#Safely Kept

Breeding authority Peter Wharton presents all the harness racing news on breeding from Australia, New Zealand and North America every week brought to you by Garrard's Horse & Hound. Cups double to Major Meister Major Meister, a son of the American sire Art Major, has been the star of the Country Cups racing in Victoria. He won the $100000…

Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum has died at the age of 75, but his racing legacy will live on after an involvement with the sport spanning over four decades. From Nashwan to Dayjur, some of the greatest names of the Turf have carried Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum's colours to victory over the years. There are too many to mention, but here is a very select…

Mr. Misunderstood wins Saturday's Commonwealth Turf at Churchill Downs, headed for bigger things in the year to come. Photo courtesy of Churchill Downs A spate of major weekend races around the world fueled hopes for the coming season, even as this year's championships are still being debated. In Australia, Redzel silenced any lingering doubts…

David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club LAUREL, Md. - Baxter Racing Stable's Swayin to and Fro, showing a new dimension, took advantage of her inside draw to lead all the way around and edge clear late to notch her second career stakes victory in Saturday's $100000 Safely Kept at Laurel Park. The 32 running of the Safely Kept for 3-year-old fillies was…

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton The annual Claiming Crown races were two weeks ago. But a surprise black-type feast for blue-collar campaigners took place over Thanksgiving weekend, when horses once claimed for tags as low as $10000 and $16000 ran away with three of five stakes at Laurel Park, and an 8-year-old gelding bought last year for…

When trainer Damon Dilodovico dropped a $16000 claim slip on Armando R on behalf of owner Ronald Cuneo last November, it appeared to have been a misstep. Armando R won the day they claimed him, burning up the last of his conditions, and then ran poorly in his first start in the new barn, finishing eighth of nine in a first-level allowance. "Ron had…

Ronald Cuneo's Armando R, scratched from a Thanksgiving Day allowance, came with a steady run on the far outside down the center of the track to upset favored Ournationonparade by a half-length in Saturday's $100000 Richard W. Small at Laurel Park. The 22nd running of the 1 1/8-mile Richard Small for 3-year-olds and up anchored three stakes on the…

Whereshetoldmetogo winning last year's edition of the Bender by a neck. Photo by Jim McCue/MJC David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club LAUREL, Md. - Defending champion Whereshetoldmetogo, a 13-time career stakes winner, and graded-stakes winners Cordmaker and Double Crown top 24 horses nominated to the $75000 Howard & Sondra Bender Memorial Friday, Nov.…

The best sprinter I've seen who conquered everything thrown at him. From Royal Ascot to York, Paris to New York. Apart from the shadows cast by the Belmont Park grandstand 100 yards from the finish on the dirt track. The fastest racehorse in the world, doing what he was bred to do, jumped not once, but twice. Spooked and startled by what he thought…

None resonated more than the 1990 renewal and it's easy to see why. It featured arguably the greatest sprinter of modern times in Dayjur who beat Royal Academy down the Haydock straight. The runner-up was short of room at a crucial stage and flew home but the winner had put the race to bed shortly after halfway and Willie Carson said he was looking…