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New York lawmakers and the governor have agreed on a package of measures to give racetracks millions of dollars in tax breaks, steer funding to a new advanced equine imaging research program, and end an antiquated payout system for horseplayers.

Following their 1-2 finish in the $5 million Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs May 3, Sovereignty and Journalism have joined the leaderboard in the Longines World's Best Racehorse rankings released May 8.

For 21 years, trainer Todd Pletcher helped build television ratings for the Kentucky Derby (G1) by bringing dozens of top contenders to the classic. In last week's 151st edition, Pletcher helped the ratings in a completely different role.

For the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, Oden Bowie and Chick Lang left their marks on the historic Preakness Stakes, but the race owes its status as a classic to another name: William Pickersgill Riggs.

As the dust settles beneath the Twin Spires, America's Best Racing takes an updated look at the Equibase standings for horses, jockeys, trainers, and owners.

A BH Daily edition of What's Going On Here

Porter on Pedigrees: a deep-dive look at the pedigree of Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty.

As much as the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (G3) is viewed  as a prep race for the June 7 Belmont Stakes (G1), trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. views it as educational for his two starters, Captain Cook and McAfee.

Anarchist, a graded stakes winner at Del Mar and Woodbine and even stakes-placed in Korea, is ready for the next stop: The Big Apple.

Racing Post's Martin Stevens examines the rising trajectory of Ashford Stud's fourth-crop sire sensation Justify.

2025 marks the third year that Gulfstream Park will host the Royal Palm Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies Stakes, the only two juvenile Royal Ascot qualifying races in the country.

Bob Baffert notified Pimlico Race Course officials Thursday of his intention to enter undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Goal Oriented (Not This Time), as well as GII Wood Memorial Stakes hero Rodriguez (Authentic) in the GI Preakness Stakes.

Goal Oriented debuted at Santa Anita Apr. 6 with an off-the-pace 3 1/4-length victory in a six-furlong maiden special weight event, which earned him a 'Rising Star' badge. The 3-year-old cleared an optional claimer in front-running fashion on the Derby undercard.

A $425,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Sale, Goal Oriented is owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC's, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Diane Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan, who also campaign 'TDN Rising Star' Rodriguez.

The Wood winner galloped at Churchill Downs Thursday morning. Baffert, who is seeking to break his own record of eight Preakness victories, has said Rodriguez will work this weekend and ship to Pimlico Monday. The Hall of Fame trainer said decisions on other horses he might bring for Preakness Week stakes will be made after those horses work.

The post ‘TDN Rising Star’ Goal Oriented Points To Preakness appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Journalism (Curlin), a game runner-up in last Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, remains a candidate for the GI Preakness Stakes May 17 at Pimlico Race Course, the colt's connections confirmed on Thursday.

Sent off at as the 7-2 favorite in the Derby, Journalism is owned by the partnership of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert V. LaPenta, Elayne Stables 5 LLC., Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.

Trained by Michael McCarthy, Journalism remains at Churchill Downs. The barn reported that the colt has come out of the race well. Journalism returned to the track Wednesday and was sent out for his daily exercise Thursday morning.

“We're not going to rush into any determination right now. We're going to keep the Preakness in play,” said Aron Wellman, Eclipse's president and CEO. “It's an important American Classic that, whether there's a Triple Crown on the line or not, holds with it an extreme amount of prestige. We're going to monitor Journalism to the best of our ability and then make the best decision for the horse at the end of the day. But we're not saying we're in and we're certainly not shutting the door.”

The Eclipse CEO noted that success in the Preakness has, through the decades, helped lift horses to championships.

“We think that this is a Classic-caliber colt,” Wellman said. “Obviously, those are extremely large shoes to fill. But, Journalism is by Curlin, and history has a funny way of repeating itself.”

Journalism jogged a mile at Churchill Downs Thursday morning.

The post ‘Preakness in Play’ For Derby Runner-Up Journalism appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Bidding on the Fasig-Tipton Digital May Sale, which includes a catalogue of 127 entries, is now open and will close Tuesday beginning at 3 p.m.

“This is a very strong and diverse catalogue, with exciting offerings in a variety of categories,” said Fasig-Tipton Director of Digital Sales Leif Aaron. “We have nearly 50 horses of racing age from the sport's leading stables, including a stakes winner and graded stakes performers. Also on offer are the continuance of a major stable's reduction, a dispersal, quality breeding stock, 2-year-olds in training, yearlings, and a close relation to last weekend's GI Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty.”

Offerings in the online auction include horses of racing age from DJ Stable, Godolphin, R.S. Evans, Runnymede Farm, SF Racing, et al, Stonestreet Stables, Three Chimneys Farm, Wathnan Racing, Winchell Thoroughbreds, and WinStar Farm, as well as the continued reduction of Merriebelle Stable and the dispersal of the late Ralph Kinder.

Also included in the auction are 2-year-olds in training by Charlatan, Girvin, Gun Runner, Hard Spun, Practical Joke, and Yaupon, and yearlings by Golden Pal, Good Magic, Oscar  Performance, and Yaupon.

