” said Goodwin. “He is exactly what Arkansas needs. I would've bred to him in Kentucky this year, so I will definitely support him with my mares in Arkansas.”

The son of sire of sires, Speightstown, recorded 10 starts, four wins, two seconds, and as many thirds. The bay campaigned by L and N Racing and trained by Steve Asmussen had a signature score during his 3-year-old season when he defeated six graded stakes winner in the Allen Jerkens at the Spa.

Prior to that, Echo Town was the runner-up in the GI Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont Park, which was his first attempt at a higher-level prize.

As a sire, Echo Town is responsible for four total crops and two of racing age. Lifetime, he claims 45 winners out of 73 starters.

Among them is Echo Sound–a first-crop filly for the sire–who began her career three-for-three with a stakes win followed by scores in the GIII Miss Preakness Stakes and the GIII Victory Ride Stakes.

The former member of Coolmore America's stallion roster has also sired stakes winning filly, Elegant Echo, who started racing with a pair of wins. Joining her is Three Echoes, who broke his maiden as a juvenile at Churchill Downs then placed in the GIII Sanford Stakes.

Recently, the new Arkansas-based sire had juvenile winners at Delta Downs and Charles Town, plus Dakota's Lil Auror was stakes-placed in the Juvenile Fillies Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream.

Echo Town, out of GSW Letgomyecho (Menifee), comes from a pedigree covered with black-type. His half-siblings include champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), GSW J Boys Echo (Mineshaft) and the stakes-placed dam of SW Saturday Flirt (Mendelssohn).

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The final installment in the 2025 OwnerView webinar series, held on Dec. 9, covered industrywide efforts to support individuals in need.

The conference is hosted by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and presented by Bessemer Trust, Keeneland, and Stoll Keenon Ogden. The panel was sponsored by Daily Racing Form.

A Q&A was sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds.

Gary Falter, project manager for OwnerView, moderated the panel with guests Joe Clabes, executive director of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF); Christian Countzler, chief executive officer of Stable Recovery; Shannon Kelly, executive director of The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation; and Dan Waits, executive director of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America (RTCA).

Included among topics of discussion was role of The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation.

“The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation is a charitable trust that's underneath the umbrella of The Jockey Club and assists people in horse racing that are in financial need,” Kelly said. “What's really unique about the Safety Net is that we assist all people in racing in all occupations across the country. So, people that work at racetracks on the backside, grooms, hot walkers, exercise riders, foremen, trainers, night watchmen, at farms, on breeding farms, on the front side of racetracks, jockeys, you name it.”

All panelists agreed that they work together within the industry to help those in need.

“I don't know that there are many other industries around that can say they have the level of support that this industry does,” Countzler said. “And I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud to support that, you know. And so especially this time of year, it seems to ramp up for all of us on this panel right now. The holidays are really, really tough if things aren't going very well in your life. So, I would like to thank everybody on this panel for the incredible support.”

The replay of Tuesday's Thoroughbred Owner Conference panel is available at bit.ly/OVVideos.

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Back at the site of a couple of his most important victories, White Abarrio (Race Day) breezed five furlongs in 1:00.35 at Gulfstream Park in preparation for a planned start in the Dec. 27 GIII Mr. Prospector Stakes which he will use as a steppingstone to the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 24.

It was the second workout for the multiple Grade I stakes-winner since being a veterinarian scratch from the Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar.

“Today was his work for the vet's list. He had to work five-eighths. He worked five-eighths. He came back well. He jogged off sound,” explained trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “They pulled his blood and we have to wait for the blood to come back to be cleared. So that was a big hurdle that he had to get through.”

The 6-year-old was sent to the racetrack shortly after 9 a.m. following the renovation break to work in company. Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., the grey worked outside an unraced 2-year-old Munnings colt before finishing a few lengths clear at the finish line and galloping out six furlongs. His workmate was credited with a half-mile in :47.66, the fastest of 11 recorded at the distance.

“Ideally, we didn't want to go five-eighths today, but California requires you to go five-eighths. If I wasn't training him to get off the vets list, he wouldn't have gone five-eighths. He probably would have worked three-eighths,” said Joseph, who worked White Abarrio an easy three furlongs Nov. 23.

“We didn't want to take the chance to wait until next week to work him five-eighths, because we have to wait for information on the blood to come back. With the holidays, the blood might not come back [in time]. So, our schedule was kind of forced to work five eighths, because that's the requirement. We got through that hurdle, so we're trying to go forward from here now.”

Campaigned by C2 Racing Stable LLC, Gary Barber and La Milagrosa Stable LLC, White Abarrio finished a late-closing second in last season's seven-furlong Mr. Prospector prior to his 6 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

White Abarrio most recently raced in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga Aug. 31, when he finished fifth after being bumped by a rival, nearly unseating Ortiz, and was placed fourth.

In addition to winning the Pegasus World Cup, White Abarrio also won the GI Curlin Florida Derby in 2022 at Gulfstream, the 2023 GI Whitney at Saratoga and the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

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What were the most popular stories in the TDN in 2025? What resonated most with our readers? Here again is our annual review of the stories you liked the most and the ones that received the most views:

1) Alvarado Faces Penalties for Overuse of Whip in the Derby, by Bill Finley. 258,371 Views.

Winning the GI Kentucky Derby aboard Sovereignty (Into Mischief) was the highlight of jockey Junior Alvarado's career. But the story included a bad footnote as Alvarado faced penalties from HISA for overuse of the whip. Under HISA rules, jockeys can use the crop no more than six times. It was alleged that Alvarado used his whip eight times, including once after Sovereignty took a clear lead at the sixteenth pole. The eventual penalty issued by HISA to Alvarado for overuse of the whip was a $62,000 fine and a two-day suspension.

2) Two Runners Collide, Both Die After Training Incident at Belmont Park, Staff Report. 174,930 Views.

It was a tragic day at Belmont Park on Oct. 25 when a freak accident on the training track led to the deaths of two horses. Fortunately, neither exercise rider was injured.

3) Jorge Navarro Released From Prison, by Bill Finley. 106,944 Views.

The notorious “Juice Man,” Jorge Navarro, was released from the federal prison FCI Miami in June. He served three years and three months of a five-year sentence. Within days, Navarro was sent to an ICE Facility in Colorado. He is a felon and is not a U.S. citizen, reasons why he was taken into custody by ICE. His lawyer had long ago predicted that the Panamanian-born disgraced trainer would be deported to his native country.

