Breeders’ Cup

Following is a roundup at how some runners came out of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland as well as some plans for their futures. “We came. We saw and we conquered.” In a nutshell, exercise rider and assistant trainer Juan Leyva summed up two weeks in Kentucky for Flightline, who on […]

A day after finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), RED TR-Racing’s Kentucky Derby (G1) victor Rich Strike departed Keeneland to return to trainer Eric Reed’s Mercury Equine Center, where he will get a break before a 2023 campaign. “He came back great,” Reed said of how the Keen Ice colt emerged from the […]

Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Grade 1 winner Epicenter is recovering following surgery Sunday to repair a lateral condylar fracture to his right front leg at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington. The Not This Time colt sustained the injury in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) the previous day at Keeneland. “This morning, Dr. Larry Bramlage inserted […]

Grade 1 winner Epicenter will undergo surgery Sunday morning at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital to repair a displaced condylar fracture to his right front leg after pulling up in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. Epicenter was stopped on the backstretch by rider Joel Rosario and vanned off wearing a splint to stabilize the leg. […]

Following is a selection of quotes from connections in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, won by Flightline: Second-place trainer Bill Mott (Olympiad): “How could you be more pleased? We’re here on the wrong year. His race would have won some other Classics.” Second-place jockey Junior Alvarado (Olympiad): “I had a great experience even if I didn’t win. I’m […]

Grade 1 winner Domestic Spending has been diagnosed with a pelvic fracture after pulling up during his bid in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 5. Jockey Flavien Prat pulled up the gelding going into the final turn of the turf course and brought him to the outside rail before unsaddling […]

It was special. Truth be told, the roar of the crowd was louder when Flightline returned to the winner’s circle than it was when he kicked away to an 8 1/4-length victory in this year’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic; it was almost like those present needed those minutes to process the performance they’d just […]

Putting an exclamation mark on a near sweep by Irish-breds in the seven Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup world championship races over the Keeneland grass course, Godolphin homebred Rebel’s Romance swung wide into the stretch and unleashed a powerful stretch kick under James Doyle to win Saturday’s $4-million Longines Turf in Lexington, Ky. It was the […]

It was billed as the best race across all of Breeders’ Cup weekend, and Saturday afternoon’s $2 million Distaff certainly did not disappoint. The 1 1/8-mile route evolved into a three-way dogfight at the sixteenth pole between last year’s 3-year-old filly champion Malathaat, Argentine-bred Grade 1-winner Blue Stripe, and Stonestreet’s royally-bred Grade 1 winner Clairiere. […]

This year’s Breeders’ Cup appearance for Modern Games was less dramatic than last year, when he crossed the wire first in the Juvenile Turf and was greeted by a chorus of boos from upset horseplayers. Where last year he was a last-minute gate scratch and eventually ran as a purse money only entry, this year […]