Others on offer include: There Goes Harvard (Will Take Charge) (hip 17), winner of the 2022 GI Hollywood Gold Cup and this year's GIII San Marcos Stakes, who is selling as a stallion prospect; Piedra Preciosa (Maxfield), a 2-year-old filly who won her May 3 debut at Horseshoe Indianapolis; Ifurhappynuknowit (hip 30), a 9-year-old full-sister to the dam of GI Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief), in foal to Elite Power and selling with her 2025 Vino Rosso colt; and Lionel (hip 122), a 3-year-old colt who won his debut by 9 1/2 lengths May 4 at Laurel Park.

The entire catalogue can be viewed here.

The post Bidding Open on Fasig-Tipton Digital May Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Dave Rodman, announcer at Maryland's racetracks since 1991, has been named recipient of a Special Award of Merit for his contributions and positive impact on the racing industry. Rodman will be presented with the award at the May 15 Alibi Breakfast at Pimlico Race Course.

A native of New Orleans, Rodman worked as a deejay at various radio stations before calling his first race at Jefferson Downs in 1981. He moved to Louisiana Downs in 1985 before becoming the track announcer for the Maryland Jockey Club, calling races at Pimlico, Laurel Park, Timonium and Colonial Downs.

“It's a great honor to receive this Award of Merit and to be part of the great tradition of Maryland racing for 35 years, including the 150th Preakness,” Rodman said. “I appreciate the support of Maryland racing fans who come to the track on a regular basis. They love the game as much as I do.”

Past recipients of the Special Award of Merit include Hall of Fame trainers D. Wayne Lukas and King Leatherbury, Hall of Fame jockeys Jerry Bailey and Ramon Dominguez, Jim McKay, Chick Lang, and Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and Beyond The Wire.

The post Dave Rodman Honored with Award of Merit appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

SIDR Pharma, a source of organic healing products for horses, has launched its Equine Allies Program aimed at supporting Thoroughbred rescues, rehabilitation centers, and rehoming organizations.

Each month, the company will select a non-profit as its Featured Ally to receive 5-10% of Equine Allies product profits, along with dedicated promotional support. The program also offers tiered discounts on SIDR Pharma's equine recovery and wellness products to selected partner rescues. The application is open to all 501(c)(3) equine rescues, rehab centers, and rehoming programs across the U.S.

For more information, or to apply, visit www.sidrpharma.com/pages/equinealliance.

The post SIDR Pharma Launches Equine Allies Program to Support Aftercare Efforts appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Ellis Park is projecting a significant boost for maiden special weight (MSW) purses at its upcoming 25-date summer meet, up from $71,000 last year to “in the $100,000 range” according to Gary Palmisano, Jr., the vice president of racing for Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming company that is the corporate owner of the Western Kentucky track.

Palmisano also projected that planned transfers of Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) money from Kentucky Downs and the allocation of funding from other sources within CDI's in-state gaming operations would bridge a gap that has existed between MSW purses at Kentucky's top-paying Thoroughbred venues (Kentucky Downs, Churchill Downs and Keeneland Race Course) and the more blue-collar tracks (Ellis and Turfway Park).

“The goal is to have $100,000 [MSW] races across Kentucky all year, and we're getting awfully close. And I think this summer at Ellis Park will be another step in that direction,” Palmisano said.

Although MSW purse levels do not tell the entire story about how healthy a track or a circuit's racing is, they are often cited within the Thoroughbred industry as a useful barometer that indicates the class of horses a track can expect to attract.

Palmisano's disclosures were made at Wednesday's meeting of the KTDF advisory committee.

Last year's MSW races at Ellis were $71,000. In 2023, when Ellis ran its first meet under the ownership of CDI, MSW races were $70,000. In 2022, under different management, that value was $60,000.

For comparison, Kentucky Downs MSW purses for this year's seven-day meet in August and September are projected to be $170,000, the same as last season. MSW races at the all-turf boutique meet were $150,000 in 2023 and 2022. They were $135,000 in 2021.

CDI's flagship track, Churchill Downs, is currently carding 3-and-up MSW races at $120,000 during its April-June meet, a level that hasn't changed since 2022 at both the spring/summer and the two autumn meets.

This April, Keeneland raised spring MSW purses for 3-year-olds and up to $110,000 after being plateaued at $100,000 for the past three years at both the April and October meets.

At Turfway, which is also owned by CDI, MSW races were $80,000 at the 2024-25 winter/spring meet. The previous two seasons they were $70,000. Turfway paid out $62,000 in MSW purses in 2021-22.

Bill Landes III, who represents the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association as the KTDF advisory committee's vice-chair, articulated a concern during Wednesday's meeting about lower-level racing at Ellis this summer.

“The only comment I've gotten this past week is the demise of the little guy and the claiming horses and whatnot,” Landes said. “So I hope when you write your condition book that you keep that in mind. Because you are competing against Hawthorne, and you'll be competing against Horseshoe Indianapolis.”