4) Taylor Made's Josh Bryan Dies From Surgical Complications, by Sue Finley. 86,007 Views.

In one of the sadder stories the TDN had to report during the year, Josh Bryan, the former program coordinator for the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship who had been serving as assistant to Frank Taylor, the Director of New Business Development at Taylor Made Farm, died in April from complications from jaw surgery. He was 33 years old.

Bryan was born with Goldenhar syndrome, a rare congenital defect that affects the development of the ear, nose, soft palate, lip and mandible usually on one side of the body. He had his first corrective surgery when he was just seven weeks old and went on to endure at least 15 more procedures. Thanks to his enrolling in Stable Recovery, Bryan had successfully battled back against substance abuse problems and had turned his life around.

5) Horse Goes From Kill Pen to Winner's Circle at Churchill Downs: The Story of Awesome Hawaiian, by Bill Finley. 53,486 Views.

This was the type of feel-good story that gives you hope about the problem of horse slaughter. Awesome Hawaiian (Awesome Bet) was saved out of a kill pen by owner John Stewart and his family. Usually for a horse that has wound up in such a dire situation, their future is as a pleasure horse or a “pasture ornament.” Not Awesome Hawaiian. Originally purchased for just $1,000 at a yearling sale in Louisiana, he was given every chance to be a race horse by the Stewarts, and he broke his maiden in his debut in a $30,000 maiden claimer at Churchill Downs.

6) Enough Already: It's Time to Fix the Triple Crown, by Bill Finley. 51,341 Views.

Alarmed that Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty passed the GI Preakness S., this TDN contributor had had enough. Coming to the obvious conclusion that more and more trainers are unwilling to bring their Derby horses back in the Preakness after just two weeks' rest, the column called for major changes and advocated that future Triple Crown races be run on the first Saturday in May, the first Saturday in June and the first Saturday in July.

7) 'He Loved Horses and Horses Loved Him'-Tributes Paid to Hugh Mulryan, by Adam Houghton. 49,839 Views.

In a story that appeared in the European edition of the TDN, Associate Editor Adam Houghton collected the thoughts of prominent European breeders and horseman on the passing of Hugh Mulryan at age 25. The son of owner-breeder Liam Mulryan, Hugh had carved out a promising career of his own in racing and bloodstock, having spent time under the wing of trainers such as Denis Hogan and Sir Mark Prescott, as well as working on the farm and at the sales for Baroda Stud. The County Galway native had recently relocated to Britain to take up a new role with Adrian Keatley in Ryedale, North Yorkshire.

8) Dr. Robert Hunt Passes, by Bill Finley. 40,986 Views.

In another sad story about a beloved racing figure that died too soon, the TDN reported on the death of Dr. Robert Hunt, who passed away in October after a bout with cancer. Hunt was a respected veterinarian at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute.

“Dr. Hunt's character, integrity and perseverance have been so impactful on not only my career but the lives and careers of so many people and horses,” said veterinarian and jockey Dr. Ferrin Peterson, who worked alongside Hunt. “He always placed the needs of the horse first, even if it cost him personally and financially. But he remained steadfast, standing strong in his convictions. Mentoring people in his line of work was one of his greatest passions. I can think of no greater legacy than for these mentees, myself included, to carry on the principles he exemplified. I am forever grateful for my time with this great man.”

9) Trainer Christophe Clement Passes at 59, by Bill Finley. 37,398 Views.

Among the most respected trainers in the sport and one who may be headed to the Hall of Fame, Christophe Clement passed away in May after battling Metastatic Uveal Melanoma. He was 59. According to Equibase, Clement saddled 2,576 winners from 13,269 starters. His stable had compiled total earnings of $184,119,069. His son, Miguel, has taken over the stable and has followed in his father's footsteps, quickly establishing himself as one of the top trainers on the NYRA circuit.

10) Out of the Bargain Basement, the $2,500 Yearling Who is on His Way to the Kentucky Derby, by Bill Finley. 34,982 Views.

Chunk of Gold (Preservationist) was impossible not to like. The 3-year-old was purchased for $2,500 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings sale and earned his way into the Kentucky Derby with second-place finishes in the GII Risen Star Stakes and the GII Louisiana Derby. Following publication of the story, Chunk of Gold finished ninth in the Derby, but later went on to win the GIII West Virginia Derby.

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Al and Bill Ulwelling's Mansetti (Collected), upset winner of this year's C$1-million King's Plate at Woodbine, is one of 42 horses that have been added to the upcoming Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale in Lexington Jan. 12 and 13, 2026, the auction house said in a release Thursday.

Consigned by Four Star Sales, agent, as a racing or stallion prospect, the Ontario-bred colt–a $40,000 OBS April grad–also took out this year's GIII Marine Stakes and showed his versatility when just run down in the Sept. 9 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, just his second start on a conventional dirt track. Runner-up in the GIII Ontario Derby back on the Woodbine synthetic, Mansetti has posted a record of 5-2-0 from 11 starts with earnings to date of $776,003.

Also supplemented to the January Sale and selling with Taylor Made is In a Jif (Saintly Look), the dam of the record-setting turf sprinter Cogburn (Not This Time) and offered in foal to Yaupon. Taylor Made also consigns the mare's foal of 2025, a colt by Into Mischief.

Being offered as broodmares or racing/broodmare prospects are Life's an Audible (Audible), winner of the GIII Sweetest Chant Stakes at three; SW & GSP St. Benedicts Prep (Flatter); and Grade III winner True Royalty (Yes It's True), selling in foal to Practical Joke.

Additional supplements include mares in foal to Maxfield, Taiba, Tiz the Law and Twirling Candy; racing or broodmare prospects including stakes winner Brocknardini (Bernardini); and soon-to-be yearlings by such stallions as Elite Power, Jackie's Warrior, McKinzie, Street Sense, Vekoma, Yaupon and Zandon.

With the supplements announced today, the total number of horses cataloged to the January Sale is 1,088. Click here for the Keeneland January catalog.

The post King’s Plate Winner Among 42 Supplemented To Keeneland January appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Kentucky Derby Museum during its 'Derby in December' celebration held Thursday, Dec. 11.

