#Hanshin Racecourse

Essential Quality, shown winning the Grade I Travers, is among the favorites in a Breeders' Cup Classic field announced this week. Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association Oct. 29 (UPI) -- It's a week for looking forward as horse racing around the globe nears its annual champion-making events and youngsters get in final licks to make a case…

May 3 (UPI) -- Just hours before Medina Spirit wired the Kentucky Derby, Poetic Flair won a nip-and-tuck victory in the first of the British Classics, highlighting a big weekend of international horse racing action. That Qipco 2000 Guineas showdown keyed a meeting at Newmarket that also included an upset in the Qipco 1000 Guineas, an impressive…

Titleholder wins Sunday's Takarazuka Kinen, now targeting the Arc d'Triomphe. Photo courtesy of Japan Racing Association June 27 (UPI) -- Tawny Port's victory in Saturday's Ohio Derby serves notice the scramble among U.S. 3-year-olds is far from over while Westover's dominance of the Irish Derby indicates he's not out of the frame, either, despite…

Sodashi, shown winning the Sapporo Kinen in her last start Aug. 22, returns in Sunday's Grade 1 Shuka Sho at Hanshin Racecourse. Photo courtesy of Japan Racing Association Oct. 15 (UPI) -- As American horse racing enters its pre-Breeders' Cup "calm before the storm" this weekend, the international contingent ably plugs the gap with the world's…

Winning connections celebrate after the inaugural running of the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club's $150000 Pitons Cup on Friday. Photo courtesy of Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club Dec. 16 (UPI) -- On a horse racing weekend when "new" was the watchword from Japan all the way to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, Instilled Regard and War Story provided a hint of…

Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Practical Move upset three of trainer Bob Baffert's 2-year-olds in the weekend's feature race, the Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity, adding his name into the mix of candidates for the 2023 Kentucky Derby. Things went a bit more to expectations among the Japanese 2-year-olds as the three favorites reported 1-2-3 in Sunday's Grade 1…

Derma Sotogake (4) wins the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun on Wednesday -- the second leg of the "Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby." Photo courtesy of Katsumi Saito Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Candidates for next year's Kentucky Derby take center stage again in a weekend horse racing schedule that also includes the first "Win and You're In" race for the 2023…

Jockey John Velazquez, riding Authentic, celebrates winning the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday. Photo by John Sommers II/UPI | License Photo Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The Breeders' Cup World Championships, just as they were designed to do, nicely wrapped up some issues for the 2020 racing season, including the "Horse of the…

Almond Eye, ridden by French jockey Christophe Lemaire, established a Japan Racing Association record with an eighth Grade I victory on Sunday, November 1. The 5-year-old mare, who has 10 wins in 14 career races, captured the Tenno Sho (Autumn) crown for the second straight year, doing so in electrifying fashion at Tokyo Racecourse. The fifth…

Channel Cat, shown winning the Grade I Man o' War in May, is among the favorites for Saturday's Grade II Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct. Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association Nov. 19 (UPI) -- High-class graded stakes racing is spread across North America this weekend, with a turf showdown in New York, a tough mile event for fillies and mares…

Six horses have won the filly Triple Crown in Japanese racing history, with Daring Tact the latest to accomplish the feat on Sunday, October 18 at Kyoto Racecourse. Daring Tact's victory in the Shuka Sho, the third leg of the Triple Crown, produced another distinct, too. She became the first unbeaten horse to do so. In the 2000-meter Shuka Sho,…

Instead, Lemaire and Cafe Pharoah stayed the course, exhibiting patience and fortitude. As the horses galloped and made the turn toward the final stretch, Cafe Pharoah sat in fourth place. But not for long. Urged on by Lemaire, the bay colt kept pushing ahead. Air Almas' lead dwindled as Cafe Pharoah inched closer toward the front. Making his move…

In the speedy showcase for 3-year-olds, fourth favorite Danon Scorpion, who entered the 18-horse competition in the No. 18 post position was ready for the challenge in crunch time. The Lord Kanaloa-sired bay colt galloped past favorite Serifos under Yuichi Fukunaga with around 100 meters remaining and held on for a victory by a neck's length over…

The Yokoyama family's success in high-profile races was also in the spotlight just a few months ago. At last year's Tenno Sho (Autumn), Takeshi Yokoyama, Kazuo's younger brother, won the October 31 race by a length over Contrail at Tokyo Racecourse. Bursting out of the 16 gate aboard second favorite 4-year-old bay colt Titleholder, Yokoyama led…

White Abarrio, seen winning the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park, is among the Kentucky Derby contenders returning to action in Saturday's Ohio Derby at Thistledown. Photo courtesy of Gulfstream Park June 24 (UPI) -- Derby contenders from Louisville and Epsom Downs return to action in weekend horse racing and "Win and You're In" spots for…

Havnameltdown wins Sunday's Bob Hope Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar. Benoit photo, courtesy of Del Mar Turf Club Nov. 21 (UPI) -- One of the more interesting subplots of late-year racing is the emergence of late-blooming 2-year-olds and Del Mar's weekend program featured two of those -- Havnameltdown among the colts and Justique in the filly…

Contrail looked a monster at two and could become one of the stars of the Japanese spring Unlike many other major northern hemisphere racing and breeding nations, Japan has thus far been able to keep its Graded race programme intact in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. With the sport continuing minus its passionate on-course chorus of fans,…

Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Kentucky-based horses ably defended their home turf in the weekend Claiming Crown series at Churchill Downs, while 2-year-olds, some still eyeing a shot at next year's big races, were at work at tracks from coast to coast. Del Mar swung back into operation, and Woodbine and Churchill Downs had rich stakes offerings. On the…

For Geraldina's trainer Takashi Saito, it was his seventh career G1 victory. Four-year-old Geraldina, who was assigned the 18th post on the far outside, moved toward the front of the pack late in the race and galloped to the wire from the middle of the turf track. (Watch the race here.) The winning jockey's older brother, 43-year-old Mirco Demuro,…

Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Last weekend, some of the world's best horses were on display in the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. This weekend, the blue-collar horses get their time in the sun in the Claiming Crown races 75 miles to the west at Churchill Downs. We'll also see if the Twin Spires folks have been able to coax grass to grow, as two of…

For Tanabe, 38, Sunday's triumph was his first in a G1 race since piloting Logotype to a win in the 2016 Yasuda Kinen. It was his third career G1 victory. (Watch the race here.) Tanabe and trainer Yasuhito Tamura teamed up for their first G1 win together. For the trainer, it was his third G1 victory and his first since Major Emblem won the 2016 NHK…