Chelsea Hackbarth, Author at Horse Racing News | Paulick Report

Neither Rocks Nor Hard Training A ‘Smoking Gun’ For Churchill Fatalities; HISA’s Lazarus ‘Optimistic’ About New Initiatives

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority revealed Tuesday that its investigation into the 12 equine fatalities during Churchill Downs’ 2023 Spring meet led to no singular “smoking gun” explanation. Still, the resulting 197-page report did reveal some interesting findings. Apparently, there was an issue early in the meet with rocks on the dirt racing surface. […]

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: The ‘Surreal’ Moment Prince Maverick Became A King

There’s a spot near the rail at Woodbine where you’ll find Ericka Rusnak on race day afternoons, a place at which her long-range camera allows her nearsighted eyes a clearer view of the action.  Those well-worn footprints have seen their fair share of heartache, to be sure, but on Aug. 20, 2023, that is where […]

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: 61-Year-Old Jockey Beats All Odds For Milestone Victory

Longtime jockey Cindy Murphy was just seven wins away from her milestone 2,000th victory last June at Prairie Meadows, but a pre-race incident left her with injuries severe enough that that goal could easily have been ripped from her grasp forever. Riding the 2-year-old filly Crypto Mo, trained by her husband Travis, Murphy was approaching […]

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Love Horses; That’s The Bottom Line’

It had been nine long years since Randy Morse had last saddled a graded stakes winner, leaving the trainer to walk into the Pimlico saddling paddock on May 19 with plenty on the line for the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. He was preparing Taxed, the 3-year-old filly by Collected Morse had claimed on behalf […]

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: With Promising 3-Year-Old, Antonucci Focused On ‘What Really Matters’

To the outside world, it may appear as though the winner’s circle is the ultimate goal for horse racing participants. For trainer Jena Antonucci, however, a trip to the winner’s circle is just a byproduct of her actual goals. Just a few days after sending out perhaps the biggest winner of her career, 3-year-old Arcangelo […]

‘Little Horse With A Big Heart’: Mage Provides The Magic In Kentucky Derby 149

On an overcast afternoon beneath the Twin Spires, both in terms of the weather and the shadow cast over the track by a total of seven equine fatalities in the past nine days, it was a little horse with a big heart that brought happy tears to the eyes of hundreds of connections in the […]