Following the ceremonies, the many guests that were on hand enjoyed a meet-and-greet with the 1992 Kentucky Derby-winning rider and explored a new exhibit in Day's honor. The exhibit at the museum features decades of his accomplishments. The collection ranges from his high school photo to awards celebrating milestone victories as a jockey, including the silks he wore during his final race before retiring after the 2005 Delaware Handicap. The new exhibit was unveiled following the presentation of Day's Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I'm deeply humbled by this award,” said Day. “The Kentucky Derby has given me so much throughout my life–from the incredible horses I've had the privilege to ride, to the fans and community who make this sport so special. To be recognized here at the Kentucky Derby Museum, in the place that keeps Derby history alive, means more to me than words can say.”

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HONG KONG, CHINA — There is likely never a bad time for a horse racing fan to visit Hong Kong, which conducts racing twice a week alternating between a pair of breathtakingly beautiful racetracks, but the action is extra special this week. It kicked off Wednesday night with the Longines International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley–a racetrack which fairly glitters against a backdrop of skyscrapers–and will conclude Sunday with four Group 1 races comprising the Longines Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin.

Even before the jockey championship–which pitted 12 world-class jockeys against each other in a four-race series–got started in Wednesday's fourth race, the track was buzzing with Jockey Club members dressed to the nines juxtaposed with a less formal 'Happy Wednesday' crowd in the trackside beer garden.

In the end it was Ryan Moore dramatically coming back from injury to register his third victory in the championship and his first since 2010. Moore won the second of the four races on the front-running Corleone (Aus) (Dundeel {NZ}) and was part of a four-way tie heading into the final race of the championship where he got the appropriately named longshot Triumphant More (Aus) (Star Turn {Aus}) up in time to earn the title.

Moore received a rousing welcome back to the winner's circle by the crowd–including one patron loudly (and repeatedly) professing his love for the veteran jockey from above.

“Hong Kong, we've said it for many years, they have the most competitive racing,” Moore told the assembled press later in the night. “And when you have the most competitive racing and you have a strong product and good prize money, that's going to bring the best people here. I've always been very much aware of Hong Kong from a young age and I am very thankful that I got to come back.”

Moore took the time to sign autographs and pose for photos with fans as he walked through the crowd following the night's final race.

Ryan Moore following his IJC victory | Jessica Martini

One well-known rider flying under the radar at Happy Valley was Florent Geroux, who traded racing silks for a suit and tie as a spectator Wednesday. Geroux started riding in Japan under a short-term license just last week and greeted a friend by the walking ring with “Konnichiway,” and a chuckle before switching to his native French. “Ca va?”

With the IJC concluded, racing fans began looking ahead to Sunday's so-called 'turf world championships' at Sha Tin, Happy Valley's sprawling big brother. After a day of gray skies Wednesday, the sun was out in full force and temperatures were well up into the 70s for the post position draw in the track's paddock Thursday.

Much of the attention Sunday will be on a pair of local superstars, with Hong Kong's reigning Horse of the Year Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}), the world's highest-rated sprinter, going postward in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint, and Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) seeking a record fourth straight win in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup following a strong victory in his return to action after a lengthy layoff in the Nov. 23 in the G2 Jockey Club Cup.

Ka Ying Rising became the first overseas horse to win Australia's G1 The Everest Stakes–the world's richest turf race–in October and returned to Hong Kong to win the G2 Jockey Club Sprint just three weeks ago. The 5-year-old is only looking better as he aims for a 16th straight win–and second straight Hong Kong Sprint–Sunday, according to jockey Zac Purton.

“He's come back even better,” Purton said. “He looks stronger, he's put on more muscle. Everything we've seen from him, we've been happy with. I'm really looking forward to this weekend.”

Ka Ying Rising will break from post one in the 13-horse field Sunday.

“The horse jumps fast and he puts him in a spot, and then hopefully he gets a trouble-free run,” trainer David Hayes said after the draw. “You can get blocked in from barrier one. I don't think he will. If he jumps fast, he can have a nice easy run to the home turn.”

James McDonald, who will officially be recognized as the Longines World's Best Jockey during Friday's gala dinner at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, will be aboard Romantic Warrior, who breaks from post two Sunday.

“It's pretty remarkable to think about what he's trying to achieve,” McDonald said of the 7-year-old's quest for a four-peat. “He has been such a good horse for such a long time. It's a competitive race and he'll have to bring his A-game, but he always brings his best.”

McDonald continued, “He's a funny horse. I've had nothing like it in my life in terms of that I never feel like he's ever going to lose, no matter what. He's just a superb racehorse; he always gives his best, which is most important, he's got a great racing style. It's just a privilege to ride him.”

Ten-time Group 1 winner Romantic Warrior, a courageous second to Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) in the G1 Saudi Cup in Riyadh in February, was a nose short of Soul Rush (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}) when second again in the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan in April before being sidelined by injury. He was flawless when returning to action three weeks ago.

“I was so sad when he had the surgery,” said trainer Danny Shum. “It was one screw, it wasn't too bad for him, but for me, it was very bad. I'm very proud of him. In Hong Kong, not just racing people, everyone knows him.”

While the international contingent rolling through preparations for Sunday's championship races over Sha Tin's turf and all-weather surfaces Thursday didn't include any American challengers this year, the country was represented by several notable faces trackside, including Breeders' Cup's Drew Fleming and Keeneland's Chip McGaughey. Little Red Feather Racing's Gary Fenton was in attendance, as was bloodstock agent Ramiro Restrepo, making a Hong Kong stop on an extended work tour of the Far East and Oceania. Bill Nader, who served the Hong Kong Jockey Club for eight years before leaving in 2022 to become president and chief executive officer of Thoroughbred Owners of California, was back on his old stomping grounds and reconnecting with former co-workers.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has made an obvious priority of enhancing the fan experience at its racetrack, particularly looking to appeal to a younger clientele. 'Happy Wednesday' at Happy Valley has become entrenched in the local social scene with fans often staying well after racing concludes. Following Thursday's draw, officials were pleased to show off their latest attraction at Sha Tin. A transformed betting hall opened in September, offering patrons a whimsical, interactive experience–think Roald Dahl goes racing. The four-story enclosure offers fans the chance to interact with AI simulations of Hong Kong legends like Golden Sixty, and pet an eerily lifelike horse who responds to their movements, even an escape room with clues to the name of the Hong Kong star who will provide release. The enclosure also includes several food options, from local favorites to popcorn and chocolate.