Baley Hare, the racing secretary at Ellis, replied by giving a food analogy.

“We always need the big steak. Or the big lobster tails are nice,” Hare said, referring to the high-value races. “But you still need the potatoes [meaning the lower-level races]. So you can't forget about the sides.”

Palmisano gave an update on how Ellis is coping in the aftermath of mid-April rainstorms that flooded the track property, which is close to the Ohio River.

“As you all know, Ellis Park was in the flood zone there for a while,” Palmisano said. “We did take on water on the backside. We did have some electrical poles that are down that are being replaced. So horsemen were supposed to move in there this week. That's been backed up to, tentatively, the first of June.

“But all of us are actively working to get the horsemen into the backside as quickly as possible,” Palmisano said. “There's some roof work that needs to be done. I don't know if you all are aware, but two or three days before the flood waters were rising up, there was significant wind damage throughout Ellis Park on a number of barn roofs. So that was only further complicated by the rising flood waters, which prevented us from doing a lot of work back there.”

Palmisano also said that, “They're working to patch a portion of the turf course, which had standing water on it for a while.”

The KTDF is funded by three-quarters of 1% of all money wagered in the state on both live Thoroughbred races and historical horse race gaming, plus 1% of all money wagered on Thoroughbred races via inter-track wagering and whole-card simulcasting. That money, along with funding from each track, goes to pay purses in the state.

At the May 7 meeting, the KTDF advisory board approved the recommendation of allotment requests that the Ellis purse projections were based on. The Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation still has to vote on final approval of the funding at a subsequent meeting.

The post With Boosts Projected at Ellis and Turfway, Kentucky Nearing Year-Round, Six-Figure MSW Purses appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

After a historic weekend where Godolphin swept the worldwide classics, including a Kentucky Derby win with Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the colt's trainer Bill Mott appeared on the TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented by Keeneland, as the Gainesway Guest of the Week.

For Mott, it was his second Kentucky Derby win, following the promotion of Country House in the 2019 Derby after the disqualification of Maximum Security, and he admitted that this one was a big one.
“It's pretty special, I've got to tell you,” he said. “We really enjoyed Country House's eventual victory in that race, but I always wanted to come back and be able to do it this way. But maybe the fact that we were put up in the other race, it maybe took a little something away from it, I suppose, as far as the full pleasure of getting it done.”

Mott said he has been overwhelmed with the attention since the win.

“It hasn't stopped yet,” he said. “I'm still hearing from people and I guess you realize how many people watch the race on television and the number of people that were at the track. It's a big deal. I'm really proud and I'm glad to be part of the team that made this happen. I'm just a a small part of it because there's so much that goes into it from the, as I've said before, the matings and raising the horse and then eventually getting them to us.”

Mott said that during Derby week, “Everything went perfectly. He didn't have any setbacks, no sickness, no lameness, no filling, no missed training days for one reason or another. And he went into it great. And we knew we were doing it with a very good horse and a horse that was probably capable of pulling it off.”

Of course, the world now knows that Sovereignty will skip the Preakness to go straight to the Belmont.

“Three races in a five-week period, and they're hard races,” said Mott. “There was nothing easy about the race the other day. I think you probably take a little something out of them. If we were only concerned about the Triple Crown, he'd probably be the perfect horse to do it with, because he's a big, tough horse and he came back good and we could go on to the next one, but we decided to focus on the Belmont and perhaps the Travers if the Belmont goes well. And then we've got races later on. You've got the Breeders' Cup Classic, that's going to be a tough division this year. But also, I think if we race the horse next year, you know, the Dubai World Cup would probably be on a schedule if he's doing well.”

Asked if he would have run in the Preakness given more time, Mott said that it was possible.

“We'd certainly be more apt to do it that way,” he said. “I'm not advocating for changing it because I think that's above my pay grade. I think the Triple Crown is a tremendous challenge, the way it's set up, but I think we're probably 40 years beyond what it used to be.”

Elsewhere on the show, the team of Bill Finley, Randy Moss, and Zoe Cadman reviewed the results of the Derby weekend, announced the results of the first annual Derby Fantasy Draft (congratulations to Bill Finley on the win), and discussed the letter to the editor from David Ingordo about changing the process for admission to the Hall of Fame. In the Fastest-Horse-of-the-Week segment, won for a second time within a month by Skelly (Practical Joke) at Oaklawn Park, they discussed the WinStar stallion Constitution, whose Mindframe won the GI Churchill Downs Stakes.

The TDN Writers Room is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, and 1/ST Racing and 1/ST TV.

To watch the show, click here.

For the audio podcast, click here.

The post Derby-Winning Trainer Bill Mott on TDN Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Speaking May 7 during the ongoing annual meeting of the ARCI in Louisville, Ky., leadership of several state horse racing regulators expressed continued challenges related to staffing positions for regulatory veterinarians and stewards.

Having met just once during their decorated careers, Bella Nipotina and Amelia's Jewel will battle for a second time May 8 in the ring rather than on the racetrack, with one of the pair almost certain to top the Inglis Chairman's Sale.