No expense is too much for the fan, one official summarized the club's philosophy. And it shows. With high-class racing and attention to every detail, horse racing in Hong Kong is one pilgrimage every racing fan should make.

Jessica Martini photo

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The 2025 Fasig-Tipton December Digital Sale set a new high-water mark for gross, closing Wednesday evening with sales of $10,607,900 for 421 horses sold including the sales topper Treadstone (hip 34) (Tapit) who brought $470,000.

The sale, which opened Thursday, December 4, and closed over two sessions on December 9 and 10, is believed to have established a new top gross for an online thoroughbred auction held worldwide, exceeding last year's Fasig-Tipton December Digital Sale's gross of $10,258,700. Offerings during this sale included horses of racing age, racing/broodmare prospects, racing/stallion prospects, broodmares, yearlings, weanlings, and stallion seasons.

Treadstone, a 2-year-old who broke his maiden on debut at Aqueduct Nov. 23, sold to Greg Compton out of the Gainesway consignment. Out of the winning Empire Maker mare Bayou Tortuga, Treadstone is a half-brother to G3 UAE Oaks winners Down On Da Bayou (Super Saver) and Polar River (Congrats).

The sale's second highest price went to Tour Player (hip 42) (American Pharoah) who sold for $350,000 to Legion Bloodstock, as agent for Graham Grace Stables, from the consignment of Bob Baffert, agent for Natalie J. Baffert. The 4-year-old colt was offered as a horse of racing age, is undefeated in three starts this year and entered the sale off three consecutive 90+ Beyer Speed Figures.

“We were looking to add a racehorse for his stable,” Legion Bloodstock's Kyle Zorn said of Dr. Adam Ainspan's Graham Grace Stable. “We'd looked at the last couple of sales, picked a few over and for whatever reason, decided not to go after those. But this one really caught his [Dr. Ainspan] eye. [Trainer] Whit [Beckman] was really high on this colt. He's seen his performances and his last race at Churchill [a win facing allowance horses Nov. 30]. Obviously [Tour Player] has an affinity for that track so we thought he could be a fun horse to carry on into 2026.”

A Bob Baffert homebred, Tour Player began his career at Santa Anita, making three starts in California before shipping to Kentucky where he broke his maiden at Churchill Downs in Oct. 2024. His three wins this year have all come under the Twin Spires but Zorn said a trip to Florida is in the colt's immediate future.

“He's leaving to go down to Payson Park to join Whit's string there,” Zorn said. “We'll look at some of the races at Gulfstream Park around Pegasus weekend. I think [Whit] wants to get some miles under him and just kind of see where he's at. I went and looked at him at Margaux Farm where [bloodstock agent] Donato [Lanni] was showing him and he looked fantastic. He looks like he could run tomorrow. So we'll let Whit make that deciding factor. We just thought he'd be a fun horse for next year, maybe target some of those big races. You can always big-time dream, maybe even those overseas races if he carries on that form.”

Other top prices for the sale include Empress Eleanor (hip 368) (Bernardini), sold for $280,000 to Ashview Farm from the consignment of Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services, agent for Merriebelle Stables. Empress Eleanor was offered in foal to Tiz the Law. Her first foal, Channel the Music (Maclean's Music), is a stakes-placed winner as a 2-year-old this year.

Wild Bout Hilary (hip 6) (Midnight Lute), sold for $250,000 to Bourbon Boys from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. A 4-year-old racing/broodmare prospect, Wild Bout Hilary counts this year's GIII Bayakoa Stakes among her six wins from two to four.

Rock On Layla (hip 645) (More Than Ready), sold for $230,000 to Fiddleleaf Bloodstock from the consignment of Harris Farms. Offered as a broodmare, the 4-year-old is a half-sister to this year's GII Clark Stakes winner Magnitude (Not This Time).

Zapple (hip 351) (Ghostzapper), sold for $220,000 to Reverie Farm from the consignment of Kingswood Farm, agent. Zapple is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Nootka Sound (Lonhro {Aus}) and to the dam of multiple graded stakes winner Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro), and was offered carrying her first foal by Girvin.

“This is the highest grossing digital sale ever,” said Leif Aaron, Fasig-Tipton Director of Digital Sales. “We're thrilled with how it went. We've sold over 1,600 horses this year and grossed over $50,000,000 in digital sales. I never thought we'd be where we are now when we launched the platform nearly four years ago.”

Aaron continued: “The growth of Fasig Digital is all thanks to our buyers and sellers from across the globe. We had over 1,500 registered bidders for the December sale alone–so many that it crashed Jesse and Frank's broadcast on Day 1. I'm thrilled with where we're going and we cannot wait for 2026.”

Fasig-Tipton, who has offered digital auctions from one-horse flash sales all the way through this record-breaking sale, seems poised to continue that growth.

“We're gonna continue to expand,” Aaron said. “Our goal this year was 50 [million] and I think we've hit 50.1 [million], and that's just in four years. Wherever the market allows us to go, we're going to take it. As long as people want to keep giving us horses to sell, we're going to continue to grow.”

Overall, 421 horses sold for $10,607,900, believed to be the highest gross ever for an online thoroughbred auction worldwide. Twenty-two offerings sold for $100,000 or more. Horses were sold to buyers from eight different countries and three continents.

Next on the calendar is the Fasig-Tipton January Digital Sale which will run Jan. 15-20.

The post ‘Highest Grossing Digital Sale Ever’: Treadstone Tops Fasig-Tipton December Digital Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

A lawsuit filed in a Kentucky court Wednesday over a disputed Standardbred auction figures to be closely watched by the Thoroughbred industry because of allegations that a Lexington Selected Yearling Sales Company (LSYS) auctioneer belatedly realized he had dropped the hammer on a $15,000 sale without respecting a $45,000 reserve price that should have been in effect.

According to the civil complaint initiated by the New Jersey-based Val D'Or Farms, which thought it had rightfully purchased the filly, named Philly's Sting, for $15,000 via proxy bid, the auctioneer purportedly tried to cover his alleged mistake by reopening the bidding on the premise that there had actually been a tie bid.

The auctioneer then commenced to get the price up to just under the reserve, declaring the yearling sold to a different buyer.

“Upon information and belief, there was no other tie bidder, just an illusory bid in an effort to protect the reserve,” stated the lawsuit filed Dec. 10 in Fayette Circuit Court.

The lawsuit included a link to a video of the Oct. 1, 2025, auction of Hip 572. It shows Philly's Sting in the sales ring for 90 seconds before her bidding stalls at $15,000.

After the auctioneer hammers the podium and declares, “All done! In the back, $15,000!” Philly's Sting is led out of the ring.

While the next sales prospect, Hip 573, is being shown and announced, the auctioneer appears to be examining paperwork in front of him.

After 15 seconds, he then says, “Hold on a sec. Say what? You thought you were in back there? No. Nope. You weren't. I'm sorry.”

Speaking over an unidentified raised voice protesting from the bidding gallery, the auctioneer then says, “All right, we have to open it back up between those bidders.”

Over the next 20 seconds, the bidding on Philly's Sting escalated to $27,000.

At that point, seemingly in an effort to clarify which yearling was actually being auctioned–the one who had already been led out of the ring or the one being shown in it–the auctioneer says, “This is 572! Just hold this [other] horse over to the side, keep him still.”

As the bidding crested $35,000 and one unseen participant appeared to be vacillating, the auctioneer says, “I'll give you all the time you need. That was my mistake.”

Another minute later, the hammer fell for good on Philly's Sting at $44,000.

According to the lawsuit, “neither the Auctioneer, nor LSYS, nor anyone acting on their behalf or control, including spotters, observed, received, and acknowledged a tie bid during and/or prior to the fall of the Hammer, [and] the Auctioneer had no right to and improperly, negligently, intentionally, and/or recklessly reopen the bidding on Philly's Sting.”

The allegations in the Dec. 10 lawsuit represent only one side of this story. TDN learned of the filing of the lawsuit after 6 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, and could not reach anyone at the Kentucky offices of LSYS at that hour.

The breeder of Philly's Sting (Hot Lead Stables) and the consignor (Cameo Hills Farm) are also listed as defendants.

All of those defendants will have their chance to answer the complaint or to try and dismiss it in subsequent court filings.

The lawsuit seeks a judgment against each defendant mandating the acceptance of the $15,000 payment and the delivery of Philly's Sting to the plaintiff.

Drew Mollica is one of the attorneys on the legal team for Val D'Or, whose principal, Martin Granoff, co-bred and co-owned the pacer Perfect Sting (the undefeated Dan Patch Award winner at two and Breeders Crown champion at both two and three), who is the sire of Philly's Sting.

“Marty Granoff is one of the most prominent, respected owners in the business,” Mollica said. “And he really feels violated, he really does.

“The rules are explicit. Once the hammer drops, you own the horse,” Mollica continued. “They missed the reserve. Owning horses is hard enough. Buying horses at auction is hard enough. You shouldn't have to fight the auction company, too.

“[Granoff] campaigned the sire. He's an experienced buyer. He knows the rules. It's unequivocal in Mr. Granoff's mind, and he wants this settled not only for him, but for everybody who buys horses at auction,” Mollica said.

The post Suit Alleges Standardbred Auctioneer Failed to Notice $45K Reserve, Then Reopened Bidding after Hammer Fell at $15K appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

When racing was canceled on Dec. 2 at Parx after the first two races, horseplayer Mitch Demick said he was relieved. He said that he had bet about $120 combined on the early Pick 4 and the Big 5 Pick 5. Entering the third race of the day, which was not run, he did not have a live ticket with either bet. As someone who often plays the horizontal wagers at Parx, Demick was sure he knew the rules and that he was entitled to a refund.

According to both Demick and his attorney, Alan Pincus, the Pennsylvania Racing Commission rules state that when at least three races that make up a Pick 4 or Pick 5 sequence at Parx, or at any other track in the state, are canceled, all wagers must be refunded. Demick said he was aware of the rule because he had, in the past, received refunds on his Pick 4 and Pick 5 bets at Parx when similar situations had occurred.

Instead, he waited for the results of those wagers to be posted, which he said, took more than four hours. When the results were finally available, he was stunned to learn that his money had not been refunded. Instead Parx paid those who had the winners on their tickets, no matter which horses they had bet in the remaining races. The Equibase charts list the winning combination for the Pick 4, which began with the second race, as 2-4-All-All, and the payoff was $1.40. The winning Pick 5, which began with the first race, was 2-4-All-All-All, and it paid $8.90.

“I decided I had to do something, because they were really screwing me here,” Demick said. “In my opinion, they did something illegal. And I wanted to find out what was happening.”

The TDN was not able to confirm the rules covering the Pick 4 when it comes to cancellations. The publication did reach a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Racing Commission, and asked for clarification regarding the rules. By deadline for this story, the TDN had not received an answer.

As far as the Pick 5 goes, the answers can be found on the Parx website, where a passage clearly states that the wager must be refunded if three legs or more are canceled. The information made available online reads: “If at least three of the contests in the Philly Big 5 are cancelled or declared a 'no contest,' the pool will be cancelled and all Philly Big 5 wagers for that performance will be refunded.”

What happened? Demick said he has called and reached out to several departments and individuals at Parx and has not received what he considers satisfactory answers.

“With all of this going on, it seems really weird to me,” he said. “Why not just admit they made a mistake? Maybe they cannot do that at this point. But they haven't made any attempt to pay me back my money or answer any of my questions. Eight days have gone by and they haven't done that.”

The TDN placed a call to Parx COO Joe Wilson. The receptionist who answered the phone said he was unavailable. Another call was made to the cell phone of Racing Secretary David Osojnak. The call went right to voicemail and a recording that said his mailbox was full. Two calls were left at the Racing Commission for Tom Chukas, the director of Thoroughbred horse racing, and neither was returned.

Demick said he is not contemplating a lawsuit.

“I'm not going to sue over $120,” he said.

But he wants his money back, as well as some answers. He said he will continue to press the track and the commission until he is satisfied. He believes that a fair resolution would be for them to not only refund the wagers he made but to also add a little extra to his betting account as a show of good faith and a sign that someone has acknowledged that a mistake was made.

“I wish I could find someone who would corroborate my position,” he said. “Alan and I are pursuing this further because of their sheer arrogance and disrespect.”

According to the Equibase charts, $53,789 was wagered on the Pick 4 and $38,752 was bet on the Pick 5. The takeout on the Pick 4 is 25 percent and the Pick 5 takeout is 15 percent. That means that $13,447 in takeout was retained with the Pick 4 wagers and $5,812 was retained from the Pick 5 pool.

Demick said he doesn't think that is a coincidence.

“I'm starting to think that there's no way, at this point, that this was an accident,” he said. “In my own conspiratorial mind, I am thinking there's no way around that. I've never made a phone call to a lawyer about gambling. This was different. I think they decided to do something and hoped that no one would pay attention.

“When there are issues of mistrust, you start to think that if they want to rig one thing, you can expect that they will try to rig something else. That's the angle I am taking as a duped bettor. What happened is so different from anything I've ever seen. I think they literally changed the rules in midstream just to make some extra money out of greed. I want to get to the bottom of this.”

Pincus said, “If they refunded all bets, which they are supposed to do by the rules, there would be no problem. But by doing it the way they did, they kept the takeout. They kept approximately $18,000 and that's money they are not entitled to.”

Pincus said that he fails to understand why so many hours elapsed before the payoffs were posted. He believes that the computer programs used to calculate payoffs should cover situations where there are cancellations and that the payoffs should have been posted instantly and based solely on what the computer spit out.

“I imagine all these things are programmed into a computer,” Pincus said. “They don't have a guy sitting in a back room with a pencil. Why did this take four hours? That had to mean that someone was thinking about this, deciding about this. When they finally posted the prices, they had done something horribly wrong. Whether it was inadvertent or purposeful, they made a mistake. This was a misappropriation of funds.”

Pincus said he has also reached out to Chukas and said that he has not been given satisfactory answers.

“I told Mitch that I would call the racing commission because they are the ones that regulate racing in Pennsylvania,” he said. “I talked to Tom Chukas and his attorney and Mr. Chukas promised he would call me back and tell me what was going on. By (Dec. 10), he had not called me back. That is where we are. I thought the commission would do something, but obviously they haven't done anything. And even though this is not a lot of money, it's wrong. If you can't trust the prices that are put up by a racetrack, why would you want to bet there? I expect the commission to regulate horse racing and order them to refund the money. I expect the commission to sanction Parx for doing this.”

The post Alleging that Parx Violated Rules Regarding Pick 4 and 5 Refunds, Bettor Wants Answers and a Refund appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country.

The following rulings were reported on HISA's “rulings” portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) “pending” and “resolved” cases portals.

Resolved ADMC Violations

Dates: 12/04/2025

Licensee: Michael Catalano, trainer

Penalty: A fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Admission.

Explainer: Vets' list medication violation for the presence of Phenylbutazone—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from Mr Sandman on 10/24/25.

Pending ADMC Violations

12/10/2025, Carlos Martin, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Acepromazine—a class B controlled substance—in a sample taken from Ascension on 11/2/25.

12/09/2025, Timothy Murphy, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Dexamethasone—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from Fedalia on 11/7/25.

12/09/2025, Jorge Abreu, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Omeprazole—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from Silver Satin on 11/1/25.

12/09/2025, Richard Mandella, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Methocarbamol—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from Tamara, who won the GIII Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita on 10/04/25.

12/08/2025, Bill McLean, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Acepromazine—a class B controlled substance—in a sample taken from I'mgonnabesomebody on 11/11/25.

12/08/2025, Chris Englehart, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Omeprazole—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from Shehanah on 11/07/25.

12/05/2025, Jose Delgado, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Acepromazine—a class B controlled substance—in a sample taken from Wise Words on 11/07/25.

12/05/2025, Mario Serey Jr., trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Phenylbutazone—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from P J's Song, who finished second at Laurel Park on 11/07/25.

12/05/2025, Stephanie Norris, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Tramadol—a class B controlled substance—in a sample taken from Moment in the Dark, who finished tenth at Mahoning Valley on 10/25/25.

12/04/2025, Louis Linder Jr., trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Gabapentin—a class B controlled substance—in a sample taken from So Fully Sue, who finished second at Penn National on 11/5/25.

12/04/2025, Sergio Barrio-Baray, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of Phenylbutazone—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from Bendettijoe on 10/29/25.

The post National Rulings, December 4-10 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Tom Rooney, the president and chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), said Wednesday that the focus of his organization's current lobbying efforts in Congress is getting a recently enacted tax law reversed so horse race bettors can go back to deducting 100% of their gambling losses instead of the 90% that was imposed by passage of the sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law July 4.

The NTRA has estimated that the financial hit to the racing industry because of this tax change could be a loss of over $1 billion in handle.

Rooney, speaking during a Dec. 10 presentation at the Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in Tucson, expressed cautious optimism that what amounted to a new tax on horseplayers could be reversed before it goes into effect, even if the change isn't signed into law until early 2026.

“We are told it will be retroactive,” Rooney said.

But Rooney also drew upon his decade of experience as a United States Representative from Florida between 2009 and 2019 to underscore that even things that seem logical and beneficial to all parties in can be frustratingly difficult to implement in Congress.

“Our biggest priority is that WAGER (Winnings and Gains Expense Restoration) Act,” Rooney said, referring to legislation filed by Kentucky Representative Andy Barr that would restore the deduction back to 100%.

Rooney said that he believed the intent of the language in the OBBBA was for the federal government to reap about $1 billion in “easy money” by reducing the deduction that horseplayers could claim.

“The problem with that is the people that bet on horses, the billion dollars that you think that you're saving, [those bettors] might just go elsewhere, and instead of getting the 90%, you're going to get nothing,” Rooney said.

Rooney said that the NTRA has “implored the powers that be” to try and realize the unintended  trickle-down consequences of the new law.

As he discussed on a TDN Writers' Room podcast earlier this year, Rooney said taking $1 billion out of the handle equation impacts the “whole ecosystem of the racetrack, the people that work at the racetrack, the people that work on the backside, on the farms. Everybody is affected by this. And if you think that you're going to be making up a billion dollars from that tax, you're probably not. You're probably going to lose everything.”

Rooney continued:

“The good news is, the committees that are dealing with this, the Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, both don't oppose us changing this back to 100%.

“It's just a matter of [coming up with] a vehicle that'll get the President's desk, probably in the beginning part of the year, where there's a bunch of fixes to the OBBBA, that will hopefully go through the Ways and Means Committee and the House and the Senate and get to the President's desk.

“As you know, watching politics on TV, it sounds easy enough,” Rooney said. “We don't have any opposition. It's bipartisan. One of the reasons I'm no longer in Congress is that I got very frustrated at things like that, that seemed to be very easy to get done, for some reason just never got done.

“So I'm patiently, hopefully, waiting for that to happen. But we're going to keep working it,” Rooney said. “We've already been working it through the Senate and through the House, walking the halls of Congress over the last several weeks to make sure those people understand what we mean.”

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The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association will waive most registration fees for Florida-bred and Florida-sired foals of 2026, the organization announced in a release Wednesday. Continued from a policy for foals of 2025, this offer is available exclusively to FTBOA regular members whose names appear as the official breeder of record.

“Florida's breeders have stayed the course through every challenge and the FTBOA will do the same,” FTBOA CEO Lonny Powell said. “Extending no-fee foal registrations into 2026–paired with our recently announced export incentives for the same year–is FTBOA investing in the success of Florida-breds, today and tomorrow.”

The Florida-bred registration schedule for foals of 2026 is:

• Foals: Aug. 31, 2026 ($0 FTBOA Members / $300 Non-Members), or

• Extended Foals: Dec. 31, 2026: ($0 FTBOA Members / $500 Non-Members), or

• Yearlings: Dec. 31, 2027: ($400 FTBOA Members / $800 Non-Members).

Florida-bred foals of 2026 sired by registered Florida stallions assume full eligibility for the Florida Sire Stakes upon successful Florida-bred registration until December 31, 2027.

Late registrations (2-year-olds) for the Florida Sire Stakes remain available, as follows:

• Two-year-old Standalone: Jan. 15, 2028 ($5,000), or

• Two-year-old Last Chance: May 1, 2028 ($10,000), or June 30, 2028 ($15,000).

A full schedule, fees details and registration forms are available at FTBOA.com.

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In a development that could significantly bolster the long-term success of the graduates of the Thoroughbred industry's groundbreaking addiction recovery program, Stable Recovery, Jarret Prussin, co-founder of the successful social justice firm Ben Crump Law and a Thoroughbred owner and investor, is lending his expertise and a powerful new financial tool to Stable Recovery. Prussin, whose involvement has already yielded massive media exposure for the program, is now integrating his latest venture, DreamFi, to address what is undeniably a top risk for relapse: financial instability.

DreamFi, a financial technology company built to serve the financially challenged, will provide every program graduate with a free, funded account designed to build credit, secure savings, and help ensure their second chance at a meaningful career in the Thoroughbred industry is a permanent one.

Prussin is the Chief Strategy Officer at Ben Crump, a firm which is dedicated to ensuring justice for marginalized people in American society. They are widely known for their work on behalf of Black Americans shot, killed, or injured by police and or others–including Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery-and large personal injury cases, including the Flint, Michigan water crisis case.

Several years ago, he was working at a company he started, the Business Funding Group, which he and his partners had grown into one of the largest small business lenders in the country. Among those to whom he loaned money were lawyers.

“Providing loans to lawyers, it just never made sense to me, how you see these commercials on TV for lawyers and there was no real branding,” he said. “I was scratching my head, and when I put my daughter to sleep, I like to walk the backyard and just kind of do my thinking and it hit me.”

This was right after Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager walking home through a gated community carrying a bag of candy, was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer. His family was being represented by Ben Crump.

Members of the Stable Recovery Program | Stable Recovery

“Ben Crump was a regional lawyer based then down in Florida, and Ben and I had a mutual friend. We had never met before, but we had a call one night and I said, `Ben, I have an idea on how I can help you expand your law firm to be a national brand.' I said, I think I could do this, this, this, this and this. And Ben's like, `you know what, Jarret, if you could pull it off, I'm in.' We raised tens of millions with no collateral. Fast forward, and today we have one of the largest social media following of any law firm on the planet.”

Prussin is now putting that social media following-and more-to work for Stable Recovery, the program created by Taylor Made's Frank Taylor and Christian Countzler to serve as a pathway from drug and alcohol rehabilitation to meaningful employment and a second chance at life.

The program has graduated 110 people, and estimates they have reunited over 1,800 family members who had been estranged due to an individual's addiction. It begins with a 90-day internship in the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship, where the men and women learn how to work with horses, and start to develop habits that can lead to lasting change. Stable Recovery then helps those in the program move on to careers in the industry with one of their 20-plus strategic partners.

Growing up, Prussin fell in love with horses through his father, George, a partner with Richard Santulli in Jayeff `B' Stables.

“I'm 47, and John Sikura has been one of my best friends since I was 22,” said Prussin. “I've done a lot of horse deals with John. We bought into Thorpedo Anna together with Ben Crump, with LL Cool J, with Marshawn Lynch, and I own a lot of shares at Hill 'n' Dale: Violence, Curlin, Charlatan, Arabian Knight. So I've been pretty heavily involved in the horse business.”

Early this year, he read one of the series of articles in the TDN on Stable Recovery program about one of the graduates, and was moved by the story. He called Frank Taylor, and told him he wanted to help.

“He read that story, and he called me and said, `man, I was blown away by what y'all are doing,'” recalled Frank Taylor of the call. “He said, I'm going to send you a check, but better than that, I'm going to provide my PR firm to help get Stable some exposure.”

They started with a PR strategy 90 days before the Kentucky Derby, and have achieved remarkable success.

Frank Taylor | Sue Finley photo

Taylor estimates that since Prussin's social media and PR teams took up the cause, there have been over 175 articles written on Stable Recovery, including features on the CBS Evening News, the Breeders' Cup telecast on NBC, and Fox. Amazon has talked about doing a film, and Taylor has been invited to Arizona to speak at the Racetrack Industry Program. Will Walden's TikTok dedicating his race on Kentucky Oaks Day to Stable Recovery was seen by over 12 million people, Prussin said.

“Jarret is very good at getting the word out, and it has helped us a ton,” said Taylor.

As it turns out, Prussin is just getting started.

In addition to his work at Ben Crump Law, Prussin is also the co-founder of DreamFi, a company which allows financially challenged people to build financial stability and generational prosperity through access to financial tools they are typically denied.

“There is such a wealth gap in this country,” said Prussin. “The average white person retires with about $120,000 in their bank account. The average Black person retires with just $11,000. The average credit score in a white neighborhood is 700 and change; the average credit score in a Black neighborhood is 500 and change.”

Prussin and Crump started DreamFi to address those problems, and now, they're making it available to the men and women in the Stable Recovery program.

Prussin said that through talking with Stable Recovery board members, he realized that people in recovery and the financially challenged individuals have a lot in common.

“Frank and Elliott Walden and Dan Pride have educated me that the number one reason you have a relapse is because of financial reasons,” said Prussin.

“So from now on, anyone going through the program gets a free DreamFi account and they're also going to get $100 from us to fund their account. If we can teach financial literacy and how to grow and protect your wealth, you're going to be able to continue to save families, save lives, and enhance lives.”
When users deposit their paychecks directly into DreamFi, not only are they paid interest on their checking accounts, but DreamFi makes sure that their bills are paid on time.

“The reason why many people have bad credit is that they're late on their $40 electric bill,” said Prussin. “More than 55% of African-Americans don't own a home; they rent, and renting is the most often largest expense people have. One of the components of DreamFi is that every month, we're going to report your good standings to the credit bureaus that you have made your monthly rent payment on time. That alone is going to increase your credit score by a significant amount. You are going start creating wealth savings, putting money away for college, putting money away for a home. And if you increase your credit score, then you have the ability to get access to capital and access to capital, as Ben likes to say, is the start of all other freedoms. And so we are serving the unbanked and the underbanked with this platform all across America.”

Both at Ben Crump Law, and at Stable Recovery, the appeal to Prussin has been giving people a second chance.

“What I've learned in life and from running the law firm is when someone is affected with a tragedy or substance abuse, it's not just the person, it's their entire family, friends, relatives, it's their whole ecosystem who is affected,” he said.

“They have changed thousands of lives with the success of Stable Recovery,” he said. “And that resonated with me. I believe people deserve a second chance in life. People make mistakes. Life is hard and sometimes you make the wrong decisions, but it doesn't mean you're a bad person. I have a percentage of my employees that we like to call `returning citizens' and now I treat them like family. They're doing the same thing with Stable Recovery. Dan Pride told me a story. They have people in Stable Recovery managing multi-million-dollar horses on a daily basis. I think that's incredible. And I think they're just scratching the surface.”

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The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA)'s launch of the HISA Equine Recovery Foundation (HERF), an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to providing critical assistance for Thoroughbred racehorses sustaining a career-ending injury during racing, is set to begin operations in early 2026, according to an organization release on Wednesday.

HERF's mission:

• Support racehorses—with injuries sustained during races that historically have a positive prognosis for recovery—by ensuring immediate access to quality veterinary treatment and rehabilitation in order to facilitate a successful aftercare placement.
• Enhance access to diagnostic imaging services and tools by expanding racetrack resources to prevent injuries.

Timely intervention can save lives and improve outcomes for injured horses, so HERF is designed to fill a specific gap by funding veterinary care—including surgeries with historically high success rates—and comprehensive rehabilitation for qualifying horses, with each case accompanied by a long-term care plan to ensure ongoing well-being.

The voluntary program, entered into at the sole discretion of the owner, will play a vital role in expanding knowledge around injury prevention to further protect the welfare of racehorses.     HERF is also designed to remove some burden from the aftercare system by rehabilitating the horse and ensuring it is recovered before it enters aftercare.

“We are thrilled that this foundation has been formed to provide horses with the chance to recover from career-ending injuries. There are situations where costs and other considerations make it difficult for owners to pursue surgical interventions that can prevent unnecessary euthanasia,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “HERF will help fill that gap and will explore diagnostic tools and advanced testing to help horsemen identify at-risk horses sooner.”

A critical part of HERF's mission will be to fund the retirement of horses whose lives are saved through medical intervention provided by HERF. HERF will work closely with the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA).

“HERF's primary objectives are logical extensions of HISA's core mission to improve and enhance equine health, safety and welfare,” said HISA Board member and HERF Chair Joe De Francis. “In order to maintain its social contract and continue business operations, the racing industry must take all reasonable steps to minimize racing-related equine fatalities, and the creation of HERF is a positive step towards that objective.”

A pilot program will launch in early 2026 in the Mid-Atlantic, supported by an initial donation of $100,000 by Joe De Francis and Katherine Wilkins De Francis. Additional funds will be raised by HERF's independent Board of Directors and distributed on a defined, case-by-case basis.

All funds allocated to HERF will be raised exclusively from sources external to HISA and will be entirely separate from HISA's operating budget. Additional racetracks will be onboarded in the second quarter of 2026.

HERF's Board of Directors will consist of:

• Joe De Francis (HISA Board member and HERF Chair)
• Craig Bandoroff (owner of Denali Stud)
• Andrew Beyer (Founder, Beyer Speed Figures)
• Katherine Wilkins De Francis (Animal welfare activist and former racing executive)
• Terry Finley (Founder, West Point Thoroughbreds)
• David Ingordo (Bloodstock agent and manager Belladonna Racing)
• Griffin Johnson (Influencer and racehorse owner)
• Ron Moquett (Thoroughbred trainer)
• David O'Rourke (CEO, New York Racing Association)
• Dr. Sue Stover (Veterinarian, University of California, Davis; Chair of HISA's Racetrack Safety Committee)

In addition to the Board of Directors, HERF will have an Advisory Council that will advise HERF on its protocols. The Advisory Council will consist of individuals with specific expertise in veterinary medicine and aftercare.

Dr. Dionne Benson, Chief Medical Officer of 1/ST Racing, will serve as Chair and Mike Rogers, Executive Vice President of 1/ST Racing, will serve as Vice Chair–bringing expertise from the programs established by 1/ST Racing in California, Florida and Maryland. HISA Communications Director Mandy Minger has been named Executive Director of HERF.

For more information about HERF, please contact mandy.minger@hisaus.org.

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Tom Hamm, who previously served in a leadership role as the Taylor Made Sales Agency's farm manager, will be returning to Taylor Made. His new role will be as a Thoroughbred Advisor, with an emphasis on the growing Digital Sales marketplace.

“Tom has remained close with our team since his successful tenure as our Farm Manager several years ago,” said Mark Taylor, President and CEO of Taylor Made. “We believe the time is right to bring in a new Team Member to add more focus on Digital Sales. Our approach brings great value and a higher net return to our customers through our aggressive promotion of Digital Sales horses. Based on our long-time relationship with Tom, we know he will make us even stronger, as we continue to innovate and deliver exceptional service to our customers.”

Tom Hamm added, “I'm excited for the opportunity to plug my existing clients into the resources of Taylor Made and for joining a Team that I have always respected and worked well with.”

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